THE All Progressives Congress (APC) has said its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, did not blame President Muhammadu Buhari for the ongoing controversies surrounding the redesign of the naira and fuel scarcity across the country.
Tinubu had while speaking at the APC presidential campaign rally in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Wednesday, alleged that the redesign of the naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with Buhari’s approval, was a ploy to sabotage the 2023 general elections.
He also said that the ongoing fuel scarcity across the country was part of the plot to stop his supporters from voting.
The former Lagos state governor, however, expressed confidence that he would win the election, regardless of any efforts to disrupt the process.
Reacting to Tinubu’s comments, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said Tinubu was using the problems as an excuse for his imminent defeat.
Phrank Shaibu, one of the media aides to the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in a statement on Wednesday, said Tinubu was running from “pillar to post” despite claiming that he installed President Muhammadu Buhari in office.
“Frustrated by President Muhammadu Buhari’s unwillingness to attend some of his insipid rallies, Tinubu launched an attack against the president who doubles as the minister of petroleum,” he said.
“It is funny that Tinubu is just commenting over the fuel scarcity which started in different parts of the country as far back as February 2022. In Lagos, where Tinubu claims to be the landlord, the state has been witnessing fuel queues since last November.
“It is therefore dubious of Tinubu to try to extricate himself from the failures of his party because elections are 30 days away.
“Having seen his imminent defeat at the polls, he is already using the fuel scarcity and naira redesign as excuses.”
He called on Tinubu to throw in the towel or get ready to be disgraced on February 25.
But in a statement on Thursday, the APC chief presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, dismissed the position of the PDP.
He said Tinubu out his care for the suffering Nigerians were going through due to crisis from the naira redesign and fuel scarcity, was only drawing Buhari’s attention to saboteurs “possibly working in cahoots with the PDP”.
“For a presidential candidate who cares about the suffering of our people, he has a duty to warn the government that its efforts to make life better for Nigerians are being sabotaged on several fronts,” Onanuga said.
He wondered how an advisory genuinely made by Tinubu to protect and create goodwill for the government of his party become an attack, adding that it can only be so in the “jaundiced view of the PDP.
“It is in this light we found amusing the directionless Atiku campaign’s bagful of mischief in their hurriedly put-together press statement meant to gain shameful mileage from the suffering of Nigerians.
“PDP and Atiku should remember not to get high on their own smoke. No political blackmail and an attempt to create a conflict between Tinubu and his long-term ally, President Muhammadu Buhari can succeed.”
He stated that the PDP and Atiku are trying to create a conflict between Tinubu and Buhari to gain mileage from the suffering of Nigerians by misinterpreting Tinubu’s comments.
“The Atiku rudderless campaign, always seeking cheap shots and easy ways has again woefully attempted to make a mountain out of a molehill from the comments made by Asiwaju Tinubu in Abeokuta.
“As a patriotic and compassionate leader, Asiwaju Tinubu will not stomach seeing ordinary Nigerians being made to face excessive difficulties over mundane issues due to activities of petrol and currency hoarders.”
SOME shops at the Balogun market in Lagos State have been gutted by a midnight fire which began in the early hours of Thursday, January 26.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) confirmed this in a statement.
LASEMA Permanent Secretary Olufemi Oke-Osanyitolu who released the statement said the cause of the fire had not yet been ascertained. He also noted that there were no fatalities recorded as a result of the incident.
“The agency responded to distress calls concerning the fire. Upon arrival at the scene operatives encountered a fire involving some shops on the ground floor of a three-storey building.
“The cause of the fire could not be immediately ascertained. Fortunately no casualty was involved in the incident. The agency’s response team alongside two Lagos State Fire Service trucks, and the police are currently at the incident working together to subdue the inferno,” he said.
In October 2022, a section of the market went up in flames leaving several shops and goods destroyed.
In December 2021, another midnight fire razed several shops in the market.
Some traders had stocked up on goods worth millions of naira before the incident occurred.
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THE International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) and African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) have lauded the MacArthur Foundation’s support for investigative reporting in NIgeria.
They also criticized the Federal Government and its agencies for failing to take full advantage of investigative reports on corruption churned out by media organisations in Nigeria.
The ICIR and AFRICMIL, who identified the absence of a whistleblower law as a significant difficulty in the fight against corruption, made their positions known on Wednesday, January 25, during an episode of Public Conscience – an anti-corruption radio programme produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development (PRIMORG).
