Nigeria Content Online

The Anambra Central
senatorial candidate of Accord Party, Annie Okonkwo, has described
reports that he has stepped down for Chris Ngige of the Action Congress
of Nigeria as “wicked, false and misleading.” Mr. Okonkwo, the
incumbent senator, who defected from the People’s Democratic Party to
re-run for the senate, said he is still in the race saying reports that
he has withdrawn from the senatorial race which was published on
Saturday by some national dailies as false. “I wish to state
categorically and emphatically that the said information is a base lie,
suggestive of the desperation of its beneficiary and sponsors, whose
exposed underbelly clearly marks them out as undeserving of an elevated
senatorial seat.” Mr. Okonkwo said.

News of the
incumbent senator’s withdrawal was spread on Friday morning as part of
the April Fool’s day antics of some politicians. He said the joke went
too far after it was published in some dailies. “I request my
appreciated voting public of Anambra Central to completely ignore this
fever induced midday fantasy and please go all out emasse on Saturday
to stamp the authority of their preference for me with the enormous
power of their votes and patience,” he added.

National sacrifice

Meanwhile, the
Senate President, David Mark, who is also re-running, has asked
Nigerians to come out enmasse to elect members of the 2011 National
Assembly during the rerun election. He pleaded that the set-back
occasioned by the postponement of the exercise on Saturday should be
seen as a national sacrifice, and exhibit high level of patriotism in
this exercise to ensure that the elections of 2011 reflects the wishes
and yearnings of the nation. “This is a temporary set-back,” he said.
“It will test our resilience and perseverance as a people determined to
chart the right course for our generation and those yet unborn. I
believe that if we get it right this time, we would have laid a solid
foundation that would be built upon by successive administrations and
people.” He was optimistic that the Independent National Electoral
Commission, (INEC) would rise up to the occasion after the
short-comings that necessitated the postponement and conduct free, fair
and credible elections that would meet international standard and
satisfy all stakeholders.

The President of the Senate also cautioned political parties and
candidates to guide their utterances. “We must guide our utterances and
actions so that we would not unwittingly inflame anger or provocation.”

Attahiru
Jega, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission is
receiving a lot of flak, and many will say rightfully so, for the
fiasco which unfolded on Saturday. He postponed the National Assembly
election because according to him, an “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.’’

The electoral body
appears to have had serious logistic failures that meant voting
materials like ballot papers and score sheets didn’t reach their
destination on time. This is the official explanation. However, in
Nigeria nothing is ever that straight forward. Theories abound about
the real reasons for the postponement. They include a conspiracy theory
that suggests Mr. Jega is being sabotaged by his own staff who have
been ‘settled’ so he can be disgraced and forced to resign; to rumours
about governors who hijacked election materials forcing Mr. Jega to
first consider postponing election in a few states, and then nationwide
because it became clear that theft of electoral material was once more
widespread than INEC first realised.

There is also a
rumour that this is a ploy by incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan to
postpone elections to extend his tenure of office. Then there are those
who say that the President has no hand in the fiasco unfolding but will
get blamed anyway because that is the nature of things in this country.

It really shouldn’t
matter which of these stories we believe. Whether it is the official
version by INEC or the many other stories making the rounds. What is
clear is that Mr. Jega and INEC were certain that under the
circumstances they could not hold credible polls. So should they have
gone ahead and conducted the elections anyway? It is a tough question
and the decision to postpone was probably not taken lightly.

This is probably
one of the most anticipated election in Nigeria in recent times, an
election that has swallowed billions and billions of naira. This is an
umpire that has put his personal integrity on the line. A man who has
promised Nigerians in no uncertain terms that he will deliver the
fairest elections they have ever seen.

On the balance, it
would appear Mr. Jega and his team made the right decision. And there
can be no doubt that it was a bold and courageous move. It isn’t easy
to admit failure especially on such a national scale and for an
assignment of such importance. It might have been easier for Mr. Jega
to allow the elections to take place, flawed as the process was and try
to wiggle his way out of trouble later.

Whatever the issues
are that led to this debacle; it is hard to see how the electoral body
can fix them before tomorrow. Nonetheless, many Nigerians appear
prepared to give Mr. Jega and INEC the benefit of the doubt. So the
electoral body should be praying for a miracle because if they are
unable to give Nigerians the elections they want and deserve tomorrow,
many will be demanding for someone’s head and that would be right.

