The Nation Newspaper

Tag: vigilance

  • Council recruits vigilance groups

    The Chairman of Kuje Area Council Alhaji Abdullahi Galadima has disclosed plans to recruit vigilance members that would collaborate with the security agents to checkmate any form of crime in the council.

    Galadima while addressing journalists in Kuje after a closed-door security meeting with traditional rulers and security agencies, urged the youth in the area to continue to remain law abiding to all constituted authorities.

    He however, called for the continued support to the council and noted that plans were underway to recruit vigilante members that would also collaborate with the security agents to checkmate any form of crime in the entire council. while urging residents to remain law abiding to all constituted authorities.

    Galadima said the issue of security was a collective responsibility of everybody, hence it had become necessary to rid the council of any form of crime and criminality.

    He advised residents to always partner with security agencies by giving them useful information.

     

  • Council chief hires vigilance groups

    The Chairman of Kuje Area Council, Alhaji Abdullahi Galadima, has disclosed plans to recruit vigilante members that would collaborate with the security agents to checkmate any form of crime in the entire council.

    Galadima while addressing journalists in Kuje after a closed door security meeting with traditional rulers and security agencies, therefore, urged the youth in the area to continue to remain law abiding to all constituted authorities.

    He however, called for the continued support to the council and noted that plans were underway to recruit vigilante members that would also collaborate with the security agents to checkmate any form of crime in the entire council. while urging residents to remain law abiding to all constituted authorities.

    Galadima said the issue of security was a collective responsibility of everybody, hence it had become necessary to rid the council of any form of crime and criminality.

    He advise residents to always partner with all security agencies by giving them any useful information whenever the need arose.

     

  • Abia police inaugurate vigilance group

    Abia police inaugurate vigilance group

    The Aba Area Command of the police has inaugurated a vigilance group in Abala autonomous Community in Obingwa council area of the state.

    The measure is to help the police better deal with crime in the area.

    While inaugurating the team, Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Eastern Ngwa Division, Superintendent of Police Saleh Musa said residents of the communities know each other and are better placed to fight crime by volunteering information about criminal activities to the police.

    He enjoined the vigilance group  to work in one accord and abstain from taking the law into their hands or using their position to intimidate innocent residents of the community and environs.

    The DPO recalled that community policing remains the best way to combat crime, stressing that the vigilance men have an enormous task in assisting the police in securing their community.

    He said, “When the community people came to my office, I insisted that vigilante men must be people of integrity. You have enormous task in helping the police fight crime. Don’t engage in jungle justice; you must hand over every suspect to the police. Again, ensure that you don’t connive with criminals. The name of Abala community has been ringing a bell. All the bad things they talked about your community should be in the past. Do not hesitate to call the police at every opportunity.”

    Speaking at the occasion, the traditional ruler of Abala community, Eze Paul Ekwenye noted that the community which shares borders with Akwa Ibom State, had been peaceful since he ascended the throne after the death of his predecessor who was murdered with his wife by hoodlums.

    The monarch appealed for the regular visit of the police to the rural communities under its jurisdiction.

    Chairman, Council of Village Heads in the community, Mr. Ndubuisi Sampson hailed the police for supporting community policing, stressing that the community would not hesitate to hand over any member who misbehaves to the police.

    The vigilance team members were given identity cards.

  • Abia police inaugurate vigilance group

    The Aba Area Command of the police has inaugurated a vigilance group in Abala autonomous Community in Obingwa council area of the state.

    The measure is to help the police better deal with crime in the area.

    While inaugurating the team, Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Eastern Ngwa Division, Superintendent of Police Saleh Musa said residents of the communities know each other and are better placed to fight crime by volunteering information about criminal activities to the police.

    He enjoined the vigilance group  to work in one accord and abstain from taking the law into their hands or using their position to intimidate innocent residents of the community and environs.

    The DPO recalled that community policing remains the best way to combat crime, stressing that the vigilance men have an enormous task in assisting the police in securing their community.

    He said, “When the community people came to my office, I insisted that vigilante men must be people of integrity. You have enormous task in helping the police fight crime. Don’t engage in jungle justice; you must hand over every suspect to the police. Again, ensure that you don’t connive with criminals. The name of Abala community has been ringing a bell. All the bad things they talked about your community should be in the past. Do not hesitate to call the police at every opportunity.”

