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Standing on the edge
of a sun-scorched ridge overlooking her broken farm, 68-year old
Philadelphia native Norma Perchonoc–who has lived in Nigeria for all of
her adult life–sums up the personal impact of the ongoing political,
religious, and economic strife in the country’s heartland.

“Life is not easy,”
she says simply, in one of many understatements during a tour of her
farm, which she says has gone virtually bankrupt in the aftermath of
terrible intercommunal violence in January 2010 in the once-thriving
“Middle Belt” region of Africa’s most populous country.

The farm is tucked
between outcrops of stones and squat hills on an elevated, table-like
plateau that resembles the southwestern deserts of the United States but
boasts a Mediterranean-like climate. The tan soil is sandy and
stubborn, but the weather and a good water supply left over from
extensive industrial tin mining in the area made central Nigeria’s
Plateau State a veritable Eden where farmers and traders, locals and
expatriates, coexisted in what some called the “microcosm of Nigeria.”
Local farmers generally supported themselves growing Irish potato and
other subsistence crops. Perchonoc’s Zamani Farms grew a cornucopia of
specialty produce, from Chinese cabbage to butternut squash to rocket
lettuce to strawberries and mulberries, catering partly to the wealthy
diplomatic corps in the capital city of Abuja. The harsh soil somehow
sprung to life under the tender watch of Perchonoc and her dedicated
staff, yielding fresh produce the staff could be proud of–and earning
salaries they could support their own families with.

Now, on the brink of
bankruptcy, Perchococ’s farm–her “retirement project” after she spent
decades teaching anthropology at two universities in northern
Nigeria–is one of several commercial farms overrun with financial and
logistical problems–not to mention trauma–that have ensued in the
aftermath of the bloodbath that occurred on its doorstep.

“We have many
problems since the crisis. Things are not the way they are supposed to
be,” she said, leathery-skinned, work-weary hands on hips as she
surveyed the scenic and haunted landscape.

A bloody crisis

Locals use the vague
euphemism of ‘crisis’ to refer to a series of brutal tit-for-tat
massacres across the verdant plateau region early last year. In the
village of Kuru Karama, a five-minute walk from Zamani Farms, a gruesome
day-long killing spree left more than 150 Muslim residents–including
babies and women–dead, according to initial reports by Human Rights
Watch. The Red Cross later removed scores more corpses, some of them
burned or buried alive, from wells throughout the village.

Not a single Muslim
from the Hausa ethnic group remains in the village today, which was
formerly home to around 3,000 people, both Christians and Muslims, from
several ethnic groups. It is now little more than a burned down ghost
town where artisanal tin mining done by new migrants to the area has
sprung up on formerly residential land. Subsequent reprisal attacks by
Muslims on Christians rippled throughout the Plateau region, with
hundreds of Christians deaths between January and March last year.

It is another
understatement to say that the violence struck close to home for
Perchonoc and the 30 Nigerians who worked on her farm. About half of the
workers and their families were murdered or are now unable to live or
work in the area because of their religion or ethnicity.

Zamani Farms is a
half-living memorial to the violence, a hollowed out shell of a
once-prospering and promising business. The starkly beautiful land that,
though challenging, once held the promise of good crops and good
business, now harbors disturbing memories of massacres and family
members turning against each other, suddenly split along sectarian lines
too deadly to cross.

The farm’s only
van–used in the past to transport crates of fresh fruits and vegetables
twice weekly to customers in the Nigerian capital of Abuja–fell into
disrepair earlier this year. Perchonoc does not have the money to get
the vehicle fixed, and besides, she says, the car mechanics in the
nearby city of Jos have either fled the city or been killed. She
struggles to get manure to organically fertilize her strawberry fields
because the cattle herders that used to move through the area refuse to
come near the farm after their cows were slaughtered en masse during the
wave of violence, killed by the same armed young thugs rumoured to have
been hired by the local government to execute a planned assault on
minority populations in the state.

