Protesters have again taken to the streets of some cities in the United States as the electoral college ratified the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President, despite a last-ditch effort to deny him the White House.
Millions of Americans signed an online petition stating that Trump was unfit for the Oval Office, while anti-Trump protesters gathered at state capitals across the country.
In Pennsylvania, more than 200 demonstrators braved sub-zero temperatures, chanting: “No treason, no Trump!'”
In Maine, protesters beat drums and waved signs saying: “Don’t let Putin Pick Our President.”
Six weeks after winning the presidential election, Trump cruised past the 270 electoral college votes needed to formalise his victory.
Reacting, Trump promised to “work hard to unite our country and be the president of all Americans”.
Electors had been flooded with emails and phone calls urging them not to support the billionaire.
But despite long shot liberal hopes of a revolt by Republican electors, only two – from Texas – ended up voting against him.
It was the Democratic candidate who ended up losing more electoral votes in Monday’s ballot at state capitals nationwide.
Five of Democratic Party electors defected, with three voting for ex-Secretary of State Colin Powell, one for a Native-American tribal leader and another for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
The result will be officially announced on January 6 in a special joint session of Congress.
“I thank the American people for their overwhelming vote to elect me as their next president of the United States,” Trump said in a statement after the result came in.
“With this historic step we can look forward to the bright future ahead.”
The voting process is usually a formality, but was overshadowed this year by claims that Russian hackers tried to sway the presidential election.
Numerically, Trump’s opponents never stood much chance. To keep him out of the Oval Office, 38 Republican electors would have had to defect.
Even that would probably only have delayed the inevitable.
If no candidate had reached 270 in the Electoral College, the House of Representatives would have voted on the next president.
The Republican-controlled chamber would most likely have picked Trump.
The President-elect is due to take office on 20 January.
The Association of Motor Dealers of Nigeria, AMDON, has called on the federal government to reconsider the ban on cars through the land borders with effect from January 2017.
The association said such moves would result in chaos in the country’s transportation sector, massive job loss as well as loss of revenue by the government
A statement by the Nigerian Customs Service in November had notified Nigerians that government will commence full enforcement of the ban on the importation of vehicles through the country’s land borders.
The statement urged dealers to do round up all their import activities through the land borders before January 1, 2017.
Protesting the move, Ajibola Adedoyin, president of AMDON, said members of the association numbering about two million, import about 15,000 fairly used cars through the land borders every quarter.
“From the land borders only, the federal government makes more than N100 billion yearly, not to talk about the sea ports. We are talking of so much revenue to be lost.
“That’s why we feel as stakeholders, we needed to be carried along in this policy so that we can be able to tell the government there are some inherent things that needed to be done before this policy is implemented,” Adedoyin said.
The federal government said the proposed ban is intended to encourage patronage for locally assembled cars as well as car manufacturing in the country
But AMDON said that though they were in support of Nigeria becoming a hub of car manufacturing in Africa, “the process of getting that done will hurt the economy so much and disenfranchise people.”
We are not talking about our members alone. The general public will feel the pinch so much,” Adedoyin added.
According to him, “More than 95% of buses and cars used in public transport are bought from AMDON members and cost less than vehicles cleared through sea ports.”
“The least assembled-in-Nigeria is N3m. How many Nigerians can afford that. That’s to say for the next three years there’s no average Nigerian that can buy a car,” the AMDON chairman lamented.
“With what government buys, assemblers are unable to satisfy that market how much more the whole of the Nigerian market.”
Amanda Orji, an administrative staff at a car shop and member of AMDON said: “We have people who repair our cars, who wash the cars and security guards. We pay them. If the ban comes and all this business stops, no work for Nigerians.”
Another car dealer, Mohammed Bawa, said some of them have had their children sent away from school because they are unable to pay tuition.
“Now you want to stop us from the business. What are we going to turn into,” he said.
“We voted this government, we thought we were going to enjoy the government, we thought this government was going to bring soft land for us to do business, but today we are seeing something different entirely.”
