The Nigerian Police Force and the Department of State Security, DSS, have advised the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to consider postponing the Edo State governorship election scheduled for Saturday.
The call was made at a joint press briefing at the DSS Headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to the spokesman of the police, DCP Don Awunah and his DSS counterpart, Tony Okeowo represented by Garba Abdullahi, credible intelligence available to the security agencies indicate possible terror attack during Sallah celebration, especially in Edo State.
Sallah celebration is expected to hold on Monday, September 12.
A group of students also protested against holding the election on Saturday, a day they said students would be writing the GCE.
INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu speaking at the stakeholders’ meeting in Benin City
A stakeholders’ forum was held in Benin City, the Edo State capital in preparation for Saturday’s governorship election.
The forum was organized by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as part of activities geared towards a free, fair and credible exercise.
It was gathered that all the 19 candidates of the various political parties taking part in the election are attending the meeting.
In his remarks, Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman said commission had taken every necessary step to ensure the success of the election as 18,511 electoral officers have been trained & deployed for the exercise.
He added that there will be simultaneous accreditation and voting, reiterating that the Permanent Voter Card, PVC, remains the only means for voting.
With respect to the frequent cases of malfunctioning card readers, the INEC boss explained that the “SCRs (Smart Card Readers) have been reconfigured and re-charged” and should work optimally on Election Day.
Yakubu also cautioned “High profile voters” to “exercise their franchise in their designated polling units and thereafter respect themselves and return home.”
“No voter entitled to security protection shall be accompanied by armed security personnel to the polling unit.
“Armed escorts would not be allowed at any Polling Unit during the election. This is against the provisions of the Electoral Act,” he said.
The INEC chairman added that “All election duty personnel are expected to work within the confines of the law” as “any violator would be adequately dealt with.”
He said: “We appeal to those involved in the election to assist INEC in ensuring the safety of all election officials.
“We appeal to political parties to eschew violence and avoid intimidation of voters on Election Day.
“So far, the atmosphere in Edo state has been peaceful since the campaign began. We hope it remains same on Election Day.
“It is my hope that the election in Edo State would be a shining example of our democratic system,” Mahmood concluded.
The stakeholders’ meeting also witnessed the signing of a peace pact by the governorship aspirants, pledging to work for peace before, during and after the election process.
Representatives of both the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, and the Inspector-General of Police, also spoke at the forum.
It was gathered that One governorship candidate as well as 8 deputy governorship candidates for the Edo State election are women.
The Nigerian journalist declared wanted by the army alongside two others, for alleged links to Boko Haram, has been released from custody.
BBC reports that Ahmed Salkida sent a text message to its Hausa service on Wednesday, saying he was “released in less than 24 hours without any conditions”.
Salkida also said he was not arrested at the airport, explaining that he was merely given a “pre-arranged lift” by the authorities.
The media reported that Salkida was arrested when he arrived in Abuja on a flight from the United Arab Emirates on Monday.
Military authorities had alleged that Salkida has something to hide with regards to the Boko Haram terrorist group and the whereabouts of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls after it appeared the journalist had been in possession of a video clip which the terrorist group later published online.
Army spokesman Sani Usman said at the time that there was “no doubt” the reporter and the two other individuals “have links with Boko Haram terrorists and have contacts with them”.
Salkida has extensively covered the activities of the Boko Haram in the Northeast over the last 10 years and is believed to have high-level contacts within the group.
He has maintained he has done nothing wrong and that he was prepared to return to Nigeria to speak to the authorities.
Mr. Lee Kuan Yew (1923-2015) was the first Prime Minister of Singapore and he governed Singapore from 1959-1990. In January 1966, he visited Nigeria as part of the Commonwealth delegation to discuss Rhodesia’s unilateral declarations of independence. Rhodesia is now called Zimbabwe. He stayed in Lagos like all the Commonwealth leaders for three days. It was after their departure that Nigeria’s Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, was assassinated.
