The Nation Newspaper

Tag: POSTPONEMENT

  • Postponement: Abubakar peace panel seeks stakeholders’ understand 

    •Ex-head of state urges INEC to redeem credibility

    National Peace and Reconciliation Committee  Chairman Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be focused on how best to reclaim its credibility and integrity.

    This is as he also appealed to Nigerians to put aside the disappointment of the postponement of the general elections.

    The commission had announced the postponement of the general polls over alleged logistics problems and sabotage of its effort.

    The former head of state, in a statement titled: Nigerians: Rise up and obey the nation’s call”,  noted that Nigerians must remain hopeful.

    He stated:  ”After trying to explain your situation, it is now important to focus on how best to reclaim your credibility and integrity. Patiently continue to focus on attaining internal cohesion and coordination. Do not give room to external enemies to infiltrate and destroy the confidence and trust that your organisation has earned.

    “Avoid panic measures, continue to communicate effectively with Nigerians and build up your confidence. Listen to the politicians, but do not be distracted. Perhaps, just perhaps, your being accused by both sides might be your vindication. You might still be vindicated in the end. Focus on the big picture.”

    Agreeing that there were reasons for people to be angry, Abubakar, who was more philosophical in his statement, said although, the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has already addressed the nation and the leaders of all the political parties, very little has happened to assuage the deep feeling of embarrassment, pain and disappointment across the land.

    “The impact of this decision has permeated every stratum of our lives and has the potential to dampen the confidence of our people in the political process. It has further deepened anxieties within the international community about our country.”

    Abubakar noted that the disappointment should be seen as a battle that must be won collectively by all.

    “There is enough blame to pass around. The real challenge now is for us as a nation, to reach out to the deepest instincts of faith in God and our country. We must put everything aside and see this as a battle that all of us must win. The challenge is not who to sacrifice, but what sacrifice to make.

    “We must remain hopeful because God is perfect and all-knowing. We are humans, He is the God of history and all power belongs to Him alone. He will give to whom He wishes, how and when He wishes. We are merely instruments of His plans. It is against this background that we wish to appeal to our fellow citizens,” he added.

    To Nigerians, Abubakar stated: “We understand your right to feel betrayed and humiliated by INEC. However, we appeal to you all to see this as a watershed in the life of our fledgling Democracy. The only way we can ensure a steady democracy is for us to learn the lessons from these sad developments. Therefore, we appeal to you not to count the cost of the setback, but respond to the call to patriotism. Do not relent, go out and fulfill your duty to your family and country on election day. We will soon turn the corner in hope.  Rather than despair, rise up to defend our democracy.”

    To the political class, he stated: “What we have before us is well beyond the struggle for power. Our predicament calls for character and grace. The politicians must own this process by showing their readiness to collaborate with INEC and to inspire our people to new heights. The challenge before you goes beyond the narrowness of political opportunities.

    “This is not time to trade blames or to incite your supporters. Be temperate in your language so that we do not inadvertently set up our people for violence. Sadly, for us, politics of the last few years have further polarised our people along dangerous religious, regional, ethnic and party lines. We must aim at trying to avert this precipice and try to heal our nation.”

    He also called for the understanding of the international community, saying: “We appreciate the sacrifices that you have made to come to Nigeria to monitor our elections. We see your engagement with us not as an act of interference but as the extension of the hand of friendship and encouragement. With your co-operation and encouragement, we will deepen our political culture and turn democracy into a tool for development and progress for our people. We know it is a long road and we are prepared to walk it to the end.”

    He also asked God to “take control of all the relevant agencies in this election and let your will be done.”

  • Postponement: Lanlehin accused INEC of shoddy preparation

    The Oyo State governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of shoddy preparation for the general elections in the last three years.
    He said before the postponement, the electioneering processes did not reflect transparency, which he said put a question mark on the commission’s integrity.
    Lanlehin noted that the situation surrounding the postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections was worrisome.
    The ADC candidate, who is also a legal luminary, described INEC’s decision to stop campaigns as unlawful.
    He decried what he called “credible information” that the ruling party was planning to disrupt the elections with thugs across the country.
    Lanlehin urged security agents to ensure the security of life and property, before, during and after the elections.
    The ADC candidate advised the electorate to come out in large numbers and cast their ballots for credible candidates and ensure that their votes count.

  • Of endorsement and postponement

    It is the season of commentariat endorsement.  But what has happened is sudden election postponement.  Life goes on.

    Still, the reaction, angry if understandable, has suggested the world had ground to a halt.  It hasn’t — and it wouldn’t.

