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Tag: Presidential election

  • Baba-Hamed’s jitters over 2027 presidential election

    Baba-Hamed’s jitters over 2027 presidential election

    • By Tajudeen Adigun

    If the recent public pronouncement of the former spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Dr. Hakeem Baba- Hamed, is anything to go by, then it will not be wrong to conclude that the group is angry with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    It alleged that the Nigerian president has not given the group the recognition it deserved.

    NEF is grumbling that it is an insult to the elders, who have a large number of obligations to fulfil; huge responsibilities to shoulder, but have been given a small-sized feeding bottle that could not satisfy the pang of hunger ravaging a famished tummy. To the Northern Elders Forum, BAT has fallen their hands, by giving them the short end of the stick.

    According to the group, Mr. President has disappointed them in terms of expectations of patronage and sharing of offices, and other benefits that could accrue to a group that supported a victorious presidential candidate.

    They are miffed and are fuming with anger. They didn’t stop at that, they threatened to withdraw their support, which would, to them, certainly jeopardise the second-term ambition of BAT, come 2027.

    By their act, they have displayed traits of political jobbers. They are a group, who always look up to the next election. It is a gambit that earns them their living.  The difference between them and statesmen is like cheese and chalk. The two are poles apart. Yes, statesmen are bent on the delivery of campaign promises to the people after victory at the poll. They always strive to make the state stand solidly on its feet. The jobbers are nothing but fair-weather friends. 

    What a group with a deep instinct to blackmail and use people as cannon fodder and expendable to achieve their objectives. They regard people as cannon fodder to be exploited, used, and disposed of.

    Members of the Northern Elders Forum, with the public pronouncement of  Dr. Baba- Hamed,  are political jobbers, who are out strictly for their benefits and attain their advantages.  Despite the fact they currently hold political offices, they are not interested in how to tighten security and end the glaring violent ethnic cleansing in the Middle Belt targeted at usurping the right to land of indigenes of Benue, Plateau and Niger States, raging banditry in Zamfara State and Boko Haram insurgency in the Borno, that are not only kidnapping for ransom, but also sacking farmers on their farmland, and escalating famine in the state.

    Read Also: Why upload of 2023 Presidential election result was slow, by INEC

    Baba-Hamed and his ilk want a puppet president, who would shiver whenever they sneeze and take orders from them. That was an error of perception on their part. To their disappointment, they found BAT to be a different kind of President. BAT is a President, who has a mind of his own. A man, who has a vision driving his mission in power. A desire to make democracy permanent on the political terrain of Nigeria, serving on a pedestal that expedites development and elevates the standard of living of all and sundry. What a way of delivering a bouquet of democratic goods, values, and dividends to the electorate.

    Tinubu has resolved to tame the monster of insecurity, bandits-inflicted famine, rescuing the economy from the doldrums, and energizing prostrate dwindling Naira value in the foreign exchange market with appropriate monetary and fiscal policy that would not tolerate any debilitating compromise from any quarters. BAT is focused on ending socio-economic challenges tormenting the people with the programme of Renewed Hope Agenda, and would not allow anything or groups to distract him. That perhaps is why for now, nothing is more important to the president than the welfare of the electorate.

    The question on the lips of people is what does the forum want to achieve or gain with the threat of withdrawing their support from the BAT come 2027? Dangling the carrot of the 2027 presidential election to induce BAT to dance to the tune and drum beats of the Northern Elders Forum members is considered too early in the calendar of politics and politicking for future elections. Their undiplomatic, subtle harassment that they would rally Northern voters against  BAT’s second term sounds brash, puerile, and perhaps on the border of over-estimation of their political clout.

    They may be surprised that BAT might not be rattled. Are they oblivious of the vagaries of the dynamics that dictate the political pace in the election period, which are subject to changes and oscillate? They might not be the champions of the dominant coalition in the north in 2027 and, therefore, not in any position to be of any relevance and influence on what party and presidential candidate the electorate would vote for.