Ethno-religious rifts

Perchonoc says she
is unable to employ farm workers of the same caliber as her dedicated
staff who were massacred or forced to flee and, more than a year later,
fear returning to the area. “Some are in hiding from their own family
members, who have threatened to kill them,” she says, evidence of the
apartheid-like split between formerly integrated Muslim and Christian
communities that caused displacement and migration of whole communities
after last year’s violence.

“Before the crisis,
there were Hausa and Fulani workers on the farm, both Muslims and
Christians, and we had no problems,” says Abdullahi Hashimu, 46, the
short, muscular marketing manager of the farm whose house was burned
down in the violence and whose family ran for their lives. Hashimu had
been in Abuja delivering produce for the farm when the killing sprees in
the nearby city of Jos erupted and spread to villages including Kuru
Karama. “We are now living in an environment where Muslims don’t go to
areas where Christians are, even the markets,” he said quietly.

“Since [the
violence] last year, we are not back to normal on the farm,” Perchonoc
says. Work stopped completely at Zamani Farms for three months after the
massacre in Kuru Karama, as Perchonoc first attempted to help her
traumatized workers seek treatment for their machete-wounded children,
among other problems. Some of the crops such as the farm’s specialty
lettuce, which require daily watering and a labor-intensive irrigation
system, fell fallow in the meantime. In order to keep her customers, who
include the British High Commission and other embassies and the Hilton
and Sheraton Hotels in Abuja, she bought tomatoes and other produce from
other local farmers while she tried to pick up the broken pieces of her
own business. She remains in debt to these farmers, unable to pay more
than the salaries of her workers and petrol for her decrepit 4×4
vehicle.

Perchonoc and her
staff rightly call last year the worst of their lives. She and Gumbo
Adamu, the man she calls her “right hand” on the farm, were briefly
kidnapped in an incident related to the ongoing insecurity and local
tensions in the area. Everyday brings new challenges that did not
afflict the farm before violence began blazing through the Middle Belt
and tearing it asunder. Everyday brings rumours of “silent killings” or
planned attacks or new deals between selfish politicians rumored to be
perpetuating the crisis for their personal gain.

Adamu is a tall
gentle-looking man who saw his community and his years of hard work to
build Zamani Farms fall apart in one fell swoop. He blames the local
religious leaders for fanning the flames of the now intractable problems
between former neighbours.

“The pastors and the mallams are causing this crisis,” said Adamu. “When this crisis is over, we’ll prosecute all of them.”

There is a bomb explosion in Borno State
almost every day, according to residents. Sometimes, two bombs go off
in one day, and then there are the executions by guns. Last Saturday,
around 10.30am at the Kasuwan Shanu junction where officers of the joint
task force called Operation Flush have a checkpoint, a bomb went off,
and the officers had to dive into a gutter. The next day at Abaganaram,
Railway junction, a witness said two gunmen went into a Vitafoam
dealership shop and killed the owner, while one of them walked to a
drawer and removed a parcel. On the eve of the governorship election on
Monday, two bombs went off on the outskirts of the city. On Tuesday, at
Umarrari Street, Boko Haram reportedly executed a young man who claimed
to have removed their bomb. On Wednesday, after election results were
announced, Boko Haram reportedly burned down a security post at the
renovated prison. On Thursday, at Kaura Mela, there was a bombing and a
shooting.

“Nothing has happened this Friday yet,”
says a journalist who has lived in the city for 10 years. “But then the
day is not over.”

According to a source close to the police, most of the bombs are planted by young boys known as Almajiris.

“They are not educated, they are
gullible and they have nothing to lose,” he says. “It is a
bastardisation of the learning process enjoined in the Qur’an. Their
parents dump them with the mallams, who send them out to beg for food,
which leaves them open to strong influences.”

According to an officer at the police
headquarters, police are frustrated by the fact that the boys recruited
by Boko Haram have no addresses.

