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To be or not to be?

That is the question that leaders the world over who have stayed more
than two decades in power must be asking themselves now, after the
avalanche of protests in the Arab world has crumbled otherwise
untouchable demi-gods. Of course, Muammar Gadaffi by now should know
that his days are numbered, not only in Libya but globally. He must be
beginning to realise that he is not invincible and so like the
unrepentant terrorist, is determined to take as many people as possible
with him.

During one of those
sessions where big issues are thrashed endlessly – sometimes leading to
disputes that will not benefit any of us, as the ‘big-big ogas’ being
argued about really do not care and do not know if we ‘small-small
people’ exist – somebody said, “If third term had succeeded, Nigerians
would have seized these worldwide protests as an opportunity to sweep
OBJ out”. Obasanjo did not succeed with that heinous plan and so we
really cannot say if my friend predicted correctly how Nigerians would
have reacted.

Everybody talked
about different protests taking place in their own domain and a good
friend of mine referred to a lady that could not recite the national
anthem but was still given the green light to go on being our
Ambassador without anybody protesting. I quickly cut in and talked
about the protest that is gathering momentum in the hushed voices of
entertainers.

Some comedians and
musicians asked me if entertainers could not file out and begin to
advocate for a Bank of Entertainment, where individuals involved could
go and access loans like is done in the Bank of Industry or Bank of
Agriculture.

One of the veterans
in the business complained about the bank he has been with for donkey
years refusing to give him a loan of just ₦300, 000 to prosecute a
small entertainment project that could employ about 10 youth monthly,
if actualised. They told him that the flow of cash in his account was
not consistent, so they could not give him the loan. He really was just
grumbling because if he takes up a placard who would listen to him?
Well, I have heard his cry that is why you are reading his protest.

The protest train
was passing by and everybody had to say something, so one woman talked
about how her children decided to protest by keeping quiet inside the
car for the rest of the journey home after school, when she went to
pick them up. After careful and very diplomatic insistence, she got the
youngest who was a five-year-old to talk and he said if their mummy
does not buy them ice cream from the sellers hanging around their
school gate, especially in this hot Abuja afternoon sun, like the
parents of their friends in class are wont to do, they would no longer
be chatting with her in the car on their way home from school.
According to my friend, “Dis kind of protest don wear face cap.”

The young lady said
she quickly had to put on her thinking cap in order to douse the
protest and kill that spirit once and for all. She said she told her
children that she has prepared their favourite meal at home as well as
restocked her fridge with their best fruit juice and she ended with
“all this ice-cream that is being sold on bicycles by these men by
their school gate are meant for the less privileged” adding that proper
food and juice meant for good children like them was waiting for at
home. All the placards on the faces of her children were dropped.

The protest ignited
under my nose was set upon me by the teachers in my children’s school
and whereas I was able to cleverly instruct my three children above
eight years, my little boy who just turned five came home asking
different questions at different intervals as the spirit gave him
remembrance.

“Daddy, how old are
you? What is your occupation? How much do you earn in a year? Do you
steal government money? Do you think I will still love you if you are
caught stealing government’s money? If I call you a thief, will you be
mad at me?” I wanted to make him know that indeed, I am already mad at
that teacher who put all these ideas in the mind of a little boy.

While I was trying
to protest to my wife about the little lad, the boy went to his school
bag and brought the written questions and they were his assignment for
the weekend. So are you going to answer the protesting boy or even the
teacher? Or are you not aware that the freedom of information bill has
scaled all huddles?

Dealing with politicians with controversial images

Anti-corruption fight is just one
out of several things I have done in my life. But I have done more than
that in my life. However, getting the chance to fight corruption, to
set up EFCC, I take it as one of the things I derive pride in. But
before that I was a lawyer, a prosecutor and member of an economic
management team. I did my job then, to the best of my ability. I left
it like that and I am a different person now. I am trying to get into
public service through elections. There is no other way to do it other
than to belong to a political party. I don’t want to belong to the PDP
because I know they are the problem of this country. My mission in
Action Congress of Nigeria is that I want to participate to re-build my
country. I am honest about it. We should never judge people on the
basis of what really happened before and say because we don’t trust you
or because of your character, you are excluded from Nigeria. We should
know that every one person would have something to contribute. At the
same time, it does not necessary mean that I am looking to work with
any bad person.