    As Baba-Hamed and his group have come into the open to subtly threaten BAT, they have betrayed their loyalty and have proved that they should not be trusted or relied upon despite that they are part of the present federal government.

    Baba-Hamed is an appointee of the President.   The expectation is that he should roll up his sleeves to complement the President’s efforts to overcome challenges that are making life difficult for the people.

    The election period is gone; the delivery of democratic dividends to the people is what should engage the attention of any political leader who is worth the name. Baba-Hamed’s provocative vituperation has exposed him to be a political jobber, definitely not a statesman. No politician, who has a modicum of goodwill will engage in subtle and disgraceful incitement of the electorate against a sitting government in which he is an official.

    Political jobbers are mostly like the ancient Roman empire auxiliary soldiers, who can’t be trusted as they could renege on loyalty unannounced when least expected. As a primed grenade that could explode any moment, is a fair-weather politician, a footloose jobber who could wreak havoc on the goodwill of his principal. That, however, makes their momentary noisy distraction a sheer bubble devoid of any potency that could wreak havoc on the principal interest.

  • ‘I’ll not accept appointment from Buhari’

    In this interview with Paul Ukpabio, Dr. Johnson Edosomwan, a candidate in the just concluded Presidential Election, opens up on how he saw the exercise. Excerpts

    THE election has come and gone, foreign observers have spoken their minds and the U.S and U.K have congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari having certified the election as credible. What do you have to say?

    U.S and U.K can congratulate him but I will not congratulate him because he killed my people and stole the votes. How will I be congratulating someone that killed people? The US interest is different from mine. My interest is in the Nigerian people and the U.S or U.K interest is different from mine because they may be interested in oil; they may be interested in gas, but I am interested in the lives of Nigerians to make sure they have quality life and protected but killing them is nothing to congratulate anybody for.

    But if the same international communities we were banking on certified the election as credible, why do you still feel otherwise?

    We have to be very careful because, I didn’t see a single one of those supposed election observers that I heard were coming to observe the election. I have traveled all over the country; I didn’t see them anywhere. Some of them were probably here on vacation or some just sitting down in a conference room to write the report because I didn’t see any of them.

    May be two or three have done whatever they are supposed to do but I didn’t see a single one of them. How can you say this is a credible election when people were killed, ballot boxes snatched and you were not there to see them? It is just a laughing stock as far as I am concerned.

    Are you also aware APC accused PDP of some of these things?

    I am not saying this to condemn APC or PDP but the environment that was set by APC created all of the violence. It was wrong and I stand by that statement. There is no way you can explain the killing and shedding of blood to preserve somebody to the world; it is totally unspeakable.  If we must practice democracy, we have to move away from vote buying, using thugs and the killing of people.

    Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of PDP is going to court to challenge the result of the election. Are you doing anything similar?

    The press has to be very objective because you are like the fourth arm of the government so; you have to get the true story out there. When I saw this (displaying images of dead people from a newspaper) I was impressed that somebody was there to show the world the truth so, how can you say the U.K and so on endorsed it? This is a situation that will never happen in the United States where armed policemen and the military will be shooting people; the whole place will go up in fire. It can’t happen in the United States.

    If you look very well, you will discover people have moved on. How do you feel?

    Nigerians are not paying attention, day by day their democracy is going down the drain. They are not paying attention; if they were paying attention, there would be massive peaceful demonstration across the country.

    This is your first taste of election in Nigeria; would you want to partake next time?

    First of all, the dream will never die. Just the fact that we have somebody doing some crazy things doesn’t mean that we should be scared or not do whatever we need to do. My heart goes to a lot of Nigerians; they have been suffering, no jobs, some of them graduated from school for years and they are still looking for jobs. What I have come to do is to use my expertise to help advance Nigeria.  Not minding how the election went, what God has called me to do, I will still do it, because I have the capability; I have the contacts in the world to make things work, so, I am not going to let some of these things distract me.

    let some of these things distract me.

    If President Buhari offers you an appointment will you accept it?