“When you arrest them and ask where they
are from, you hear things like, ‘They brought me here from Katsina,
they brought me from Yobe’, et cetera. Where do you go from there?” says
the state police commissioner. “Some of the boys arrested told me they
could manufacture the improvised explosives themselves. So I tell you,
if all these boys can manufacture explosives, then we are in trouble…
Maiduguri is a warfront.”

On where the Boko Haram recruits get
these skills, Mr Zuokumor says that he has his theories but no hard
evidence. “It all started with the establishment of Boko Haram, but I
cannot pinpoint where yet,” he says. NEXT has learnt from sources that
some of the killers that have been hired for high profile jobs have
largely come from Somalia and the Middle East.

Save for an intervention today, Imo State may be the first state
to face an emergency rule on account of a failure to meet the election
deadline. Under the amended constitution and the Electoral Act, all elections
must be completed one month before the inauguration date, May 29.

As at today, April 29, Imo State remains the only state yet to
conclude its gubernatorial election. Election was held on Tuesday in the state,
but the results were declared inconclusive by the Independent National
Electoral Commission, (INEC).

INEC said a rerun will be conducted in three local government
areas of the state before a winner can be determined between incumbent, Ikedi
Ohakim of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and front runner, Rochas Okorocha
of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).

For a commission pressured with several deadlines after repeated
rescheduling of elections, conducting fresh polls in the affected areas of the
state today, just two days after the shift was announced, is “unlikely”, INEC
officials said yesterday.

If a winner does not emerge at the end of today, it will create
a “power vacuum” as INEC chairman Attahiru Jega put it last week when concerns
were raised about the possibility of concluding gubernatorial elections in
violence-hit Bauchi and Kaduna states. Mr Jega said the commission will do
everything to avoid an emergency rule in any part of the country but noted that
such efforts were limited.

INEC yesterday issued a statement urging calm while it consults
on the legal implications.

“In view of the difficulties experienced with the April 26, 2011
governorship and state assembly election in Imo State, which caused the
returning officer to declare the election inconclusive, the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) has consulted with its lawyers for advice
on the next line of action.” read a statement signed by Kayode Idowu,
spokesperson to Mr Jega.

Mr Idowu said the commission is scheduled to meet today, Friday,
April 29, to take a final decision, he urged “everyone concerned to be patient
and await further directives which will be communicated as soon as a decision
is taken, and to be peaceful and avoid taking the laws into their hands.”

Tensed atmosphere

Following Tuesday’s stalemate however, some incidents raised
suspicion and set the stage for the tension in Owerri, the capital of Imo
State. At the INEC office, scores of youth congregated and prevented vehicles
from entering the premises to avoid the smuggling of material into the office.

The National Chairman of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP),
Ogbonnaya Onu has said that the party would study the flaws and irregularities
that characterised the conduct of Tuesday’s gubernatorial and state Houses of
Assembly elections before making its stand on the election public. Mr Onu who
made this assertion in his Eze Adu country home in Uburu, Ohaozara Local
Government Area of Ebonyi State Wednesday, decried the level of intimidation of
opposition parties in Ebonyi State.

“It is left for the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) to put things right where they were done wrong, because the law permits
the commission to cancel elections in areas where there are evidences of
malpractice.” He said.

Speaking on the conduct of the election generally, the ANPP
Chairman said, “It is very clear that in some parts of the country, there was
very reasonable movement away from what it used to be in the past, but in the
Southeast; there are records of vehicles and houses of members and supporters
of opposition parties burnt in order to intimidate them.” He said there was
“Monetary inducement, intimidation and indiscriminate criminal use of ballot
papers by agents and proxies of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to
stuff ballot boxes. In most cases, ballot boxes were highjacked while voting
was ongoing and brought back later, after votes meant for opposition parties
might have been removed and already thumb-printed ones stuffed inside before it
is restored to the helpless INEC ad-hoc staff.”