His views on Nigeria was published in 2000 in a 729 page book titled ‘FROM THIRD WORLD TO FIRST’ which I am sure many Nigerians have read. On page 352 of that book, he described Nigerians as ‘different people playing to a different set of rules’. On page 357 of that same book, he said Nigeria’s ‘tribal loyalties were stronger than their sense of common nationhood’.
To most of us Mr. Yew’s verdict on Nigeria is nothing new. This month is fifty years of the anniversary of the ad-hoc constitutional conference in Nigeria. The Conference was summoned by the then Lt-Col. Yakubu Gowon less than sixty-five days after he took over power. The Conference met between September 12 and 28 and again between October 28 and November 4, 1966. At that time there were four regions in Nigeria mainly North, Mid-Western, West and Eastern Region.
No delegation from the east attended the second session of the conference because of the political situation at that time. Sixteen major issues were discussed at that conference. They were – Form of government and component units, Head of state, Central government, Central legislature, Judiciary, Central civil service, Finance(power to raise revenue, the allocation of revenue and national debt), Defence, Police, External affairs, Immigration and emigration, Banking, currency, monetary policy, external loans, Transport and communications, Higher Education, Concurrent powers and Planning(including the equitable distributions of capital investment).
The Northern delegation included Sir Kashim Ibrahim, Alhaji Inua Wada, Mallam Aminu Kano, Chief Joseph Sawuan Tarka, Alhaji Abdul Razak and Chief Josiah Sunday Olawoyin. The Lagos delegation included Alhaji Femi Okunnu and Alhaji Lateef Jakande.
The Eastern delegation was led by Professor Eni Njoku. Other members from the east include Chief C.C. Mojekwu, Chief E. Eyo and Chief Matthew Mbu. The Midwest Delegation was led by Chief Anthony Enahoro, Dr. Mudiaga Oge was part of the Midwest delegation. The Western delegation was led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo and it included Professor Hezekiah Oluwasannmi assisted by Professors Ayo Ogunseye,Sam Aluko and Akin Mabogunje.
The following were proposals of each region as it affects the form of government and component unit –
EAST: An Association of the existing Regions, with a right to secede. Opposed to the creation of new states on three grounds:
(a) inadequate time:’ will involve a long-drawn-out process of inquiries, commissions and plebiscites, taking up many months or even some years which we cannot afford under the present crises’.
(b) entails a strong central government: ’not in the interest of harmony and peace of the country to have a strong central government. The splitting up of the country into new states will automatically have the effect of transferring functions which the smaller states cannot be expected to execute with their limited resources. This would, once again, engender inter-regional rivalry and political warfare to control the Centre.
(c) fails to satisfy all minorities: it is impossible to devise any political arrangement which will be devoid of minority problems….these problems can best be contained and satisfied within larger regional units’. The points raised above notwithstanding, it should be provided in the future constitution of the country that any Region can agree to split into more States which may be accepted into the future Nigerian association on equal terms as the existing Region if the people of such an existing Region and the areas concerned so desire…the initiative for the creation must come from the Region within which the State is to be created.
MID-WEST: A Federation of the existing Region, Lagos continuing as Federal Territory or becoming a Region. N.B. The Memorandum considered a redrawing of the constituent units desirable and set out the following criteria: ethnic, linguistic, and cultural affinity or homogeneity, historical association (e.g. Hausa/Fulani, Efik/Ibibio), viability of states both absolutely and relatively, geographical contiguity, comparability in size, reciprocal self-determination (i.e. not only should each minority group be given the opportunity to determine its future but also a majority group must be given the opportunity to determine whether it is willing to associate with a minority seeking such association.
On the basis of these criteria, twelve states might be created (4 in the North, 2 in the West, 4 in the East, the Mid-West, and Lagos). Although desirable, such a rearrangement was considered impracticable in the prevailing circumstances.
NORTH: (i) Original proposal. A Union or Association of the existing Regions, ‘and such other States as may be formed subsequently’, with a ‘right to secede completely and unilateral’.
The ‘right of self-determination of all people in the country must be accepted and a referendum or plebiscite shall be the method through which the wishes of the people concerned shall be ascertained. These rights include the right of any State within the country to secede. But the implementation of these principles shall not delay the determination of the future of Nigeria. All necessary guarantees shall, however, be written in the future constitution to establish the right of self-determination by any section.’