    I will not accept an appointment because it will not be easy for anybody to work for anybody using this system of government. If I wanted a position, I would have gone to the United Nations and so on. I have been through all of that, I have been to about 62 countries; I am not doing this to get a ministerial position or any other one at that. I am doing this to change the system of government.

    Can you put a tag to how much your presidential ambition has cost you?

    It’s enormous. You can’t quantify it but it is a sacrifice that was worth it to come and fight for my father and mother land; so I can’t quantify it in dollars and so forth.

    From the picture you painted, do you think Nigerians are ready to give a chance to people like you that are relatively unknown in the system?

    I think you are right. When we speak everywhere we have been, people will stand up and say, yea! We need all these now. But on the day of election, somebody is down there with two hundred naira and it ends there. So the problem is not just the leadership but the electorate also.

    What the leaders have done is to make these people so poor and thirsty that they would want to die for peanut and some of them do not even think they are selling the future of their children and their yet unborn children. However, what I am going to continue to do is to give them the true message because vote buying is not democracy. It is wrong.

    Don’t you think it will be a futile effort if you think of running for election again in about four years?

    I will hope that with this election that a lot of them have learnt hard lessons. That is what my hope is.

  • Breaking the cycle of killings

    No sooner did Nigeria’s presidential election take place on February 23 than ethnic strife and bloodshed started afresh, in some parts of the country. There had seemed to be an unofficial ceasefire during the electioneering; and there was remarkable calm in most of the hotspots. This resurgence of bloody violence and killings, has moved some concerned stakeholders to call on the government to take another look at the crisis.

    The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), after a plenary meeting in Abuja recently, bemoaned the seeming hasty return to the killing fields. In a communiqué emanating from the meeting, the CBCN notes: “We have received with deep sorrow, the tragic news of the resurgence of further horrific killings in some parts of Kaduna State, Taraba, Benue, Kogi, Edo, Rivers, Zamfara, Adamawa and other states.

    “Against the backdrop of the violence and bloodshed that characterized the last elections, we are pained that the culture of death is becoming embedded in our daily lives.

    “This persistent devaluation of human lives and property poses an existential threat to our personal survival and that of our nation. How can government continue to appear helpless in the face of such shameful tragedy?”

    It is noteworthy that the Catholic clergy had mentioned the spate of violence and killings that characterized the recently concluded elections. The body also noted that cult-related deaths and kidnappings have been rife. For instance, a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Clement Rapuluchukwu Ugwu was abducted at gunpoint from his parish, St. Mark Catholic Church, Obinofia Ndiuno in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State, last week. His body was dumped near his house a week later.

    Currently, of greater worry, however, is the rise in ethnic tensions in Southern Kaduna State and the farmers-herders conflicts in Benue and some states of north central Nigeria. For instance, just last Tuesday, gunmen suspected to be herdsmen reportedly invaded Tse-Uoreleyev community in Guma LGA of Benue State, killing 10 and injuring many.  The state, which had been the scene of some of the most vicious killings in the last three years, also enjoyed some respite during the electioneering. But alas, it seems the combatants are returning to the trenches once again.

    The most turbulent zone currently must be Birnin Gwari and now Kajuru LGAs of Kaduna State. While Birnin Gwari was battlefield and place of death last year, action may have shifted to Kajuru today. There must have been over half a dozen conflicts in the last couple of months with accusations of attacks and reprisals from warring groups.

    During a protest at the Unity Fountain in Abuja last week, the coordinator, Coalition Against Kajuru Killings, Rev. Fr. Williams Kaura Abba, had bemoaned the tragedy that is Kajuru. According to Abba, the death toll in Kajuru had surpassed 130 with no fewer than 10,000 persons displaced.

    He says: “It is our firm belief that powerful retrogressive forces are funding and supporting these well-coordinated militia who came in and strike at our sleepy and peaceful communities and retreat without consequences.”

