All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State alleged that, Kaduna State Governor, Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero on Tuesday morning stopped a meeting between Southern Kaduna top traditional rulers and in-coming Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo in the state.
The Director General of Kaduna State APC Campaign Council, Mr. Ben Kure disclosed this in a statement sent to newsmen in Kaduna on Tuesday.
Osibanjo was in Kafanchan to meet critical stakeholders in the area that includes traditional rulers, Christian leaders, academic, youth and women leaders ahead of Saturday’s governorship election.
The party alleged that, over 20 traditional rulers drawn from eight local government areas were on their way to palace of Chief of Kagoro, venue of the meeting, when they received the governor’s instruction.
“Some chiefs were already in the vicinity when they received signals warning them against meeting with Osinbajo.
“The programme was to first meet traditional rulers before church leaders, and we have notified them and they were ready to receive our in-coming Vice President. The meeting was to pay homage and intimate them of what the in-coming Muhammadu Buhari’s government has in stock for Nigerians irrespective religion, ethnicity, region or political interests.
“To our surprise, we received a message that the governor has stopped the meeting and cautioned them to return to their domains. The monarchs complied with the warning, aborted the meeting and proceeded to their palaces.
“The same governor three weeks back stopped the President-elect from holding a campaign at Murtala Square Kaduna. And he is now trying to embarrass his Vice President.
“Are the people of Kaduna state and their traditional rulers slaves of the governor? It is quite unfortunate that Kaduna state is now under an individual who is above the law and ruling with impunity.
“He should know that the people of Kaduna state are free people with the right of free association and choice. He will not force people to vote for him, it is a democracy and the voice of the people must be heard, “ Kure said.
Ahead of the April 11th governorship election, a chieftain of the All Progresives Congress (APC) from Southern Kaduna, Ibrahim Garaje Akut has called on the people of the area not to repeat the mistake of voting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) again.
He therefore appealed to his kinsmen to rally round support for the APC’s candidate, Mallam Nasir El-rufai in the saturday polls.
Mr. Akut who contested for the House of Representative for Kaura Federal constituency at the primaries on the platform of the APC and lost to a former Secretary to the State Government of Kaduna State and also a former Permanent Secretary cabinet office in the presidency Charles Bonet, further appealed to the people of the zone support the APC candidate so as to form the same party in the state as it is presently at the national.
Although he frowned at the way and manner the election went during the presidential polls where the zone gave their support to President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP despite his glaring inability to tackle challenges bedeviling the nation, such as insecurity, corruption, impunity’, he said, there is the need to retrace step and avoid another mistake in the governorship election.
He called particularly on the elders and traditional and religious leaders of the southern Kaduna extraction to use their good positions to unite the people of the area and the state and country in particular rather engaging in activities that will divide the people.
According to Mr. Akut, the APC governorship candidate is a trusted man with proven experience which when brought to bear will help to transform the state positively, he therefore appealed for an overwhelming support for him in the forthcoming polls.
“The Deputy Governorship candidate Barnabas Bala Bantex is our own who severally have proven himself as a man of integrity, their combination in the governance of the state will not only unite the people of the state, it will further draw Federal Government attention to the state and the southern Kaduna area.
He said, Mallam El-rufai has severally identified with the challenges of the southern Kaduna people, particularly the recurring killings in the area and has promised if elected to bring a permanent end to killings and ensure that justice prevail in the zone in all their areas of ‘oppression’.
“We have suffered a lot of neglect in our area, our people are killed at any given opportunity and so far nothing tangible seems to be done about it, we cannot continue that way, there must be a change which the APC government has promised to provide.
“I want to call on our people to come out en-mass and vote for Mallam Nasir El-rufai of the APC as the governor of the state, by that we will have a bargaining power at the end, let us not be deceived with empty promises that may not see the reality of the day,” he stressed.
A 27-years-old trader identified as Shehu Bashir of Yabati ward of Sabo Gari Local Government area of Kaduna State has been arrested by Kaduna State police Command for raping to death, a 2 years baby.
The suspect was arrested by men from the Sabo Gari Area Command of the state, following a complaint from the father of the late minor Mallam Zakkari Dahiru and has been transferred to the state Homicide department.
Interrogating the suspect, Shehu Bashir at the police premises in Kaduna, said he regretted his action and beg for mercy.