    But that doesn’t make the postponement of the presidential/National Assembly election the ideal.  Indeed, for a fragile polity, it’s no good news — and it should never happen again.

    Even then, it’s no novelty.  In 2011, the same presidential/National Assembly election got postponed, even hours after it had opened.  Reason: failed logistics.

    In 2015, the election opener got pushed back by six weeks.  Fearing incumbent defeat and a lack of momentum, the then National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, went to Chatham House in London to raise a Boko Haram scarecrow.

    Days later, Dasuki’s postponement got rammed down the country’s throat, via the National Council of State (NCA).  At that meeting, the NSA baited INEC chair, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to go on, if he could conjure up security.

    Yet, the yak and yelp that greeted this latest postponement, suggesting a novelty, betrays a sickening lack of institutional memory.

    It’s a troubling national forgetfulness that condemns Nigerians to reacting to about everything with dashing hysteria, coupled with vulgar abuse and damning conspiracy theories.

    Still, that is not to say pushing elections, at the virtual last minute — this latest one got announced around 2am on Election Day — should be tolerated.  Indeed, it must be condemned.  And trust Nigerians: the blame beam got switched on with blinding flash, complete with wild name-calling and a torrent of curses.

    All that is okay — after all, you don’t smack a child and expect it not to yelp or scream.  The problem though is that even as Nigerians froth in holy anger, they tightly shut their eyes to the root of the problem.

    Many have dismissed the  Mahmood Yakubu-chaired Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as “incompetent” — and it could well be.

    Still, though the INEC chair had changed from Prof.  Jega (whose tenure was responsible for the 2011 and 2015 postponements), the blighted operating environment, that forced the umpire to eat crow back then, is perhaps even worse today.

    Since Nigeria’s formative years, leading up to independence in 1960, elections here have been the civic equivalent of a shooting war — with booming guns not altogether silent; and baleful politicians, with a win-at-all-cost mentality, anything but civil.

    In such perilous setting, sabotage is rife.  Where venality is second god, especially among the unscrupulous elite, hefty-bribe-for-sabotage appears even rifer, if the price is worth the risk.  In such dog-eat-dog milieu, INEC and its operations are fair game.

    So, perhaps Prof. Yakubu’s most grievous sin was waiting too long to halt the train.  Even then, no one wants to, in a hurry, face the proverbial Nigerian bile — for “incompetence”, the polity’s latest cliché!

    But then, better pull the plug and earn that bile, than get consigned to the Nigerian electoral Hades, where Maurice Iwu hankers down as the Satan of all time!

    Jega, after all, endured two postponements (though to be fair, the 2015 one was state blackmail beyond his help), only to lift Nigeria from electoral morass, after the Olusegun Obasanjo/Maurice Iwu all-time “do-or-die” meltdown of 2007.

    So, as folks growl, hiss and bristle at INEC, this grim news: this election postponement might not be the last in Nigeria’s electoral cycle.

    Why?  Because there are still too many rotten players, strutting around the democratic space, sworn to winning at all cost, whatever it takes!

    For one, former President Obasanjo is not weaned of his do-or-die temper of 2007.  This year, he has an added blackmail weapon in the so-called “international community”, whose hypocrisy has, so far, been rather benumbing.

    For another, you don’t stay loudly quiet at clearly organized arson against INEC — a convoy bearing key election materials completely razed on the highway at Akwa Ibom; containers with 4, 695 smart card readers, among other materials, burnt in Awka, Anambra State; other INEC office arson in Plateau and Abia states; and materials for two of the three Niger State senatorial districts, vanishing on election eve — and still expect Yakubu to conjure “free and fair” elections.  That would be electoral reverie taken too far!

    Yes, INEC has its own share of the blame. But the Nigerian people should also partner with their state to rid the electoral process of political desperadoes.  They know they are doomed.  But they want to take everyone down with them.

    So long as Nigerians tolerate or even gloss over these renegades, so long would they condemn themselves to last-minute poll postponements — or even worse — with the associated heart aches.

    That is the bitter take from this latest postponement.

    Endorsement?  O yes! But first: this analogy-turned-allegory, from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.

    It goes by unconscionable tortoise, who though stitched up with borrowed feathers to make a bash in the skies, rechristened himself “All of you”, to corner all the gravy.

    His angry, hungry and cheated benefactors would strip him of all the borrowed plumes.  As a result, he got tossed down from the skies, badly fracturing his shell, from his cascading fall.

    Tortoise, as “All of you”, perfectly epitomizes Nigerian national governance since 1960 —and the perfect living symbol of that is former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    As military Head of State (February 1976 – 1 October 1979), Operation Feed the Nation (OFN), was one of Gen. Obasanjo’s key policies, to mainstream household farming.

