The Independent National Electoral Commission has raised the alarm over the rising security situation across the country and its impact on the 2023 general elections.
The INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, who spoke at the validation of election security training resources held in Abuja on Monday noted that the forthcoming election faces serious threat of cancellation should the insecurity across the country fail to improve.
Yakubu, represented by the Chairman, Board of Electoral Institute, Abdullahi Zuru, explained that “if the insecurity is not monitored and dealt with decisively, it could ultimately culminate in the cancellation and/or postponement of elections in sufficient constituencies to hinder declaration of election results and precipitate constitutional crisis.”
The commission, however, assured Nigerians that it would not leave anything to chance in ensuring that intensive and extensive security are provided for election personnel, materials and processes.
Mahmood said, “We all appreciate the fact that election security is vital to democratic consolidation through provision of enabling environment for the conduct of free, fair, credible and inclusive elections and thus strengthening the electoral process.
Consequently, in preparations for the 2023 general elections, the commission is not leaving anything to chance in ensuring that intensive and extensive security are provided for election personnel, materials and processes.
“This is particularly significant to the commission given the current insecurity challenges in various parts of the country and the fact that the National Youth Service Corps members constitute the core of the polling unit election officials.
This must not be allowed to happen and shall not be allowed to happen.
“Therefore, security personnel in particular and all election officials, in general, must be security conscious and alert to unusual activities in their environment and must be fully equipped to deal with any challenge at all times.”
A young mother-of-five has d!ed allegedly after she was beaten by her husband over a loaf of bread.
The deceased, identified as Ogochukwu Anene, from Umuokpu village in Awka, Anambra State, was married to one Mr Ndubisi Wilson Uwadiegwu from Enugu state and their union was blessed with four sons and a daughter.
However, the union was allegedly plagued by domestic v!olence.
On the fateful day Ogochukwu d!ed, she reportedly asked her husband to buy bread for the family and he said he had no money.
She then used her money to buy bread for the family. Subsequently, Ndubuisi allegedly went into the kitchen and finished the whole bread.
When she confronted him for finishing the bread without keeping any for their children, he allegedly beat her up with his fists and a mirror.
She collapsed during the beating and d!ed a few hours later.
Following her de@th, the husband has remained free and is allegedly planning to bury her without informing her people properly.
“Ogochukwu Anene was the senior prefect of Amenyi Girls’ Secondary School 2000 set. She was very intelligent.” a source said while lamenting her de@th.
Her de@th has sparked outrage and many who knew her have taken to Facebook to demand justice for the deceased.
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) is deeply dismayed by new postings announced by the authorities of the Nigerian Army. The authorities of the Nigerian Army and the Presidency have continued to collapse the High Command cadre of the Army in the hands of Northerners particularly members of the Northern Muslim population; thereby scornfully and magisterially treating the general and privileged populations of the country and the country’s civil and military spaces as if they permanently belong to “a homogenous theocratic Islamic State”. Intersociety is shocked at the Army’s latest lopsided postings involving Principal Staff Officers of the Army Headquarters, Corps Commanders, Commandants of Army Training Institutions, Brigade Commanders, Commanding officers and so on; whereby out of 19 top officers and their postings mentioned, only three are Southern Christians while most of the remaining 16 are Northern Muslims.
It particularly saddens our heart that despite widespread public outcries in the East (South-East and South-South) against the flooding of the Region with senior Muslim officers and the high vulnerability of their crude soldiering in the Region to members of the defenseless civilian population and their properties, the authorities of the Nigerian Army have stopped at nothing by continuing to flood the Region with senior Northern Muslim officers. It is not only that no South-East officer from the rank of major general was among those in the new postings as a GOC, but another Northern Muslim Major General (Aminu S Chinade) has been posted to 82 Division, Enugu as GOC. Intersociety had recently investigated and found that all the not less than eight former GOCs of the 82 Division, Enugu between July 2015 and January 2023 are Muslims including seven Northern Muslims posted to the Division as GOCs in quick succession.
It was also found that more Northern Muslim officers are among those newly posted to the East. One of them is Brig General S Aliyu who was posted from Nigerian Army’s 6 Division Headquarters in Port Harcourt to 63 Brigade, Asaba as Commander. Other Muslim Brigade Commanders manning six out of the Eastern Region’s seven Army’s Brigade formations in South-East and South-South are Brig Gen Sani Suleiman, 34 Brigade Commander, Obinze, Brig Gen Adegoke Adetuyi, 14 Brigade Commander, Ohafia, Brig Gen Abubakar Wase, Brig Commander, 2 Brigade, Uyo, Brig Gen Danlami Ndahi, Brig Commander, 4 Brigade, Benin and Brig Gen Salidsu Yahaya, Brigade Commander, 16 Brigade, Yanagoa. It was also our finding that out of Nigerian Army’s seven Brigade formations in the East; five are commanded by Northern Muslim officers. Senior Northern Muslim officers also dominate the list of Army’s Divisions’ Principal Officers, Battalion, Artillery and Regiment Commanders and Commanding Officers in the South-East and South-South. Intersociety hereby demands for indigenization and allocation of posts of the GOCs of the 6 Division, Port Harcourt and the 82 Division, Enugu to senior Army officers from the East in line with Federal Character Act of 2004.