(ii) Revised proposal. A Federation with an ‘effective Federal government’. The above-mentioned method of creating new states was to be ‘discussed and formally adopted’.’ Grave doubts about the wisdom of creating states based on “ethnic and linguistic affinities”. In any arrangement based on this principle, there are bound to be large numbers of small pockets of minor ethnic and linguistic groups who will necessarily find themselves grouped uncomfortably with the larger and dominant ethnic groups.
Whilst in the past, such tiny tribes were undisturbed within larger units not based on tongues, they are most likely to develop genuine fears of tribal domination in any political arrangement based on the principle of language. Most of the smaller ethnic and linguistic communities have coexisted peacefully without any ill-feelings towards their bigger neighbor only because they and their neighbours belong to a larger political entity’.
‘In the exercise of ascertaining the wishes of the people for the creation of States as well as the actual creation of States, no Region except the Mid-West should be left out of the operation.’
WEST: (i) Original proposal.
First alternative: A Federation with ‘the immediate creation of more States (including a Lagos State) based on ethnic and linguistic affinities, account being taken also of territorial contiguity and economic viability’. Also ‘clear-cut and less cumbersome provision for the creation of additional states in the future under conditions which should be clearly set out in the Constitution’.
Second alternative: A ‘Commonwealth comprising the existing Regions and such other Regions as may be consequently created, with Lagos forming part of the present Western Nigeria’. Each State should have a right unilaterally to secede… at any time of its own choice.’
(ii) Revised proposal. A Federation; ’the creation of more States (including a Lagos State) based on ethnic and linguistic affinities, account being taken also of territorial contiguity and economic viability’ was’ strongly recommended’. ’In the event of states not being created, Lagos shall form part of the Western Region.’
On November 30, 1966, Lt. Col. Gowon adjourned the conference and disclosed that ’they had run into difficulties which made it impossible for them to meet.’
It was the failure of the conference that led to the Aburi meeting in Ghana.
Dr. Mudiaga Oje told me in 1977 that if the ad-hoc conference had succeeded, the Civil war could have been avoided. Suffice it to say that the issues raised at that conference are still relevant till today.
Eric Teniola, a former director at The Presidency, stays in Lagos.
File: President Muhammadu Buhari and Ex – President Goodluck Jonathan
Former President Goodluck Jonathan, ex-Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar and former Head of the Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan, are currently attending the Council of State meeting at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.
They are the only past leaders attending the meeting at the time of filing this report.
The meeting commenced at exactly 11.10am, and is also being attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal.
This is the second meeting of the Council of State convened by President Muhammadu Buhari, and the first to be attended by Jonathan since leavng office.
Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara who are also members of the council are absent.
The meeting is expected to consider names of nominees to fill vacant positions of National and Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, at the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The INEC currently has six national commissioners out of 12, while 21 out of 37 Resident Electoral Commissioners are yet to be appointed.
President Buhari is also expected to brief the council on the nomination of Ibrahim Idris as acting Inspector-General of Police. The Nigerian Police Council, NPC, is expected to ratify the appointment thereafter.
The Nigerian Council of State is an organ of the Nigerian government whose functions include advising the executive on policy making.
It comprises the president as chairman; vice president (deputy chairman); all former presidents and all former heads of the government of the federation; all former Chief Justices of Nigeria; President of the Senate; Speaker of the House of Representatives; state governors and Attorney-General of the Federation.
The responsibilities of the council include advising the president in the exercise of his powers with respect to the appointments of INEC commissioners, members of the National Population Commission, the National Judicial Council, prerogative of mercy and award of national honours.
The council also advises the president whenever requested to do so on the maintenance of public order and on such other matters as the president may direct.
The Nigerian Army on Tuesday arrested a suspected Boko Haram member who was on the list of 200 fighters declared wanted months ago by the military.
Muhammad Bulama, whose photograph is number 105, according to army spokesperson, Sani Usman, a Colonel, was arrested alongside two others as they headed to a market on horseback in Gujba local government area of Yobe State.
