Tag: Akanbi

The call for the postponement of the next month’s general elections by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki is suspicious and mischievous, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) pioneer chairman Justice Mustapha Akanbi said yesterday in Ilorin.

The retired Appeal Court President also lashed out at Chief Edwin Clark for openly accusing Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chair Prof Attahiru Jega of bias and incompetence.

Justice Akanbi spoke yesterday in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital at a public lecture organised by the Mustapha Akanbi Foundation (MAF). The topic of the lecture is “Voters Education: Rights, duties and responsibilities”.

He said: “The unsolicited advice by Col. Sambo Dasuki in London that the 2015 election be postponed has ill-motive; I see mischief in that advice as it must be evident even to the unwary, that such postponement will do more harm than good. The advice is suspect and not from the best of motives. It is, however, a delight that majority opinion has rejected it. More importantly Jega has rejected it outright.

“The second issue is the statement credited to the political octogenarian, Chief Clark, an Ijaw people’s leader. He openly castigated Prof Jega, accused him of bias and incompetence. This is most unfortunate.”

The retired jurist added: “With the approach of the 2015 elections, the threat to national unity and cohesion has been on the increase. Political gladiators have been spitting fire and heating up the polity as never before.

“Threats of taking up arms and breaking up Nigeria, if a particular candidate does not win the election rent the air. Some of the protagonists of disintegration are elders who should know better but have chosen to serve personal ends instead of national interest.

“Our teeming unemployed youths are now being mobilised and recruited to re-enact the events of 1993 which sent Nigeria into the doldrums. We are told that arms and ammunition are being stockpiled by the war mongers and ‘commercial politicians’ to plunge Nigeria once again into a state of unnecessary civil war.”

Another former Appeal Court President, Justice Ayo Isa Salami (rtd), berated the military and the para-military for siding with one of the presidential candidates.

Justice Salami added that the judiciary is in near total collapse, having been intimidated to submission by the powers-that-be.

The fearless jurist ascribed the voters’ apathy to collect the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to failure of successive governments to meet their expectations.

The retired Appeal Court president, who was a special guest at that event said: “We have problem now in persuading the voters to come and vote. That is why they are not collecting their PVCs. There is apathy and this might have been generated by various reasons. These may include failure of government to meet their expectations and failure of agencies of government established to make their expectations realised.

“The military and the other para-military forces thought that they are part of one of the presidential candidates. Of course, they are not. They are an agency of the federal government. They are a federal government institution. So they are to make the field even for both presidential candidates. They are not to side one candidate against the other. An institution of federal government is different from the candidate who incidentally is the president.

“Just like the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kwara state, Dr Emmanuel Onucheyo, said that is INEC’s work to facilitate voters’ education, but the other day, the Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NAO) was in President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign team. Is he playing his role as the agency of the federal

government?

The coalition of civil society organisations in Bauchi State yesterday noted that accepting Col. Dasuki’s suggestion could lead to civil unrest.

Speaking on behalf of others, the chairman of the Bauchi State Youths Consortium (BAYCON), Bala Mahmood, said any attempt to postpone the election would infringe on Nigerians’ fundamental human rights as some have travelled home already for the elections and would incur financial loss in case of a postponement.

“With the knowledge of public expenditure and the current inflation rate because of the devaluation of our Naira, it appears obvious that postponement of election will lead to variation in some of INEC’s contract agreement, if not all. What this means is additional money to be spent from public treasury,” he said.

Mahmood said the insecurity in Adamawa, Borno, Gombe and Yobe states, as mentioned by the NSA could not be compared to that of Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Egypt, which despite their security challenges conducted elections and new governments put in place.

The coalition said “in the spirit of the Abuja Accord”, the government should allow the elections as scheduled since INEC has not complained.”

Former Court of Appeal President Justice Mustapha Akanbi yesterday accused President Goodluck Jonathan of unduly comparing himself with reputable world leaders without any attempt to replicate in Nigeria what they did in their countries.

Justice Akanbi, who is also the pioneer Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC), spoke as the chairman of the 12th Daily Trust Dialogue organised by Media Trust Limited, with the theme “2015 Elections: How to make Nigeria the Winner” in Abuja.

In his interview, the hope at Independence that Nigeria would lead other African countries has not been realised.

Justice Akanbi said: “The reason is that we don’t make service to the people our goal. Take Kwara, for instance. For the governorship election for one party, 14 people wanted to be the governor and if you look at the Curriculum Vitae of some of them, they are not even qualified to be messengers.”

He said the lecture was meant to inspire all Nigerians and urged the participants to put what they would learn into practice.

Justice Akanbi went on: “Today some people are comparing themselves with Li Kwan Yun, Barack Obama, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. If you look at Li Kwan Yew, if you have read about him, those who were corrupt in his country when he decided to fight corruption, they prefered to commit suicide than to face Li Kwan Yew. Mandela spent 27 years in prison and yet that man spent one term in office and decided to step aside.