Speaking on the impact of MacArthur Foundation, the Executive Director of The ICIR Dayo Aiyetan said the organisation has massively impacted many journalists who are now enlightened, exposed and emboldened to report events and hold power to account, especially in rural areas.
According to him, one of the biggest problems of investigative journalism in Nigeria is the government’s lack of recognition for the constitutional role of the media which is to hold the government accountable.
According to Aiyetan, “Only about 20 to 30 per cent of investigative corruption reports get government reaction.”
Aiyetan lamented the government’s use of state security and anti-graft agents to harass and hound investigative journalists, a development that has further worsened their job and the overall fight against corruption.
“Ten or twenty per cent of our work gets the government’s attention, and that’s the tragedy of accountability reporting in Nigeria. Sincerely many of us who do investigative reporting work see our work as complementing government work, but rather than see us as partners, the government are using state institutions, that is the Department of State Security (DSS) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Attorney General’s office and all kinds of state agencies to harass us.”
He further tasked Nigerians to ensure they elect persons of integrity into offices, insisting that credible leadership is of utmost importance to the nation’s development and will influence governance.
Similarly, the Coordinator of the African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) Chido Onumah commended the MacArthur Foundation for supporting investigative journalism and advocacies on strengthening the whistleblower policy in Nigeria.
Onumah disclosed that the impact of the support from the MacArthur Foundation has been significant over the years and has gone beyond the fight against corruption and investigation to the development of journalists and members of civil society groups.
He said: “MacArthur’s support is not just in investigations, even capacity building, training for journalists, many of our journalists are better today: they are better able to write, better able to report, because of the kind of support and training they get from these foundations. Many of us in civil society are better able to understand advocacy. We can be frontiers for the rule of law and ensure accountability, taking on the government, taking on the institutions; it’s all thanks to the Foundation’s support”.
Onumah noted that there has been little progress in government’s reaction to corruption investigations.
He expressed optimism that a whistleblower bill recently approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) will be passed and signed into law despite the limited time left in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to Onumah, Nigerians dread reporting corrupt acts because of the shortcomings of the whistleblowing policy.
“A national survey after two years of introducing whistleblower policy showed that thousands of people from all walks of life across the country dreaded risking their lives for whistleblowing.
“It’s a policy. A new government can change it any day, but if it’s a law, it can be taken to court and used as a basis for argument. So I think we can’t stop talking about the main imperatives of a law.”
Onumah emphasised on the need of whistleblowing tools in the electioneering period, stressing that it is as important as having the PVC.
THE former Director of Civil Society of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC), Najaatu Muhammad, has said the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, is physically and mentally unfit to govern Nigeria.
Muhammad resigned last week as a member of the APC-PCC.
Speaking on Arise TV on Thursday, January 26, she claimed Tinubu is suffering from health challenges which would affect governance.
According to her, Tinubu’s blunders during campaign rallies confirmed his ill-health.
“Asiwaju would not be contesting the election if he had not bribed anybody. When I met Asiwaju in London to ask about his blueprint for the North most of the time he was sleeping,” she said.
“Everything about him is based on lies and everyone can see everything. You see when he called Atiku, the governor of Anambra State. We don’t need a doctor to tell us Asiwaju is ill when somebody is not physically fit.”
However, Muhammad noted that ill-health, particularly dementia, is not anybody’s fault.
But she stressed that although the health challenges Tinubu is facing are natural, Nigerians should desist from voting with tribal or religious sentiment.
“It is nature. It is not as if it is his fault but it is not our fault and we don’t have to accept somebody that cannot deliver. That is the truth.”
Muhammad pointed out that Tinubu intentionally ignores political debates to hide his health deficiencies.
“Why is he not going to debate? Why is he not allowed to talk even in rallies? What they do now in campaigns is to drum and dance, why is he running away? He went to Chatham House and he was asking others to answer questions for him. Why was he allocating questions to other people? Are they the ones Nigerians will vote for?”
Muhammad further claimed that Tinubu does not have a blueprint to tackle the security challenges bedeviling the Northern region of the country.
“When I visited Tinubu in London, I asked him what he has for us in the North because we have serious security problems but he told me that he didn’t have a blueprint yet he wants to be President,” she said.
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned a former General Manager (GM) of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Adebayo Adebowale Aderibigbe.
Aderibigbe was arraigned alongside Ogundele Mura Yisa-Yemi before Justice O. A Musa of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Jabi, Abuja.