“Bulama was arrested along side with 2 other suspected Boko Haram terrorists; Ardo Abba Muhammed (elder brother to Bulama as claimed) and Muhammadu Kaigama, in Azare community, Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State, with the help of the local vigilantes in the town.
“They were arrested riding on horseback and bicycle shepherding some sheep towards market,” Usman said in a statement.
The army spokesperson said Bulama personally identified his photograph on the list and revealed that his role in the terrorist organisation was rearing animals.
“He further confessed that they came to the village to sell the animals as they had ran out of cash in their hideout and would also get some food items back to for the upcoming Sallah festivity,” the statement read.
Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, has recommended a total review of the nation’s defence policy to enable it tackle the many domestic security challenges in Nigeria.
The minister said this when he received the 2015 National Defence Policy Committee’s report in Abuja on Tuesday, adding that the existing National Defence Policy had not been reviewed in the last 10 years.
He is of the opinion that the lack of review over the years had made it difficult for the armed forces to effectively tackle emerging threats to national security.
Dan-Ali also explained that his ministry was already restructuring the armed forces to enable civilian staff undergo military training in other to build their capacity.
The call for a review of the defence policy is coming amidst security challenges in the oil-rich nation that have affected the nation’s crude oil output.
The so called Niger Delta Avengers has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks on oil installations in the region, which has adversely affected the Nation’s crude oil production.
In the northeast, Nigeria is yet to completely deal with the Boko Haram terrorist group, which is pushing for the establishment of an Islamic State and an end to Western education in the region.
Other splinter groups, like the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in the Southeast, are springing up and seeking secession from Nigeria.
The Nigerian Army has confirmed the death of four soldiers in a boat mishap within Bayelsa waterways saying that the remains of the soldiers were yet to be found, but residents say two bodies have so far been salvaged.
The soldiers drowned during the ongoing military training exercise codenamed “Operation Crocodile Smile” after their boat capsized along Brass Water Front, Brass Local Government Area of the state.
Spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Sani Usman, a colonel, confirmed on Tuesday in Yenagoa that four Soldiers died in the incident, but added their remains were yet to be seen.
Usman said that search is underway.
“I can confirm to you that there was a mishap yesterday involving death of four soldiers; on whether their bodies have been recovered, search is underway and we are yet to get detail on that,” he said on phone.
A resident in the area, Jonah Kennedy however said that two out of the four bodies have been recovered as at Tuesday evening by local divers.
“I learnt that the community youths, soldiers and other local divers are on search to see that those bodies are recovered; this evening, we heard that two of them have been found,” Kennedy said
Lloyd Sese, Chairman of the Maritime Workers Union in Bayelsa, described the incident as unfortunate, urging the federal and state governments to improve emergency response along waterways in the state.
Food items keep getting to camps but IDPs remain hungry
By Samuel Malik
Last week President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the police to arrest culprits involved in the diversion of relief materials meant for internally displaced persons, IDPs, and make “public example” of them. This followed a report by AP showing malnourished children in camps in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Allegations of diversion of relief materials have been with us long before now. Unfortunately, despite increased donations towards the humanitarian crisis in the Northeast, the plight of the IDPs has not abated. Instead it seems to be on the rise.
Beyond the usual rhetoric of issuing orders for the arrest of suspects, nothing else is done. A look at some of the reported cases of diversion of relief items would suffice.
In a store operated by the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, BOSEMA, in one of the camps in Maiduguri, the website also reported officials offloading food items, including cartons of tomato paste and fish inside the store. There were bags of rice, sugar, cartons of vegetable oil, several jerry cans of palm oil, and cartons of noodles.
In Adamawa state, similar things were happening at the camps. Bags of assorted items donated by companies like Dangote, Honeywell, Faro, BUA, Indomie, Vitafoam were offloaded into the stores ostensibly for distribution to IDPs. But despite the loads of relief materials donated to the camps, reports of starvation at IDP camps continued.