According to him, “to be honest with you, I don’t know what came over me but I started’ flipping with my manhood which was already erected and as if the devil want to punish me the late Fatimah came into my room because we are neighbor and she is used to me.
“Immediately she came I striped her naked and penetrated her through her virginal and to my surprise she stopped breathing and I applied water on her head but that would not resuscitates her. From then I knew that I am in a big trouble.
“I became more afraid when her mother started asking about her I told her I have not seen her that day. I put together some of my clothes under the pretend of washing them but her corpse was hidden in one of them.
“It was in this process that her father came into my room saying that he was informed that some people saw his daughter going into my room and I asked him to come in and see if she is there.
“He came in and went to my inner room but did not find anything; he came back to the palour where I was sitting with my clothes on his way out he stooped and said he want to see what is inside the wares I put on the ground and when he scattered the clothes he saw the corpse of his daughter and he raised alarm which attracted others neighbors and the police was invited,” he said.
The father of late Fatima, Mallam Zakkari Dahiru who could not hold back his tears informed this reporter that on the faithful day he was on his way out when his daughter asked him for money to buy bean cake but he refused to give her but the suspect came out of his room and asked for N50 to buy sugar which he obliged.
“It was the same money I later learnt he used to lure my daughter into his room,” the father said.
The Police Public Relation Officer, kaduna Command DSP Abdullahi Zubairu said the case file has been transferred to the Homicides teams for investigation and the suspect is currently detained at the Criminal Investigation Department.
Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has floored incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo’s home state, Kaduna, with 1.127,760 votes to 484,085 votes.
The opposition APC won in 14 of the 23 local governments, leaving the ruling party with nine councils.
Comrade Shehu Sani of the APC won the Kaduna Central Senatorial District seat, defeating Senator Mohammed Mukhtar Aruwa of the PDP with 468,964 votes to 168, 241 votes.
APC’s Suleiman Hunkuyi defeated the incumbent senator and former Kaduna State Governor, Ahmed Makarfi, to clinch the Kaduna North Senatorial Zone ticket with 447,917 votes to 136,197 votes.
However, Danjuma Laah of the PDP defeated APC’s Ishaku Shekarau to emerge the winner of the Kaduna South senatorial seat with 259,239 votes to 119,022 votes.
Presidential Candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari is leading in the election results of the first five local government areas released by INEC on Sunday.
Announcing the results, the Returning Officer for the presidential election in Kaduna State, Professor Ja’afaru Kaura gave the names of the local government area as Soba with APC recording 61,656 votes, PDP 1,998 votes, Kaura APC 7,101, PDP 27,502 votes, Sabon Gari APC 71,022 votes, PDP 10,845 votes, Jaba APC 5,342 votes. PDP 18,314 votes, and Sanga APC 12,817 votes, PDP 22,858 votes.
As the rescheduled presidential and National Assembly elections finally hold today, Lagos, Rivers, Kaduna and Ekiti States have been identified as potential flashpoints. This is going by the palpable and worrisome tension that trailed the build-up to the elections in the listed states.
Consequently, findings revealed that a number of the residents have either fled or made up their minds not to go out and vote to avoid being victims in the event that violence breaks out eventually.
Rivers State appears to top the list with the plethora of politically-motivated violence that took place in the state during the electioneering campaign. The intense rivalry between the incumbent governor, Rotimi Amechi and the PDP governorship candidate, Nyesom Wike, has no less festered the wave of violence in the state. The level of violence in the state appears alarming as the number of people that have been killed in the build-up to the election has stealthily been on the rise. Okrika, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Ogu/Bolo, Obio/Akpor, Etche and Ogoni have been listed as local government areas that are prone to violence.
No fewer than 20 people were reported to have been brutally murdered in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area between November 2014 and January 2015.
The spate of murder has been largely blamed on the use of cult groups and hoodlums by power drunk politicians. Aside from other forms of attack, the hoodlums also took their bloodletting to political rallies.
In January, 24th to be specific, the All Progressives Congress governorship rally in Okrika Local Government Area came under violent attack which led to the destruction of the equipment being set up for the exercise.
