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The governorship
candidate of the Congress for Progressive change (CPC) in Enugu State,
Osita Okechukwu has said forensic examination of the ballot papers used
in the April 16 Presidential poll will expose the alleged massive
rigging of the election by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in
the south east and south-south zones of the country.

Reacting to the
allegation that the CPC lost the election in the zones, Mr Okechukwu,
in a statement yesterday, said “Forensic test anchored on biometrics
technology, will expose the jumbo allocation of votes to the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) in the South East and south-South; characterized
by monumental ballot stuffing” .

“We are assembling
our evidence and will expose to the world the hitech-rigging which
polluted the presidential election. We are not crying wolf, where there
is none. We are not bad losers.”

The governorship
candidate, who is also the spokesperson for the Conference for Nigerian
Political Parties (CNPP), denied claims that intra-party crisis rocked
the party’s election in the zones, adding that no major political party
is free from such crises.

According to him,
the fractionalization of the CPC is not worse than that of the PDP, and
insisted that no hatchet or settled group should use intra-party crisis
as an excuse.

“Let them go in
peace with their loot; but they cannot stop us from presenting our
evidence in the Presidential Tribunal,” Mr Okechukwu said.

He recounted that
there was low turnout of voters in the five state that comprise the
south east zone during the presidential poll, which he said hovered
around 35 percent.

He said, “We
maintain that the low turnout at the presidential election, especially
in the South East, hovered between 30% and 35% and therefore the result
posted is untenable and outrageous.

“No electorate throughout history rewards a political party which
failed to provide common infrastructure like electricity; it will be
inconceivable that Nigerian electorate rewarded PDP for decade stretch
of failed promises. On Forensic Test and Biometric Technology we depend
to prove our case; not on propaganda.”

The Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Bauchi State has called on the government
to immediately lift the dusk to dawn curfew imposed in the state,
threatening to break the law where necessary if the curfew is not
lifted.

The government
had, in the wake of the violence that followed the presidential
election, imposed the curfew in an attempt to restore peace to the
state. But opposition parties say the government is abusing the curfew.

Speaking to
reporters at a press briefing yesterday at the state Secretariat of the
NUJ, the Director-General of Baba Tela Gubernatorial Campaign
Organisation, Isa Matori, accused the government of using the curfew to
frustrate the opposition in the state.

“Having reviewed
the circumstances carefully, we call on authorities concerned to note
that calm has returned to Bauchi and the people are more circumspect
about actions that undermine peace and security,” he said.

“In view of this,
we urge that the curfew be lifted with immediate effect to allow for
voting without hindrance in a process that will go way into the night.
Maintenance of the curfew is a ploy by the PDP-led government to shut
people in their homes in order to manipulate the results of the
elections.”

‘Government is bias’

Mr Matori also accused the government of bias in its enforcement of the curfew.

“While the curfew
is still in place, the government is busy giving movement permit to its
PDP supporters to continue with their campaigns and consultations as
well as meetings but denying those of the opposition,” he said.

“If the curfew is
not lifted, we will ask our supporters to move freely and protect their
votes during the gubernatorial elections no matter what happens. We
will break the law if it becomes necessary to defend our right”

The opposition
politician condemned what he said was the indiscriminate arrests and
detention, as well as the alleged use of security agents in the state
to intimidate his candidate’s supporters.

“It is our belief
that the PDP-led government of Bauchi State is using security agencies
to scare other political parties and their supporters in order to have
their way in subsequent elections,” he said.

While condemning
the recent post-election violence in the state, which led to the loss
of lives and properties worth millions of Naira, Mr Matori called on
government to urgently compensate those affected and to also prevent a
recurrence.

He also called on the government to address poverty and unemployment
which, he said, are the bane of the teeming youth and the root cause of
their restiveness.

The Lagos State
Emergency Management Agency has evacuated 222 corps members posted to
different northern states who are indigenes of Lagos. The agency’s
general manager, Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, told journalists while receiving
the corps members, who arrived over a two-day period, that more corps
members who are in violent prone areas will be promptly evacuated.
“When we received distress calls from the NYSC members serving in the
northern states, especially Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, we sought permission
from Governor Babatunde Fashola to activate our emergency response
plan,” he said. “As we speak, effort is on to move corps members from
different locations to the nearest airport where they can be flown to
safety.”

Nowhere is safe

Jimoh Nonayon, one
of the rescued corps members, said he had to call his friends in Lagos
to get state government officials’ phone numbers because nowhere, apart
from military barracks, was safe in Kano State. “We were very afraid,”
he said. “I contacted some of my friends, who gave me some numbers of
Lagos State Governor Fashola. I tried to send him a text on that Monday
evening. So, I thank God on Friday. They called us back that they are
coming to convey us.”

Though, riots broke
out in many northern states following the outcome of the April 16
presidential election, Mr Oke-Osanyintolu, responding to why it took
days before any rescue plan could be implemented, said the state
government had to monitor “the situation closely to see how it will pan
out and when we saw the need to act, we did immediately .” “The
evacuation process still continues,” he said. “Our men are on the
ground strategically at Jigawa, Gombe and Bauchi. We are not even
talking about the indigenes of Lagos State alone. We evacuated those
whose parents are in Lagos and others who want to come to Lagos for
safety.”