    Speaking at the occasion, the traditional ruler of Abala community, Eze Paul Ekwenye noted that the community which shares borders with Akwa Ibom State, had been peaceful since he ascended the throne after the death of his predecessor who was murdered with his wife by hoodlums.

    The monarch appealed for the regular visit of the police to the rural communities under its jurisdiction.

    Chairman, Council of Village Heads in the community, Mr. Ndubuisi Sampson hailed the police for supporting community policing, stressing that the community would not hesitate to hand over any member who misbehaves to the police.

    The vigilance team members were given identity cards.

  • RRS men’s vigilance saves six-member family

    RRS men’s vigilance saves six-member family

    Were it not for their vigilance, some Rapid Response Squad (RRS) operatives would have mistaken six persons, including two children, for robbers and opened fire on them last Friday at Ogudu, Lagos.

    A woman, Lauretta Ehon, had run to the RRS operatives patrolling the axis around 5:30pm, telling them that some armed robbers just snatched her 2012 Toyota Camry marked EP 932 KRD. The RRS men swung into action, chasing the suspected robbers.

    During the chase, there was traffic and in order to catch up with the suspects, an officer, Christian Onawona, alighted from the RRS van and mounted a motor bike to continue the chase.

    When he caught up with the vehicle, he found that it was carrying six persons – three women, one man and two children – who were coming from a function.

    Their names were given as Sekinat Sanni, Wasiu Balogun, Bisola Balogun and Rukayat Joseph. The children were Sameer Balogun, one, and Motunrayo Joseph, two.

    Ehon was later arrested for raising the false alarm that endangered the lives of six persons.

    Police spokesperson Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent (SP), said yesterday that the family were driving in their car when the woman alerted the RRS that they had snatched her vehicle.

    According to Badmos, the policemen chased the family to Ogudu Ori-Oke, where they stopped the vehicle.

    “There was a hectic traffic in the area but in order to catch up with the supposed thieves, the officer alighted from their official vehicle and mounted motor bike to chase the said robbers.

    “However, the family, which never knew they were being chased by the police, pulled up when they heard a gunshot fired into the air.

    “Then, the police cautiously approached the supposedly stolen vehicle only to discover that the occupants were three female, one male and two children, who were coming from a function,” Badmus said.

    She said the report turned out to be false.

    The police spokesperson said the officers found that the woman and the car owner transacted a business that failed.

    “What really transpired between the woman and the owner of the Camry car was a business transaction which occurred about six years ago.

    “The husband to the woman (Mr Ehon) who raised the false alarm and the owner of the car (Balogun) transacted a business which had to do with clearing of a second-hand car, which incurred demurrage at Apapa.

    “Unfortunately for the woman, the man who transacted the business with her husband was not in the car when she raised the false alarm, but his family members were,” she said.

    Badmus said the RRS men’s experience prevented what might have been unsavoury.

    The woman, she said, has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos Mainland.

    One of the occupants of the car, Bisola Balogun, was full of praises for the officer, who pursued them for not misusing his firearm.

    “In fact, I am still in shock. If it were to be another police officer, it is possible that he might shoot our car and anything could have happened. We thank God and appreciate the officer for applying uncommon wisdom in handling the matter”, she said.

  • Unflagging vigilance

    •In spite of degrading Boko Haram, intelligence work should be stepped

    In his testimony before the United States Senate Armed Services Committee reviewing the fiscal year 2017 defence budget on March 8, the commander of the U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM), General David Rodriguez, contended that the deadly terrorist group, Boko Haram is still holding “some significant” territory in northern Nigeria. This sharply contradicts the position of President Muhammadu Buhari who, during the recent World Future Energy Summit in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) told the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki Moon, that Boko Haram had been effectively degraded as an organised fighting force and no longer holds any territory in the country.

    It is not impossible, however, that General Rodriguez’s assertion may have been informed more by the need to justify and defend the budgetary demands of the organisation he heads than the actual realities on the ground. For, the budgetary outlay for the operations of USAFRICOM will be necessarily commensurate with the extent of the presence and menace of terrorist groups like Boko Haram in its mandate areas. This much was suggested by separate testimonies of two policy experts, Jennifer Cooke of the Centre for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS) and Alice Friend of the Centre for New American Society (CNAS), before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-proliferation and Trade of the United States Congress.