Nothing against Tinubu

I never prosecuted Tinubu, George
Akume, and all the other chieftains of my party. Ahmed Tinubu did not
do anything wrong at the time when I was there as EFCC boss, for me to
charge him to court. But because he fought PDP so badly, they want to
crucify him. In politics, you do not chose those who you can be with.
It has never happened anywhere in the world. There are politicians
today in Nigeria that I respect. Take, for example, Buhari. His own
campaign manager, Haruna, he put him in jail for three years. I worked
as an anti-corruption person in Nigeria. I know those who are corrupt.
I know those who stole money in our country. Secondly politics is about
people and should be all-inclusive. I don’t have the arrogance to feel
that any other person is less than me. I respect people and I recognize
people generally. It is their constitutional right to belong to a
political party. I cannot say just because I am a member of a political
party, I would therefore determine every single member of that
political party. It is humanly impossible. It is unconstitutional and
it is not right. If we continue to talk about others and all these
people you mentioned who are in my party, Ahmed Tinubu, Jolly Nyame,
George Akume, I think it is a little unfair to me. They have hammered
me on this man (Ahmed Tinubu0 and they could not get evidence and they
continue to shift the goalpost. I don’t know who they are going to
bring again very soon. Those impugning my political association with
some chieftains of the party, are carrying out a disservice to this
country because, for the first time, a chance will come to release
Nigerians from PDP’s bad governance, mismanagement and incompetence.

His apprehension about the elections

I’m worried about the behaviour
and attitude of PDP and they are bringing government agencies and
institutions to misuse them. The military should not allow it and
neither should the police allow themselves to be misused by the PDP
because they have no benefits out of it. PDP is desperate, we know that
INEC is resisting them. INEC for the first time is saying no, we are
not going to be used. I’m calling on the military to also say no, we
are not going to be used.

I am calling on the police to
stand on the side of Nigerians. Everybody including the military and
police must stand tall. Let Nigerians be the winners.

Financing his campaign

Campaign is about people. I don’t
go about throwing money like the PDP that spends over a billion every
day. These are monies supposedly meant for Nigerians, it is our own
money. Buhari has been running his campaign since 2002. Buhari is never
a rich person, but he has been funding his campaign. I’m not a rich
person and I am also doing the same thing. The same thing with Shagari
and the late Sardauna, Ahmed Bello. We have honest people who do not
have money but have been running their campaigns. And they have been
successful. Nuhu Ribadu has just entered in the continuation of that
tradition. Those who are using money to do what they like, go and ask
them.

His election plan

We would change our country and we
will relieve the country from the burden of mismanagement and
maladministration the PDP has lead us into. We will address the issue
of poverty, diversify the economy and convert it from oil dependence to
non-oil dependent economy that would create jobs for everyone who wants
to work.

My administration would reverse
this wastage that has taking place, where 75 percent of our money goes
into running of the government. We will cut that and put a lot of those
resources into growth and development, instead of just servicing the
government.

We will stop this nonsense that PDP brought to the country,
kidnapping, bombing, Boko Haram. They are all product of PDP, because
we did not know all that before. We will make Nigeria safe and secure.
Fortunately, It’s an area that I am fairly well grounded. I know
security and law enforcement. We will provide safety for our country
and we will never rest until we do those things. We are going to make
sure that we run a government that is transparent and accountable.

“The office of the INEC chairman is a
mausoleum of reputations. Hope Jega’s has not begun the journey to
embalmment,” a Nigerian commentator said of Saturday’s election
postponement.

The news first came via an
Ibadan-based journalist. He informed his editors in Lagos, that a
source told him, that INEC will postpone the National Assembly
elections. One of the editors dismissed it outrightly, saying there
would have been a formal announcement and the commission cannot do
that, “it would be disastrous,” he concluded.

But the other editors started to work
the phones. And bit by bit, information kept trickling in that the
elections would be cancelled. First, it was some parts of the Federal
Capital Territory. Then, Niger, Edo, Plateau, Ekiti, Rivers, and Taraba
States.

Some minutes after noon, the INEC big
masquerade, Attahiru Jega, in a press briefing, confirmed what some
Nigerians had suspected. The elections, he said, have been postponed
till Monday, April 4, while offering his apologies and regrets.