    He urged that as a matter of urgency, government deploy more security forces into these areas, including persistent aerial surveillance to track the terrorists and end the carnage. His group also pleaded with agencies of government to intervene promptly in the ensuing humanitarian crisis arising from about 10,000 displaced persons. There is urgent need for health care support for the wounded; and food and shelter for the displaced.

    In the final analysis, there is a need for closure in this cycle of killings.  We urge the federal and state governments as well as all relevant stakeholders to initiate a process of reconciliation of the striving parties.  Some commentators have tried to connect the killing of Christians in Nigeria to the shooting of Muslims in New Zealand, tenuous as it may seem.  However, this would appear neither here nor there; for there is no concrete proof that the killings have religious root, though there are ample victims on both sides of the religious divide.

    Still, we urge President Muhammadu Buhari to seize the opportunity of his electoral victory to embark on a broad-based healing and reconciliation effort of various groups of aggrieved Nigerians. Reaching out, visits and infectious show of goodwill will go a long way in fostering peace across the land.

    But also, the troubled local communities, as well as other extended stakeholders, including the Church, the Mosque and the media, must also rethink their slanted approaches to these recurring killings.

    Foremost, the local communities must take direct responsibility for their own peace, security and stability.  The blind pursuit of ancient feuds is only underscoring the futility of the Mosaic Law: an eye for an eye eventually leaves everyone blind.  No matter how dire the grievances, leaders on both sides of the divide must demonstrate courage; and push dialogue founded on justice and fair play.  That would set up a template for the embedment of future peace and prosperity.  That template would also make it easier for the government to secure the peace, since the feuding parties would have dialogued and abandoned their old mutually self-destruct ways.

    The religious orders too must stop mistaking their intervention on the side of their own side of the crisis, as intervention for justice.  Again, leaders on both sides should come together, critically examine the problems and nudge their adherents toward peace founded on justice.  On the media side, they should stop going hysteric over the killings on one side but keeping mute over massacres on the other.  This lack of balance in reportage appears also to drive reprisal attacks, and thus perpetuate the cycle of killings.

    Back to the present, the recent release of N27.4 billion by the Federal Executive Council for victims of these crises and flooding is a step in the right direction. A bit of presidential gestures, including visiting hotspots, would also help a great deal.

  • Presidential election: PDP, Atiku file petition a day to deadline

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the February 23, 2019 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, said they have filed their petition at the tribunal, challenging the validity of the election in which President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was returned for a second term.

    PDP’s National Legal Adviser, Emmanuel Enoidem and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mike Ozekhome said the party and Atiku filed a joint petition yesterday at the secretarial of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) in Abuja.

    Enoidem and Ozekhome spoke while exiting the tribunal’s secretariat situated at the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal on Monday evening.

    Both lawyers gave insights to the content of the petition and their expectations at the tribunal.

    Enoidem said: “We are here to present our joint petition for our party, the PDP and candidate our candidate. The last day for the petition is actually tomorrow, but we decided to file today.

    “We asked that our candidate, who won the election massively across the country, be declared the winner of that election.

    “In the alternative, we also asked that the election be set aside on the grounds of irregularities, which were very apparent across the country.

    “We have a pool of 20 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), who are tested in election petition matters and other senior lawyers, who are also working with them.

    “So, we are very ready for the petition. The petition is well packaged. The depositions are well put together.

    “More than 400 witnesses are going to testify in this petition. Nigerians are at home with what happened on February 23 in this country in relation to the sham they called election.

    “Of course, we are going to re-present the facts to Nigerians, as the facts are already in the domain of Nigerians. We are not going to manufacture facts.

    Ozekhome, who came out of the tribunal’s secretariat later, said he is a member of the petitioners’ legal team and that the petit on is “strong, solid and unassailable.”

    He noted that, with only one day to the deadline for filing of the petition, the late filing was because the Independent National Electoral Commission failed to cooperate in terms of providing easy access to the electoral materials.

    Ozekhome added: “We have up till tomorrow (Tuesday), to file but we have been having been having some challenges from the INEC itself in terms of assessing materials used during the elections. But I believe we will get there.

