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Tag: failed

  • Why we failed in Obosi, by Jega

    Why we failed in Obosi, by Jega

    Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman Prof Attahiru Jega has explained why the governorship election was rescheduled in 65 units in Obosi, Idemili North Local Government Area.

    He said an Electoral Officer in charge of the area sabotaged INEC’s preparations by allegedly withholding materials rather than distributing them.

    Besides, he said the result sheets, which differ according to units, were jumbled up.

    The commission took time to rectify the mix-up, which resulted in the delays experienced, he said.

    Jega said he suspected that the officer was induced by someone who wanted to subvert the process, adding that the alleged culprit has been handed over to the police for prosecution.

    The INEC, chairman, who spoke on AIT during a programme on the election, which was monitored in Awka, said efforts would be made to get to the root of the alleged sabotage.

    He said: “We made all the preparations and decentralised the process of distribution of materials in order to ensure that they get to the polling units in time for the commencement of the election. That was before Saturday.

    “Unfortunately and regrettably – we are human. We can do all the preparations, but if people are determined to subvert the process, one way or the other they will subvert it.

    “So, they used our staff. I think we should be very careful when we have a staff of about 12,000 in INEC, when one person has committed an offence and then you use it to generalise or condemn everybody in INEC.

    “Our Electoral Officer in charge of Idemili North Local Government, for inexplicable reasons, messed up the distribution of ballot box papers and result sheets. That was the cause of the delay in the distribution of materials in Idemili.

    “All materials were to have been distributed by Friday evening, but for some odd reasons, they made sure that they held onto some of the result sheets, and they also gave wrong result sheets to different polling units.

    “For Anambra election, as we did in Edo and Ondo, every polling unit has a unique result sheet. So, you cannot take one result sheet to a different place, because it will not work.

    “I assured the stakeholders when we met in Awka that materials must get to the polling units before commencement of election.

    “So, when we discovered at about 1am that there was this mix-up, and we tried to reach the Electoral Officer and the supervisor and there was confusion, and we knew something was fishy, we said there would be no deployment until we sorted out the problem.

    “As I speak, we have handed over the Electoral Officer to the police because clearly what he did is a sabotage of the electoral process, including the Local Government supervisor.

    “It took us until about 1pm to be able to sort out what they had jumbled up. We communicated with the community as at 1pm that we were ready to distribute to all the other wards, and materials were distributed.”

    Jega said INEC officials consulted with the community before rescheduling the election, which the All Progressives Congress (APC) rejected.

    “In Obosi ward, people were so agitated. Our people who were there, they prevented them from going out.

    “Every effort to persuade them and to explain to them what caused the delay, and how we were willing from 1pm – accreditation is for four hours – to extend the period of accreditation by two hours, so that voting can begin and end in the day time.

    “They prevented us. By 5pm, we had to take a decision. Because at that time, even if they agreed for the election to hold, it was too late to do it, it would be at night and there would be more chaos.

    “We said, ‘look, we cannot cancel this election because there are prescribed regulations for cancellation. We recognise that by some fault of our own staff, we’re responsible for the delay in the commencement. Let us discuss’.

    “The community themselves said we could do it the following day. So, we rescheduled the election for Sunday, because the community had agreed to it.

    “It was the people who were there, who had prevented us from going out, that were discussing with the officials, and they agreed. That was the condition under which they removed their blockade. So, that was what happened.”

    Jega added that attention should focus on those aimed at corrupting their officials.

    “We should pay attention to those who are getting our officials to do this. Our responsibility is to ensure our officials do right. If they don’t do right, we should have the capacity to catch them, and to subject them to appropriate punishment.

    “We should be focusing attention on those who don’t want election to hold, who want to prevent it from holding, who want fraudulent activities to take place – they will do everything possible, including reaching out to our people who are fraudulent, to subvert the process.

    “I want to assure you that we’ll do everything possible to investigate this matter, but remember we are not the court, we are not the police. But we are serious about this matter; we’ll investigate it. We’ll ensure prosecution.

    “We have strong suspicions that he connived with some people in order to undermine the electoral process.”

    On the missing names in the voters register, Jega said: “We have one single register from the database. And in Anambra State, there is a copy of it. In producing the register that goes out for an election, we have to make sure the register that is certified for the election, that there is complimentarity between what is in our database in Awka, for instance, and our national database.

    “So, there is certification. The register of voters that is certified and distributed to political parties 30 days before election and the one we use for election, under normal circumstances, is a register certified by us.

    “We are to trying to move away from a situation of chaos and unreliability of the voters register. That is why we did biometric registration. At the time we did the 2011 elections, in spite of the biometric registration, it was still not perfect. There were so many addendum registers.