    But after, another OFN — Obasanjo Farms Nigeria — became the crown jewel of the former junta head’s tour of duty.  The Land Use Decree (now Land Use Act) paved the way to cheap access to vast farm lands, suggesting sweet private lollies, buried deep in patriotic public policy.

    Obasanjo’s second coming, as elected president (1999-2007), boasts a similar self-gifted tiara: Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) — clear extortion, dubbed as “donation”, from Business and Political Nigeria, to a sitting president and Oil minister!

    Since 2015, however, that “All of you” culture appears receding, with public money progressively working more for the bulk of the people.

    The Nigerian state, under PMB, is bonding with the poor and the most vulnerable, through specific pro-poor initiatives; aside from a visible infrastructure upscale, physical and social, even the blind can see.

    Still, the “All of you” army charges into this election with snorting horses and furious chariots; baying “international community!” as the gallop into battle!

    But they forget: what Achebe rendered in “All of You” is the Igbo equivalent of the Yoruba version, rendered so dramatically in Ola Rotimi’s Kurunmi: a tortoise that swore never to return from his trip, until he was disgraced!

    On Saturday, let the majority vote in those who spend the people’s money on the people – not on their selfish selves.  That is what PMB has done since 2015 – and that is the logical path to tread.

  • Postponement: Adams sues for calm

    The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, has urged Nigerians to remain calm, saying the peace and unity of Nigeria is far beyond personal interests.

    He said the decision by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to postpone the election at the last minute has a huge implication on the integrity of Nigeria, both in Africa and across the world, even as it affects the economy of the nation.

    Adams, however, flayed INEC, saying the shift has raised questions about its level of preparedness.

    “Report of the non-availability of sensitive and non-sensitive election materials in about 15 states has raised questions on the credibility and level of preparedness of the electoral body, and the leadership of INEC should remember the inglorious story of the June 12 annulment that eventually draws the nation backward. I want to say that the one week window occasioned by the postponement will determine a lot of things about the Nigerian future, and there should be no inconclusive election, no excuse, either head or tail election must hold,” he said.

    According to him, every plan is as good as its implementation.

  • Postponement: Plot to enthrone Interim Government – CNPP

    The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) on Saturday described inconsistencies associated wit the preparations for the 2019 generations as supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as “part of a deliberate plot by anti-democratic forces to derail Nigerian democracy and enthrone an interim government in country. CNPP in a statement by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu wondered why “an election that took the electoral umpire four years to prepare for would be postponed at eleventh hour despite assurances by the Commission that it was ready for the elections.

    “Before now, there has been subtle mussing about plans by some forces to enthrone an Interim Government on the country and it is becoming obvious that such forces have thrown their evil spanners into the democratic electoral process to have a reason to carry out their clandestine agenda. These forces, we suspect, are the same that have carried out systematic arson that led to the destruction of electoral materials and Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) at different parts of the country few days to the election and the killings in Kaduna State on the eve of the election.

    “As an umbrella body of all registered political parties and associations in the country, we compelled to alert the nation and urge well-meaning Nigerians and lovers of democracy around the world that the postponement of the election for February 16, 2019 may not have happened as a mere logistics problems as adduced by INEC. Even when the rumour of plans to postpone the polls strongly permeated the air days to the planned election date, the electoral umpire reiterated its readiness to go ahead with the exercise as scheduled, we are shocked that INEC suddenly postponed the election about five hours to time of commencement.

     

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  • Kano council polls: Court dismisses PDP’s request for postponement

    Kano council polls: Court dismisses PDP’s request for postponement

    •Security agencies warn against violence
    •Plateau IPAC hails security agencies

    A Kano State High court sitting at Audu Bako Secretariat has rejected an application by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) requesting the court to postpone the February 10 local government elections.

    Presiding Acting Chief Judge, Justice Nura Sagir, ruled that the application was tendered orally.

    The PDP earlier filed a suit against the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC), seeking the court to denounce the N250,000 and N150,000 intent form fees for chairmanship and councillorship candidates.

    PDP’s lawyer, Abdul Adamu Fagge, urged the court to declare that KANSIEC acted in contrast to the provisions of the 1999 constitution, as amended.

    KANSIEC’s lawyer and Commissioner for Justice, Ibrahim Mukthar, prayed the court to discountenance PDP’s complaints, as contained in the Originating Summons, arguing that KANSIEC has the sole constitutional mandate to conduct local government elections.

    Justice Sagir said KANSIEC is a body established by the provision of a law promulgated by the House of Assembly, and has the mandate to conduct local government elections. He said it has not acted  contraryt to the provisions of the constitution.