The Lopsided Postings Escalate Ethno-Religious Insecurity And Threaten 2023 Polls: The Nigerian Army’s new postings are not only ethno-religiously lopsided, but also escalate ethno-religious insecurity and insurgency by giving one ethno-religious group an upper hand over other ethno-religious groupings including unhindered access to state coercive instruments and their massive deployment against asymmetric others which further breed grounds for violent self help and emergence of motley of armed fighting parties. Such grossly lopsided postings in a country of multiethnic and religious composition or groupings will at all times breed ethnic and religious divisions, fears and suspicions and general feeling of insecurity and securitization exclusion or feeling of “security and safety without local contents”. Such postings and their lopsidedness less than 45 days to the all-important 25th Feb 2023 Presidential Poll also constitute a major threat to the critical poll and an indication of the Nigerian Government and the Military’s bent on anointing their preferred candidate as “the next president of Nigeria”.
Lopsided Postings An Impeachment Of Nigerian Constitution And Other Body Of Laws
The latest postings by the authorities of the Nigerian Army are unconstitutional, unlawful, dictatorial, vexatious, illegitimate and undemocratic. The postings were specifically done in total disregard to Section 217 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended. The Section clearly states as follows: “the composition of the officer corps and other ranks of the Armed Forces of the Federation shall reflect the federal character (geopolitical balancing) of Nigeria. The postings were also done in grave violation of Section 219 of the Constitution and principles of indigenous involvement or participation by members of the country’s ethnic nationalities in the activities of the armed forces including senior and junior officers’ promotions and postings.
Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution was also observed in grave breach. By Section 14 (3): “the composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character (geopolitical balancing) of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few States or a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or any of its agencies”. By Section 10 of the Constitution, observed in gross breach too: “The Government of the Federation shall not adopt any religion as State Religion”; and by Section 41: ‘discrimination of any form especially on the grounds of sex, ethnicity or place of birth in Nigeria and religion in conducting the affairs of the Government or any of its agencies including the Nigerian Army, is totally disallowed and prohibited’.
Details Of The Army’s Grossly Lopsided Postings: “Those affected in the redeployment include some Principal Staff Officers of the Army Headquarters, Corps Commanders, Commandants of NA Training Institutions, Brigade Commanders, Commanding officers and several others. “Notable among the new General Officers’ Commanding (GOC) appointees are Major General I.S. Ali from Headquarters 3 Division to Theatre Command as the new Theatre Commander Joint Task Force North East OPERATION HADIN KAI, Major General AB Ibrahim from Army Headquarters Department of Training to Headquarters 3 Division as the new GOC as well as Commander OPERATION SAFE HAVEN, Major General AS Chinade from Headquarters 2 Division to Headquarters 82 Division as GOC, while Major General GM Mutkut is to assume command as the GOC 8 Division and Commander Operation HADARIN DAJI (NW) from Army Headquarters Department of Policy and Plan.
“Those newly appointed Corps Commanders are Major General CG Musa from Theatre Command to Headquarters Infantry Corps Centre as the new Corps Commander, Major General MS Ahmed from Headquarters Theatre Command (NE) to Headquarters Nigerian Army Armoured Corps as Corps Commander, Major General BR Sinjen from Nigerian Army School of Artillery to Headquarters Nigerian Army Corps of Artillery as the new Corps Commander and Major General PE Eromosele from National Defence College to Headquarters Nigerian Army Engineers. ”Others are Major General A. A. Ayannuga from Department of Army Transformation to Nigerian Army Cyber Warfare Command and Major General G.S. Abdullahi from Defence Space Administration to Nigerian Army Signals.