    “We did the continuous voter registration in August, long before the November election. We displayed the register in the polling units so that anybody who is not on the electronic database can complain, and can be captured and included in the register. We said there would be no addendum register in Anambra election.

    “So, if you gave people an opportunity and they didn’t take it, how can we be blamed?”

  • Why Southwest National Dialogue meeting failed

    Why Southwest National Dialogue meeting failed

    Many Yoruba leaders boycotted the interactive session organised by the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue in Akure, the Ondo State capital, because of their lack of faith in the process, it was learnt yesterday.

    Also, some stakeholders complained about lack of information on the meeting and the “short notice”, stressing that they needed more time to prepare their memoranda. Others said that their groups and associations were not invited by the committee headed by Dr. Femi Okunrounmu.

    The meeting, in the view of many, failed, as it was attended mainly by Ondo State stakeholders.

    Many political leaders from Ogun, Osun and Lagos states told our correspondent that they were still studying the process.

    They hope to submit memoranda at next month’s interactive meeting in Lagos.

    Some All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains said they were waiting for their party’s position on the proposed conference before taking any action.

    The Interim Chairman of the APC in Ekiti State, Chief Jide Awe, said that the perception of the process may have discouraged many from attending the meeting. He also said that the information about the meeting was not well circulated.

    Said Awe: “Are we duly invited? If people are not invited, how can they come? When I saw the discussion on the television, I wondered.”

    Former Southwest Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) leader Senator James Kolawole also complained about hour the meeting was organised. He said: “I was not invited. I did not get the information.”

    Afenifere chieftain Senator Ayo Fasanmi said the meeting was hasty, adding that it did not give room for extensive preparation. He said: “I have my reservations. I want to watch first. I want to watch, wait and see. I am not comfortable with the timing. I know Okunrounmu very well. He is handling a difficult task.”

    Our correspondent gathered that the pro-National Conference groups in the Southwest were still deliberating on the items to be included in their memoranda when the meeting took place. Sources close to the Yoruba Assembly chaired by Gen. Alani Akinrinade said that the group was still consulting with the stakeholders in the zone on their views on the conference.

    A member of the Assembly, Mr. Ayo Afolabi, said: “Gen. Alani Akinrinade is not in the country. He is expected back this week. The time of the meeting was too close for us to submit any serious memoranda. The Yoruba Assembly has to consult, update materials so that we do not talk against the wish of the people.”

    Lagos APC leader Oba Olatunji Hamzat said: “Since we know that they are still coming to Lagos, we have decided to wait till they come.”

    A social critic, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said those who attended the Akure meeting and made presentations may have gotten wind of the meeting before the notice was sent out.

    He said: “Within that short time, no serious group and organisation would have been able to make any serious and meaningful presentation, if the group or association had not prepared for it. May be, before the announcement of the conference, some people had got the information.”

    First-class traditional rulers in Oyo State, including the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111 and his Ibadan counterpart, the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Samuel Odulana, were not invited to the consultative meeting preceding the National Conference, it was learnt yesterday.

    The Akure meeting was attended by interest groups, monarchs, individuals either of Ondo State origin or based in the state. Virtually all first-class monarchs in the state attended the meeting.

    Alaafin’s media aide Prince Azeez Fehintola said the monarch was not aware of any invitation for the meeting.

    A member of the Olubadan Council, High Chief Lekan Balogun, also said he was not aware of any invitation letter sent to the Olubadan.

    But Balogun, who is a former senator, said he received a personal invitation from the committee through a text message in the morning of the day the meeting was held.

    He pledged to attend the meeting slated for Lagos.

    The Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) also said that it did not receive an invitation to the meeting.

    The president of the council, Chief Bayo Oyero, however, told our correspondent last night that CCII would sent its memorandum to the committee.

    He said: “We were not invited, but that is not the end of the story. We are preparing our memorandum and we will send it to them. We don’t have to present it. All interest groups can’t be there. We heard the announcement on the electronic media. Public presentation is not the only means of reaching them. We will send our memo to their office.”

    The interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Chief Akin Oke, also said the party did not receive an invitation for the meeting.

    After the Akure sitting, the panel moves to the Northcentral region with a sitting in Jos, Plateau State capital today and Minna, Niger State on Wednesday.

    The train moves to the Southsouth with sitting in Calabar, Cross River State on Friday and Benin, the Edo State capital on October 28.

     

  • Lobi’s experiment failed against Wikki, says Dominic Iorfa

    Lobi’s experiment failed against Wikki, says Dominic Iorfa

    Lobi Stars’ Technical Director Dominic Iorfa has admitted that his decision to field newly signed players backfired on Wednesday in a Week 20 Glo Premier League clash against Wikki Tourists in Bauchi.