    He declined to grant the PDP’s request for a consequential order postponing the elections, to give effect to the initial verdict of the court, on the substantive matter earlier determined against PDP.

    Justice Sagir noted that the request is not contained in the Originating Summons.

    Security operatives have warned candidates and political parties against indulging in acts capable of causing mayhem during or after Saturday’s election.

    Commissioner of Police Rabi’u Yusuf, who addressed candidates and party leaders yesterday, said politics is not about violence.

    Yusuf appealed to them to play the game according to the rules, by avoiding campaigns that may breed unpleasant consequences because “politics is not a do-or-die affair”.

    He said: “Security agencies do not belong to any political party; ours is to provide security. And as such, I will like you, contestants and party leaders, to talk to your electorates about your products and at the end, they can vote for the candidate of their choice.

    “I am warning you; we will not tolerate violence or wielding dangerous weapons during the election. Anyone caught will face the wrath of the law. There will be restriction of movement on the election day. After casting your vote, you are advised to immediately leave the area because we shall not condone loitering.

    “We are not politicians but we provide enabling environment for a hitch-free exercise, as we will not hesitate to deal decisively with anyone trying to scuttle the election.”

    Representatives of the political parties agreed in the peace accord to abide by all the laws governing the conduct of election.

    The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in Plateau State has lauded security agencies for being proactive in preventing violence in the state.

    Security agencies, on Monday, advised the State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) to postpone the February 17 local government elections.

    IPAC met to assess the situation, and resolved that the security agencies have done well in visualising the violence which would have characterised the election. It said it could not afford another round of bloodshed, especially as the present administration has invested much to restore peace.

    Chairman of the coalition, Latep Dabang, who addressed reporters after the emergency meeting, said: “The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has resolved to support the state electoral commission for heeding the advice of the Security Council and postponed the election.

    “It is the resolve of IPAC that peace is very cardinal in the conduct of any election, considering the important role of the grassroots in a democracy. The election of local government chairmen and councillors is very dear to all political parties.

    “This state has been enjoying relative peace since the coming of the present government, and it will be foolhardy to embark on anything that will truncate the ongoing peace building. So we are fully in support of the postponement.”

    But the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said postponing the election for security reasons is as sign of the government’s failure.

  • MTN $13b saga: Questions over Senate’s postponement

    MTN $13b saga: Questions over Senate’s postponement

    It was the Senate ad hoc committee on the Humanitarian Crisis in the North East, headed by Senator Shehu Sani that unearthed the contract scam involving the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir David Lawal in October 2016. Unlike many investigative panels before it, the Sani committee did a thorough job. Some of its findings was the over N200 million contract for the removal of invasive weeds (otherwise known as grass cutting contract) in Yobe State. The committee discovered that Rholavision Nigeria Limited, the company that got what turned out to be a phony contact, was registered by Babachir Lawal. The Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) which awarded the contract, was placed under the watch of the same Lawal. The committee’s findings were able to establish that it was Babachir Lawal of PINE that awarded the contract to Babachir Lawal of Rholavision. When the scandal broke, the double faced Lawal applied several bullying methods to dismiss the report. But the Senate, particularly Shehu Sani refused to be silenced by Lawal’s sinister antics. In response, the Presidency referred the matter to a committee headed by Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami. And through some executive magic, Lawal was cleared of wrongdoing and a report clearing the now suspended SGF was flashed in the face of a benumbed Nigerian public. This forced the often rationally stubborn Sani to draw the conclusion that the Presidency had chosen to apply insecticide against its foes in the fight against corruption, only to spray sweet-scented deodorant on its friends and cronies. That was what the Malami report on Babarchirgate truly did. This was followed by a flurry of activities in the partisan sphere, as prominent chieftains in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) saw the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as save haven to cover their iniquities of the past which were being put under the searchlight of the anti-graft agencies. A number of them that were under investigation or facing prosecution hurriedly defected to the APC overnight. The defection galore spread across geopolitical zones as chieftain after chieftain assembled the media to announce their defection from PDP to APC. And just when Nigerians thought the matter had been effectively swept under the carpet through an executive fiat, the Presidency, apparently out of penitence, decided to change from deodorant to insecticide in treating Babachirgate. The flit came in the same pack with the infamous National Intelligence Agency (NIA) saga. In his wisdom, or the lack of it, Abiodun Oke, the Director General of the NIA came out to lay claim to billions of cash in local and foreign currencies discovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a private apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos. According to him, the hidden cash, running to about N13 billion, was meant for “covert operations” and had to be stuffed in safe cabinets in a private apartment under the control of his beloved wife. Just like Babachir Lawal, Abiodun Oke too has been given a kick in the rump. The two gentlemen will be giving their narratives before a presidential panel in the days ahead.