The initial reports across the country
were basically that of lateness. Anxious voters all ready and waiting
to exercise their franchise, but INEC officials were not in sight. A
drive across Oshodi-Isolo local government area of Lagos State between
9 and 9:30am revealed committed voters and security agents waiting on
the commission. Young men played football to while away the time and
accreditation of voters did not commence on time.

Mr. Jega’s excuse was that result
sheets were not ready for the elections. “The reason for this is the
unanticipated emergency we have experienced with late arrival of result
sheets in many parts of the country. The result sheets are central to
the elections and their integrity. Accordingly, in many places, our
officials have not reported at the polling units, making it now
difficult to implement the Modified Open Ballot procedure that we have
adopted,” the chairman said.

Mr. Jega assumed office in July 2010
and by August, the Senate approved N87.7 billion for INEC under his
watch; a situation that had never been witnessed before in the country.
The money was meant for vehicles, collapsible ballot boxes, voter
register review, hotel accommodation for state INEC electoral
commissioners, and other items. Mercifully, a further request for N6.6
billion last February to complete the voters’ registration that was
extended by a week, was turned down by the National Assembly.

Questions, more questions

As Nigerians debate the propriety or
otherwise of this postponement, there are many questions that ought to
be answered. The country was shut down yesterday and if the elections
will hold tomorrow, who bears the cost of tomorrow’s economic
paralysis? How true is it that some state governors’ attempts to
manipulate the elections prompted the non-availability of the result
sheets, thereby forcing a postponement? Is it better to suffer
postponement than to have elections fraught with irregularities? Will
anybody bear the cost of this late delivery, after all the money the
exercise has gulped?

The political science professor came
to office with a lot of goodwill, as nearly all Nigerians admitted he
is one of the best, for the thankless job of elections’ chief umpire.
Moreover, he was part of an electoral reform panel headed by former
Chief Justice Mohammed Uwais and the INEC job offered him a vantage
position to correct some of the ills the panel identified. But while
some Nigerians are still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt,
as seen in their comments after the postponement, will tomorrow’s
elections not witness similar hiccups? Is the commission truly ready
for the elections?

Good and credible election used to be regarded as a fanciful
concept, something beyond the reach of successive electoral bodies in
our country; can Attahiru Jega take us to the Promised Land?

From a half-built motorway toll station a 20-minute drive from Abidjan, several hundred troops loyal to Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara prepare for what their commander tells them will be the “final assault” to unseat his rival Laurent Gbagbo.

“It may still take days,” Issiaka Wattao acknowledges to Reuters before he rounds up the troops and leads them towards Abidjan in a convoy of 30 vehicles loaded with soldiers bearing Kalashnikovs. “But we are going to see this through. There is no retreat, no way”.

When the Reuters reporting team arrived, most of the soldiers were either resting or asleep. They have been on the frontline and the hangar of the toll station has become a makeshift base camp to replenish supplies and energy.

The mood is quiet, calm. “Bonne Arrive” “Welcome” is mumbled our way by several as they awaken and start freshening up.

A Toyota pickup arrives with sacks of baguettes, a culinary throwback to Ivory Coast’s days as a French colony. They are eagerly snapped up, with soldiers finally agreeing that it is one baguette between two men.

The armoury on display is surprising for its sheer diversity. Aside from rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and machineguns, some soldiers carry wooden truncheons and ornate scimitars.

A few wear gris-gris armbands made from animal skins. The amulets are supposedly bringers of good luck. Their function here is specific: to confer an anti-bullet invincibility.

“Are we going to take Abidjan or not?” cries out Wattao.

The shouted answer goes without saying.

“Don’t just shoot anywhere. Don’t go pillaging, that doesn’t help us. It is our country and we are going to save it. Let’s not add to the misery of the Ivorians,” he says before adding: “We are not rebels any more. We are the real army.”

Reuters

The general elections for the National Assembly have been sensationally postponed across all the states in the Federation until Monday 4th April.

In a statement by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) chairman, Attahiru Jega, an “unprecedented late arrival of result sheets” was the reason for the postponement.
Mr. Jega was quick to apologise to the millions of voters who had turned out as early as 6am and said he “deeply regrets” the shift in date.