Venue of a disrupted rally
The armed youths shot sporadically and threw dynamites into the National School Field venue of the party’s governorship campaign. A policeman, who attempted to repel the assailants, was hit by a bullet and later died in the hospital, while the governorship candidate of the party, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, narrowly escaped death.
Another wind of violence blew on the state on February 22, 2015, when Mr. Freddy Ndigbara, the Deputy Chief Press Secretary to Governor Rotimi Amaechi, was abducted in Kaani, Khana Local Government Area.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had four of its members killed within a short period of six days. Two chieftains of the party, Mr. Ibima Olunta and Mr. Goodfellow Bobmanuel, were shot dead on the 15th of March in Abonnema, headquarters of Akuku-Toru Local Government Area. The two others Odinaka Wichendu and Nkanum Nwonkwo, were shot dead in Aluu community in Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state on the 21st of the same month.
Several persons were also injured when armed thugs shot sporadically at an APC ward-to-ward rally in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area recently.
Findings revealed that some terror -stricken natives and several strangers who reside in Port Harcourt started relocating to their home states since the beginning of the week.
Gloria Nnoke, an Ikwerre woman is one of the people that have relocated their families. In a chat The Nation, she said she relocated her family because she didn’t want to be a victim of election violence. “I am not the only one that has relocated from Omuku. The way party loyalists are parading in the area shows that there could be trouble on the election day.
“About 50 youths in the area lost their lives in the pre-election violence. I have no choice than to relocate with my children, though my husband is still there.”
As a result of the unbridled violence, The Nation gathered that many residents of Okrika have decided to stay at home on election day instead of going out to vote. There are fears among the people that the election could be hijacked by ex-militants.
During the week, a group under the aegis of Nigeria Democratic Forum (NIDAF) alerted politicians in the state that the agents of International Criminal Court (ICC) are beaming their searchlight on the troubled zones in Rivers State.
The President of the group, Comrade Obiajunwo Dike, told The Nation that the trouble makers and violent prone politicians may wish to reconsider their strategies as agents of ICC have spread their investigative dragnet to those local governments in the state identified as risk areas in this 2015 election, adding that their investigation is to ascertain the root cause of politically-motivated violence and those behind it.
However, Dame Gesila Khan, the Rivers State Resident Commissioner, has said the commission is fully prepared to conduct free, fair and credible elections in the state.
She said INEC has done their part to stabilise the state and ensure that politicians do not see themselves as enemies but as brothers and sisters. She regretted that much innocent blood had been shed and pleaded with shareholders and politicians to allow peace to reign.
A torn campaign poster
“The commission is seriously concerned about the violent incidents before, during and after elections and we have been appealing to all stakeholders to prevail on our youths to shun all forms of violence and avoid being used by politicians to perpetrate acts that may lead to the disruption of the elections. The future of this nation belongs to them and therefore they must help to deepen our democratic process.”
The story has not been too different in Lagos State where political violence has been taking different forms and shapes. From the mutilation of political opponents’ posters and billboards, hoodlums suspected to be political thugs have unrestrainedly attacked convoys of party candidates, burning their campaign vehicles in the process. A number of party faithful have equally been killed in some of the attacks.
For example, three people were gruesomely murdered in Lagos Island late last year when members of the APC and the PDP clashed.
Three people were also killed early last month at Ajegunle area of the state when supporters of the two leading parties clashed; 20 people sustained different degrees of injury in the clash .
Also, in Agege, an APC supporter, Mr. Eyitayo Peters, aka Abona, lost his life on January 22 after being shot in the face on Orile Road. Another supporter, Lanre Ogunjimi, was shot in the waist in the same area.
Going by the spate of violence that has trailed the campaigns of the candidates for the Lagos-West senatorial district in the state, political watchers have expressed fears that the area is one of those to watch. Recently, the supporters of the two major contenders for the soul of area, Hon. Olamilekan Adeola (Yayi) of the APC and Segun Adewale (Aeroland) of the PDP have been locked in a fierce battle .
Recently, the campaign office of Hon. Adeola came under heavy attacks. The assailants reportedly fired shots into the office damaging the rear windscreen of his Toyota Land Cruiser and the exterior of the office room.
The incident led to heated argument between the feuding candidates with Aeroland claiming that it was Yayi’s supporters that attacked his campaign team when he was passing through Yayi’s campaign office’s area.