    “Our petition is quite solid, strong unassailable and we believe that by the grace of God, the true keeper and owner of the mandate will have his mandate given to him.”

  • Tribunal grants Buhari, APC access to poll items

    The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) in Abuja has granted the request by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the last presidential election, Muhammadu Buhari, to be allowed access to materials used for the election.

    The permission is  to enable the APC and Buhari inspect and obtain the certified true copies (CTC) of the materials to enable them prepare their defence against the petition to be filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the election, Atiku Abubakar.

    A three-man panel of the tribunal, led by Justice Abdul Aboki, in granting the two ex-parte motions filed by the APC and Buhari, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow the applicants inspect and obtain CTC of the materials.

    The tribunal, in the two rulings on both motions, granted similar orders.

    The APC had, in a schedule it attached to its motion, listed 12 categories of election materials it sought to be allowed to inspect. They include card readers, card readers reports and incident forms, among others.

    In the lead rulings delivered by Justice Aboki, the tribunal granted the two reliefs in Buhari’s motion, but modified the prayers in the motion by the APC.

    It said: “Leave is granted the applicant to bring this application at this stage.

    “The 1st respondent (INEC) shall forthwith, allow the applicant and or its representatives to inspect polling documents and obtain certified true copies of all polling documents, in the custody of the 1st respondent, used for the just concluded presidential election to enable the applicant defend the petition that may be filed by the 2nd and 3rd respondents (Peoples Democratic Party and Atiku Abubakar).

    Adelani Ajibade (for Buhari) and Olusola Dare (for APC) had, while arguing the motions, stated that it was imperative that the tribunal grants their clients’ prayers.

    Ajibade and Dare argued that the grant of the motion will enable their clients examine the materials used for the election and obtain the CTC for the purpose of preparing their defence to the petitions to be filed by PDP and its candidate in the election, Atiku Abubakar.

    Among the items named in the list attached to the motion by the APC are all results sheets used for the election, voters’ register, stubs of all unused ballot papers, all card readers, card readers reports and data analysis, voters’ registers and all rejected ballot papers.

    It also sought to inspect all incident forms, all other electoral forms or documents used in the presidential election of February 23, held throughout the country.

    On March 6, the PEPT rejected the request by the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and his party for permission to conduct forensic analysis and scanning of materials used for the conduct of the presidential election.

    In turning it down, the tribunal said such request for forensic analysis and scanning by experts, of computers, card reader machines, server, among others deployed for the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was beyond the scope of the provisions of Section 151(1) & (2) of the Electoral Act (as amended), which permits the inspection of election materials.

    In a unanimous ruling on an ex-parte application by Atiku and his party, a three-man panel of the tribunal said Section 151 of the Electoral Act, which allows an intending petitioner to inspect materials used for an election only allows inspection and the obtaining of certified true copies of such materials.

    Justice Aboki, who led the panel, however, said the tribunal granted the prayers which allow the applicants the permission to only inspect the materials and obtain certified true copies (CTC) of the materials.

    The tribunal also granted the applicant’s prayer for leave to be allowed to bring such application at the pre-hearing stage of the tribunal’s sitting.

    According to the tribunal, the request by Atiku and PDP to call experts to engage in forensic analysis and scanning of INEC gadgets, computers, among other materials was outside the scope of the meaning of inspection under Section 151(1) and (2) of the Electoral Act.

    Justice Aboki said: “After a careful examination of the reliefs sought on the motion paper and a perusal of Section 151 of the Electoral Act (as amended), and the decision of this court in cases of Aregbesola v. Oyinlola, Akintayo v. Jolaoye, Senator Hope Uzodinma v. Senator Osita Izunaso,, it is hereby ordered as follows.

    “Leave is granted to the applicants to bring this application at this stage,

    “The first respondent (INEC) shall forthwith, allow the applicants and or their representatives to inspect polling documents and obtained certified true copies of all polling documents in the custody of the first respondent, used for the just-concluded presidential election, to enable the applicants institute and maintain an election petition.

