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Agnes Ezennadozie had called her
husband, Peter, to alert him of what looked like trouble. “She called
me and said ‘Honey, it’s like a riot is taking place’,” recalled Mr
Ezennadozie, barely holding back tears. “I asked her how safe she was
and she said they were at a police station. Later, she called to say
the hoodlums were surrounding the station and I told her to run from
there. As we were talking, I heard a scream and then nothing,” he added.

He called her line
repeatedly without reply. Some two hours later, a male voice came on
the line to tell him that the owner of the phone was seriously injured.
He later learnt that his wife of three months had been taken to the
Federal Medical Centre in Bauchi. He prevailed on the hospital staff to
take his wife to a particular hospital in downtown Bauchi. From there
she was moved to Abuja for further treatment. She died 12 days later.

Good programme gone awry

It was dreamed up
as a scheme to engender unity among Nigeria’s youth fresh from the
nation’s higher institutions. But the fate of the National Youth
Service Corps (NYSC) currently hangs in the balance as recent events
threaten to undermine its continued existence.

Established in 1973
by the Yakubu Gowon administration, the scheme was also aimed at
healing the wounds of a 30-month civil war which the nation had
survived three years earlier. The scheme offered the fresh graduates
the opportunity of serving the country outside of their states of
origin. There is no doubt that many would not have known about the
different cultures in the country if not for the scheme.

However, in recent
times religious and now political crises in parts of the country,
especially the north, have turned what was supposed to unite Nigerians
into an objectionable venture.

This latter
development was poignantly brought to the fore by the senseless killing
of many innocent youth corps members in some northern states,
especially Bauchi and Kaduna, by gangs of youth protesting the loss of
their favoured candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, at the just concluded
general elections.

The protesters
descended on the hapless corps members who served as ad hoc staff for
the nation’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral
Commission. When the dust settled, there was general weeping and
anguish by a shocked nation. Many of its youth had been slaughtered
like animals in the course of serving their fatherland.

In the midst of all
this is the very heart-rending case of Mrs Ezennadozie, who was
carrying a six-week old pregnancy after her wedding in February this
year. Mrs Ezennadozie, who hailed from Achina in Anambra State, died as
a result of the first degree burns she sustained in Bauchi when the
hoodlums invaded and set fire to a police station where the corps
members had fled to for safety.

Indescribable pain

Mr Ezennadozie
wondered what his wife had done to those who murdered her to deserve
such a fate. He wondered why Nigerians, especially northerners, had no
wish to, in his words, “Stop the rubbish act of killing innocent people
because of religion and politics.”

“How can someone
just kill an innocent girl? The federal government should stop this act
of northerners,” he said. As a solution to that, Mr Ezennadozie is of
the opinion that those from the north should serve in the north while
their southern counterparts should serve in the south. That way, he
said, “if the north wants to kill its own children, it would be their
choice.”

While receiving the
remains of Mrs Ezennadozie at Government House last Thursday, the state
governor, Peter Obi, said, “Today casts a pall of darkness over Anambra
State as we receive the corpse of Mrs Ezennadozie who as you know was
among the corps members hacked down in their prime during the
post-presidential election crisis that engulfed parts of northern
Nigeria.” He regretted that the late Agnes Ezennadozie paid the supreme
price while answering a call to national service.

“Unfortunately, a
programme designed as a veritable instrument for national integration
turned disastrous when uninformed youths hiding behind the veil of
politics visited violence on fellow Nigerians,” Mr Obi lamented.

He called on the
federal government to henceforth assure corps members outside the
northern zone of adequate protection or nobody would be willing to
serve again. “We will serve the nation but not at the expense of our
lives. We must serve the nation but the nation must protect us, if not
we will not serve. We must negotiate before you (corpers) get back,”
the governor said, noting that he had asked the federal government to
ensure that those behind the act do not go free.

He promised that
his government would not allow the deceased’s family to walk alone and
pointed out that the state government had fully taken over the funeral
expenses of the slain corps member.

To scrap or not to scrap

Some who spoke to
NEXT after the short reception expressed worry over the incessant
killings in the North and called on the federal government to either
review the NYSC scheme or scrap it. They echoed the widower’s line that
those from the various zones should serve in their zones.

“The NYSC should not be abolished but that corps members should serve in their zones,” said Nkiru Orji, a journalist.

Tony Anyanwu, also
a journalist with the Nigerian Television Authority, said that much as
he sympathised with the deceased’s family, he would still insist that
the scheme should be modified rather than scrapped. He however said
that if the country was desirous of keeping the scheme, it must
urgently deal with factors causing what he called “the incessant
crises” and that offenders should face the law.

For Shadrack Nnanna
of the National Orientation Agency, corps members should be allowed to
choose where they would prefer to serve in order for them to accept
their fate whatever happens. He suggested that, alternatively,
graduates should be subjected to military training in lieu of national
service and afterwards helped to settle down in society afterwards as
is the practice in Egypt.