Bawa called on the authorities to seriously reconsider the proposed ban as it was one of government’s major source of revenue generation.
“How can you stop the source of your revenue?” he queried.
“Motor dealers pay the VIO. The revenue generated from the registration of each vehicle is something. Then talk about the payment of duties.
“Government generates a lot of billions of naira in all these vehicles we import through the land borders,” he said.
He added that the mass sacking that will follow the ban on car importation will indirectly lead to an increase in crime in the society.
Following the embarrassment that followed Nigeria’s emergence as champions in the African Women’s Cup of Nations, AWCON, sports minister Solomon Dalung has called for a “reputable audit” of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF.
Dalung claims that there is about $802,000 unaccounted for in the NFF finances; but the federation denied the claims.
The development has led to FIFA halting its annual $1.1 million grant to Nigeria.
The federation insists there were no distortions during an earlier audit and that ‘the minister was clearly misinformed about the activities of the NFF board’.
Dalung, who was speaking at the NFF’s Annual General Meeting in Lagos, says the fresh audit was to examine how the grants provided by FIFA were spent.
“According to a report, Fifa has withheld all development funds to Nigeria for lack of proper documentation of $802,000 out of the funds released to NFF,” said Dalung.
“This is a very serious issue that must be given urgent attention to avoid another international embarrassment.
“Even more so that the present administration under the leadership of Mr. President, His Excellency, Mohammadu Buhari has zero tolerance for any act of misappropriation, misapplication, embezzlement or fraud in any guise.
“To this end, the NFF is directed to immediately provide my office with detail information of receipt, disbursement and application of the FIFA development grant accordingly,” the minister said.
He added that “a reputable audit firm should be appointed urgently to check the account books of the federation to ensure that funds are judiciously expended.
“The audit report must be made public so as to promote transparency, build credibility and enhance your market value.”
However, the NFF released a communiqué after the AGM saying its congress expressed satisfaction with the explanation provided by the NFF board on the issues raised by the minister.
It states that: “the audited account of the Federation for the year, as audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers, an internationally reputable audit firm, was presented and adopted at the General Assembly.”
This is not the first time that Dalung has clashed with the NFF leadership saying that organisation, which receives state financial support, lacks professionalism.
“The NFF has formed the habit of requesting for funds for its program at very short notice and thereafter resort to blackmail to hasten the approval and release of such funds from government,” Dalung said.
“We cannot continue to administer our football in this manner any longer.”
Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has said he has no ambition to become a senator after leaving office, unlike many other state chief executives.
Giving an inkling into his political future, Governor Fayose stated that he would remain in Ekiti State as a businessman, which he said would make him more fulfilled than going to the Senate.
The governor also stated that when his tenure ends in 2018, he would rather remain in the state and continue to contribute to its development, rather than travel to live abroad.
He made these views known at the weekend in Ikere Ekiti at a reception in the town held for Ayotunde Ogunsakin, a son of the soil, who recently retired from the Nigerian police as an Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG.
Fayose expressed satisfactions and fulfillment at the development he has brought to the state and said that he would feel more confortable living there than anywhere else in the world.
The governor commended Ogunsakin for his meritorious service to the country, noting that it was not easy to serve in an institution like the Nigerian Police Force for 34 years and come out unscathed.
He stated that he attended the reception for the retired police officer not because he liked him but because he was proud of his achievements.
“I did not come here because I love you but because you are a leading light for Ekiti State and its people and we are proud of you,” Fayose stated.
Apparently referring to the manner Ogunsakin left the police, the governor went philosophical and spiritual, observing that future events would make the retired AIG thank God for leaving at the time he did.
“The righteous are taken away before the day of evil,” Fayose said, paraphrasing the holy Bible, adding “one day AIG Ogunsakin will look back and thank God that he left the police force when he did.”
Still borrowing from the holy book, the governor said “everything works for the good of those that love God, noting that Ogunsakin will live a better life in retirement than when he served in the police.