    “Prayers three, four, five and six on the motion paper are hereby refused.

    “Forensic audit, examination and analysis by forensic experts cannot be regarded as an inspection of those documents within the ambit of Section 151 of the Electoral Act (as amended),” Justice Aboki said.

    He agreed with lawyer to the applicants, Chris Uche (SAN) that the Court of Appeal had, in previous decisions, permitted the scanning of election documents used during the election at the stage of hearing in election petition.

    He added that such scanned documents must be certified by INEC as true copies of the documents in its custody or held in the custody of INEC.

    Justice Aboki faulted Uche’s reliance on an earlier decision in the case of Senator Uzodinma and Senator Izunaso, and noted that the Court of Appeal has since set aside the permission granted by a lower tribunal for the scanning and forensic audit and analysis of election materials at pre-hearing stage.

    He said: “In that case, the lower tribunal granted the pervasive orders brought under Section 151 of the Electoral Act.

    “The respondent to the said application, appealed to this court, which found that the excessive orders granted with respect to the inspection of polling documents and sundry other materials, were found to be totally outside the scope of Section 151 of the Electoral Act.

    “This court found that the orders made violated the rights of the respondents to fair hearing under Section 6 of the Constitution (as amended).The orders made by the lower tribunal, in that case were set aside by this court. And orders were made, by this court, within the ambit of Section 151 of the Electoral Act.”

     

  • PDP suffered greatest loss in fourth republic, says Presidency

    The Presidency on Thursday night said that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has suffered the biggest Presidential election loss in the fourth republic.

    This was contained in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu.

    Since the loss, he said that PDP has been doing everything to destroy the country’s democracy.

    According to him, the PDP is deteriorating public discourse.

    Read also: PDP optimistic of success in supplementary polls

    He said “Since they suffered the biggest election loss in all presidential elections in the Fourth Republic, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP has been doing everything they can to damage the foundation of the country’s struggling democracy.

    “By rejecting them at the polls, Nigerians are saying that they are sick of their pessimistic and negative politics. PDP believe they must be in power as a birthright.

    “If they are not power, in the states or at the center, they will use all means to spread instability. In President Buhari, they have met their match.” he said

  • Security not responsible for voter apathy, says Lagos CP

    Lagos Police Commissioner Zubairu Muazu yesterday denied that observed voter apathy in some areas of the state was connected to lack of security presence during the presidential election.

    Violence sprang up in some polling units in the state during the March 23 presidential and national assembly (NASS) elections following the disruption of voting exercises by hoodlums.

    But the commissioner, who toured the state during election, told reporters that watertight security was provided for this gubernatorial and house of assembly elections to ensure voters’ safety.

    Muazu, alongside his boss, Lawal Shehu, the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone Two, toured Oshodi, Okota, Ijora, Apapa and Surulere areas of the state, said he was satisfied with the professionalism of security operatives deployed for the exercise.

    “It is not true that voters did not come out because of fear or insecurity. We provided adequate security and have been assuring the electorate to come out and vote. We had assured that security measures will be doubled and also ensured that armed policemen were stationed not far from polling units to wade off miscreants.

    At most of the polling units visited, The Nation observed that voter turnout was unimpressive. At polling unit (PU) 010 on Bola Shadipe Street, Masha in Surulere, 89 persons voted as of 12:55pm out of 692 registered voters.

    According to the officials, they got to the polling unit before 8am and were waiting for voters to come out. They told our correspondent they had no issues, adding that they were waiting for 2pm to resume counting.

    At a PU along Ago Palace Way Okota, the INEC official had an altercation with the policewoman on duty over the latter’s assistance in showing some of the electorate where to thumbprint. The INEC official chided the cop for ‘interfering’ which caused bad blood between the duo.

    This issue was reported to the police commissioner, who immediately ordered the redeployment of the policewoman, reiterating the need for security agencies to keep off.

    Meanwhile, 12 suspects were arrested by soldiers in Makinde for alleged attempt to disrupt election exercise in Oshodi.