Electoral offences

The ANPP governorship candidate in the state, Julius Ali Ucha,
bemoaned the outcome of the upturned National Assembly election results in the
state. “The National Assembly election result as it affected Ebonyi State was a
sham and its effect on ANPP supporters who voted massively for the party led to
their scanty participation in the presidential poll. Imagine where records of
the outcome of the NASS election results were upturned and entered in Form EC8B
meant for results summary instead of EC8A meant for results sheets,” Mr Ucha
stated.

Recounting series of reports of manhandling and intimidation of
ANPP supporters, the opposition party’s gubernatorial candidate alleged that
“at Umuogudu Akpu Ngbo in Ngbo Council Area, six ANPP agents deployed to
different polling booths were stripped naked by soldiers but were rescued by
police team from zone six.

“At Ezzaagu ward II Ishielu, that is the stronghold of ANPP
where we have 16 polling units, electoral materials were supplied without voter
register until 5pm when voters had waited and dispersed. Is that a conspiracy
with the ad-hoc staff of INEC and the government of the day?” Mr Ucha pondered.

Reacting to Mr Ucha’s allegation, Nwoba Pius, the Supervisory
Presiding Officer (SPO) said that the voters’ registers were initially omitted
in the electoral material supplied to the Ezzagu Ward II but were made
available later excluding the three polling units at Agba Ugama Central School
in Ezzagu in Ezza North Local Government Area of the state.

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Kwara State has rejected
the result of Tuesday’s gubernatorial and state house of assembly elections.
The party, at a press conference on Thursday in Ilorin, announced its rejection
of the electoral process “in its entirety and the outcome of the elections in
the state” and affirmed that it would be heading to the court to challenge the
results.

Addressing the media, the acting chairperson of the party in the
state, Kayode Olawepo, stated that violence would have erupted in the state
“after thousands of youth and women gathered at the family house of our
gubernatorial candidate to seek permission to go on rampage.

“But we pleaded with them to avoid spontaneous reactions and
needless loss of lives that may arise from such protest because the ruling PDP
is known to always cash in on such lawful protests to visit violence on the
people.”

The ACN’s candidate in the election, Dele Belgore, lost the
election to the candidate of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP),
Abdulfatah Ahmed, who was declared the winner by the returning officer of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Mr Ahmed won the polls by
254,969 votes while Mr Belgore polled 152,580 to come second.

Rule of thumb

Mr Olawepo alleged that PDP thugs in connivance with the police
and some soldiers intimidated the people of Kwara State, including supporters
of their party, during the elections which prevented them from casting their
votes. He also alleged that there were a number of instances where electoral
officials were seen thumb-printing the ballot papers for the PDP just as there
was open distribution of money and gifts to voters on the queue by party agents
while voting was ongoing, contrary to the Electoral Act.

Mr Olawepo further cited cases of inflation of accredited voters
and multiple thumb printing in a number of councils. He also claimed that there
was no accreditation at all in councils like Ojoku and Oyun. “All the INEC
staff did was to put the ink on the hands of the prospective voters and direct
them to go,” he said. “The rest was history as soon as the PDP stalwarts
occupied the polling units where they started thumb printing,” he alleged.
Underage voters were also alleged to have been deployed by the PDP in most
parts of the state.

According to the chairperson, who was accompanied to the press briefing by
Mr Belgore and all the party’s candidates to the state house of assembly,
“There are ample evidence to back up all these claims of electoral malpractices
and brigandage by the PDP which is desperate to perpetuate itself by all means
necessary despite its dismal record of performance in the last eight years.” He
made known his party’s decision to head to the electoral tribunal to challenge
the elections “on the basis of all the evidence we have accumulated, to restore
the mandate of the people.”

The Sokoto State chapter of the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC) has rejected the results of Tuesday’s state assembly and Sokoto North
senatorial zone elections.

The party disclosed the decision at a news conference in Sokoto
on Wednesday night addressed by its Sokoto North Senatorial Zone candidate, Usman
Balkore.