    But while the Shehu Sani committee effectively applied insecticide in attacking Babachirgate, another committee of the Senate chose the soft option by spraying deodorant on individuals and corporate bodies it accused of wrongdoings. In October 2016, the Senate standing committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions screamed to the high heavens, accusing some firms and local banks of assisting a telecom giant, MTN Nigeria to illegally repatriate about $13 billion out of Nigeria. That Senate committee, chaired by Senator Rafiu Ibrahim (Kwara South), issued summons to top officials of the MTN, the Central Bank of Nigeria and a number of commercial banks alleged to have aided what the committee described as capital flight. Chief executives of some private firms alleged to have played a role in the said illegal financial dealings were also summoned. The present Minister of Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enalemah, was also summoned to give explanations regarding the role his firm played in the matter. The vast hearing Senate room was packed to the brim with the various invitees and journalists hoping to get sizzling scoop from the hearing. The hall was tense as the senators took turns to lament what they described as economic injury inflicted on the nation by the invited individuals and corporate bodies. At opening session of the public hearing, Senator Ibrahim threatened to invoke the relevant punitive rule in the Senate’s book against Minister Enalemah who appeared for the hearing but had sneaked out before the exercise began. The boisterous Senator Dino Melaye went throaty, stealing the show in his trademark fashion. He bawled, he yelled and barked at the invitees as he hinged his effusive outbursts on patriotic zeal oozing out of his agitated soul. Most of the invited individuals and corporate bodies were visibly rattled by the senators’ verbal quakes. Prying questions were hurled at the “errant” invitees and many of them became fidgety. They were cornered. The horde of journalists sat on the edge of their seats, waiting for the slam. Unconvincing explanations were offered by some of the representatives of the firms and officials of the CBN. The atmosphere became charged and reporters were ready to go for the kill. Then suddenly, the chairman of the investigating Senate committee, Rafiu Ibrahim, halted the music. He announced in his native Ilorin English, that the hearing had been postponed indefinitely. Ibrahim gave no reasons for the termination of the hearing on the very first day. And since then, members of the Nigerian public have been left to guess what transpired. Case closed. So Senator Shehu Sani cannot be said to be totally right on the insecticide and deodorant theory wherein he accused the executive arm of selective application of the two contrasting aerosols. The Senate also, is a culprit. Ask Senator Rafiu Ibrahim.

  • CAN presidency: More intrigues, permutations trail postponement

    CAN presidency: More intrigues, permutations trail postponement

    Forces within the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) have returned to the drawing block following the postponement of the presidential election of the body.

    Members of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the apex Christian at an emergency meeting last Tuesday in Abuja moved the election slated for May 17-19 to June 14-15.

    The postponement, according to investigations, was to douse tension due to the inability of the TEKAN/ECWA bloc to produce a candidate for the election.

    The development has threatened to tear the body apart with some northern Christians vowing to break away from the umbrella body should Rev. Dr Jeremiah Gado, their preferred candidate from the bloc, prevented from standing election.

    The embattled Gado, who is also the President of Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), was technically nullified from the election because of wrangling in the bloc.

    The bloc leader, Dr Emmanuel Dziggau, claimed he was about sending Gado’s nomination when a counter letter was received from the Secretary of the bloc contesting the exercise.

    Besides, he wondered why Gado was in a hurry to be nominated when he (Dziggau) and two other leaders of the bloc were in the den of kidnappers.

    The non-resolution of the crisis left only Elder Professor Joseph Otubu of the Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) and Rev Dr Supo Ayokunle of the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) in the presidential race.

    But the Electoral College headed by Dr Williams Okoye, which was constitutionally required to prune candidates down to two and recommend them to NEC for election, said it will not proceed with the exercise until the TEKAN/ECWA crisis was resolved.

    The hard stance led to some serious protests in CAN with some church leaders rooting for the disbandment of the College on the basis that it had overstepped its bound.

    At the emergency meeting last Tuesday, it was gathered that NEC members expressed serious regrets over how the transitional programme had been politicised.

    It was learnt that the leaders vowed to fight off internal and external attempts to manipulate the election following allegations that some presidential aides were interested in the exercise.

    CAN, according to them, is free from government interference and must remain an independent umbrella body for Christians.

    Sources hinted that members of the Electoral College were chided for insisting the TEKAN/ECWA bloc must present a candidate, a development many church leaders said was overbearing.

    But it was gathered that reasons prevailed when some pleaded that the bloc be allowed to sort out the crisis in the interest of fairness.