  • INEC in early start in Imo

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Imo State, appeared to have solved the issue of late arrival of voting materials that marred the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

    As at 7.30am, voting materials have arrived majority of the Polling Units in Owerri and other parts of the state.

    At National School in Amucha, Njaba Council Area of the state, INEC officials were had already set up by 7.20 am and were waiting for party agents and voters to commence voting proper.

    Read also: Voters troop out en masse for Guber, state Assembly election in Kano

    Also at Central School in Eziama Obire in Nkwerre Local Government Area,  INEC officials were already seated with voting materials by 8.15am.

    Although voting is yet to commence at the various Polling stations visited by our Correspondent but all the voting materials and INEC officials had arrived.

     

  • Anambra APC not relenting despite setback, says Sen Uba

    The Senator representing the Anambra South Senatorial Zone,  Andy Uba, has said sentiments by Igbo played part in President Muhammadu Buhari losing the presidential election in Anambra State

    However, he declared that his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is ready to make amends with the state Assembly elections today in the state.

    He spoke yesterday at Uga, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, after the stakeholders’ meeting of the party.

    The meeting attracted all the National Assembly candidates who failed the elections on February 23 in all the zones and constituencies in the state.

    Read also: PDP to Buhari: Atiku ‘ll soon reclaim his mandate

    Addressing reporters, Uba said the meeting was to address those issues that led to the failure of their party during the presidential and National Assembly elections and how to make serious inroads in the state Assembly elections today.

    According to him, “we are battle ready and we are not relenting despite what happened in the last elections in Anambra and Southeast

    “There were many forces against our party during the elections in not only Anambra, but the entire Southeast. We did our best in making sure Mr President wins, but the forces including the churches were so much against us. “

  • Ninth Assembly: A case for Southeast

    For the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the storm gathers once again. Just as theparty savours its victory in a bitterly-fought presidential election that President Muhammadu Buhari won; clouds of crisis hover over it as the jockeying for the principal positions in theNational Assembly begins.

    By virtue of Section 64(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, the 8th National Assemblyexpires by effusion of time on June 8. Barring any last minute development, Buhari, goingby precedent, is expected to proclaim the 9th National Assembly into being on June 9.

    However, barely have winners emerged in the National Assembly elections than newly-elected lawmakers, comprising returning members and first termers with enough heft toswing things their ways, have started positioning themselves for the leadership positions ofthe National Assembly.

    At stake are the following positions: Senate President, Deputy Senate President, MajorityLeader, Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip, among others.

    But while the lawmakers are lining up themselves for the various leadership positions in thelegislature, the APC, which this time around is expected to play a crucial role on who getswhat, unlike in the 2015 race, is playing it close to its chest.

    In 2015, the APC, then a rainbow of political forces determined to wrest power from thePeople Democratic Party (PDP), badly managed the process and this led to the emergenceof Senator BukolaSaraki, a powerful politician from Kwara, as the senate president. He wondespite efforts by the party to stop him. The APC officials were determined to work for the emergence of Senator Ahmed Lawan from the Northeast.

    Their inability to assert any authority to rally party members behind Lawan was aided byBuhari’s now famous quotation in his presidential inaugural address in which he spoke aboutbeing for nobody and being for everybody.

    The party lethargy, arguably due to its inexperience in managing the complexity of national politics, as the key decision-makers in the party were hitherto little emperors in their tribalpolitical hegemonies whose words were laws to other party members, provided the leewayfor Saraki to outfox the APC.

    Saraki, a two-term governor of Kwara State under PDP and former chairman, NigerianGovernor Forum, tapped into his PDP root to beat APC leaders at their own game ofintrigues. As part of the bargaining chips, he traded off the deputy senate presidency for thesupport of opposition senators, whose numerical strength was crucial in picking a senate president.

    While 51 out of about 66 APC senators were at the International Conference Centre, Abujafor a controversial meeting whose convener(s) remain(s) unknown to the public till date, the57 senators at the maiden sitting unanimously elected Saraki as the senate president.