Aderibigbe and Yisa-Yemi, a principal partner at a legal firm, M.Y. Ogundele & Co., were arraigned on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy and obtaining the sum N60.4 million by false pretence.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Ogundele Mura Yisa-Yemi (Principal Partner, M.Y. Ogundele & Co Legal Practitioners) between 2014 and 2016 at Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did corruptly give the aggregate sum of N60,400,000(Sixty Million, Four Hundred Thousand Naira) to one Sir Adebayo Adebowale Aderibigbe(whilst being a public officer as GM/Head Legal Services of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund) on account of a contract awarded to you as a consultant for Processing and Regularizing of title deeds and survey plans for the property of the fund at Era village Oto-awori. Ijanikin, Badagry expressway, Lagos, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8(1) (a) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and punishable under Section 8 (11) (b) of the same Act.”
The accused persons pleaded “not guilty” when the charge was read to them.
Counsel to the 1st and 2nd defendants, J.A. Karon and I.O. Salawudeen, prayed the court to grant the accused persons bail.
EFCC counsel, Faruk Abdallah, did not oppose the bail bids but prayed the court to set terms that would ensure that the two defendants present themselves for trial.
The judge granted the defendants bail in the sum of N50 million and one surety each in like sum.
The surety is expected to be a deputy director in a federal ministry. Sureties are also expected to deposit their letters of appointment and clear pictures of their residences showing them standing in front of the houses.
The judge adjourned the matter till February 21 and 23 for trial.
NSITF was created to provide compensation to insured employees who suffer from occupational hazards, or sustain injuries or disability from an accident at work or in the course of employment, whether at the usual place of work or outside of it.
THE Nasarawa State Police Command has said it is yet to identify those responsible for the airstrike that claimed several lives at the Nasarawa-Benue border.
Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Command Ramhan Nansel disclosed this to The ICIR on Thursday, January 26, adding that investigations into the attack were ongoing.
“I can confirm that there was an airstrike at Kwateri village, Nasarawa/Benue border. Twenty-seven corpses were recovered. Security have been deployed to the area and investigation has since commenced. We are yet to know who carried out the airstrike,” he said.
The deceased were returning from Makurdi, where they had gone to retrieve their cattle seized by the Benue Livestock Guards, at the time of the incident.
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) quoted a higher figure of casualties in a statement by its National PRO, Muhammad Nura.
According to MACBAN, more than 30 herdsmen died in the incident.
Noting that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) was responsible for two previous airstrikes against the herdsmen, the association demanded an investigation into the incident, and necessary punishment for those found culpable.
The association also blamed the airstrike on the Nigerian Air Force.
“This is the third time we have experienced such happenings. In the last two happenings it was clear that the Air Force is involved in strafing livestock between the border of Benue and Nasarawa states within the last one year.
“But in the recent one it is not clear whether it was a bomb blast, distant attack or an airstrike as reported by our Nasarawa State Branch,” the association said in the statement.
The ICIR reached out to the Nigerian Air Force to confirm if the strike was carried out by its operatives.
However, calls and text messages to the spokesperson for the Nigerian Air Force Edward Gabkwet were not replied as of the time of filing this report.
DATELINE: Enugu, South-East Nigeria, Monday, January 9, 2023. It is the first working day of the week. Usually a busy day, especially for office workers. Normally, the roads would be bustling with vehicular and human traffic as residents went about their businesses. But by noon the roads are largely deserted. Only a few vehicles and tricycles (Keke) passed through the empty streets and major roads in Enugu metropolis.
Shops, schools, offices are closed. Residents are indoors.
Just a few people are out on the streets. Most of those who ventured out of their homes are dressed in sports wears – shorts, tracksuits, sneakers. The empty streets are ideal for jogging, walks and other forms of physical exercise.
An empty road in Enugu during the Monday, January 9 sit-at-home exercise: Image: Ihuoma Chiedozie, The ICIR
It was like an extension of Sunday – a day when most offices, shops and markets remain closed as the predominantly Christian population of the South-East attend church services. But unlike Sundays, which are usually marked by a laid-back, easy feeling, there was tension in the air on this Monday, January 9.
The fitness buffs who were working out on the streets were watchful, ready to run for their lives at the slightest hint of trouble. Petty traders who opened for business, particularly sellers of okpa, a local delicacy, were wary. Those who ventured outside their homes know they are taking a major risk.
It is Monday. Sit-at-home day in the South-East
It was the same scenario in other major cities and towns across the five states of the South-East – Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo. Originally, the sit-at-home exercise was restricted to May 30, a day Biafra activists remember those who died in the Civil War.