Governor Fayose also commended another indigene of Ikere Ekiti who was at the reception ceremony, Wole Olanipekun, a respected lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, “for putting his money and heart to the well being and development of the state.”
Fayose said that Olanipekun had been an inspiration for many people in the state who had been guided by the legal luminary’s “steps and footprints.”
Speaking earlier, Ogunsakin thanked God for the opportunity to serve the country as a policeman and for protecting him all through many dangerous assignments.
Quoting another Ekiti indigene, Afe Babalola, a lawyer, educationist and philanthropist, Ogunsakin said that “the duty of policemen and soldiers is to die not lo live.”
He said although serving in the police was a great privilege that has given him fulfillment, he noted that it was also a great sacrifice that comes with enormous risks, noting that many policemen have paid the ultimate sacrifice with their lives in the line of duty.
“Our society must recognize that policemen put in enormous sacrifice into the job of securing the lives and properties of citizens and accord them respect,” he stated.
The retired policeman said that he was thankful to God to be alive and recounted several dangerous assignments during which he had been miraculously rescued or protected.
Earlier in the day at a thanksgiving service held at the St Peter’s Anglican Church, Ikere Ekiti, the presiding minister, A.A. Ayodele, the Archdeacon of Ikere, observed that Ogunsakin, indeed, had cause to praise God and gave two reasons for this.
First, he said that the retired AIG has to thank God because he served the country and brought honour to his family and was not disgraced out of office.
The cleric said Ogunsakin should be thankful also because he survived many dangerous assignments, including postings to Port Harcourt and Bauchi at a time when the cities were hotbeds of criminality.
Ayodele advised Ogunsakin to spend his retirement wisely and stay close to his hometown and also advised him to eschew politics.
Born in 1957, Ogunsakin was the AIG in charge of Zone 12 before his recent retirement. A graduate of Political Science from the Universityof Ile – Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, he served in some strategic police units during his 34 years of service. He was once head of the Interpol unit of the Police Force.
A vastly experienced detective, investigator and prosecutor and a modern policeman, he led many significant investigations in the police and was director of operations of the Economic and Financial Crimes commission, EFCC, and also briefly served in the same capacity at the Independent corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC.
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to carry out an investigation into the allegations of corruption leveled against some top appointees of the President, including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, and the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu.
A statement issued on Sunday by presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, quoted President Buhari as saying that any top government official who is found culpable will face the law.
“The attention of the Presidency has been drawn to a number of reports in the media, in which various accusations of corruption have been leveled against some top officials in the administration.
“In that regard, President Buhari has instructed the Attorney General of the Federation to investigate the involvement of any top government officials accused of any wrong-doing. If any of them are liable they will not escape prosecution,” Shehu stated.
Recall that the Senate had indicted the SGF of abuse of office and flouting of procurement laws with regards to some contracts awarded by the Presidential Initiative for the North East, PINE.
An investigation by the Senate revealed that some dubious contracts running into several millions of naira were awarded to a company from which the SGF had just resigned as Chairman only a few months back.
According to Shehu Sani, chairman of the Senate ad-hoc committee that conducted the Probe, SGF Lawal, was the chairman of the said company until September 2016 when he resigned, and that is after the contract had been awarded and the contract sum paid. Even at his resignation, the SGF remained the signatory to the company’s account.
The SGF, however, denied the allegation, saying the senate “has developed the habit of bring him down syndrome.”
Similarly, last Thursday, the Senate refused to confirm Ibrahim Magu as the substantive Chairman of the EFCC, citing some damning security report made available to it by the Department of State Services, DSS.
According to the DSS report which was seen by journalists, Magu was said to have failed an integrity test and would constitute a liability to the anti-corruption fight of the Buhari administration if confirmed head of the EFCC.
Besides the SGF and Magu, some other top officials have been accused of corruption under the Buhari administration.
Recall that the interior minister, Abdulrahman Dambazzau, a retired army general, was said to be one of the officers in charge of Army procurement when the arms deal scam occurred.