Allegations and counter-allegations about the destruction of posters and billboards erected at strategic positions have also generated heated argument between the parties and their supporters.
While the APC on its part is saying that the PDP and its supporters have been responsible for removal of posters belonging to candidates vying on its platform, the PDP says otherwise.
Few days ago, protesters suspected to be members of the Oodua Peoples Congress heightened the tension in the state when it took to major roads in the city to demand for the sack of INEC boss, Prof Attahiru Jega. They allegedly brandished all manners of dangerous weapons and destroyed APC campaign posters and billboards they could lay their hands on. Their action created massive gridlock and apprehension in the state.
Like their Rivers State counterparts, the residents of the state have been living in the fears that the election may be accompanied by some degree of violence.
“We have heard that some politicians have armed their supporters with dangerous weapons. I am really worried by the development and that is not encouraging me to go out and vote. From what I have seen so far, there is little or nothing the security agents can do to check these people. It is unfortunate that these depraved politicians are poised to make it a do-or-die issue,” Bade, a resident of Alimosho area said.
Hounded by the orgy of violence that swept across the state in 2011, residents of Kaduna State appeared to have made up their minds that the election could be violent. Even though they fervently pray against it, the people have already started stocking their homes with foodstuff to avoid suffering from hunger if there is violence and a dusk-to-dawn curfew is imposed.
The figure of casualties recorded in the 2011 violence put the state as the worst hit by the crisis and thereby responsible for tension in the state presently.
Out of a total of 943 deaths recorded across the country in the 2011 post-election violence, Kaduna alone recorded 827. Also, all the property that was lost was put at N40.6 billion across the country, and Kaduna alone lost N23.3 billion.
One thing that makes election violence worse in Kaduna State is that, it often quickly turns religious.
This has made religious leaders in the state to be educating their members on the need to stay away from acts that could lead to violence. A cleric, Bishop Idowu-Fearon, told the residents: “We must work hard to ensure that the 2011 crisis does not repeat itself in 2015 election. We must not allow the politicians to use us to kill fellow human beings and destroy properties that people struggled to acquire.
“So, my advice is that we are created by one God, whether you are a Muslim or Christian, Hausa or Nupe, Igala or Gwari, etc. God wants us to live together and develop Kaduna State and the country in general. God wants us to work together; tell the politicians not to divide us. You have your religion, I have my religion.
“You cannot force a Christian to become a Muslim; you cannot force a Muslim to become a Christian. We need to tell ourselves that we do not need a Muslim or Christian President or governor. What we need is a President who fears God, whether he is a Muslim or a Christian. In Kaduna State, we don’t need a Muslim or Christian governor, but we need a governor who fears God because we are created by one God.”
Alluding to the holy books, he added: “The Bible and Quran are clear about what is expected of our leaders. They must be just, honest and accountable to the people and seek advice from the people. So let us use our Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) to elect credible leaders. Your PVCs is your power, use it wisely, and vote according to your conscience.
“If you vote for a corrupt person, a person who is not honest and just, God will ask you questions. So vote for credible leaders, and by the special grace of God, there will be no crisis in 2015 elections”, he said.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner( REC), Hussaini Ahmed Mahuta, and the state Commissioner of Police, Umar Shehu, have assured of their readiness to ensure peaceful elections.
The REC said: “INEC has made and still making tremendous efforts towards ensuring that the general elections are free, fair and credible, and to also ensure that nobody is deliberately disenfranchised.”
In the same vein, the police assured that it will do all within the ambit of the law to protect lives and property of the citizenry, before, during and after the polls. It said it is ready to secure the lives and property of the people by deploying enough men to the field, especially the flashpoints.
But some residents, who spoke with The Nation vehemently stated: “The best way to prevent violence is to ensure free, fair and credible elections and at the end, announce result that reflects the wish of the people.”
Ekiti is another state that is feared to record some pockets of violence following its unbroken record in this regard in recent times. Whenever elections are around the corner, the residents are often afraid that the ugly trend could rear its head.
Some of the high profile assassinations that had taken place in the state in the past included the killings of a World Bank consultant, Dr. Ayodeji Daramola; an Assistant General Manager, Finance and Administration of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria in Kaduna State, Mr. Kehinde Fasuba; Mr. Tunde Omojola, Mrs. Eunice Omojola and Mr. Yemi Oni. One Mr. Foluso Ogundare of Emure Ekiti, was also murdered during a meeting at Ward 3 in Emure, in the Emure Local Government Area of the state.