Mondays were eventually declared as a day for sit-at-home protest across the South-East after the arrest and detention of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the proscribed pro-Biafra group which is sharing control of the zone with the state governments.
The sit-at-home was also extended to days Kanu appear in court for proceedings in terrorism and treason charges filed against him by the Federal Government. With time, enforcement of the sit-at-home turned it into a bloody affair – residents who venture out of their homes or engage in business or social activities on the day risk losing lives and property.
Although Emma Powerful, IPOB spokesperson, has announced that the sit-at-home had been suspended, the exercise is still in force through orders issued by Simon Ekpa, a Finland-based self described Kanu disciple and ‘IPOB spokesperson’, reputed to be the leader of the ‘IPOB Autopilots’ who appear to have taken charge of the group since Kanu’s arrest.
The ICIR’s reporter, who moved around Enugu to monitor the sit-at-home on January 9, observed that although a few intra-city buses and Keke were available to convey passengers to destinations within the metropolis, there were no vehicles to transport residents to far locations within and outside the state.
At the Holy Ghost area, the major transportation hub in Enugu metropolis, none of the inter-state transport operators opened for business. Some prospective travellers, who hoped to travel outside the state, were frustrated. No vehicle was available to convey them to their destinations. It was the same situation in Abia, Ebonyi, Imo and Anambra. The entire South-East was literally on lockdown.
Dateline: Finland. Monday, January 9, 2023. 11:24 am. In far away Finland, Simon Ekpa posted a video from the ongoing sit-at-home in southeastern Nigeria on Twitter via his handle @simon_ekpa.
The video, posted under the caption ‘Those preparing to force Biafrans into validating a terrorist state in February 2023, this is what await you’, showed empty shops and stalls at one of the major markets in the South-East. The video appeared to have been shot that same day and was posted to illustrate the ‘success’ of the January 9 sit-at-home exercise. A voice which ran a commentary in the video described the day’s sit-at-home as “very tight, very solid, and awesome”.
‘No election in South-East’
There will be no election in the South-East, the voice in the video stressed, warning residents of the region not to come out during the election period, to avoid being killed by the “military”. The killings in the South-East have been blamed on ‘unknown gunmen’, who the security agencies say are members of IPOB and its military wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN). But the voice in the video claimed that the security agencies of the Nigerian government are behind the killings.
Those preparing to force Biafrans into validating a terrorist state in February 2023, this is what await you pic.twitter.com/pbsOsVZQeP
The voice in the video said: “Let everyone be notified, as you have been notified before, let no one come out. There’s no election in Biafraland (South-East). Don’t come out and don’t be killed by the military. Because if you come out they will kill you too. So don’t come out. There’s no election in Biafraland. Thank you for sitting at home.”
In an earlier Twitter post at 10:36 am, on the same day, Ekpa posted images of empty shops and streets, under the caption: ‘Monday sit at home update for Biafra liberation & release of MNK (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) today, 9th of January 2023. Biafraland remain under lockdown.”
However, although Ekpa is insisting that there will be no election in the South-East, official IPOB spokesperson Emma Powerful has distanced the group from the directive.
IPOB has nothing against election – Spokesperson
In an interview with The ICIR, Powerful said: “IPOB has nothing against the Nigerian election and we have made it clear in our previous press releases that we are not interested on Nigeria’s selection process. And we are not not declaring sit- at- home.” He added that anybody who says IPOB don’t want election in the South-East “is an enemy of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the Biafra struggle”.
The Nigerian government has continued to blame IPOB for the killings and other forms of violence in the South-East, including attacks on facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). But Powerful said the government is sponsoring the insecurity in the region just to frame the group as a terrorist organisation. The Federal Government designated IPOB as a terrorist organisation after a court proscribed the group on September 21, 2017.
“Those trying to create confusion during the forthcoming elections in Nigeria are criminals and cultists recruited by the same Nigerian government to implicate IPOB and ESN. If we had wanted to stop elections we would have done that during the time of PVC registration but we didn’t do that. We never called for boycott because our strategy is to boycott election, not to stop election,” Powerful added, stressing that the group is a liberation movement that would not stop a democratic process.
Powerful had countered a five-day sit-at-home ordered by Ekpa in December 2022. But the directive eventually prevailed. The five-day sit-at-home, from December 9 to December 14, 2022, was ordered by Ekpa as a protest in the South-East against the forthcoming general elections.