    Lobi lost 0-4 at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium (ATBS) and shortly after their return from Bauchi, Iorfa told SportingLife that the new players lost steam when it mattered most.

    He charged fans of the Makurdi-based side not to press the panic button as the squad would be re-jigged for the cracker with Bayelsa United at the Emmanuel Atongo Stadium, Katsina Ala on Sunday.

    “We tried new things against Wikki Tourists but it backfired. I must just be candid at least on this one.

    “We brought in new players who showed they were ready for Premier League action based on their output during training. They, however, fell short of expectations during a competitive game.

    “Our fans should still be patient with us. We shall get there. We have planned to change one or two things and, by the time we play against Bayelsa United on Sunday, our fans will get the sense of what I am saying,” Iorfa explained to SportingLife.

    The same view was shared by Lobi Stars’ media aide, Jack Moses Ekwe Ekwe, who was optimistic that the club would recover from the Wikki defeat.

    Ekwe said that although Lobi stuttered against their northern neighbours, they would take the positives from that loss.

    In a statement made available to the media after the Bauchi misadventure, Ekwe Ekwe declared: “The Bauchi episode is history. We lost a battle not the war that goes through 18 marathon matches more.

    “We deliberately do not want to offer excuses for our defeat because we are going through transformation and restructuring.

    “Expectedly, there must be mixed fortunes en-route a glorious ending at the close of shop.”

    Wednesday’s defeat meant Lobi slid four places to 16th on the log with 26 points from 20 matches.

  • Boko Haram: Jonathan’s govt has failed, says Fani-Kayode

    A former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has said the Goodluck Jonathan administration has failed to protect the lives and property of Nigerians in the last two years.

    Fani-Kayode said the most glaring of the failure is in the administration inability to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency in the North, where over 4,000 persons have been killed and scores of others injured and several property destroyed.

    Also, the President of the National Association of Yoruba Descendants in North America, Yeye Afin Monilola Tenabe, yesterday said the concern of ethnic associations in America about the threat by the Boko Haram sect to peace has compelled the association and other Nigerian ethnic associations in the US to take up the issue with the State Department.

    She said her group, Egbe Omo Yoruba (North America), with the Igbo Congress as well as Zumuntal, which represents the North, have dialogued with the State Department on “what can be done to ensure the safety of our people and the country”.

    She added: “They (US State Department) assured us of their assistance. So, we are working with them so that they can work with the Federal Government.”

    The former minister in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration addressed reporters at the weekend at the Ikenne, Ogun State home of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

    He was in company of former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to commiserate with the matriarch of Awolowo family, Chief Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo on the death of her son and Nigerian Tribune publisher, Evangelist Oluwole Awolowo.

    He expressed displeasure over the lackadaisical attitude of the Jonathan administration in handling the Boko Haram insurgency.

    According to him, the sect has killed about 4,200 Nigerians in the last two years.

    Fani-Kayode said: “One of the main reasons this government has not only proved itself incompetent or acting irresponsible is the fact that 4,200 people have been killed in the last two years by this Islamist rebellion group.

    “I have lived in the North for 10 years. I do not owe any apology to people that make it a business the killing of others in the name of their religious faith; impose their faith on others, both Christians and Muslims.

    “As far as I am concerned, this government has failed. It is a matter of law and order to protect the lives and property of Nigerians. About 4,200 in a spate of two years is a record outside a civil war.

    “It has never happened since 1914, apart from 1960 when 4,200 Nigerians were slaughtered like chickens and goats by one terrorist organisation in the spate of two years. That is a record and legacy of this government, as far as I am concerned.”

    The former minister wondered why the Federal Government was planning to grant amnesty to the sect, when it could used its might to bring the sect’s members to their knees in a “battle-to-finish” approach.

    He urged the President to fight members of the sect on all fronts.

    Fani-Kayode said: “The government should rise up to the occasion by doing the right thing and stop the issue of amnesty. It should show strength. It is an insult on the souls of the thousands that have been killed for the Presidency to be considering an amnesty to the Boko Haram sect.

    “I identify with the position of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) president and many well-meaning Nigerians: there should be no discussion, no amnesty and nothing for Boko Haram. The only thing the government should consider is to send them (Boko Haram members) back to hell, where they come from.”

    Mrs Tenabe addressed reporters at the Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, on the aims and objectives of her association’s visit to the Southwest.

    According to her, the non-partisan association, is carrying on with its progressive agenda for the Southwest in line with the vision of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

    She said: “We want to speak with the Yoruba that they need to move together, that we all need to cooperate in all aspects of development to make it easier for our people to interact, to come and go more easily. We, the Yoruba in the Diaspora, have the expertise and all the things we can bring back to help in developing the Southwest. We want to partner state governments to bring development to the Southwest.”