He blamed unspecified vendors for the late arrival of the material which only reached Abuja at 9am on Saturday. According to Mr. Jega, the vendors equally blamed the situation in Japan for compelling them to divert the supply of result sheets.

The INEC chairman said that the lack of ballot papers was not really the issue but that it was the complete absence of results sheets in the 36 states that forced the postponement.

He could not comment on whether Monday 4th April would now be a public holiday but said that he expected the authorities would make an announcement imminently.
Mr. Jega expressed his confidence that there would be no further delays to the process because all electoral material had now arrived in the country.

Poor start

The elections had not started well as thousands of polling booths reported the late arrival of electoral material and INEC officials.
In Plateau, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Habu Hinna Zarma, revealed that almost 2 and a half million ballot papers failed to arrive in the state.

In Gombe, an administrative error saw gubernatorial electoral material sent to the state instead of National Assembly ballot papers.

Many polling booths in Abuja only received ballot papers for the House of Assemble and not for the Senate.

Address by the Chairman of INEC on Postponement of National Assembly Elections

A former governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori was, Saturday
morning set free from detention by a court in Dubai, the United Arab
Emirates.

Mr Ibori, who is facing a deportation request from the
London Metropolitan Police for trial in the United Kingdom to face
corruption charges, was freed on health grounds. The health of the
former governor is said to have deteriorated while in detention and he
is said to be suffering from high blood pressure.

A senior
government official confirmed the release of Mr Ibori. He however stated
that the decision was purely that of the Dubai justice official. The
official, who expressed shock at the news, however said the judgement of
the Dubai court ‘does not have anything to do with the charges Ibori is
facing here.’

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because he is not authorized to speak, also said he did not believe Mr
Ibori will return to Nigeria from Dubai. There has, however, been wild
celebration in Oghara and parts of Delta State, where freedom parties
are being arranged in honour of the former governor.

Unknown gunmen attacked the Dutsen Tanshi Police Station in Bauchi State on Friday evening around 7pm on Friday.

According to an eyewitness, the men arrived the police station, threw explosives and fired several shots before they fled the scene.

It is however not clear how many causalities were involved in the incident because it was dark and all the police officers had deserted the post.

The Bauchi State government subsequently deployed an army dispatch to the scene.

More to follow…

The presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria,
Nuhu Ribadu, yesterday faulted the deployment of the military for the
elections, saying this was another instance of the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party misusing government agencies and institutions in order to win elections.

Mr. Ribadu, who called on the military, police and other state
agencies to resist the attempt by the PDP to use them in stealing elections,
said he wanted them to “side with Nigerians.” “PDP is desperate, we know INEC
is resisting them. I am calling on the military to also say, no. We are not
going to be used. Everybody, including the military and police, must stand
tall. Let Nigerians be the winners, this time. Nigerians have always been the
losers in this game,” he said.

The opposition candidate, who spoke with journalists at his Yola
residence in Adamawa State, also accused the PDP of wastage and mismanagement
of the country’s resources.

“They are spending a billion naira every day for the last 3-4
months. These are monies meant for Nigerians -it is our money,” he said, adding
that the ruling party will be shocked because change has taken place.

Party for all

On his relationship with some of the ACN leaders, including Bola
Tinubu, whom the EFCC investigated for graft offences, Mr Ribadu said he never
prosecuted Mr Tinubu for corruption and that politics was about people and should
be inclusive.

“I have no right to exclude anybody. It is a constitutional
right to belong to a political party”, Ribadu said. “I cannot say just because
I am member of a political party, I would therefore determine every single
member of that political party. It is humanly impossible, it is
unconstitutional, it is not legal and it is not right. You cannot exclude
anybody,” Ribadu said.

He said his foray into politics was to seek the people’s mandate through the
ballot to offer service. “I am trying to get into public service through
elections. There’s no other way you can do it except to belong to a political
party. I don’t want to belong to the PDP because I know they are the problem of
this country,” he said.

Governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, yesterday recalled how he
was disgraced in Abeokuta where he was booed by the Peoples Democratic Party
{PDP} supporters, blaming former President Olusegun Obasanjo as the brain
behind the incident. This was just as he {Daniel} admitted that he had not
performed 100 percent in government in his last eight years of reign. “We have
not scored 100 percent in the last eight years. I’m not sure anybody that goes
into public service can score 100 percent, but I’m happy that we have turned
around Ogun State positively,” Mr. Daniel stated at a press conference he
addressed in his office in Abeokuta.