    Both experts were of the view that the current offensive against Boko Haram led by the Nigerian military in partnership with Chad, Cameroon and Niger under the Multinational National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) has “routed the group from territories it controlled and significantly degraded its capabilities and leadership”. They cite as evidence of meaningful progress in the anti-Boko Haram offensive, the sustained assault on the group’s enclave in the Sambisa Forest by the Nigerian Air Force leading to massive destruction of its fuel dumps, solar panels and weapons caches; the killing or capturing of thousands of Boko Haram’s foot soldiers and leaders, and the significantly diminished access of the group to equipment such as tanks, armoured vehicles and Toyota Hilux trucks, which it once had in ample supply.

    Their view also tallies with that of top members of the Buhari administration that Boko Haram’s resort to terrorising soft targets such as markets, remote villages and transit depots as well as the use of kidnapped women to execute suicide attacks is a function of its loss of territorial control, diminished organisational efficacy and sharply reduced supply of adult male foot soldiers. The alert raised this week by the Senate that fleeing members of the Boko Haram sect have infiltrated towns and villages in Taraba state in the North-Central zone confirms that the group is considerably weakened, disorganised and in disarray.

    However, current successes in the war against Boko Haram also demand even more unflagging vigilance on the part of all to consolidate and sustain current gains. For, the group is likely to get more desperate and to seek resurgence through the support of international terror networks. This is why the Federal Government should ensure that the security agents act promptly to investigate and effectively neutralise the reported incursion of fleeing terrorists into Taraba and neighbouring states. Particular attention should be paid to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps across the north, which could be vulnerable targets for infiltration and attacks by the extremists.

    This week’s terror attacks’ in Cote d’Ivoire that killed at least 16 people and injured scores of others is another warning that we cannot afford to let our guards down even for a minute. Al-Quaida in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for this atrocity and we must not underestimate their desire and capacity to wreak more havoc in the West African sub-region.

  • Group urges vigilance at orphanage homes

    The Lions Club International has urged operators of orphanages, motherless babies’ homes and other rehabilitation centres across the country to be more vigilant in view of the upsurge in child trafficking.

    President of Ado-Ekiti Metropolitan Lions Club, Dr. Idowu Adeojo, gave the advice in Usi-Ekiti, in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State while donating some materials to the inmates of Winning Children Foundation, a private orphanage.

    Adeojo advised that there was need for the operators of these motherless babies’ homes to take the issue of security serious, to prevent evil doers from capitalising on the vulnerability of the children to perpetrate evil.

    The former chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in the state urged the government to invest in the education of the children that found themselves under that condition.

    The step, according to him, would not only reduce crime but would also prevent their future from being jeopardized.

    “It is disheartening to be hearing on daily basis, reported cases of child abandonment, baby factories, child labour and trafficking even when we have a functional government in place.

    “The government and the private organisations owe it a duty to protect the future of these children. They should not allow anyone to seize the opportunity of their vulnerability to use them as slaves or for other evil things.

     

  • Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom and liberty

    Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom and liberty

    This is why I am appealing to the APC to instruct all its agents to ascertain that only INDELIBLE, as opposed to VANISHING INK, is supplied for use

    In the case of Afenifere that has so shamelessly and so strangely declared its support for President Jonathan, its support is worth little or nothing to the PDP. Afenifere is no longer the formidable political organisation or movement that it once was. None of its present leaders can win elections in the Southwest. They have become irrelevant in the politics of the Southwest where their political influence has fallen considerably. Equally, the traditional rulers in the Southwest that President Jonathan has been trying desperately to woo have little or no influence on the electorate in the region. Even in Ife, the Ooni, the leader of the pack, has little or no political influence now. So trying to bribe the Obas is a waste of money, time and effort. They cannot deliver the votes Jonathan needs to win the elections, if they are free and fair” -Ambassador Dapo Fafowora, fromer Nigerian Ambassador to the United States and Deputy Nigerian Representative to the United Nations.