But curiously, his name was never mentioned in the reports released by the committee set-up by President Buhari to probe the matter.
Robert Mugabe has been Zimbabwe’s President since its independence from Britain in 1980
Zimbabwe’s governing Zanu-PF party has confirmed President Robert Mugabe as its candidate for the 2018 elections.
Mugabe, who is 92, has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980.
At the party’s conference, the Zanu-PF youth wing even proposed that Mugabe should be declared president for life.
However, there have been unprecedented protests this year against Zimbabwe’s economic turmoil and Mugabe’s leadership.
The Zanu-PF has also suffered serious infighting as factions battle it out to succeed Mugabe once he eventually leaves.
As Mugabe was nominated during the Zanu-PF annual conference in the south-eastern town of Masvingo, his supporters broke into thunderous applause and chanted “tongai, tongai baba” meaning, “rule, rule father”.
In his acceptance speech, Mugabe called for an end to party infighting.
“We agreed that conflicts should end. Infighting should end. The party ideology should be followed,” he said.
“Let us be one. We are one family, the family of Zanu-PF bound together by the fact of understanding between its members.”
Mugabe has blamed the country’s economic problems on sabotage by Western critics of his policies.
Amid violent protests earlier this year he warned there would be no Zimbabwean uprising similar to the “Arab Spring.”
There are very few moments in a nation’s history that can equate the infamy that took place at the Nigerian Senate on Thursday, December 15, 2016. Of course, this is Nigeria, where infamous acts by those who have purloined our country are an everyday occurrence.
Two days ago, after months of prevarication the Nigerian senate, one half of the National Assembly that was described as a den of thieves and “unarmed robbers” by ex-president, Olusegun Obasanjo, finally summoned the shameless audacity to “reject” the nomination of Ibrahim Mustapha Magu as the chairman of Nigeria’s foremost anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Anyone who didn’t expect that outcome must be from Mars.
In a sentence, that despicable act was a coup against the long-suffering people of Nigeria; a clear attempt by a self-absorbed and rapacious elite to continue to reap the fruit of corruption. The elite capture of the Nigerian state has a long history and manifests in various guises. Listening to a quivering Aliyu Abdullahi, the spokesperson of the senate, read the terse handwritten declaration, while the senate was still in session, “rejecting” Magu’s nomination, I was reminded of that infamous act twenty three years ago when Nduka Irabor, the press secretary to the then military Vice-President, Augustus Aikhomu, read a short handwritten speech annulling the result of the June 12, 2016, presidential election, before the electoral umpire could announce the results. We shouldn’t forget that that contemptible and criminal usurpation of the will of Nigerians was supervised by the “evil genius”, Ibrahim Babangida, and his cohorts, including David Mark, a retired general, who would resurface in 2007 as president of this same senate.
It would be too clichéd to say what is going on is corruption fighting back. That would amount to honouring our senators, many of them former executive scoundrels who have found a safe haven in the senate. But we can’t really blame the senate. It did what it had to do. It needed an alibi to reject Magu and it found it in the “damning” security report submitted by the Department of State Services (DSS). How a bunch of wastrels, acting as distinguished senators, can hold a nation to ransom beggars belief. A few years ago, one of their own and a former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, described the National Assembly as the greatest problem of Nigeria. After reviewing what transpired in the senate on Thursday, it is difficult to fault Kwankwaso.
Was Thursday’s decision a unanimous one? How many Senators, if any, opposed the vote? If there were any, they should stand up and be counted because when the history of the senate, and indeed that of the country is written, Thursday’s action will go down as one of the greatest political heists since the military-inspired civilian rule came to being in 1999. Anyone who wants to really appreciate the Magu confirmation imbroglio must look no further than the procedural inconsistency that trailed it. Clearly, no hearing of any form took place in the senate on December 15, 2016. Assumedly, the so-called security report was submitted to the senate so that senators could consider it in making “informed judgment” on whether to confirm Mr Magu or not. That didn’t happen.