A malnourished child given improvised nutrition
Recently, a senior NEMA staff confirmed to the www.icirnigeria.org that less than 60 out of more than 100 trucks of relief items were delivered to the agency. This led to the arrest of a contractor accused of diverting 60 trucks loaded with relief materials.
Also, a few weeks ago, a truck carrying 600 bags of maize from Gombe state meant for displaced persons in Taraba state did not arrive. President Buhari had directed that 12,000 bags of maize be taken to Taraba and 20 trucks were loaded with the items. However, the permanent secretary of Taraba state Emergency Management Agency, Nuvalga Dan-Habu, said the state only received 11,400 bags.
Some members of the youth vigilante group, Civilian JTF, in Borno state recently arrested an ambulance leaving one of the IDPs camps with relief materials disguised as patients.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s order for the arrest of suspects was not the first time government was making such declaration. However, the outcomes have remained the same; officials continue to have a field day as investigations are never thorough and culprits go scot free.
In September 2014, at the commencement of distribution of relief materials to IDPs, former president, Goodluck Jonathan, warned that officials caught diverting relief items would face the full wrath of the law. No one was caught, and no one received the weight of the law.
In September 2015 while swearing in new commissioners and local government caretaker chairmen, Governor Kashim Shettima warned that he would not hesitate to sack any official guilty of diverting relief materials meant for IDPs.
This was after a secret investigation by the state government which confirmed that officials were actually diverting relief materials. But the government did not make a scape goat of anyone.
IDPs have been forced to become beggars in a bid to survive
Rather, government officials and agencies blame one another instead of owning up or expose those behind the crime.
NEMA finds it convenient to use the MoU it signed with the Borno state government as excuse that its duty is only to deliver food items to the custody of the state while it is the state that delivers the food to IDPs.
The state government on its part blames nongovernmental organisations operating in the state for exploiting displaced persons. Governor Shettima has openly accused NGOs in the state of making money from the misery of his people.
Refugees International, a US-based advocacy group, in April published a report indicting both government and humanitarian agencies working in the northeast of abdicating their responsibilities while thousands of IDPs starved.
If the Borno state government and indeed, the federal government, are desirous of addressing the grave humanitarian crisis in the Northeast, it must take the crime of diversion of relief materials serious. Those involved in the crime are not ghosts, and it is inexcusable that up till now, neither NEMA nor the Borno state government has exposed those behind this serious crime that has led to the death of hundreds of IDPs, including children.
If government is not just paying lip service to rehabilitation of the Northeast, it must get tough with “thieves” stealing food items meant for IDPs.
This report was published as part of the IWPR-sponsored Fellowship
President Buhari was at the APC Mega Rally at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City
President Muhammadu Buhari has applauded the achievements of Governor Adams Oshiomole in Edo State and described Godwin Obaseki, candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Saturday’s Governorship Election, as the right person to succeed him.
Buhari gave the endorsement at the APC’s final campaign rally at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium on Tuesday in Benin, the state capital.
“Obaseki is a seasoned technocrat and I recommend him to you so that you can continue to grow the state’s developmental stride,” president Buhari said.
He also applauded what he described as the several achievements of Governor Adams Oshiomhole in the state.
Buhari said to the comrade governor: “I am grateful for inviting me to come today to identify with you. You have built schools and roads which I have seen myself,” he said.
The president said the Edo people should vote for Obaseki come Saturday, September 10, in order to sustain and continue with Oshiomhole’s “good works”.
He acknowledged that the country is going through certain economic challenges, but assured the people that his administration was on top of the matter.
President Buhari paid glowing tributes to the late Benin monarch, Oba Erediuwa, whom he described as a foremost traditional leader with unquestionable integrity.
“I have not seen any more forthright traditional ruler,” he said.
Earlier, the Edo State APC chairman, Anselm Ojezua, said the president’s visit would boost the party’s chances at the polls.
He said the party and its candidate had prepared very well and are ready for the elections, “But the president gracing the final rally will no doubt further enhance the chances of the party at the poll,’’.
“As for us, we have worked hard for the election, but the visit of Mr President today, Tuesday, is going to be an added advantage to us,” he had said.