The statement added: “Among the new Defense and Army Headquarters Principal Staff Officers are Major General S.E Udounwa who is redeployed from Army Headquarters Department of Special Services and Programs to Defense Headquarters as Chief of Defense Training and Operations, Major General SG Mohammed redeployed from Army Headquarters Department of Policy and Plans to the Department of Army Training as Chief of Training, Major General UT Musa from Headquarters 82 Division to the Department of Army Administration as Director Personnel Management, Major General Y Yahaya from Headquarters 31 Artillery Brigade to Department of Army Administration as the Director Manpower (Army) among several others. Brigadier General TI Gusau is also redeployed from Army Headquarters Department of Special Services to the Directorate of Defence Information as the new Director. “The newly redeployed Brigade Commanders include Brigadier General AM Umar from the Office of the Chief of Army Staff to Headquarters Guards Brigade, Brigadier General S Aliyu from Headquarters 6 Division to Headquarters 63 Brigade, Brigadier General HD Bobbo from National Defence College to Headquarters 31 Brigade, Brigadier General MT Aminu from Army War College Nigeria to Headquarters 35 Brigade among several others. Source: Nigerian Army, Sat, 7th Jan 2023
Signed: For: International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety)
The people of Anambra Central Senatorial District have condemned the show of shame exhibited by supporters of Senator Uche Ekwunife, candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP) and her rival, Honourable Dozie Nwankwo of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), fighting publicly at the Enugwu Ukwu Igu Aro festival ceremony in Njikoka Local Government Area of the state.
According to an eyewitness The recent altercation between supporters of 2023 Senatorial Candidate of APGA, Hon. Dozie Nwankwo and the Candidate of PDP for Anambra Central Senatorial District, Sen. Uche Ekwunife, started when Dozie Nwankwo came earlier and waited to enter the arena for Igu Aro, while waiting, the organizers announced that no politician will be allowed into the main arena with political flags.
Dozie Nwankwo and his supporters agreed and waited patiently for them to be recognized.
While they were waiting, Uche Ekwunife and her supporters enter the main gate and matched to the arena with numerous PDP flags and umbrellas, they were probably oblivious of the standing order by the organisers who earlier warned that politicians will not be allowed to enter the arena with party flags.
In a quick reaction, Dozie Nwankwo supporters seeing that Uche Ekwunife and her people had gained entrance rose in anger and matched forward to the arena which made everything chaotic, the atmosphere was charged, which sparked up aggression that led to violence and open fight.
Speaking to our correspondent, elders of the zone said that, “singular act had disqualified Ekwunife and Dozie Nwankwo from representing the zone, describing the act as alu (sacrilege).”
Leader of the elders, Okeke Nwoye-Kwalu said, “From day one, we said these nouveau riche persons, especially Ekwunife will no longer represent the district.
”Ekwunife has become so proud and arrogant these days. See how she is insulting our leader, Peter Obi. She can’t smell the senate again. For Dozie Nwankwo, he is an eaglet to be our senator. He should go and wait and mature. Senate is not for boys.
“We have decided that Chief Victor Umeh (Ohamadike Ndigbo) will be the next senator for Anambra Central. He is mature, experienced and fearless. Besides, he has shown demonstrable commitment in the Peter Obi presidential project.
“You can’t see Umeh fight the way Ekwunife and Nwankwo did today (Saturday). That was the height of show of shame. Sacrilege. How can such persons represent us? We are not barbarians to elect such people.
“So, Umeh is the next senator for Anambra Central. Ekwunife, particularly should go and sit down; enough of her insults and arrogance. How can she be insulting Peter Obi that the whole Nigeria has respect for?
Although our reporters that later came could not independently ascertain if any life was lost, many persons were said to have injured in the process.
Chief Chika Nwana, Chairman Umuagwu village Enugwu-Ukwu, who also spoke with journalists about the fight between Uche Ekwunife and Dozie Nwankwo’s supporters, said no one ever expected that such would happen. Nwana noted that even though it is the season of political activities, that politicians should endeavour to accommodate themselves and avoid shedding blood.
Chief Nwana said someone sustained a very serious injury from the fight that erupted between supporters of both candidates. He said the young man’s head was broken in the course of the fracas.
He however advised politicians to tolerate one another as only one person will emerge winner in every contest.
On his part, the traditional ruler of Enugwu-Ukwu, His Royal Highness Igwe Ralph Obumneme Ekpe, said such was unbecoming of Sen. Uche Ekwunife while expressing his reservations and resentments over the display of political rascality at his 2023 Igu-Aro cultural festival.
Igwe Ekpe also deployed the Igu-Aro Enugwu-Ukwu cultural festival to campaign vigorously for Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour party. He said all should obtain their Permanent Voter Card and ensure that they cast their votes for Peter Obi irrespective of their political affiliations.
Nigerians should snub APC and PDP orchestrated propaganda that the Labour Party does not have polling agents in core northern states as the party is solidly on ground championing the ways and means to change the narrative this year, Dr Yunusa Tanko, LP PCC spokesman revealed on Sunday.
Tanko who was reacting to sponsored stories by APC and PDP at the weekend rubbished the alleged deliberate falsehoods being perpetuated as LP has foot soldiers scattered all to “man all polling units in the north and the entire nation.
“Opposition gimmicks to weaken the resolved minds of Nigerians to Vote Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed into power this year will not fly.