The anti-Magu hysteria that has gripped a section of the media and civil society hoodwinked by our duplicitous senate and its collaborators is appalling. It is necessary, at this juncture, therefore, to do a quick review of the trajectory of this orchestrated plot. Magu’s confirmation letter was read in the senate on July 14, 2016. It took our do-nothing senate exactly five months, on the day it was going on recess for the year, to get around to “screening” him.
The letter, signed by the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, read in part, “…I hereby draw your Excellency’s attention to the vacancy that existed in the EFCC. Having carefully considered eminently suitable qualified Nigerians (emphasis mine) for the vacant position, I am pleased to inform you of the appointment of the following and to propose them for confirmation of the Senate as provided by the EFCC Act. 1. Magu Ibrahim Mustapha, ACP – Chairman; 2. Nasule Moses – Member; 3. Lawan Maman – Member; 4. Garandaji Imam Naji – Member; 5. Adeleke Abebayo Rafiu – Member. The curriculum vitae of the appointee are attached for the information of the distinguished senators. I hope the screening will as usual be carried out expeditiously by the distinguished senate.”
Many other nominees whose letters of nomination were sent to the senate after Magu’s were expeditiously screened. Then late Wednesday, December 7, 2016, Magu’s name appeared on the first page of the Order Paper, the senate’s daily agenda, for Thursday, 8th December, 2016. It read: “Confirmation of nomination: That the Senate do consider the request of Mr. President, C-in-C, for the confirmation of the nomination of Ibrahim Magu as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in accordance with Section 2(3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).” The same day, the deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, announced at plenary that the confirmation hearing would hold the next day after five months of delay.
By the morning of Thursday, December 8, 2016, a new Order Paper, without any mention of Magu’s confirmation, appeared. The news from the senate was that because of the importance of the confirmation, it wanted to create room for more senators to be involved in the process. Fast forward to Thursday, December 15, 2016. Magu’s name appeared again on the Order Paper and he was expected to be at the senate to be grilled by distinguished senators on how he has run the EFCC since his appointment on November 9, 2015, as acting chairman. It was also a veritable opportunity to raise any concerns the senators might have about any allegations against him. Well, as it turned out, it was all a ruse. Once it resumed, the senate went into an executive session – which meant the public was not privy to its deliberations – and cooked up a reason to reject Magu’s nomination.
The senate just “resolved” that since there was a security report, it could not go ahead with the confirmation hearing. Of course, it is important to find out the role of the senate committee on anti-corruption in this mess? Did it investigate the DSS report? Did it make a presentation to the senate on the issue? Did the senate only receive the DSS report or there were other petitions from the public against Magu? If the senate felt so strongly about the security report, why were senators not availed of the content before Thursday? If the senate didn’t do its own due diligence, why was the acting chairman of EFCC made to appear before the senate without being allowed to state his side of the story?
As soon as the senate formally “rejected” Magu’s nomination, it released the “damning” security report – a report that was in the public domain for many months – and its spin doctors and sympathizers went on overdrive and it lapdogs started foaming in the mouth. Magu was accused of various crimes, including living in a N40million mansion allegedly paid for by a shady character, Umar Mohammed, a retired air commodore. I will leave Magu to speak for himself. But if this allegation is true, it is not something the senate and the DSS should treat with such levity.
Of course, the Presidency bears some culpability in this national show of shame. All of Magu’s purported crimes were committed before his name was sent to the senate. Is it possible then that the DSS did not do a security check on him before the Presidency sent his name to the senate? Did the DSS invite Magu to “defend” himself over their finding? Could it be, to borrow a local parlance, a case of the insect destroying the leaf lives inside the leaf? Undoubtedly, there are those within the Presidency who are vehemently opposed to Magu and they found willing collaborators in the senate.