President Goodluck Jonathan
yesterday said he is confident that Nigeria will conduct credible
elections despite the postponement of Saturday’s polls.

Mr Jonathan, who
addressed journalists in his home town, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, after
his inability to complete his accreditation due to non-availability of
officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and
voting materials, appealed to Nigerians to bear with the electoral body.

“If we must do
something, it is better to delay and do it well,” he said in reference
to INEC’s postponement of the National Assembly elections till Monday,
April 4.

Mr. Jonathan, who
commended the enthusiasm and commitment displayed by Nigerians who
trooped out and even travelled far to vote in spite of the
restrictions, pleaded with them to show understanding by enduring till
Monday.

“It is part of the
sacrifices required to conduct credible polls,” he said, saying he was
returning to Abuja but would get back to his village again to vote on
Monday.

On his part, Kano
State governor and presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples
Party, Ibrahim Shekarau expressed shock with the postponement. He also
called on Nigerians not to relent but still come out on Monday to cast
their votes.

Former Lagos State
governor and opposition ACN leader, Bola Tinubu however called for the
resignation of President Goodluck Jonathan. Mr. Tinubu, blamed the
problem on alleged interference of Mr. Jonathan’s cronies and federal
government agencies in the activities of the electoral body.

“Nigerians have
the right to vote and be voted for, and if you fail to achieve that
goal, the federal government should resign, period,” he said.

Femi Falana, a
Lagos–based lawyer, described the postponement of the election as a
national disgrace. He said the postponement is a sign that the nation
is still underdeveloped. According to him, importing election material
from another country is embarrassing.

He also doubted whether INEC will be able to pull off the election on the rescheduled date.

The Labour Party
candidate for Ondo South Senatorial District, Boluwaji Kunlere,
yesterday said the postponement of the election was worse than the
annulment of the 1993 election.

Mr Kunlere, who
spoke in Okitipupa Council, said the action of INEC has killed the
morale of Nigerians who came out to vote, noting that only God would
save Nigeria because, according to him, huge resources had been
committed to the election.

Jega did no wrong

While expressing
slight disappointment at the postponement of the election, Project 2011
SwiftCount, a coalition of civil society organisations spoke out in
support of Mr. Jega.

“Project 2011
Swift Count are peeved that today’s election could not be completed as
planned. But we support INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega’s difficult and
courageous decision to postpone the election until Monday. We believe
the decision is in the best interest of the people of Nigeria”, the
group states in a statement. “This had to be a very difficult decision
and it should have been made earlier, but it is the right decision for
Nigeria in the circumstances.”

Civil Right
Congress, a socio-democracy group has also supported the postponement.
President of the group, Shehu Sani, said his group’s observations show
that the elections was marred by problems of late delivery of
materials.

“An election
cannot be credible until it is conclusive and all inclusive. The
announced cancellation of the elections by INEC Chairman is inevitable
but could have been avoided,” he said.

However, he said, it will affect the morale and enthusiasm of Nigerians toward the election.

The Movement for
Democratic Change (MDS) also described the postponement as a “bitter
pill for credible process”. In a statement issued yesterday, the group
noted that “the decision was the best, given the challenges faced by
the commission if the sanctity of the electoral process were to be
protected”.

Politicians in
Bauchi State have condemned the postponement of the elections. The
National Publicity Secretary of ANPP, Comrade Muhammed Sabo said it was
unfortunate that INEC cancelled the elections.

Mr Sabo, who is
also the ANPP Candidate for the House of Representatives for Bauchi
Federal Constituency, described the action by INEC as “disappointing,
embarrassing and strange not only to the country but the country’s
image abroad”.

He said that the
postponement of the elections raised serious and critical questions on
whether Mr. Jega is fully prepared, determined, transparent and
credible to conduct free and fair elections in the country.

In his reaction, Bashir Othman Tofa of the ANPP said, “The
government must, as a matter of urgency, institute a high-powered
commission of inquiry into this shameful outing of the INEC. Those
found responsible, no matter how highly placed, must suffer the
consequences. Is this the new INEC that will ensure credible elections?
Our hopes are misplaced and our confidence shattered.”

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…