    The absentee senators barely made it back to the National Assembly for the inaugural sittingonly to witness PDP’s Ike Ekweremadu who expectedly defeated APC and Ali Ndume, in a contestthat gave a legal veneer to the horse-trading between Saraki and PDP.

    That is why it cannot fritter away a second chance to manage the process better this timearound.Before the 2015 elections were won and lost, the expectation was that the APC would back a Southeast lawmaker as senate president or house speaker. With the president from theNorth and the vice-president, Yemi Osinbajo, from the Southwest, conceding either of the two positions to the Southeast seemed the logical step in conformity with Nigeria’s powerrotation system that aims to quell fears of marginalisation among the federating units byensuring equitable distribution of power and its appurtenances among the six geopoliticalzones.

    However, the poor performance of APC in the Southeast, a traditional stronghold of PDP,derailed that expectation. All the federal lawmakers from the five states in the geopoliticalzone were PDP members.

    Even the five Igbo who won election to the House in Lagos State, dominated by the APC, didso on the platform of PDP.But for the Saraki deal with PDP that birthed the Ekweremadu senate deputy presidency, the Southeast would have been out of the power loop in a nation where strong ethnic sentimentsdrive relationship between constituent states and the federal government.

    And now that the first stanza of the 2019 general election is over with APC even improvingon its 2015 records, the party is on the cusp of another crisis.The performance of the APC in the Southeast in the recent election has thrown up a spectreof the marginalisation of the geopolitical in the power equation. However, unlike in 2015, thegeopolitical zone has produced two APC senators and could get another one should SenatorBenjamin Uwajumogu win his re-election bid for the Imo North Senatorial District. INEC declared the contest inconclusive on February23 and rescheduled the conclusion for March 9.

    In the presidential election, the five states in the geopolitical zone also gave Buhari 403,242votes, up from the 198,248 votes he got in 2015.

    The incoming senators, former Abia State governor, Dr. Orji UzorKalu, the outgoing Imo State governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, and should he win, Uwajumogu, present anopportunity for the APC not to tread the 2015 path.

    Like Okorocha in Imo State, Kalu was instrumental to the impressive showing APC put up inthe National Assembly election in his Abia State. Apart from winning his senatorial seat, heplayed a key role in the election of two APC members, Benjamin Kalu of Bende Federal Constituency and Nkeiruka Onyejeocha of the Isikwuuato/Umunneochi, into the House of Representatives. He also delivered his Bende Local Government to Buhari who beat PDP’sAtiku Abubakar by 9,233 votes to 6,649.

    However, unlike Okorocha, Kalu, by virtue of his election on the platform of the now defunctNational Republican Convention (NRC) into the 593-member House of Representatives inthe July 4, 1992 to herald the aborted Third Republic, could be considered a ranking senator.

    The ranking rules confer on former house members same privileges as former senators.Should Kalu choose to bid for the post, it certainly will not be a picnic but he is eminently qualified.

    Although many may argue that power distribution should be seen as a reward for electoralperformance, the danger in that narrative is that it foists on the polity a winners-take-allmentality that negates the principles of fairness and equity enunciated by the nation’s founding fathers.

    In addition, we should start shifting away from the divisive policy of punishing voters for theirchoices. The moment the election is over, winners such as president and governors shouldforget about who voted for them or against them by ensuring an equitabledistribution ofpolitical power.

    The APC would gain more from running an inclusive government that gives the Southeast abetter sense of belonging in the federation than the 2015 attempts that sought to punish thegeopolitical zone for voting against the party. If the tokenism of the Buhari first term couldpave the way for the improvement in the party, his performance in 2019 in the Southeast,giving the zone a greater chance in running the nation’s affair will enhance the incrementalprogress APC is making in the geopolitical zone.

    Perhaps this is the time for the president to give life to his promise while collecting hiscertificate of return, to run an inclusive government.

     

    • James, a public affairs analyst, writes from Kaduna.