The embattled governor declared that Mr. Obasanjo cannot exempt
himself from the plot at the Goodluck Jonathan campaign event, stressing that
the former President was actively involved. “He is aware of those who booed me.
He is part of the organisers of those who boo me.” “At the rally, their paid
agents were booing me, I had to watch them have their way. The Baba [referring
to Mr. Obasanjo} we went to beg took the microphone, acting as if he was
chiding them,” the governor recalled.

Speaking further at the press conference jointly moderated by
some media executives – Reuben Abati, Femi Adesina and Biodun Oduwole – the
governor while responding to reporters’ questions said he would personally handover
to whoever wins the governorship election, contrary to speculations that he
would run away from the state before May 39, 2011 when his tenure expires. “Let
me tell you, I will personally handover to whoever wins the election as the
next governor, ‘Cowards die many times before their death’, he said, stressing
that he is not a coward and sees no reason why he should not handover to the
next government.

Return to business

On what will be his next line of action after leaving office,
more so that he would not be contesting, Daniel said he would return to his
private business, pointing out that ‘I have life before office and my family
needs me, I will go back to my business, I have money waiting for me”.
Justifying the defection of his party supporters to Peoples Party of Nigeria
{PPN}, Mr.Daniel said they felt cheated by the power within Peoples Democratic
Party {PDP}, hence, the resolved to leave enmasse. “Some of them have sold
their property, to contest for the primaries and won and for you to now say you
are snatching the tickets from them after the victories is nothing but
injustice,” he declared.

Also defending his action of sacking some of his political appointees,
Daniel explained that, they were sacked following their truancy at work,
recalling that a warning had earlier been given to them to attend a crucial
meeting, which they were so audacious not to attend. He argued that, an
employer has the right to terminate the appointment of any employee who refuses
to be responsible.

A former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nasir
El Rufai, yesterday described the National Security Adviser, Owoeye Asiza’s
directive that voters should vacate polling units immediately after voting as a
“huge joke.” Mr El-Rufai, who spoke in Abuja on Thursday while addressing
reporters on behalf of the Good Governance Group (3G), said Mr Aziza cannot
stop voters from monitoring their votes.

“He does not set the rule for election,” he said. Mr Aziza had,
at a one-day interaction with journalists on Wednesday, warned that a high
number of voters at a polling booth portends danger and could be a recipe for
mayhem. He said voters will not be assisting INEC in counting their votes
“people should just vote and go.” But Mr El-Rufai said the retired general’s
directive is a prelude to rigging, especially as the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) and the police have agreed that voters could stay
behind after casting their votes in so far as they would comport themselves in
an orderly manner.

He must be joking

“The NSA is joking, he is living in the past”, Mr El-Rufai said.
“We will stay and ensure that nobody tampers with our votes.” Mr El Rufai
warned that security officials constitutionally owe allegiance to the people of
Nigeria and not to any particular candidate.

He also joined the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to condemn
the involvement of the military in the forthcoming elections, saying it would
create a climate of intimidation to rig the elections.

“The plan consists of intimidating voters and precluding them
from coming out to freely elect candidates of their choice in the 2011
elections, particularly in areas where candidates having the support of the
government of the day appear to be unpopular.” Mr El Rufai said.

“Our country’s democratic aspirations and its prospects for
accelerated development can only be enhanced if a massive turnout of voters is
encouraged across the country. It will be a massive setback if the results were
to be influenced by fear-induced low turnout of voters.”

Respect the law

He urged international observers and all election monitors to
concentrate on the rural areas where, he said, “election rigging has always
been perpetrated in Nigeria.” Meanwhile, the international observers yesterday
called on political parties and their supporters to respect the code of conduct
they signed with INEC.

Kenneth Wollack of the National Democratic Institute, Festus
Mogae of the Commonwealth Observer Group, Alorjz Peterle of the European Union
observer group and Lorne Craner of the International Republican Institute, in a
jointly signed statement, also called on security agencies to contribute to a
peaceful environment, maintain the rule of law and safeguard the integrity of
the process.

We “encourage INEC at all levels to be independent and work
transparently during and after the polling, to accurately tabulate votes and to
post results at polling units,” the group said.