It became one of the most violent episodes of the sit-at-home exercise, with reports of killings, maiming, abduction, arson and destruction of goods and property recorded across the South-East states. The violence was blamed on IPOB/ESN members enforcing the sit-at-home. But Ekpa, and Powerful, blamed it on the government.
INEC offices targeted as terror reigns in South-East
Days after the five-day sit-at-home, and few weeks to the 2023 general elections, the South-East is literally under a reign of terror. INEC facilities are being targeted – an indication that the violence is aimed at stopping elections in the zone.
Vehicles destroyed during the attack at the INEC head office in Owerri: Image: Ihuoma Chiedozie, The ICIR.
The violence is not targeted at just INEC facilities. Prominent and less privileged individuals have all fallen victim. On December 26, a man was killed when hoodlums razed the country home of the APC chairman in Ebonyi. On January 1, gunmen invaded the home of the Ebubeagu commander in Afikpo South LGA, Ebonyi.
Also on the same day, the chairman of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) in Ibeme Ward, in the Isiala Mbano area of Imo State, was killed by gunmen. A police station in Aguata, Anambra, was razed on January 8. On January 10, four persons were killed by gunmen at Ihiala in Anambra. Same day, an intending couple, whose wedding was billed for January 18, was killed at Arondizuogu in Imo.
The groom’s brother was also killed. On January 12, four operatives of the Anambra Vigilante Service were killed by gunmen at Ihiala. The gunmen also set five buildings ablaze. On January 14, four persons were killed by gunmen at the residence of spokesperson of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) Ikenga Ugochinyere in Imo. Ugochineyere is the PDP candidate for Ideato Federal Constituency. On February 17, a police inspector was killed by gunmen in Abia.
The sole administrator of the Ideato North LGA of Imo State was abducted along with two others on January 20. The same day, two APC members were killed when gunmen stormed the venue of a party meeting in Izzi LGA of Ebonyi. An Ebubeagu commander in Ezza North LGA, also in Ebonyi, was equally killed that day by unknown gunmen.
On January 23, it was reported that the abducted Imo LG boss has been beheaded. On January 24, a ward chairman of the APC in Onuimo LGA of Imo State was shot dead by gunmen. Nearly every passing day comes with multiple reports of violence and killings in the zone.
The security situation in the South-East continues to deteriorate as the 2023 general elections draw closer. Residents who spoke to The ICIR expressed fear that the high level of insecurity will make it difficult for people to vote during the election, if the situation is not addressed.
“It (violence) is all part of a deliberate attempt to stop the election,” Okechukwu Isiguzoro, a national youth leader of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-political body of the Igbos, told The ICIR in Umuahia, Abia State. “There is a deliberate attempt to scuttle the election, or, if not to scuttle the election, to frighten the people of the South-East from voting.”
In Enugu, a civil society activist, Peggy Chukwuemeka, Executive Director of Parent/Child Intervention Center, noted that although residents are approaching the elections with high hopes “due to expectations of change in government”, the threat of insecurity is a cause for concern. “People are looking forward to the election especially because of Peter Obi (Labour Party presidential candidate) but at the same time they are afraid. Nobody knows what will happen,” she said in a chat with The ICIR in Enugu.
James Nnanna, a civil servant in Anambra, said most residents of the state are approaching the election with fear. “Everyday you hear of killings here and there. I think some people are passing a message that they don’t want election,” Nnanna said in an encounter with The ICIR in Awka.
The South-East recorded the lowest turnout of voters among the six geopolitical zones in the 2019 general elections.
There has been a progressive decline in voter turnout in the South-East since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democratic rule.
The zone recorded the lowest turnout among the six geopolitical zones in the 2019 general elections with 25.53 per cent. The 2023 general election may record even more abysmal levels of voter turnout if the prevailing state of insecurity persists.
The last governorship election in Anambra, where secessionists declared a sit-at-home during the election only to reverse the order on election eve, recorded arguably the lowest (worst) voter turnout in the history of governorship elections in Nigeria with just 10.38 per cent voter turnout.
Security posts set up at INEC South-East offices
Amid attacks on INEC facilities ahead of the election, investigations by The ICIR on preparations for the polls revealed that security posts have been erected at major offices of the Commission in the South-East.
At the INEC head office in Enugu, The ICIR observed heavily armed security personnel positioned at a makeshift security post by the entrance of the building. The road leading into the street where the office is located has been closed to traffic.
A security post erected at the INEC head office, Enugu: Image: Ihuoma Chiedozie, The ICIR.