Clearly, there is a serious lack of coherence and control in the exercise of power in the Presidency. Why would a nominee of Mr. President before the senate be undermined by a report by the DSS? Can the president send the name of a nominee to the senate without DSS clearance? There is serious doubt about APC and Buhari’s change mantra but nowhere is this apprehension more critical than on the issue of the war against corruption. This will be a true test for President Buhari’s anti-corruption credentials. There are two options open to him: re-submit Magu’s name for confirmation or allow him stay as acting chairman of EFCC.
Sure, Magu is not the only Nigerian who can lead the EFCC, but it will be hard to find someone – within the limitations placed by the EFCC Establishment Act – who has the experience, and above all, courage and determination, to confront some of the most despicable and vicious characters who have occupied public office in Nigeria.
Of course, it is only in Nigeria that criminals who should ordinarily be in jail for their egregious crimes against the country are the ones who define moral codes and sit in judgment on how to punish crime.
conumah@hotmail.com; Follow me on Twitter @conumah
The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has set up a panel of investigation to look into the crisis that characterized the Rivers legislative rerun elections.
This was made known by the Force Public Relations Officer, Don Awunah, in a statement released on Saturday.
He noted that a major aspect of the investigation would be to determine the authenticity of an audio clip published by some media platforms, in which Governor Nyesom Wike was purportedly heard threatening to kill a staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, if the official refused to do his bidding.
“They should return what they gave them or I will kill them,” the governor was allegedly heard saying.
The office of the Rivers State governor has since disowned the audio clip, insisting that Wike did not get in touch with any INEC official either in person or through phone during the election.
The Police PRO, Awunah, stated that the investigation was in response to the claim by the INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, that there were 70 recorded incidents of violence in the re-run election.
According to Awunah, the team of detectives and experts are to “conduct a thorough investigation into the incidents mentioned by the INEC chairman with a view to unravelling those who directly or indirectly are responsible for such incidences and bring them to justice”.
“The investigative team is also mandated to conduct forensic analysis on the audio report released by Sahara Reporters purportedly to be the voice of the Executive Governor of Rivers State, His Excellency Chief (Barr.) Nyesom Wike (CON) pertaining to the concluded elections,” he added.
The Police spokesman urged the government of Rivers State and INEC to provide the investigative team with facts at their disposal and grant them the desired cooperation and assistance to achieve a comprehensive and conclusive investigation.
He also called on “election observers, civil society groups, Human Rights watchers and other stakeholders … to assist the team with valuable information they may have.”
Awunah noted that investigation will be led by a Deputy Commissioner of Police who has “vast experience in investigation.”
The team has 30 days to complete the investigation and submit its report which would be made public.
60-year-old Rebecca Filigus sells Akara at the IDP camp to survive
Samaila Yila
A 60-year old woman in the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, camp in Maiduguri has cried out that the food allocation they receive from government on monthly basis is not enough to sustain them beyond two days.
Rebecca Filigus, mother of nine who fled Gwoza in 2014 told our correspondent that displaced persons relied on hand-outs from the church and Non-Governmental Organizations, NGOs, as food supply from the government was too small.
“Two families share a plate of ground maize and in addition a family gets a plate of raw rice, a cup of beans and a soup spoonful of oil. This is the food the government expects to last us for a month,” Filigus said as others who surrounded her nodded in agreement.
She said that sometimes the church which donated the space to accommodate the IDPs gave them food, adding that they also got assistance from NGOs.
Filigus, however, said that because the donations from the church and NGOs were not frequent or enough, most of them had to find other means of survival.
Filigus whose 12 children have survived the Boko Haram insurgency is living with only four of them and her husband who is a carpenter. She explained that the others are either married or living on their own.
She said they were allowed to go out of the camp to eke out a living but like other IDPs in Maiduguri, there was nothing they could do to earn money.
“We don’t have money to feed, let alone farm. You need money to pay for the farmland, transportation to go to the farm and money to pay labourers. We can’t afford all these,” she said.
To feed her family, Filigus started a business she used to do in Gwoza before the Boko Harm crisis as her husband could not find carpentry work in Maiduguri. She started selling fried beans balls, akara, and buns, though she said that starting the business without money was difficult.