Given that many parents would not want to give up their children to
another horror similar to the post-election violence, the likelihood of
the runaway corps members across the nation returning to their host
states in the north continues to look bleak as the programme totters on
the brink of total rejection by Nigerians.

Umar Ghali Na’Abba
was Speaker of the House of Representatives between 1999-2003, and his
tenure was marked by a trenchant opposition against the policies and
sometimes, the person of the then president, Olusegun Obasanjo. There
were several attempts to impeach him, allegedly sponsored by the
presidency and when he lost re-election in 2003, he blamed his defeat
on a conspiracy among the police, the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) and the state government. He resigned from the
Peoples Democratic Party in 2005, and returned in 2007 after the
leadership of the then Action Congress rejected his bid to be their
governorship candidate in Kano State. His house was recently burnt in
the riots that followed the April presidential election in the North.

What’s the implication of the parliamentary election on the Peoples Democratic Party’s hold on the National Assembly?

The PDP now has a
reduced majority, therefore, if voting is going to be done on party
basis, the PDP may find it difficult to pass some of the bills that the
executive may send.

Are votings usually done on party basis?

When I was in the
National Assembly, there was no occasion that we voted essentially on
party basis. We used to vote according to the needs of the moment and
that encapsulates members from all the parties.

Do you foresee a more vibrant opposition in the National assembly?

It will be
presumptuous of me to declare that the opposition is going to be
vibrant. In the past, the opposition, at the level of the party, had
continually colluded to subvert democracy with the party in power. So
it all depends on how the opposition parties relate with the party in
power.

Do you think that such factors as regionalism will play a greater role than party affiliations?

Regionalism is not
necessarily going to be more powerful. Since 1999, there have been many
occasions when all legislators forgot where they come from and rallied
round to work towards uniting the country. There have been bills passed
based on sheer patriotism. An example is the overriding of the veto of
President Obasanjo over the Niger Delta Development Commission Act in
2000; the killing of the Third Term ambition of the then president, and
so many bills like that.

But of course,
there are moments when regionalism will triumph. On the Niger Delta
bill, for instance, you will expect that members from the South South
will vote en masse for it, the way members from the north central and
north west will rally for the Hypperdec bill…On balance in such
circumstances, negotiations begin among the zones.

You have emphasised
the patriotism of legislators yet the impression Nigerians have of them
is of people who care only about lining their pockets

I believe that
between 1999-2003, we fared very well because most of what we did was
for altruistic reasons. But I am not claiming perfection. However, when
the executive arm realised the enormous potential of the legislature,
they became highly interested to the effect that in 2003, they ensured
through the manipulation of the parties that majority of those who came
to the legislature were their cronies. That started the decline of the
legislature and it is still declining, because the norm in the assembly
is now collusion with the executive instead of acting as a check on the
executive.

Is this a consequence of the failure of leadership in the National Assembly?

Well, this is what
happens when the executive install the leadership. The leadership must
then hearken to the executive. And I don’t foresee any changes. So long
as the structure of our political parties remain the way they are, we
will continue to put forward garbage after garbage for the National
Assembly and whenever you find reasonable people, they will be the
exception rather than the rule.

What is the consequences of the high turnover among legislators?

We are spending
more money on the legislature and also wasting that money because most
of the lawmakers do not return. Between 1999 and 2000, the House of
representatives spent over N500 million in the training of legislators,
majority of whom did not return in 2003. So you can see the wastage of
funds.

What is the major cause of this?

It is a consequence
of interference. Those who own the parties decide that once you don’t
do what they ask you to do and you prefer to work according to the
dictates of your conscience, they decide that you can’t go back. Since
there is no internal democracy, you can’t win in the primaries because
the party machinery will be used to ensure that the delegates selected
reject your candidacy. Thus, they will continue to deny capable people
the chance of coming to the legislature.

What has been your legacy to the House of Representatives?

The legacy I left
is enormous. There used to be order, decorum and a sense of
responsibility; and there was zeal even among the civil servants. And
the legislature was full of confidence and the feeling of independence
was enjoyed by all. But all these have been eroded.

#Final results

ACN 107068, ALP 1078, ANPP 3313, APGA 336859, HMP 1678, APS 364, BNPP 234, CDC 447, CPC 3063, DFPF 163, PPP 563, FPN 101, FRESH 122, LP 1549, NPP 790, PDP 290496, PPA 1698, PRP 275, SDMP 1103

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# Oguta Council poll stalemated.

While security chiefs and the supervising REC’s are still meeting, the electoral materials are already being evacuated to Owerri, the state capital, for safe keeping.

# Some male protesters attacked by soldiers, dispersed in Oguta LGA.

Twenty minutes later, a defiant crowd of women protesters, daring soldiers marched to the INEC office in Oguta calling for the cancellation of the election.

# Election materials are yet to be distributed in Oguta Local Government Area but there are protesters calling for cancellation of the election, alleging plot to draw the election into the night to perfect rigging.