It was a similar situation at the INEC head office in Abakiliki, Ebonyi State. Armed security operatives were guarding the facility when The ICIR’s reporter visited. Barriers were also erected on the road leading to the office. A staff at the office, who did not wish to be named for security reasons, disclosed that ‘unknown gunmen’ have threatened to attack the facility.
Security was also beefed up at the INEC office in Awka. The office was earlier attacked in May 2021, months before the Anambra governorship election. Although a security post was erected at the INEC headquarters in Umuahia, Abia State, no security personnel was in sight when The ICIR visited the office. Abia appears to be the safest state in the South-East, judging by the frequency of attacks by the unknown gunmen running amok in the zone.
INEC head office, Abakiliki, Ebonyi State: Image: Ihuoma Chiedozie, The ICIR
Despite the recent attack on the facility by gunmen in December 2022, there was no security post at the INEC head office in Owerri, Imo State. Some of the vehicles that were burnt during the attack were still parked inside the office premises. But The ICIR observed that security personnel at the gate subjected visitors to stringent checks before allowing them inside.
INEC head office Owerri: Image: Ihuoma Chiedozie, The ICIR
Further checks by The ICIR reveal that INEC is collaborating with security agencies through the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to ensure that the election succeeds. The ICCES was set up to ensure that elections are secured.
At state levels, the ICCES comprises representatives of all security agencies, ranging from the army, police, Department of State Services (DSS), Civil Defense, Correctional Service, Immigration and others, as well as INEC. The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) and the Commissioner of Police (CP) are co-chairs of the ICCES at the state level. At the national level, the committee is headed by INEC chairman and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).
The IGP, Usman Alkali Baba, had in November 2022 directed all CPs in charge of state commands to activate the ICCES in the various states towards engaging all stakeholders to evolve strategies to mitigate threats to the 2023 general elections.
INEC head office, Umuahia, Abia State: Image: Ihuoma Chiedozie, The ICIR
The CPs were directed to ensure adequate and strategic deployment of officers and assets, as well as coordinate, deploy and supervise officers from other security agencies scheduled for election duty, in accordance with ICCES objectives. Fortification of INEC facilities to forestall attacks, ensuring safety and security of electoral materials and INEC staff, before, during and after the general elections, were among the key mandates of the ICCES.
The INEC spokeperson in Enugu, Pius Ezeh told The ICIR that the Commission is liaising with security agencies through the platform of the ICCES to ensure that elections hold in the South-East without hitches. “We are meeting, discussing and strategising on how to nip in the bud any threat from any angle,” he said in an interview with The ICIR in Enugu.
Security checkpoints litter South-East
On the highway between Enugu and Umuahia, a distance of less than 120 kilometres, The ICIR’s correspondent counted 23 security checkpoints manned by heavily armed soldiers, police and other military personnel, during a tour of the South-East in early January 2023.
Vehicles, including private cars and commercial transporters, are stopped, questioned and most often, searched, at each of the checkpoints. In many instances, two checkpoints are within sight of each other. It was the same situation on all the major highways and inter-state roads in the zone. At some checkpoints, motorists and passengers are forced to disembark and would only resume their journey after a long wait.
The security personnel at the checkpoints are tense and on ‘red alert’ – the unknown gunmen operating in the zone often target policemen and soldiers at checkpoints and numerous security operatives have been killed in such guerrilla attacks.
Residents of some communities along the frontier, where soldiers were abducted or killed, have also been at the receiving end of excessive retaliatory action by troops.
Many villagers have been killed, and houses and shops razed, by irate soldiers seeking to avenge the killing of their colleagues in some of the South-East communities.
Igbo leaders insist on elections
Amid the prevailing state of insecurity in the region, leaders of prominent socio-political groups in the South-East are insisting that elections must hold in the zone. President of Njiko Igbo Forum, a socio-political organisation, a Reverend, Okechukwu Obioha, in an interview with The ICIR in Enugu, insisted that “nobody can stop the election in the South-East”.
“People are not happy with the last five-day sit-at-home and as a result any sit-at-home order during the election will be resisted,” Obioha said. He argued that since the agitation for Biafra was largely a result of the marginalisation of the Igbos, it would be foolish for Biafra agitators to stop the people of the South-East from voting at a time an Igbo is among the top contenders in a presidential election. “There is insecurity in all parts of the country and election will still hold, South-East is not going to be different. Anybody that tries to stop election in the South-East is an enemy of the Igbos,” Obioha added.