Pockets of violence were recorded in the wake of the 2007 general election but it assumed a frightening dimension in 2009 when the court ordered the governorship rerun election.
During the rerun poll, the Ido/Osi Local Government Area office of INEC along Ipere Road in Ido-Ekiti was set ablaze by unknown arsonists.
Apart from the razing of INEC office, politicians cutting across various parties were attacked sustaining varying degrees of injury with property worth millions of naira vandalised.
A member of the defunct Action Congress (AC), Segun Ajayi, had his leg shattered by shots fired by people suspected to be political thugs.
The build-up to last year’s governorship election also witnessed lots of violence across the state as politicians and their supporters unleashed violence on one another, causing tension across the land.
As the 2015 poll draws nearer, tension has heightened in the state as all manners of violence that erupted marred electioneering campaigns by the political parties.
A vandalised car during an electoral violence
There have been reports of attacks on the homes of some politicians, while billboards and posters of many candidates have been vandalised by suspected thugs.
A civil servant, John Ogundare, expressed concern on the violence being unleashed by politicians through their thugs. He feared that it may scare the electorate away from polling booths.
He said: “I am seriously concerned about the level of violence witnessed in the last couple of months. Politics should not be a do-or-die affair and if the trend continues, I may not vote at the election because I value my life and I don’t want to lose it.”
Mrs. Dupe Esan, a resident of Ikere-Ekiti, said she would relocate to her hometown of Igbemo-Ekiti during the elections because of what she called “fear of the unknown”.
“Although I was registered to vote in Ikere, I will travel to my hometown two days before the elections because of the fear of the unknown.
“Nobody knows what would happen and you know that politics is always hot in Ikere here. I will come back after the elections would have been concluded”, she said.
Following the upsurge in violence, the state’s Commissioner of Police, Taiwo Lakanu, organised a peace meeting where parties and candidates signed an accord to maintain peace at the polls.
Speaking at the peace accord forum, Lakanu, who was joined by the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 8, Christopher Dega, said the Police would not tolerate violence during the general elections.
Lakanu, in a statement, declared that the command had made adequate security arrangement for the forthcoming elections.
“The Commissioner of Police has held series of interactive sessions/meetings with political stakeholders and traditional rulers on the need to eschew violence and ensure that their wards/supporters are not allowed to partake in any form of thuggery/violence.
“The heads of other security agencies under the aegis of Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) have assured the command of their full collaboration with the police to ensure violence-free elections in the state,” he said.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the state has commenced moves to prevent the polls from being marred by violence by organising forums to sensitize Nigerians to ensure a peaceful electoral process.
The agency urged political parties and other stakeholders to conduct themselves in a peaceful manner and avoid election-related violence which it fears may worsen humanitarian crisis in the country.
The Head of Operations, Mr. Saheed Akiode, said: “Violence is now a means used by group seeking power, by groups holding on to power and by groups in the process of losing power.
“Thus, electoral violence has been described as all forms of organised acts or threats physical, psychological, and structural, aimed at intimidating, harming, blackmailing a political stakeholder before, during and after an election with a view of determining, delaying or otherwise influencing an electoral process.”
The Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikole-Ekiti Branch, Mr. Ademola Adeyemi, lamented the fact that perpetrators of violence are hardly prosecuted in Nigeria despite the provisions in the Electoral Law.
He suggested the deployment of enough security personnel to areas that have history of violence.
“Areas that have history of violence should be identified and security forces deployed there to maintain peace during elections. If adequate security forces are not available, then phased election schedule is suggested,” Adeyemi said.
Ahead of the next Saturday Presidential election, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kaduna, Alhaji Hussaini Ahmed Mahuta Tuesday said the commission has received 7827 card readers with the excess as backups that are yet to be configured.
Mahuta who disclosed this while meeting with stakeholders preparatory to the elections, however stated that the backup card readers will only be configured when the need arises.
He said 3 back up card readers will be dispatched to each of the polling units in the state.
Meanwhile, he said 3,417,122 are registered voters in the state, out of which 3,404,481 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) have been received from INEC for distribution, but only 3,160,949 PVCS have been collected while 221,722 PVCS are yet to be collected, giving 92.85 percentage collections.