    God bless the Awujale of Ijebu land. You feel proud as a Yoruba man listening to Kabiyesi respond to President Jonathan during his visit to the paramount ruler, Thursday, 12 March, 2015. Kabiyesi is not one to lie, promising what he knows no Oba in Yoruba land can deliver.

    Do you lecture the converted? Received knowledge would say, no. But that exactly was what I saw Governor Olusegun Mimiko do to his colleague PDP governors this past week in Lagos as he lectured them on the advantages of restructuring while everybody else looked like the governor was speaking Greek. The few acclamations that interspersed his long lecture were extremely tepid and unenthusiastic. Even Governor David Jang, Chairman of the Forum, was so listless he had to be helped out with his contribution. I could not stop wondering whether he knew that TVCs were being withdrawn as people obtained their PVCs, yet he was canvassing its use. Nobody joining the programme midway would ever have thought he was watching a meeting of state governors. It is, however, interesting that it has now become the burden of the Southwest PDP, and of course its acolyte, Afenifere, to carry restructuring literally on their heads for a president who, outside of the Southwest, has never made it a campaign issue. Not surprisingly, no governor at the event, besides governor Mimiko, did either.

    It is equally interesting to now see PDP top guns, David Jang, their 16-is-greater-than-19 governor’s forum chairman inclusive, with their subalterns, running all over the place, ranting as to why Card Readers should not be used. By doing this, a few things have become clearer to me personally. In the first place, it says very loudly that the Ekiti  rigging template, already eloquently attested  to by the Captain Koli tapes, and on the basis of which President Jonathan must have once told some ambassadors that the elections would be the easiest ever, has been abandoned.  I must say, however, that the six weeks’ postponement could very well be their way of getting their election-fixing rogue scientists to invent other versions. PDP is that desperate. This is why I am appealing to the APC to instruct all its agents to ascertain that only INDELIBLE, as opposed to VANISHING INK, is supplied for use. Secondly, and this explains their strident opposition to the use of card readers, is the fact that by its use, PDP will not be able to profit from a total of  about 20 million voters cards which they most probably have cloned from the VIN card numbers fraudulently extracted from  the 17.8 million youths TAN claimed endorsed President Jonathan as well as the about two million forms distributed all over the Southwest by a chieftain of the party on the spurious grounds that he was going to give them jobs and loans. If they contest this, they should tell Nigerians why they required VIN card numbers on those documents. Indeed, thinking that INEC was complicit in this fraud and would feed the 20 million into its system ahead of the elections, I once, on these pages, advised APC to go to court over the use of card readers. But now seeing how troubled they all are, wanting Jega out by just about any means, it is obvious the professor remains his decent self. However, we cannot go to sleep as that does not, in any way, remove the danger still lurking within INEC with many PDP card carrying members like a former Ebonyi State PDP chairman still on duty. There is, too, that one who we heard in the Ekitigate tape gave Fayose some sensitive INEC materials which he reportedly printed and used in rigging the election. Even if it is the last thing Professor Jega would do before exiting, he must fish out that rotten pig who so egregiously compromised the agency.

    It is to rig the elections that they are doing everything to discredit a card reader which cannot discriminate between parties but would apply equally to all voters. PDP cannot win a single local government election without rigging as Nigerians have seen time and again. From the grave vine, we have now heard they would ensure there is no network, nationwide, on March 28 so they could blame INEC for using card readers. If this fails to stalemate the election, as it sure would, because it is not internet-based, we are told, they could orchestrate June 12 all over again, and when trouble erupts, Afenifere and their other endorsers  in the Southwest would not only  rise in their  support but would start leading delegations to Abuja to express that support. It has, in fact, been suggested they already knew there is no way a people completely sidelined from democratic dividends for a whole six years, as we saw in the case of a highly qualified Yoruba CBN Deputy Governor, a 1976 graduate and long time staff of the apex bank, who, indeed, acted as its governor, had to give way for a 1984 graduate and total stranger to the bank, but who is from the favoured geo-political zone, when it came to appointing a substantive Central Bank governor. Nor did it matter that the Finance Minister and not less than 60 percent of heads of regulatory agencies come from those parts.