# Numerous cars, buses and trailers with many passengers and passers-by are stranded at the security barricade on Onitsha road, which is the entry point to Mbaitoli Local Government Area, in line with the enforcement of election monitoring directive issued by the security agencies.

Mbaitoli Local Government Area is one of the councils where the supplementary election is taking place today.

# In spite of police deployment of 10, 000 men to the election, there was no single police or security official at Polling Unit 008, Orodo Ward A, which is adjacent to an INEC office in Mbaitolu.

# Impressive voter turnouts in the Imo State supplementary election but many of the voters are disappointed by the late commencement of the exercise in some areas.

# The Nigeria Army apprehended over 120 suspected political thugs in Mbaitoli and Ngor/Okpala LGA’s between 5:20am and 6:30am today. Sagir Musa, a lieutenant colonel and assistant public relations unit of 81 divisions confirmed the arrests.

The thugs were in buses from Onitsha and neighbouring states. Preliminary findings indicate that they had been documented and handed over to the Imo State police command.

As at 11.30am, accreditation was yet to commence in Oguta and Mbaitoli Council areas. It was, however, not certain why the election processes had not commenced.

Latest reports and results from Imo State polls at election.234next.com

The Kaduna chapter
chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), in this interview,
alleges that the governorship election in the state was rigged.

Before the
election on April 28, some opposition parties called for the
postponement of the election because of the curfew. Was the ACN part of
them?

Whether
postponement or not, what we said was that the curfew must be lifted.
There is no way you can conduct election when there is curfew; when
people are still under siege. How do you expect people to come out and
vote under such condition? You can interpret it to mean postponement
even if it means indefinitely. Because there is no way you can conduct
election under a curfew. What we are saying is that election conducted
under a curfew cannot be transparent, free and fair. These are some of
the reasons that necessitated our rejection of that previous exercise.

Don’t you think postponing the election would have contravened the Electoral Act?

Then why didn’t the
government lift the curfew as well? If INEC knew they were limited by
the Electoral Act, the government should have lifted the curfew.
Otherwise, we don’t bother conducting this election at any given time.
What we said was to lift the curfew and conduct the election. A
situation where a large number of people would be disenfranchised
because of the curfew is not acceptable. I cannot accept the result
because of the process and INEC and government had a choice to put
things in order. The choice was simple; lift the curfew and conduct the
election.

Was there not enough security provided by government during the election?

The security was
meant to harass the eligible voters of Kaduna State. The security was
meant to provide cover for the PDP rigging machinery. It was not meant
to protect the voters, rather, it was used to rig elections by PDP. It
was biased towards the PDP. That was a dubious process.

Do you think ACN would have performed better had the curfew been relaxed?

Whether ACN
performed better or not, it is all about a credible process; its for
the people to be free to come out and cast their votes. What we are
saying is for the right thing to be done. Election is not about
winning; it is all about a credible process; it is about helping the
people to arrive at what they really want; it is about sustaining our
democracy. Whoever knows what democracy means, it’s not about winning
election. So if we lose in a free and fair process, so be it. So we
cannot be hoodwinked or deceived into the fraud called election and
they expect me to go and congratulate the supposed winner. That cannot
happen.

Many people have said the election was transparent going by the way both the CPC and PDP won in their strong bases.

It was not
transparent. Look at the voting pattern; you will see how people voted.
I did not look at it from the point of predominantly PDP south or CPC
north. Because from 1999 till date, zones one and two have never voted
for PDP; it is only the south that had always voted for the PDP.They
were allowed to do their things in the south without molestation. In
the south, they were allowed to move around during the election without
any molestation, but in zone one and two, we were restricted and
intimidated. Most of them in the north were harassed not to cast their
vote. That was what accounted for the low voter turnout during the
election in the northern part.

So what is your next action?

We are going to do
everything legal and lawful to reject this purported election. We will
do everything possible to resist this imposition of leaders on us.
Everything legal is not limited to going to court. We have an option
that is constitutional; we can resist unwanted leaders through
constitutional means and that’s exactly what we are going to do.

How are you going to check your members and supporters so that they don’t take law into their hands?

That is why I said
we are going to use anything lawful to pursue our case; it does not
mean violence. So if you go violent that is then unlawful. Our
supporters should await our reaction. but we will mobilise them in such
a way that we will resist this day-light robbery through legal means.

Are you satisfied with the conduct of INEC in all the elections?

We are not
satisfied with both INEC and Police. The government, INEC and security
agencies were so much biased in favour of the PDP. They were doing
everything possible to ensure the victory of PDP at all costs. This is
what is preventing the existence of harmonious relationship in Kaduna
State. Because of certain interest groups, they refused to allow the
people to elect their preferred leaders. Under a free and fair
election, there is no way PDP can form government at the centre. And
there is no way PDP can form a government in Kaduna State under free
and fair election.