Mr. Balkore, a former member of the House of Representatives,
said “after a careful review of the events that took place during the just
concluded Sokoto North and State Assembly elections, we are constrained to
reject the results of the elections based on some fundamental flaws that
characterised the exercise.”

He alleged that there was open, reckless and widespread monetary
inducements of voters at polling stations in violation of the electoral laws.

“Some of these incidences were captured and promptly reported to
relevant authorities but continued unabated throughout the exercise.

“A significant number of polling stations commenced voting
without prior accreditation of voters. In some polling units, voting was
concluded as early as 11am with impunity; the relevant authorities were duly
notified,” he alleged.

According to Mr Balkore, there were also cases of outright
rigging and ballot box stuffing which were observed and also reported.

The former lawmaker said “deliberate obstruction and in some
cases forceful abduction of our polling agents were recorded in several polling
units.

More irregularities

“These criminal violations were also reported and investigations
are ongoing as well as alleged violent harassment and intimidation of voters,”
he said.

Mr Balkore also alleged mischievous and illegal exclusion of the
party’s senatorial candidate’s name and party from participating in the
election in Gudu Local Government Area.

“This development was noted and promptly reported to the
Director of Administration and Head of Operations of INEC in Sokoto Office ,”
he said.

According to him, sequel to these allegations, “it is abundantly
clear that, there were significant and incontrovertible violations of the
electoral laws and INEC stipulated guidelines for the conduct of a free and
fair election”.

“It is, therefore, right to conclude that there was no
level-playing ground as the elections were rigged, voters disenfranchised and
the exercise lacked transparency and credibility,” he said.

Reacting to the allegations, the Resident Electoral Commissioner
in Sokoto State, Husseini Mahuta said the elections were free, fair and
transparent “Anybody who is aggrieved can, however, seek redress in the
tribunals and INEC will produce the required evidences to support such
electoral litigations.

“The recent elections were remarkable departure from the past
and the achievements recorded in the 2011 polls will be further improved in
subsequent elections,” Mr Mahuta said.

It would be recalled that the PDP had won all the National and State
Assembly seats in Sokoto State in the just-concluded April polls.

Vice President Namadi Sambo has given assurance that President
Goodluck Jonathan would involve all Nigerians in his administration
irrespective of party affiliation, tribe or religion.

Mr Sambo who made the declaration shortly after casting his vote
at camp road polling unit Kabala Doki, thanked Nigerians for voting massively
for PDP during the presidential and governorship elections.

“We thank God that today everything is going very calm and peaceful
and I would like to use this opportunity to express my appreciation to all
Nigerians for the confidence bestowed in us during the last presidential
election.

Assuring Nigerians

“We want to assure Nigerians that we will not fail them. Today
the trust will be seen and I must congratulate all Nigerians for the right
decision.” The vice president alongside his wife, Amina voted around 1.25pm
amidst tight security, just as there was low turnout of voters in many polling
stations across the state. The low turnout was attributed to fear of any fresh
violence during the election coupled with the crisis that engulfed the state
last week.

He condoled the victims of the post election violence that broke
out in some parts of the north, assuring that all the culprits involved in the
mayhem would be brought to book.

“I want to seize this opportunity to also express my sincere
sympathy and condolence to the victims of the last violence that took place and
pray that Almighty God will grant us continued peace in this country.

“But I must also seize this opportunity to inform Nigerians that
all culprits would be taken in accordance to the law of this country and this
administration would not sit down to allow people to take law into their hands.
However, we are working hard to ensure that the sad experience does not occur
again.”

Mr Sambo said that investigation into the recent crises will
soon commence and those that were affected will be investigated and proper
investigation would be taken to ensure that government does the right thing in
ensuring that people do not unnecessarily suffer in this country.

A new political era seems to have emerged in Kwara State with
the decimation of the political machinery of Olusola Saraki, the hitherto
strong man of the state’s politics by the victory of the People’s Democratic
Party in Tuesday’s governorship election.