The REC also said the distribution of the PVCs have so far been stopped except for the PVCs received in the last three weeks from INEC headquarters.
Stakeholders which were made up of representatives of the various political parties, security agents, religious bodies and Civil Society Organisations (CS0s), IPAC, AU and EU observers sought clarification on issues bordering on security, thump printing, voting and announcement of results among others.
The REC who proffer answers to the questions put across to him by the stakeholders, also informed that the Kaduna office has in its possession non sensitive materials while the sensitive materials are to be collected from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Wednesday with representatives of all the participating political parties in attendance.
“So far, within the ambit of the constitution, I can say that INEC is fully ready for the election in the state, but we will require a peaceful atmosphere to perform our responsibility.
“We are calling on political parties to talk to their supporters on the need to eschew all form of violence and any break down of law and order.”
The security agencies in attendance also assured of their preparedness for the election and vowed to vehemently deal with any violator of law and order before, during and after the elections.
They called on all eligible voters to conduct themselves in an orderly manner while those that have nothing whatsoever to do with the elections should kindly stay off the election venue.
The one million man-march of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to round off its campaigns in the Kaduna metropolis was brought to a standstill yesterday, as hoodlums suspected to be of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clashed.
People were injured and the posters of President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero were destroyed.
Investigations by this reporter showed that trouble started as the march, which was originally planned to kick-off from the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, was stopped by security agents and the APC supporters were asked to move from there to the Kaduna International Trade Fair Complex on the Kaduna-Zaria Expressway.
This, The Nation learnt, did not go down well with the APC members, who chanted “change, change dole”. They vented their anger on anything that had to do with the PDP, pulling down its billboards and tearing its posters.
The situation almost got out of control at the NEPA Roundabout when some miscreants, who were said to be APC supporters, tried to scale the fence of the Goodluck/Sambo Campaign office, but they were confronted by the PDP supporters and this resulted in a fight.
At press time five people were injured and are at the Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital, Kaduna.
Operatives of the Kaduna State Security Outfit, Operation Yaki, arrived the scene and dispersed the warring parties.
Spokesman for the El-Rufai Campaign Organisation, Samuel Aruwan, said their peaceful road march was infiltrated by PDP thugs, who planned to cause chaos to portray APC and its governorship candidate in bad light.
Tony Akowe in Abuja reports on the day All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, stormed Kaduna to preach his message of change
The rally was supposed to take place at the spacious Murtala Square in the heart of Kaduna metropolis to flag off the zonal campaign rallies of the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. But it had to move to the Kaduna International Trade and Investment Centre otherwise known as the Kaduna International Trade Fair complex located at Kilometre four, along the ever busy Kaduna/Kano highway. Some believe that the state government was afraid of the crowd that will gather at the facility in view of the fact that the state rally of the APC which earlier took place there attracted an unprecedented crowd of supporters. But another school of thought said the government complained that supporters of the APC destroyed some facilities at the square when they first used it. Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed, a member of the Media and Publicity Committee of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation told The Nation that the only excuse given for not allowing them to use the square was security. The government’s refusal to allow them use the facility did not deter supporters in the state to turn out in their numbers. From the Kawo Over-head Bridge to the Trade Fair Complex, supporters who had no vehicle took over the major road, walking to the square and forcing vehicles to divert to the second lane. It was like a carnival as they sang and danced two hours before the arrival of the APC flag bearer.
Before the rally, which eventually took off at about 5.00pm, the party had held a town hall meeting with religious leaders at the historic Hamdala Hotel. The interactive session drew religious leaders from different parts of the country. The religious leaders spoke their minds and asked frank questions. Buhari told the religious leaders to be weary of people who are using religion to divide the country in the name of seeking election. He told them that leaders should not be elected on the basis of their religion, but on the competence and ability to do the work of leaders.