    For obvious reasons, the Jonathan government had to shift the 28 February election. They just had to go for broke as the auguries were too bad, seeing defeat staring them in the face should the elections hold. But there could never have been a better time for the Sahara Reporters’ airing of Captain Koli tapes. It caught the PDP in their very jugular; whatever the braggadocio of the falcons and their falconer. For the PDP, it was road closed. Otherwise, that Igbo serial election rigger would still have been hawking about his photocromic ballot papers and the PDP would have won the election long before it took place. That route having been closed, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the six additional weeks is to enable the PDP, as indicated earlier, devise new rigging techniques. As at the time the National Security Adviser suggested postponement at the Chatham House on the grounds that sufficient number of PVCs had not been distributed, INEC had distributed about 65 percent which was much higher than the 35 percent it did in Ekiti as at the time of the governorship election and nobody heard all these jeremiads about number of PVCs distributed. Sensing then that it would not gel, they had to quickly manufacture insecurity as if a seven-year-old insurgency had just dropped from Mars. An insurgency they had romanced all these years, deliberately ill-equipping our patriotic, well trained and disciplined soldiers, suddenly shot into limelight becoming the linchpin for election postponement. Forget, in the meantime, that collaboration with our neighbours had long been suggested by the French President and Abuja did absolutely nothing. It now suddenly hit the president that he had to cooperate with them. I am sure that the full story of these days would be told one day in future and Nigerians will get to know how they were fooled. We can only imagine now, how many lives could have been saved and disruptions to the lives of our hundreds of thousands of Internally Displaced Persons avoided.

    So here we are, with whatever remains of their magical 6 weeks, and I am pleading with all Nigerians to vote right as four more years of the same, or worse, is certainly not what we deserve as a nation.

  • Boko Haram: DSS urges vigilance

    Boko Haram: DSS urges vigilance

    The Department of State Security (DSS) has advised  the public to remain  vigilant as the military continues raids on Boko Haram’s   fortresses and hideouts in the Northeast..

    Spokesperson for  the DSS, Ms. Marilyn Ogar said the terrorists have resorted to taking on soft targets, killing and maiming of innocent and unarmed citizens.

    “It has become evident,” she said  “that following the successful sustained air raids and intense combat operations by the military on insurgents’ positions in the Northeast, which have effectively degraded the capacity of the terrorists, its members are now in disarray and have resorted to taking out their anger on hapless civilians and soft targets.

    “This development accounts for the recent spate of attacks recorded in Yobe, Kano, Borno and Plateau States with intent of distracting security forces.

    “Accordingly, this Service wishes to advise members of the public to be vigilant, especially in crowded environment and when travelling. Commuters should desist from boarding unmarked vehicles along the road and only use designated motor parks. “

    The agency asked  motor park managers to ensure proper screening of vehicles, persons and luggage entering their premises,and be on the look out for new faces who show up as drivers and conductors.

    It encouraged residents of recaptured towns and communities to return to their homes,saying “there is no need for people to relocate from any part of the country because of the forthcoming elections as adequate steps have been taken by security forces to guarantee security of lives and property.

    “Members of the public with useful information of untoward activities in their localities are advised to forward same to security agencies. We wish to restate once more, the commitment of security forces to bring to an end the activities of terrorists and unscrupulous elements in our country”.

  • 2015 elections: It’s time for vigilance

    2015 elections: It’s time for vigilance

    The worrisome political atmosphere in the country is getting cloudier by the day – and the reason is not far fetched: While Nigerians are still groaning over the booby trap called election postponement, Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), during his mid-week appearance before the Senate, threw another confounding bombshell over whether the rescheduled new dates of the elections are sacrosanct or not. Asked by Senator George Akume, Minority Leader, to re-affirm the sanctity of the new election dates, Jega replied: “I think it is a very difficult question to answer…I have said consistently that there are things under the control of electoral commission and there are things that are not under the control of electoral commission. For things that are under our control, I can give definite and categorical assurances. On what is not under our control, it is futile; it is fruitless and useless to give a definite guarantee on them. I think that question should be directed appropriately. The questions of security, I will leave it, I don’t think I am competent to answer it sufficiently.”