Besides that, the political rivalry between the leader of the
Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) and his son, Bukola Saraki, who is the
state governor, seems to have been resolved – naturally.

Following the older Saraki’s endorsement of his daughter,
Gbemisola Saraki, currently a senator, to aspire to be the state’s PDP
governorship candidate, a gulf emerged between the duo of the father and
daughter, on the one hand, and the governor on the other, with their loyalists
across the state divided on both sides.

Mr Saraki, popularly referred to as ‘Oloye’ by his loyalists, is
well known for determining the political fate of Kwarans since the creation of
the state in 1967. It was gathered that no governor has ever governed the state
without his consent, ranging from the military administrators to the
democratically elected governors.

Although the governor made efforts to reach an understanding
with his father, he was not successful, as his father was determined to make
his daughter the next governor of the state. When that became difficult, he
defected to the ACPN, along with his daughter, to achieve his aim.

Unfortunately for the political icon, end has finally come to
his political struggle as he conceded victory to his son in the just concluded
governorship election in the state.

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate, Mohammed Dele Belgore,
had also threatened the authority of Mr Saraki by standing out to unseat the
ruling party as well as defeat the kingmaker. Following the collapse of an
attempted alliance between the ACN and the ACPN, Mr Saraki’s hope of remaining
the father of governors in the state was cut short.

End of an era

Mr Saraki, a Second Republic Senate leader and Waziri of Ilorin,
was born on the 17th of May, 1933, in Ilorin, Kwara State. His mother was from
Iseyin in Oyo State and his father from Ilorin. His paternal ancestors were
Fulanis who came from Mali about 150 to 200 years earlier.

He was educated at Eko Boys High School. He attended the
University of London, and St. George’s Hospital Medical School, London. He
worked as a medical officer at the General Hospital, Lagos, and the Creek
Hospital, Lagos.

In 1977, Mr Saraki was elected a member of the Constituent
Assembly that produced the 1979 constitution. In 1979, he was elected a Senator
of the Second Republic, and later became Senate leader. In 1983, he was re-elected
into the Senate under the platform of the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

He then sponsored Adamu Attah, who emerged as the governor
between 1979 and 1983. Mr Attah’s inability to meet up with some laid down
rules and his attempt to seek re-election in 1983 led to crises between him and
his godfather, Mr Saraki.

Mr Saraki eventually declared his support for the then Unity
Party of Nigeria (UPN) candidate, Cornelius Adebayo, on the eve of the election
and this led to the downfall of the NPN in the race.

In 1998, Mr Saraki became a national leader and member of the
board of trustees of the All People’s Party (APP), contributing to the party’s
success in Kwara and Kogi States. He assisted Mohammed Alabi Lawal in becoming
governor of Kwara State.

Following a disagreement between him and Mr Lawal, Mr Saraki
switched allegiance to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and in the 2003
elections supported his son, Bukola Saraki, as candidate for governor of Kwara
State, and his daughter as senator for Kwara State Central.

With his son’s two-term tenure coming to an end in May, 2011,
and in a bid to continue calling the shots in the state’s politics, he threw
his weight behind his daughter’s quest to take over from her brother as
governor of Kwara.

But this has finally proved impossible, a situation analysts say may have
ended the political dominance of the state by Mr Saraki, and indeed rendered
the Saraki political dynasty irrelevant in the scheme of things in the state.

At least three
people were feared dead while scores were injured yesterday in renewed
hostilities between two rival youth gangs in Ekpan community in Uvwie
Council of Delta State.

Commercial
activities and social life were paralysed in the community as shops,
offices and market places were closed down following the terror
unleashed by the rampaging youths. Some residents were seen fleeing the
community, which has been a battle ground for four days.

The community has been embroiled in communal conflicts between two warring youth groups over the leadership of the youth body.

It was gathered
that heavy fighting commenced as soon as the governorship and state
house of assembly polls were rounded off in the area, which caused
stampede as voters scampered for safety in nearby buildings.