    Mrs Tenabe said the association believes in true federalism and that it was pursuing a Yoruba agenda aimed at “moving forward and caring for the Yoruba people and Southwest”.

    She said her group hoped to also partner the private sector, especially in creating jobs for the teaming unemployed youths in the region.

  • PDP has failed, says Osuntokun

    Former Nigerian Ambassador to Germany Prof. Akinjide Osuntokun at the weekend said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has not fulfilled its promises to the people.

    He spoke at the Second Convocation Lecture of the Caleb University, Imota, Ogun State.

    Delivering a lecture titled: Electoral Democracy and Political Realignment in Nigeria, Osuntokun said after 14 years in power, the PDP appears tired and totally bereft of what to do to advance the interest of the country.

    He said: “When the PDP came into power in 1999, we were told that in six months, there would be regular electricity supply and power generation will hit 10,000 mega watts. None of these promises has been met. Our hospitals have remained consulting clinics, our roads have become death traps, our infrastructure have remained backward and almost non-existent.”

    Osuntokun lamented that since 1951, elections have not been free and fair, adding that the onus is on education and the adoption of a full-proof electoral machinery to curb malpractices.

    He said: “Elections have been held three times since 1999 and all attempts to change course have failed because elections in Nigeria are neither fair nor free. The poorer the party performs, the greater the votes they award themselves at election time. We must build a Nigerian economy in which politics will be a vocation rather than a profession. This was what it was in the past and we must go back to the past to guarantee our future.”

    Osuntokun said the coming of APC is a significant event in the history of the country.

    He said: “We cannot continue like this. We must change course, lest the American prediction that Nigeria will disintegrate in 2015 becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. If the APC leadership is selfless, patriotic, self-sacrificing and driven by the desire to rescue and salvage the nation, it would put aside all ethnic, personal, regional and religious consideration in selecting its leaders and in fielding the combination that will challenge the PDP in 2015.”

  • Failed strategy in Sahel claims its due

    Failed strategy in Sahel claims its due

    World let roots of Algerian attack grow too deep

    The hostage crisis at the In Amenas gasfield in Algeria should sweep away any vestiges of the complacency that let large parts of the Sahel become a lawless haven for extremists.

    The killing of Algerian and expatriate workers should not simply be put down to the French intervention in Mali. Nor can it be blamed solely on Libyan dictator Muammer Gaddafi’s overdue demise, which sent his Tuareg soldiers back to Mali with battle experience, weapons and long-running grievances against the government in Bamako. These events are proximate factors, but the real roots lie deeper.

    The attack looks too sophisticated to have been planned only after French bombardments began, convenient though it is for the perpetrators to claim this as their cause. Just as likely, the hostage-takers sought – and achieved – a spectacular debut for the new militant outfit of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the attack’s reported mastermind and until last month a leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

    The rise of AQIM and jihadist extremism in northwestern Africa long predates the fall of Gaddafi. None knows this better than Algeria, whose government fought a bloody civil war against Islamists. Whatever the final outcome of the hostage crisis, it makes plain the incompleteness of the regime’s victory. Just days ago, Algerian, Tunisian and Libyan officials met to address the risk of extremist attacks.

    Until recently, Algeria tried to promote negotiations between Mali’s government and the rebels. Their march on the capital led to a change of heart in Algiers, which facilitated France’s attack. Algeria should now co-operate better with West African states to bring stability to Mali.

    The French have rightly decided the risks of action are preferable to those of inaction. They may have waited too long: Mali’s West African neighbours called for intervention last April. US policy has proved counterproductive. With naive trust in Mali’s democratic institutions, the US supported a military it thought was controlled by friends, only to see the elected government toppled by a US-trained officer. This is not the only echo of Afghanistan: Mr Belmokhtar learnt his trade there when the US was arming the Mujahideen.

    A policy heavy in militarism and light in intelligence and diplomacy left fertile ground for extremism. That balance should be righted as more nations are affected by the hostage crisis.

     

    – Financial Times

     

  • ‘Nigeria has failed in its ‘pledge’

    ‘Nigeria has failed in its ‘pledge’

    A former House of Representatives spokesman, Eseme Eyiboh, yesterday said Nigeria has failed in its pledge to be faithful, loyal and honest.

    He said the country’s self-inflicted woes have robbed it of moral authority to seek God’s help.

    In a statement on the nation’s 52nd Independence anniversary, Eyibo said Nigeria is faced with self-made challenges which show that it “reneged” on the pledge.

    He said: “We have as individuals and as a people pledged to our nation (Nigeria) to be faithful, loyal and honest but at 52, with the self-inflicted and pervasive growth in insecurity, unemployment, corruption, hunger, injustice and waste in governance, it is self-evident that we have reneged on that pledge.