“These are people who suffered for the people. These are people who did not plunder the people and when you are making comparison to get votes, you must tell the people the truth. What did they do? Are you doing the same thing?”

He insisted that people are desperate to occupy public offices because of what they hope to get and not for genuine desire to serve.

“If it is service, there will be few people to compete,” he said.

The eminent jurist added: “We can either make or mar our future through this election. The die is cast. The challenge is true. There can be no retreat, no surrender. The history of our generation can only be the measure of our loyalty and devotion to the right ideals of our nation.

At the event, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar was represented by the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar. Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega was represented by Dr. Chris Ehimoga. Present were former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Muhammed Uwais, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sulieman Abba, Governor of Osun State Rauf Aregbesola, who was represented by Segun Bada, Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, represented by Jemilu Gidado and John Cardinal Onaiyekan, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja.

The Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, speaking on behalf of the Sultan of Sokoto, said electoral violence was usually promoted by desperate politicians who want to win elections at all cost.

He blamed post-election violence on the non-implementation of recommendations of several panels set up to investigate past electoral violence in the country.

Calling on Nigerians to get their priorities right, he urged them to vote for leaders who will look at the next generation and not those looking forward to the next election.

He called on INEC not only to ensure credible, free and fair elections but be seen to have conducted credible, free and fair elections next month.

He also urged the Federal Government to stop all manner of propaganda but rather to build trust in the people.

Jega, who was represented by a senior INEC official, Dr. Chris Ehimoga, noted that there are currently huge problems associated with the distribution of the PVCs.

He, however, said that the Commission would do it all to ensure that the cards get to their owners before the elections, which are slated for February 14 and 18.

He added that the electoral umpire would do its best to ensure that all the processes leading to the 2015 elections run smoothly.

Jega warned politicians to stop buying PVCs as they will be useless to them during the polls.

He said: “We have learned from our past mistakes. We want to ensure that all voters have their PVCs. We hear that politicians are going about buying voters cards.

“Whether you have 10,000 cards in your possession, only voters cards that are brought by their right owners will be used.

“I, therefore, want to urge politicians to stop buying PVCs because we are going to use card readers.

“You cannot snatch ballot boxes during the election because they will be useless. Those who snatch ballot boxes will have nowhere to take them to because we have back up for the results immediately the votes are counted and announced at the polling units.

“We are promising this country the very best of elections.”

Former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General. Abdulrahman Dambazau, lamented that the country’s unity had come under intense threat as the 2015 elections draw near.

Gen. Dambazau said: “At no time in the history of this country did we find ourselves so divided along ethnic and religious lines than now.”

The former COAS lamented that the military had been politicised.

He said: “On the other hand, one can argue that the process of politicisation of the military began in January 1966 which led to the termination of the First Republic.

“The beginning of an extended involvement of the military in politics, it is equally worthy to know that the last 15 years of the current democratic dispensation has witnessed the politicisation of the military and even the police. Both institutions have been distracted from their constitutional duties.”

He noted that there is the certainty that attempts would be made to rig the 2015 elections.

On how to achieve free and fair elections, Gen. Dambazau said elections should be conducted with integrity.

“How do we conduct elections with integrity in a situation where all the outgoing governors have anointed their successors and those who have opportunity to seek reelection are given automatic tickets?” he asked.

He insisted that there was no need to postpone the elections.

Gen. Dambazau urged INEC to be neutral by ensuring that no contestant is shortchanged.

Nigerians, he said, should reject rigging.

He called on security agencies to be neutral and support INEC to to deliver credible elections.

“The security agencies must not allow themselves to be used to intimidate the electorate,” he said.

Urging the media to avoid biased reportage of the elections, Gen. Dambazau urged all Nigerians to work together to ensure peace and stability.

“The voters should refuse to be unduly influenced by politicians,” he added.

Former Minister of Education Mrs Oby Ezekwesili  said the elections could only be said to be credible if they are conducted with a minimum of international standards.

On what Nigerians would like to see as a good signal that Nigeria will be winner in the elections, Mrs. Ezekwesili said: “You will see something like this. The elections will be conducted and concluded with results announced according to a minimum level of international standard of free and fair elections.

“That there are no pre-election, election and post-election violence or acts of destabilisation that threaten the tenuous state of security in our land.

“Therefore, it will be that following the elections, all segments of the Nigerians society would relate together and despite disagreements about the path we have decided to choose, would comply with the basic tenets of rule of law and seek redress of electoral conflicts through the rule of law.

“That a clear winner emerges from the electorate or judicial processes that follow with a national spread of ballot sufficient enough to make them a president of the entire Nigeria.

“That the transition process for the present administration to a new one, whether it is the existing party or the opposing party, will happen on the 29th of May, 2015.

“Also, the convening of the 8th National Assembly and the newly elected Senators and Representatives from across the country will happen.

“That the entire Nigeria populace would at the end of the election process choose to remain citizens of Nigeria, regardless of the pull by politicians to drag the citizens into their never ending struggle to control power rather than to offer service.”