Also insisting on elections in the zone, spokesperson of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Alex Ogbonnia told The ICIR that the level of insecurity in the South-East is not as high as it is made to appear. He said the situation has been amplified.
“Ohanaeze is concerned because the insecurity in the South-East is not as much as it was in the North-East and North-West in 2015 and 2019, and in spite of that, elections held. The insecurity in the North-Central at the moment is even worse than what is going on in the South-East,” he said.
He added that “the amplification of insecurity in the South-East is just a political machination which is not helping anybody. We just celebrated Christmas, there were a few skirmishes but that is not comparable to what is happening in the North-East and the North-West.”
Ohanaeze youth leader, Isiguzoro, said the association is doing everything possible to ensure that the election holds in the South-East. He urged the Federal Government to dialogue with leaders of the South-East, as well as the agitators, to resolve the insecurity in the zone before the elections.
Police, INEC confident of peaceful elections in South-East
Despite fears and concerns nursed by residents, INEC and the Police are looking forward to peaceful elections in the South-East. “The Commission is on top of the situation. We don’t have doubts as to whether the election will hold in the South-East or not. It is as simple as ABC,” Ezeh, INEC spokesperson in Enugu, said.
He made reference to what happened during the 2021 governorship poll in Anambra. There were fears that the poll will not hold due to the sit-at-home ordered by IPOB on election day. But the group called off the sit-at-home on election eve.
INEC head office, Enugu: Image: Ihuoma Chiedozie, The ICIR
The spokesperson of Anambra State Police Command Toochukwu Ikenga was equally confident, recalling the “success” of the Anambra governorship poll to justify his insistence that the election will hold without problems.
He said, “Election is a very big event, during elections, there are operational orders that guide Police and other security agencies. I wouldn’t want to disclose our strategy but I can assure you that all hands are on the deck to make sure we have successful elections.”
The spokesperson of the Police in Enugu, Daniel Ndukwe, told The ICIR that “maximum preparations” are being made for the elections. “We are doing our security threat analysis. We have activated ICCES. So the needful is being done and by God’s grace we will have a peaceful election.”
The spokesperson of the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu, a Major, Jonathan Unuakhalu, did not respond to The ICIR’s questions concerning plans to ensure security during the elections.
Residents want security guaranteed on election day
Despite the confidence expressed by INEC and the police, there are strong indications that residents would not be willing to go out to vote on election day if they are not sure of their security. Several residents who interacted with The ICIR across the five South-East states were concerned about their safety.
President of the Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN), a civil society organisation based in Enugu, Olu Omotayo, told The ICIR that residents are worried about a repeat of what happened during the five-day sit-at-home. “If something tangible is not done, and if what happened during the five-day sit-at-home repeats itself, people will stay at home,” Omotayo said, adding that residents need to be convinced that their safety is guaranteed.
“Nobody wants to risk their lives.” Chukwuemeka, Executive Director of Parent/Child Intervention Center, noted that feelers from the ongoing PVC collection exercise indicate that residents are willing to vote.
Peggy Chukwuemeka
But she expressed concerns that there would be loss of lives if a sit-at-home is ordered and enforced during the election. For Jude Ibezim, an Owerri-based tailor, safety will determine the turnout of voters in the South-East. Proudly displaying the PVC which he just collected, Ibezim said, “I am ready to vote, I have been looking forward to this. But if I hear that people are being killed on election day I will stay at home.”
THE Federal High Court sitting in Damaturu, Yobe State, presided by Justice Fadima Murtala Aminu, has adjourned the trial of a former Minister of Science and Technology, Abdul Bulama, till March 21.
The Maiduguri Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Bulama on a seven-count charge of criminal conspiracy and money laundering to the tune of N450 million.
This was disclosed in a statement released on Wednesday, January 25, by the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC Wilson Uwujaren.
Bulama was re-arraigned on Monday, November 8, 2021, alongside Mohammed Kadai, a former Commissioner for Integrated and Rural Development in Yobe State, Abba Gana Tata, Muhammad Mamu and Hassan Ibn Jaks.
The ex-minister allegedly received the said sum from Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, to influence the outcome of the 2015 Presidential election as the Coordinator of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 Re-election Campaign Committee in Yobe State.
Kadai was Deputy Coordinator, while the other three defendants were members of the committee.
“Count one of the charges reads, That you, DR. ABDU BULAMA, HON. MOHAMMED KADAI, ABBAs GANA TATA, MUHAMMAD MAMU AND HASSAN IBN JAKS, on or about the 27th day of March, 2015 at Damaturu, Yobe State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did agree among yourselves to do an illegal act, to wit: conspiracy to commit money laundering and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 18(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 as amended”.