    Jega cannot be entirely blamed for this ambivalent response because he professed to be convinced, when asked, that any request for another shift of dates would be illegal because that would run contrary to the constitutional provision that requires elections to be concluded at least 30 days before the date that a new government must be sworn which in this case is May 29. The political gerrymandering going on is not because of lack of interest or preparedness by INEC to conduct the elections but because of the desperation of President Goodluck Jonathan, his National Security Advisers, military service chiefs and other protégées’ determination to circumvent the polls simply because their projected outcomes would, under very high probability, not favour the incumbent president.

    This column has heard several illogical, nonsensical and unconstitutional concoctions that were being peddled as sinister ideas of the Jonathan team and his PDP party to perpetuate him in power. Some of his men have come out to say General Mohammadu Buhari, presidential candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) is not electable, whatever that means, forgetting that it is only the eligible voters of this country that can decide on that come March 28 when the presidential election, by the grace of God, holds.

    Nigerians definitely must, until after the elections, henceforth, sleep with their two eyes widely opened so as to be able to quickly nip in the bud whatever baleful move that Jonathan and his now widely detested team might want to fling on their laps. Even on the day of elections, Nigerians must prepare for the worse from Jonathan’s outgoing presidency because if it dawns on him that the elections could not be further postponed, he would not hesitate to unleash soldiers on vulnerable voters despite judicial pronouncements to the contrary in previous and more recent Appeal Court orbiter in the Ekiti State governorship election case.

    One obvious fact is that this jejune President Jonathan is desperate; the man is, like known power-drunk men of power in history, ready to go to any length to keep himself, albeit unconstitutionally beyond May 29 in power. But his infamous plot, just like that of some of his power drunk predecessors in power like Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and late Sani Abacha would fail beyond redemption. Like Jonathan, these men while in power, made a lot of promises to their people but they flagrantly failed to keep to the agreements. That is why it is often said that it is hard to trust the morality of inconsistent leaders.

    This column, with the benefit of hindsight, calls on all Nigerians to rise up against the tyranny of President Jonathan by voting him out come March 28. This justifiable demand for eternal vigilance to sustain this democratic liberty is amply captured in the address of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at the recent Joint Leadership Meeting of APC which held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja when he congratulated his audience and other party men ‘… for walking off the booby traps and for getting close to bringing down the Berlin Wall.’’ He however admonished: ‘We cannot celebrate yet but have to be stronger and vigilant so as to be effective vigilantes for freedom, liberty and democratic government.’

    To the prospective voluntary “vigilantes” of this country including the leadership of the opposition APC, vigil must be kept not only on the bound-to-fail antics of Mr. President and his party but also on the suspicious outbursts of ex-President Obasanjo who recently tore publicly, his PDP membership card through his obtuse ward chairman, Alhaji Usman Oladunjoye, who led the executive and members of the PDP from Obasanjo’s Ward 11, Abeokuta North to his Hilltop residence in the rock-city capital of Ogun State. For political practicality, judging from the present mood of the nation against the ruling party/government which Obasanjo installed, his hypocritical outbursts against Jonathan and his government can be condoned but to a limited extent because the man Obasanjo is not only fickle but also of no meaningful electoral value? There should be a limit to the extent to which the opposition leaders and Nigerians should allow him to ride on the crest of ‘project progressivism’ sweeping across the land to settle scores with Jonathan, his errant disciple. Whatever Obasanjo sees as Jonathan’s shortcoming had been seen long ago before he foisted him on the nation and his input is not needed in the cyclonic wave across the country that is roaring to blow Jonathan and the PDP out of power. The Obasanjo’s case in his malicious battle with his inept acolyte, Jonathan, was well captured by William Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice when he said: “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.” Obasanjo’s morality cannot be trusted.

    The genesis of Obasanjo’s animosity is not love for the cause of entrenching a progressive government but more by Jonathan’s refusal to listen to his more evil dictations that have taken the country to this unthinkable political abyss in 16 years. His and Babangida’s antecedents of duplicity should serve a note of warning to discerning progressive minded Nigerians that they should not be trusted. Let INEC do its best; let the opposition not be naïve about who their friends are and let the Nigerian people remain steadfast and vigilant in their resolve to throw out of power PDP government of stagnation come next month. Then the stroppy plots of those masquerading, as true friends of the people, will fall flat on their faces.