Answering questions posed by the religious leaders, vice presidential candidate of the party, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who represented Buhari, assured that Buhari will not leave any stone unturned in his quest to sanitize the country and end the culture of corruption and insecurity in the country. Osinbajo said Buhari has made it clear at several fora that he will not hesitate to bring to book even members of his family that are found to have soiled their hands in corruption after he is sworn in as President, adding that Nigerians are quite aware of the position of Gen. Buhari on the issue of corruption, adding that no matter who you are, the law would be allowed to take its cause. He said “On the various issues of corruption, what General Buhari has said categorically is that as far as he is concerned, the day he is sworn in as president he would have drawn a line; anybody who runs foul of the law, anything that is being investigated before will continue as it is. If you are found to be corrupt, you will receive the consequence, no matter who you are; whether you are his brother, sister, his friends, there will be consequences. That is what he has said and I think that is in line with the position of the party.” He also dismissed the rumored agreement by Buhari to serve only one term, saying “you know who Buhari is and what he stands for. You know that he will never sign any such agreement. By the grace of God, he will run two terms in office by God’s grace. He is just too straight forward to do that; you know he can never do that, there is no way he is going to sign any agreement; so let us be very clear, I don’t even need to ask him that; I know him well enough that he will never sign anything of such; the man is healthy and strong and by the grace of God, he will run two terms in office by God’s grace.”
Addressing party supporters drawn from the seven states of the North-West, Buhari, who arrived the venue of the rally in an open coastal box clad in a sky blue babariga, accompanied by a large number of supporters who had to walk for about four kilometers to the venue of the rally, told the people in Hausa that his idea of becoming president is not to go into probing past leaders, stressing however that he will allow the judicial process to run its full course in all cases relating to corruption if elected into office, adding that, his government will draw a line as soon as he assumes office. He said further that anyone who embezzles a single kobo after he is sworn in will not only be made to refund it, but will face prosecution as from May 29, 2015 if he becomes president.
He asked Nigerians to vote for all APC candidates in the coming elections. At the end of the four years that they are seeking for, they would have spent 20 years in power and we would have been so dehumanized that that we can’t even recognize each other”.
A large consignment of army uniforms heading for Kaduna State has been intercepted in Enugu State, the police said. A luxury bus-load of the shipment was said to have departed Aba, Abia State’s commercial hub en route Kaduna when the police in conjunction with the National Task Force (NATFORCE) intercepted it in Nsukka.
The security personnel said they were keen to unravel the mystery behind the shipment of the army consignment which consisted of camouflage uniforms.
Some of the questions to resolve include who ordered the consignment, who took the order, who would receive it, and for what purpose.
The driver of the bus was said to have tried to evade the men of the task force, and knocked down one of the cadets in the process. The bus hit a drum by the roadside which forced it to stop. The driver reportedly still refused to open the bus door until it was forced open by the task force men.
The luxury bus said to be marked Trade Union Congress (TUC) Federal Government Assisted Mass Transit with registration number KUJ745 XA left Aba on the fateful night but was intercepted at Amalla in Udenu Local Council of Enugu State at about 2.30am.
According to the Southeast command of the NATFORCE led by its director, Comrade Obinna Onyenkwelu, the luxury bus had on board 14 passengers, the driver and two conductors.
None of the passengers accepted ownership of the goods. All the passengers including the driver and the conductors were arrested and handed over to the Nigeria Police Area Command, Nsukka for interrogation and further investigation.
Items recovered from the luxury bus included 16 bundles containing army camouflage uniforms, bales of secondhand clothes and bags of substances suspected to be cannabis.
The driver of the vehicle, who identified himself as Philip Tsaku, aged 42, from Nassarawa State, on interrogation said he was not aware that the army uniforms were concealed in the goods.
He said he returned from Lagos the previous night, only to be asked to proceed to Kaduna after the goods had been loaded without his knowledge.
He said the waybill note was given to the conductor with phone numbers and names of the owners in Kaduna.
The conductor, who was identified as Boka Adamu, 37, said he was only given the way bill and not told the content.
Adamu said: “My duty is only that when we reach Kaduna, I will call numbers on the way bill and they will come and collect the goods. The owners of the goods paid for them at our Aba office.”
He also noted that they usually dropped goods in Kaduna, Zaria, Abuja and finally Kano, without knowing the contents of the goods.
As at the time of filing this report, the police were said to have made arrests in Aba and Kaduna following a tip-off.
The Director, Southeast NATFORCE, Obinna Onyenkwelu said his men would not leave anybody in doubt about its activities.
A similar arrest was made by the task force in June last year when its personnel intercepted items with 21 suspected terrorists.
