Open Memo To President Muhammadu Buhari On The Impending 2023 APC Presidential Primary

Your Excellency, 

It isn't my intention to bother you with details of the drama of the absurd that attended the emergence of another Fulani - not even the majority Hausa ethnic nationality in the North - as the candidate of the major opposition party, the PDP. It happened because of two factors:  

First was the betrayal by prodigal Southern governors. They were the same ones disturbing our peace with threats of an Armageddon that would engulf the nation if the presidency doesn't rotate to the South in 2023. But each of them bought the pie in the sky of being made the running-mate. After all, in their world view, it is better to be servants in Paradise than rulers in Hell. 

Second, it was a bitter lesson for under-age school-boy politicians in the South to be tutored in the art of deception and betrayal by Fulani masters of the game. 

Unholy Siege In Rivers State

By Dickson Okonta  

The story of the March 19 re-run elections in Rivers State is that of perilous siege. It is the story of a state being held hostage by forces of darkness whose main intent is to unleash a reign of terror on the environment. A major accomplice in this unholy siege is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Under the headship of Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, it has become an object of unedifying banters; hardly living up to its billing. It has never conducted any election that can, strictly, speaking, pass the test of substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

President Buhari and Rotimi Amaechi 

In Kogi and Bayelsa states, for instance, the commission gave us a travesty of an election. Both could not be concluded in one ballot. They were, as has become customary, declared inconclusive. The Kogi scenario will, for a long time to come, pass for one of the sore points of our national struggle to join the league of democratic nations. In Bayelsa State, the elections were almost marred by violent conducts. INEC displayed lack of capacity. But the Kogi and Bayelsa scenarios pale into insignificance when the case of Rivers state is introduced into the mix. In Rivers, the commission presented the image of a lame duck. It just could not handle the re-run elections satisfactorily. Even when the commission declared to the world that it was ready for the exercise, everything ended up shoddily.

The commission allowed security agents whose role was the protection of life and property to intrude into and hijack the electoral process. The security agents abandoned the job they were sent to do and, instead, made themselves a part of INEC’s complements of staff. In the face of this dereliction on the part of INEC and the security personnel, the exercise ended in a fiasco in a number of places. That was why INEC cancelled the exercise in about 10 constituencies. The commission was responding to its own mess. But weeks after the conduct of the elections, the commission is still holding on to the results of some of the constituencies. It has been releasing the results piecemeal, thus creating the impression that election is a mystical exercise. You have to employ the expertise of diviners to decode the meaning of what you are into.

In the case of Rivers State, the commission has given an impression that it is taking instructions from a vested interest. Otherwise, why is INEC so incapacitated in its own election? The delay in releasing results is causing anxiety and heightening tension in the state. People now believe that the results of the elections are being manipulated to serve the interest of INEC’s masters.

Buhari, APC Spent Corruptly Sourced Billions Of Naira For Campaign

Press Statement

*Buhari

Buhari’s $300,000 Saga: We Have Been Vindicated- PDP….Insists On Truth Commission

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the denial by President Muhammadu Buhari on the alleged benefiting from funds relating to the arms deal scandal, and the consequent controversy trailing it underscores the need for a more neutral and transparent body like an independent National Truth Commission to examine all issues relating to handling of security votes and campaign funding without interferences from the government.

The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh on Wednesday said the leak that President Buhari benefited from the office of the former National Security Adviser against the convention of dealing with the office of the SGF also stresses the fact that the war against corruption should be holistic, transparent and not politicized. 

“We challenge this administration to a no-holds-barred public inquisition on all issues of security votes and campaign expenses. This is more so as we have evidence that President Buhari and the APC budgeted and spent billons of naira corruptly sourced for their Presidential campaign, in addition to on-going sleazes in the system under the APC government.

Nigeria: O Justice, Where Are You?

By Chibiko Nwakaudu

I have watched the judicial terrain as regards the electoral jurisprudence with trepidation and grave concern. This era is without doubt the worst for those seeking justice in the several electoral matters that have been brought to the tribunals and some of the superior courts.

I must make this clarification early. I am not a lawyer. I am just a right-thinking member of the Nigerian Community who has been dismayed by the happenings in the hitherto temple of justice. I further declare that the views here are my personal observations and conclusions, based on my interpretation of the ugly situation in the country.

Indeed, anyone who is a close observer of the nation’s judicial system since May 29, would agree that the delivery of justice is facing un-mitigated challenge and interference from external quarters. The aim of the interferences are targeted at manipulating the justice system to favour the political party at the centre, the APC.

Therefore, we have a situation where different tribunals and appellate courts deliver judgments on the platforms of the political affiliation of the affected litigants. In other words, the relevant laws, especially the constitution and the Electoral Act count for nothing. The judgments being churned out are mere political essays, but backed by the force of law because those reading the essays wear judicial robes and are constituted by the relevant judicial authorities.

Otherwise, these judgments on electoral matters, so far, are merely akin to the permutations of the chairmen of town unions. You know town union chairmen pass their rulings under the guidance of the powerful members of the unions, who would have instructed them to do so. Though these town unions have by-laws, they are hardly referred to.