She explained that “I decided to collect the items I need – beans, flour and vegetable oil – on credit and pay after selling the beans balls and buns. I usually collect 10 plates of beans. A plate of good beans costs N600 while the insect-infested one costs N500. I collect 15 litres of vegetable oil at N7,000 and a plate of flour for N600.”
Filigus said that she incurred a debt of N15,000 as the business was not thriving. She sold the akara and buns within the camp and most of her customers who were mainly IDPs did not have money to make any purchase.
According to her, the business is not profitable but she is not thinking of quitting as her family still depends on her.
She sold the akara for N10 but there were days she could not sell all that she produced and had to sell the leftover at giveaway prices to the IDPS.
“Sometimes if I’m lucky, I make N1,500 in a day while sometimes I make N700. This is not much but I don’t have a choice. I have to make sure that the people who give me the items on credit get their money,” she said.
Meanwhile, Filigus was eager to return to Gwoza if it becomes safe for civilians.
She said: “Why wouldn’t I go back? I am not happy being here. I want to be able to farm and live a normal life like before instead of struggling to look for what to eat and not knowing where the next meal comes from.”
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mahmood Yakubu has said that the commission will punish all of its officials and ad-hoc staff who engaged in electoral malpractice during the legislative re-run election in Rivers State.
Yakubu made this known during a world conference at the opening ceremony of a two-day Capacity Development for INEC Press Corps on Friday in Abuja.
The INEC boss, while identifying some officials of the commission that displayed uncommon courage and patriotism in the face of danger during the elections, noted that the commission was also aware of reports of infractions by some of its staff, ranging from absence from duty posts to partisanship in the discharge of their duties.
“We also acknowledge that in Ahoada East and West, a Supervisory Presiding Officer unsuccessfully tried to abscond with ballot papers and result sheets,” Yakubu said.
“We are also investigating the allegation of bribery involving other staff, particularly those deployed to Etche and Ikwerre.
“We wish to assure all Nigerians that the Commission is instituting an administrative inquiry as part of a comprehensive review of the Rivers re-run elections.
“Needless to say that any INEC staff found to have disobeyed clear rules and regulations will be appropriately sanctioned,” he insisted.
The INEC boss noted that the commission recorded at least, 70 incidences of obstruction of electoral process in Rivers State including harassment, abduction and physical assaults of election duty personnel during the election.
“Indeed, in many instances, we had to deploy directly from the local government areas to PUs, contrary to our plans,” he said.
“Amidst heavy shooting by political thugs, vehicles transporting materials and personnel to PUs were hijacked, Voter registers, ballot papers, result sheets and Smart Card Readers were brazenly snatched at gun point.”
Yakubu said that all the instances of violence have been documented and INEC shall “take appropriate action under the law and its guidelines and regulations.”
“We are confident that the security agencies will investigate all violations of the nation‘s laws before, during and after the last re-run elections in Rivers.
“INEC will work with the security agencies to uncover and punish those who disrupted the distribution of election materials,” he assured.
The INEC Chairman also commended in a special way, the Returning Officer for Rivers East Senatorial District, Oji Ekumankama, an academic professor, who “stood his ground” despite being assaulted by unknown persons in uniform who threatened to arrest him.
“Election materials, including result sheets and his personal belongings were taken away at gun point, yet he stood his ground, supported by the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, for the area who offered to be arrested along with Ekumankama,” Yakubu said of the returning officer.
“In the same vein, Ms. Mary Tunkuyo, Mr Agona Isaac, Mr Ademola Toba, NYSC members that served as electoral officers were physically assaulted and sustained serious injuries, yet they stood their grounds and discharged their responsibilities,” he added.
Yakubu on behalf of INEC, condoled with the families of those who lost their lives in the violence that characterized the election process.
He called on politicians to regard politics and competition for public office as a responsibility that required civility and candor, “not aggression and blood-letting.’’