    A source at the meeting hinted: “Some were angry but at the end we felt it was better to give them a final opportunity to sort themselves out.”

    Based on this, the bloc was granted a two-week latitude to conduct a fresh primary for the presidential contest.

    But investigations revealed that the primary may be scuttled again following the determination of some forces to stop Gado at all costs.

    The TEKAN element in the bloc has produced a new candidate who is expected to give Gado, believed to be backed by some forces in Aso Rock, a tough run.

    Besides, it is an open secret that there is no love lost between Gado and Dziggau.

    Also, Gado is expected to face stiff opposition from ECWA, which produced the current National Secretary, Rev Dr Musa Asake.

    The emergence of Gado will mean that Asake has to give up his second term ambition in the National Secretariat of CAN.

    Asake, who was former General Secretary of ECWA, has large followership in the church and has been selling the idea that it is better for ECWA to stick to certainty as against pursing uncertainty (presidency).

    Also, Gado is seriously battling with perception problem following insinuations that he is backed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Engineer Babachir David Lawal, who is a pastor in the church.

    The tag that the ECWA president is a government candidate is causing many leaders in CAN to have a harder look at him.

    But his supporters are optimistic he will pull through the opposition.

    One of them told our correspondent: “Gado will scale through. That I can assure you. They know he has all it takes and that is why they want to stop him at all costs.”

    It was gathered that his camp has devised strategies to reach out to influential Christian leaders for support.

    But first he has to win the primary to stand a chance of having a shot at the CAN presidency.

    On his part, Ayokunle, who is President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC), is backing that he will benefit from the crisis in the TEKAN\ECWA.

    Should Gado’s ambition be scuttled at the primary level, the race will be between Otubu and Ayokunle.

    Ayokunle’s backers told our correspondent that he will be on the standby to see how the crisis goes.

    The Baptist Convention President was initially thought to be in the race to retain his seat as Vice President of the body.

    But he started showing serious interests some two weeks ago, fuelling speculations that he could be the candidate of the outgoing executives.

    But many believe it is not the turn of CCN to produce the next CAN president.

    Archbishop Peter Akinola of Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion handed over to the current occupant, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

    The OAIC and TEKAN/ECWA are the only blocs yet to produce the president of the organisation.

    Otubu, the General Evangelist of Motailatu Church Cherubim and Seraphim Worldwide (MCCSW), won a keenly contested primary with Archbishop Daniel Okoh, some weeks back.

    The retired gynecologist is seen as a cleric with a professional background, an attribute many say the Christian body needs for now.

    His supporters said he will give CAN the much-needed facelift, if elected.

    Come July 19-20, one of these three candidates will take over from Oritsejafor whose tenure had been marred by many controversies.

  • Postponement of the evil day

    President Goodluck Jonathan was given an honest report for the first time in his life in public office shortly before the February 14 2015 date for the general elections. He was told point blank by the members of his kitchen cabinet and sundry aides, that if the elections were conducted on February 14 as planned by INEC, his loss would be so comprehensive that it would set an unbeatable record of defeat that will stand throughout this generation!

    The strategists of the President came up with a battle plan. They advised that the first thing to do was to postpone the election so as to buy as much time as possible to turn the table against the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC). They asked for and obtained the permission of the President to come up with a script to change the obvious tide of the general elections. The document they came up with was rather simplistic. Having been cooked up by simple-minded fellows. They listed the issues on which the President has performed dismally and requested the President to take some actions, however farcical to correct the anomaly. Next they advised that the slant of PDP propaganda should shift from the decency of issues to the murky arena of innuendoes and slander against not only the candidates of APC but also notable officials of the party. They advised that since the President has very little by the way of achievements, personal attacks on the APC and its members would do just fine. Finally, they advised that since the funds available to the PDP are limitless, truck loads of cash, denominated in dollars, should be deployed to “buy” traditional rulers and opinion leaders, particularly in the South West zone.

    Suddenly, the parade of suspect “achievements” of the President dried up. Assaults on the integrity of the APC Presidential candidate took over. Concurrently, the President embarked on a number of activities. He succumbed to the over-due reduction of the prices of refined petroleum products. No one was fooled. In any case, the shylock marketers decided to make nonsense of the change in the price regime. The action of the President achieved nothing. They felt insulted by the belated decision by a President afraid to lose an election and desperately looking for purchased votes.