My experience

Mr Nonayon said he
came out of his lodge one day and “saw some gang of guys coming with
cutlasses and sticks.” “We call them Almajiri,” he said. “They were
shouting as they came, all I could hear from what they were saying ‘Sai
Baba, Sai Baba, CPC Sai Baba’. A man riding bike told us to run back
into the lodge. We were told that they were targeting non-indigenes,
corps members and supporters of other political parties that are not
really in support of CPC (Congress for Progressive Change). They
believed that corps members rigged the election in favour of President
Goodluck Jonathan.”

According to him,
some police officers came to their aid, hiding and locking them up in a
room while the rioters went on a destructive rampage, burning almost
every government structure. The rioters were said to have left with a
promise to go and reinforce. The corps members were informed that the
police station was no longer safe. The police authorities at the
station ordered that they be moved to the Bokavo Barracks before the
rioters’ return. “A lot of corps members ran for their lives,” he said.
“Rioters pursued some of them; and some were stabbed. But presently, in
Kano we have not really recorded any loss of life.”

Uneasy calm

The corps members
said National Youth Service Corps officials tried to persuade them not
to flee to their homes but stay in the barracks. “NYSC officials came
to address us but from the address, it was clear they have no plan for
saving our lives,” said Monday Alidumkwu, a corps member. “What they
wanted was for us to stay back and finish the gubernatorial elections,
but the rioters were saying that the violent outbreak of presidential
election was a child’s play. They said they decide who governs their
state.”

Mr Alidumkwu said
he was supervising a senior secondary schools external examination when
the riots broke out and had to flee with some of the scripts already
submitted by exam candidates. “I did not even go back to WAEC office
because doing so will be like dashing them my life,” he said.

Electoral problem

Mr Alidumkwu, who
also worked as a presiding officer during the polls, said he will not
go back to conduct the gubernatorial election, even if offered N1
million.

Another corps
member, who also worked as a presiding officer, Adekeye Oludare, said:
“Even if I am still there, I cannot go out to conduct election. [Party]
agents threatened us and the policemen attached to us were not armed.
So, the policemen were just begging us to comply with their demands. In
the last election, I was almost beaten. We were about to start counting
the votes and some people came telling us they went to go and pray and
they now want to vote. When I refused, they threatened to beat me. I
called the police but they did not show up. I had to allow them because
I was there alone in that village. So, after that election, I already
told INEC officials that I will not show up for the gubernatorial
election.”

The leadership of four political parties presenting
candidates in today’s elections in Enugu State have inspected both
sensitive and non-sensitive materials received from the national
headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
ahead of the polls.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the
state, Josiah Uwazuruonye disclosed this in a telephone interview with
NEXT yesterday.

He listed the parties as the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Peoples for
Democratic Change (PDC) and the Labour Party (LP).

Mr Uwazuruonye said that the leadership of the
parties were invited to monitor the distribution of the materials to
the local government areas, but that only four of them showed up.

He explained that the commission took the decision in
order to avoid complaints and troubles, which could mar the smooth
conduct of the polls.

Corps members not afraid

The REC said that the commission is ready for the
governorship and state assembly election, adding that “by now, I
believe that the commission’s officials in the 17 local government
areas would have commenced their own part of the work.” On the
preparedness of the members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)
for the polls, the REC said there are no indications that the corps
members engaged in Enugu State are afraid that what befell their
colleagues in some parts of the north, will happen to them.

Mr Uwazuruonye assured that adequate security measures have been put in place to ensure their safety during the polls.

There are about seven governorship candidates in
today’s election. The governorship candidates are the incumbent,
Sullivan Chime of the PDP, Okey Ezea of LP, Dan Shere of PDC and Osita
Okechukwu of CPC.

Others are Valentine Nnaedozie of the Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN), Obinna Obiegue of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Nnamdi
Anigbo of Change Advocacy Party (CAP), Robert Eze of the All Nigeria
Peoples Party (ANPP), Chinoyelum Ojiejemba of the National Conscience
Party (NCP) and Anya Ibekwe of NPP.

The governorship
candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria in Niger State, Abubakar
Bawa Bwari, has denied media announcements that he has stepped down for
the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change in today’s
election.

Mr Bwari said there
have not been any merger talks between his party and the Congress for
Progressive Change and all such insinuations are false.

“They are the
handiwork of selfish people used to working for themselves. They held
an illegal meeting and proceeded to announce an illegal alliance that
has no foundation in truth,’’ he said.

The state
coordinator of his campaign organisation, Abubakar Magaji and other
officials of the party had earlier announced that Mr. Bwari was no
longer running.

NEXT learnt that at
a Sunday night meeting, Mr Magaji had impressed upon his candidate the
need to form an alliance with the CPC in order to defeat the ruling
party’s candidate, Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu.

However, according
to a source at the meeting, Mr Bwari had insisted on running because
despite the poor showing of the ACN at the two previous elections, he
still fancied his chances.

The party chairman,
Isah Mokwa had reportedly told the candidate that if he refused to join
the alliance he will be going into the election without the support of
the party machinery.

A stalwart of the
party who preferred not to be named, said no party in the state can
defeat the PDP by itself and the only hope lied in such an alliance.

The source said
based on what he called ‘performance’ the CPC, which had already
produced a senator and members for the House of Representatives, has
the right to produce the governor in such an alliance.

Mr. Bwari however
said yesterday that, “I am not stepping down for anybody and has not
contemplated stepping down for anybody. I want all our supporters to
come out and vote en masse for the ACN tomorrow.’’

With the failure of the alliance, the chances of the incumbent who
had reportedly been worried by the pact have decidedly increased.
However, the race is still going to be a hard one between the PDP and
the CPC in Niger State.