“Upon re-arraignment, the defendants pleaded not guilty to all the counts; thereafter, counsel for the prosecution, Mukhtar Ali Ahmed, presented three witnesses.
“At the resumed hearing today, counsel for the fifth defendant M. Tatama through a letter, asked for an adjournment on the grounds that he was before the court of Appeal Abuja Division for a pre-election matter.
“In a bench ruling, Justice Aminu adjourned the matter till March 21, 2023, to continue the cross-examination of the third prosecution witness, PW3,” the statement said.
It will be recalled that the defendants were first arraigned on Friday, May 29, 2018, before Justice Hammada Isa Dashen of the Federal High Court, Damaturu, Yobe State, on a 7-count charge of criminal conspiracy and money laundering to the tune of N450 Million.
During the trial before Justice Dashen, the prosecution counsel Mukhtar Ali Ahmed presented six witnesses and tendered several documents that were admitted in evidence by the court.
At the close of the prosecution’s case, the defendants opted for a “no case submission”, and Justice Dashen granted their prayers as they were discharged and acquitted.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, the EFCC approached the Appellate Court to set aside the decision of the lower Court.
On March 3, 2021, the Appeal Court, in its judgment, upheld the argument of the EFCC that the Lower Court erred in law by discharging and acquitting the defendants.
The appellate court ordered that the case be returned to the Federal High Court and assigned to a judge other than Justice Dashen to be heard from the beginning.
THE All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has said that the redesign of the naira and fuel scarcity across the country were ploys to sabotage the 2023 general elections.
Tinubu stated these during the APC presidential campaign rally at the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Abeokuta, on Wednesday, January 25.
He stressed that the fuel crisis and the scarcity of the newly redesigned naira notes were artificially created to discourage Nigerians from voting for the APC.
He, however, expressed confidence that he would win the election, regardless of any efforts to disrupt the process.
The APC presidential flagbearer encouraged his supporters to give him their support even if it demands trekking to cast their votes.
“Even if they said there is no fuel, we will trek to vote. They have a lot of mischief; they could say there is no fuel. They have been scheming to create fuel crisis, but forget about it.
“Relax, I, Asiwaju, have told you that the issue of fuel supply will be permanently addressed. Whoever wants to eat the honey embedded in a mountain won’t worry about the axe. Is that not so? And if you want to eat palm kernel, you would bring stone and use it to break it, then the kernel will come out.
“Let them increase the price of fuel, only them know where they have hoarded fuel, they hoarded money, they hoarded naira; we will go and vote and we will win. Even if they changed the ink on naira notes. Whatever their plans, it will come to nought. We are going to win. Those in the PDP will lose (won ma lule).
“I am homeboy, I have come here, you will not be put to shame, we will take over the government from them, the traitors who wanted to contest with us. They had no experience.
“The great Nigerian youths, the great Nigerian students, the confident Nigerian youths. This is a revolution. This election is a revolution. They are plotting, but they will fail. They said fuel price will increase and reach N200 per litre. Go and relax. They don’t want this election to be held, they want to scuttle it. Will you allow them?”
He promised to provide financial aid to students in the form of loans to prevent them from dropping out of university due to lack of funds.
Tinubu also vowed to put an end to frequent strikes that have been disrupting the education system in the country.
He assured that four-year courses will be completed within four years, eliminating the need for students to repeat years or take longer to graduate.
“On this one, I’m guaranteeing you one thing: there will be a student loan. Nobody will drop out of the university because of school fees. I guarantee you that. Nobody will have to repeat for eight years, and not graduate.
“Haba! We are too smart, we are brilliant, we are courageous, we are sharp, we will make a four years course. Do you agree? Will you vote whether there is fuel or not? Call your sister, we are bringing revolution. Let me say what’s on my mind. The other day, I told you. This one too, they think they can cause a crisis by sabotaging fuel supply.
“They are sabotaging fuel supply. Whether there is fuel or not, whether there is okada (motorcycle) or not, whether there is tricycle or not, we will go and vote and we shall win. This is a superior revolution and when I tell you, you know what I mean. You know me, we are going there to win.”
“They have started coming up with the issue of ‘no fuel’. Don’t worry, if there is no fuel, we will trek to cast the vote.
“If you like increase price of fuel, hide the fuel or change the ink on the naira notes, we will win the election,” he added.