    To make up for the neglect, nay betrayal of members of the Armed Forces deployed in combat against Boko Haram terrorists, the President donned an ill-fitting military fatigue and went to the safest areas of operations to mouth some inanities. The bemused troops smiled and wondered about the quality of the Commander-in-Chief under whose command they were serving. The action of the President achieved nothing. The gallant troops ran Boko Haram terrorists out of town after town. They wondered why it took a pending election for the President to do what he had to have done years before. And if the President believes that the recaptured areas will be ready for elections, he needs to do a rethink. There are an estimated 1.5 million internally displaced persons. Their rehabilitation cannot be achieved in time for the elections. If it was, the people would most certainly vote against him.

    To score some cheap votes from the families and loved ones of the 291 girls abducted about a year earlier, the President came up with an inexcusably laughable “ray of hope”, to the effect that since terrorists had not displayed the corpses of the girls, it meant they were still alive! What kind of logic is this? How puerile can a President in desperation get!

    Suddenly, the electricity tariff was slashed in half, less than two weeks before elections! Given the way things are done in Nigeria, the ridiculous 50% reduction cannot be effected before Nigerians vote President Jonathan out of office. In any case, where is the power supply for which the tariff has been slashed? Even the Presidential Villa has huge standby generators and large stock of diesel for use when public power supply is cut off without warning. Nigeria still remains the world’s largest importer of power generators on earth.

    For all practical purposes, the President relocated to the Southwest, the zone which helped him win the 2011 elections. Thinking that the traditional rulers and opinion leaders are up for sale, he embarked on what an insider described a “a dollar rain”! The first set of opinion leaders humoured the President with assurances of “endorsement” even when they are quite sure that no one was going to vote for any candidate because they were bribed to make ridiculous and empty public statements. All of this chicanery was going on well until the dollar train reached Ijebu Ode. It was at this stop that the indomitable Awujale of Ijebu Ode and the paramount ruler of Ijebuland, told the confused President what others previously visited ought to have told him; namely that traditional rulers do not canvass votes for politicians. God bless the Awujale for saving the face of the proud Yoruba people. It is surprising that Mrs Jonathan failed to raise an alarm when her husband proceeded on this charade that “this dollars you are sharing, there is God o!”

    The laughable theatre of the absurd continued with the commissioning of an overhead bridge in Kano! This President certainly has a warped sense of the duty of his high office. The commissioning of an over-head bridge ought not to fall on the laps of a serious President who is aware of his status and the responsibilities of his office. He went ahead to name the over-head bridge after the highly respected late Emir of Kano, thinking perhaps that the people of Kano would vote for him and his indecent, clumsy and illegal ouster of the present Emir of Kano, the cerebral and fearless Lamido Sanusi.

    Whilst the President was disgracing himself and his high office, the fellows who had put their mouths in the over drive mode continued. They spoke like medical experts. One even put on the toga of a prophet, predicting all sorts of nonsense. The President’s wife, who is irrepressible and unbeatable when it comes to indecent conduct, overreached herself when she ordered the electorate to stone those with a different political persuasion. In civilized climes, that woman would have been arrested for inciting violence. But in Nigeria, that would be the day.

    Key officials and members of APC, who are not candidates in the forth-coming elections received more than their fair share of slanderous attacks. No more can be said or written about this issue because it is sub judice. Illiterate or at best semi-literate political jobbers started parading themselves as spoke persons for the Yoruba race! One sunny March day, these rascals took over the ever-busy Ikorodu road and enacted truly horrific brigandage. They wanted Prof Jega out of office, so that their sponsors can appoint a malleable and spineless man to do their bidding by manipulating to process to produce a dubious victory for President Jonathan.

    Unfortunately, the contrived postponement also gave Nigerians the opportunity to expose some of the illegal and indecent acts of President Jonathan. Perhaps the public would not have gotten to know about the scandalous land grab, for which President Jonathan obtained approval from one of his own appointees. An area set aside for the future expansion of the international airport and appropriately one Ebele Integrated Farms mistook name “Aviation village” for an “agricultural village”!

    The era of President Jonathan and the PDP is over.  The postponement of the general elections has not achieved the desired objective. The President should immediately commence the evacuation of his personal belongings from the Villa. Bye President Jonathan!

    • Colonel Ola Majoyeogbe is a retired military intelligence officer, security consultant and public affairs analyst.

  • Reflections on postponement of the elections

    On February 7, Professor Attahiru Jega, chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the postponement of the elections from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11, largely for security. The postponement is a glaring sign of incompetence or inability of the country to do anything good most of the times- a big shame and disappointment.  The cost is high. It shocked society, sagged trust, confidence and energy of citizens, threatened democracy, boosted the morale of the insurgents and increased the already high emotional and physical exhaustion and financial expenses of the campaign.