A resident, Andrew
Okotete said yesterday’s clash erupted when one unidentified youth was
shot dead by a rival group, which prompted both women and young men to
take to the streets to vent their anger over the gruesome killing of
the youth.

“We are tired of
these senseless clashes by youths in this community. Our lives and
properties are no longer safe in this locality. Many of us including
our children cannot sleep at night anymore following the heavy gun
shooting from the opposing gang members. We are now at the mercy of
these warring youths.

“We call on the
government of the day to do something as a matter of urgency to address
the situation in Ekpan community before it gets out of hands. We can no
longer continue to live in the land of lawlessness and chaos as if
there is no government in this country,” he stated.

The Divisional
Police Officer (DPO) in the area, Muazu Mohammed, confirmed the
incident, but said it was only one person that was killed, adding that
officers had been drafted to the area to maintain law and order.

According to him,
“We have deployed our anti-terrorist team to the area and they have
been positioned at strategic locations. We are very optimistic that our
men will be able to curb the crisis with the hope of bringing normalcy
to the area.”

Women protest

Meanwhile, over 50
women yesterday took to the streets of Ekpan accusing a prominent
leader of the area, Newton Akpofodor of being the brain behind the
perennial violent clashes in the community.

The women who sang
war songs in Uvwie language, appealed to the Federal Government to take
over the matter, calling for the arrest of Mr Akpofodor as the only way
peace could return to the community.

The traditional
ruler of Uvwie, Emmanuel Sideso, at the weekend, expressed dismay over
the crisis which has bedevilled the community, accusing the Council
Chairman, Peter Abugewa, and Mr Akpofodor, of fanning the embers of
violence in the area.

He noted that the
major reason they were arming the youths was because they wanted their
businesses to be protected, warning that such untoward actions were not
good for peace and security as well as the overall development of the
area.

He bemoaned the general insecurity in the community as a result of the periodic crisis masterminded by them.

The monarch noted
that “Security is a problem in my Kingdom. When I was enthroned I
established palace security to complement the efforts of the local
government and we have been working very hard. I want change and
improvement. Some of the problems are traceable to the key people who
have loyalists to protect their interests. “

“What is happening is criminal. When they are arrested, you find out they are released immediately.”

The People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) candidate and incumbent governor, Theodore
Ahamefula Orji, was yesterday declared the winner of the Abia
governorship election. The PDP also won all 24 seats in the state House
of Assembly.

Mr Orji emerged as
the winner having polled 641,158 votes to beat 19 other contestants.
Reagan Ufomber of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) came a
distant second with 49,421 votes and Chris Akomas of the PPA got 43,778
votes.

The chief
returning officer for the state and vice chancellor of the
Umudike-based Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Hilary Edoga,
said he had certified the results collated in the various local
governments and that Mr Orji won the elections conducted on Tuesday.

The result, which
showed that none of the opposition candidates won 25 percent of the
votes cast, even in their home constituencies, was rejected by the
oppositions’ agents who refused to sign, saying there was no election
in the state.

The deputy
director of campaigns for the ACN, Eke Igwe, said the election was a
sham. He said the PDP collaborated with security operatives to chase
away voters and carried away ballot papers to thumbprint them in their
private houses before bringing them to the units.

The chairman of
the APGA in Isiala Ngwa North, Godwin Ibendiogwu said that in some
units in Nbawsi, the party’s agents were beaten up and the materials
carried away. He described the whole exercise as a sham.

Reacting to Mr
Orji’s victory, the state commissioner for information and strategy,
A.C.B. Agbazuere said the Abia electorate has, by voting overwhelmingly
for the governor, demonstrated their gratitude to him for bringing them
out of bondage and delivering democracy dividends to the people.

In the rescheduled national assembly election in Isiala Ngwa north
and south federal constituencies, Chinenye Ike of the PDP was also
declared winner.