    Jega would want us believe that INEC was not ‘coerced’ but the public knows better that there are long knives around. It was the best he could do in the circumstance because as the great Zik once observed ‘only a mad man argues with the man with a gun’.

    Ordinarily the postponement could have been taken as given. After all the framers of the constitution and makers of the electoral made provision for postponement in sections 76(2),116(2), 132(2), 178(2) and section25 of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended. As Jega admits the period could be used to fine-tune some of INEC’s operations especially the distribution of the PVC.  But we are worried because of the threat which the postponement poses to democracy, its high cost in terms of emotional strains, physical exhaustion, financial wastage and general paralysis that attends campaigns in Nigeria, the broken trust between the people and government, the subtle attempt to meddle unduly with the electoral process and the damage to the image of the military.

    The growing involvement of the military in party politics suggests that democracy is under threat and trial in Nigeria. The postponement carries the traits of a well rehearsed drama: a hint to test the waters in London, some denials at home,  a passing remark before a visiting  US Secretary of State John Kerry, orchestrated demand for postponement by some parties, a  presentation at the National Council of States , an ‘advisory’ letter by the service chiefs asking for at least six weeks extension etc. All these are too neat and frightening to ignore and they tell much about our inability to do the needful most of the time.  Jega was on the right way before he met security road block.

    Though President Jonathan in a recent media chat assured that democracy was on course and come May 29, a new government  either headed by him or any other person would be in place yet the assurance has not dispelled the fear of interim government, rumour  of impending replacement of Jega and the looming threat democracy. There is the need to build trust and confidence in the system. Jega should not be sacked because the service chiefs did not allow him to work freely. Dr Jonathan is a product of democracy with its emphasis on the constitution and rule of law which ensured the election of a person from the minority zone as president of the country and he has the responsibility to protect and deepen it so that the baton will not drop in his time.

    Unfortunately in every society many things are done in the name of the king – some of them unclean and unauthorized and there are men and women ready to violate the system under the pretence of supporting the leader. While INEC chairman had insisted on hosting the election as planned, the service chiefs and the NSA were against it. Jega confirmed  his commission’s impotence when he observed  that  INEC ‘being not…a security agency that could by itself guarantee protection for personnel and materials as well as voters cannot  lightly wave off the advice by the nation’s  security chiefs’ .  Their obstructive role was too visible to be cloaked easily.

    Many things are at stake including the fate of democracy, integrity and image of the military, the broken trust of the average citizen in the system occasioned by the increasing but avoidable meddling of the political process by the security chiefs.  Though better late than the late, yet it carried more harm than good for the armed forces and the society at large. What did the security chiefs expect the average citizen to do by their public show of inability- extol or resign themselves to fate knowing that there is no hope for protection from them?

    By their action, the service chiefs opened their flanks to both internal and external attacks and ridicule of the armed forces.  We are so far lucky that the barbarians have not taken advantage of the ugly situation. The service chief’s action creates doubt, fears, distrust and hatred in the minds of the citizens some of whom may decide to seek ways for personal security. The problem of the high incidence of militias is already frightening enough and woe betides us all when many more are formed by helpless but desperate Nigerians in search of security, safety and protection of lives and property.  Public trust and confidence have been badly shaken if not broken-unwittingly.

    Once trust is lost it is difficult to reclaim and this is one of the reasons that we should not allow any one including the military to break the trust patriotic Nigerians have in democracy. As Barbara Misztal observes in her work – Trust in Modern Society: ‘Trust makes social life predictable, creates a sense of community, makes it easier for people to work together and there is evidence to show strong positive correlation between ‘higher level of social trust’ and economic development. The point here is that Nigerians placed their trust on the security agencies for protection but when their service chiefs wrote to express inability to discharge that function, there was great cause for alarm and distrust.

    It is dangerous to tempt the military with power –more so in developing countries where it is said to stand as alternate party and in more advantaged position to capture power because of its possession of deadly weapons. This is what made some scholars to say that the appropriate question to ask is not whether the military can seize power any time, any place  but why they are not doing so in  mature democracies?  The secret is the presence of strong public opinion and respect for it. Unfortunately public opinion is still weak in Nigeria.

    The service chiefs must do self –examination to warm the security agencies to the public and win their trust and confidence. The political class must find ways to keep soldiers far away from party politics, find answers to some questions such as why the gallant forces yesterday have become the cowardly type of today booed by foreigners and loathed by many at home? Why are there mutinies and squealing today? Still the military can be made to protect democracy if the public sharpens its eyes and speaks with one voice against any false step towards power. It needs some help to help itself and safeguard our hard won democracy. It should be insulated from partisan politics.

    • Dr Abhuere FNIM, CCYD writes from Uromi, Edo State