Tanko made these declarations in a statement issued on Sunday saying:
He said, “The attention of the Labour Party Presidential campaign council, (LPPCC) has been drawn to yet another deceitful information circulating in the social media to the effect that our party has not submitted agents for 90,000 Polling Units in North Central, Northeast and Northwest.
“We see this as yet another propaganda from the opposition to bring our rising influence down and deceive the electorate in an election year.
“We have volunteers all over the country that surpass even the number of agents required for each Polling booth so the issue of not being able to supply agents for 90,000 units is a complete fallacy designed by the enemies of progress in Nigeria.
“INEC gave a window of up to January 20th for political parties to submit their list of agents for the elections and as such cannot at this time raise concerns about any political Party not being able to submit enough agents.
“The Labour Party has a task force on the recruitment and selection of agents headed by our presidential candidate H.E. Peter Obi himself and his Vice, Datti, the National Chairman and the National Secretary of the party are all members of that committee.
“LPPCC is investigating the source of this propaganda because we know it is not definitely from the INEC.
“We appeal to the Obidient family and the teeming supporters of our party to disregard the deceitful information and focus on the collection of their PVCs which are our collective weapons to dislodge the enemies of our dear country.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has ordered Deposit Money Banks not to pay customers making over-the-counter withdrawals of new naira notes again.
Instead, the apex bank directed the banks to load their Automated Teller Machines with only new notes to ensure that the currency circulates across the nation ahead of the January 31, 2023 deadline when the old notes will no longer be legal tender.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the apex bank issued the directive to the banks on Wednesday and ordered that the implementation must begin immediately.
However, as of Friday, the banks had not been able to comply with the directive as they complained of inadequate supply of the new notes, prompting them to load their ATMs with the old notes.
A source in a Tier-1 bank, who informed one of our correspondents of the CBN directive on Thursday, said her lender on Thursday issued a memo in that respect to all the branch managers to enforce the CBN order.
The memo, which was titled., ‘Urgent update on currency redesign’ and signed by the Group Head, Retail Operation, stated, “The CBN has mandated that we immediately stop the Over-the-Counter payment of the new N200, N500 & N,1000 currency. Instead, all new notes should be loaded into the ATMs for customer withdrawals.
“This is effective immediately please.”
The source, who is a manager in one of the bank’s branches in Ikeja, Lagos, however, complained that the new notes were in short supply, hence the branch decided to load a mixture of the old and new N1,000 and N500 notes in the ATMs for customers to withdraw.
The source stated, “We got a memo from the head office this morning (Thursday) that we should stop dispensing new notes to customers who come to withdraw over the counter, but instead we should load the ATMs with the new notes. The correspondence from the head office said the directive was from the CBN and that we should implement it immediately.
“The directive has, however, thrown us into a dilemma as we are in short supply of the new notes and we can’t afford not to load the ATMs as there has been a surge in the number of customers coming to withdraw after the Yuletide holidays.
“Loading of ATMs is the responsibility of the banks. When our bank tested the ATMs, only one denomination of the new notes passed the test of dispensing seamlessly through our machines. The bank is working on reconfiguring the ATMs to be able to dispense the new notes. What we have done in my branch is to mix the few new N1,000 and N500 notes available with old ones so that desperate customers can make withdrawals and meet their immediate needs.
“If you observed, a lot of ATMs were inactive during the Christmas and New Year holidays. The idea was not to give out old notes, but unfortunately, the new ones are not in circulation. The banks have a mandate to evacuate N1bn old notes each to the CBN on a daily basis and our head office has set a strict vault limit or cash holding limit for each branch, which on no condition we must exceed.”
When contacted, the CBN spokesman, Osita Nwanisobi, did not respond to enquiries by Saturday PUNCH. As soon as one of our correspondents introduced himself and the topic, he went mute. Subsequent calls to his mobile line were not taken. Text and WhatsApp messages sent to his telephone were not replied to.
However, a senior official of the CBN, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment on the issue, confirmed to Saturday PUNCH that the apex bank indeed issued the directive to the banks.
He explained, “From this weekend, new notes will be available for disbursement to bank customers. We are pushing the N1,000 and N500 notes through the ATMs for now. The N200 will be available later.
“The aim is to check inflation and currency abuse. A research was conducted and it showed that the demand for the N1,000 and N500 is higher, hence the decision to start with them.”
When asked when the agent banking representatives, who dispense cash to customers through Point of Sale terminals, would have the new notes, he said the objective of setting them up was not to handle large volume transactions, adding that the operators were abusing the guideline.
A source in the corporate affairs department of a new generation bank told Saturday PUNCH, “Even before the CBN directive, our bank had been loading the ATMs with new notes. However, I must admit that the new notes are in short supply. What we do is to mix them up with old notes. For example, if you want to withdraw N10,000, you may get only two pieces of new N1,000. Some of our ATMs in the Oniru area of Victoria Island, Lagos, are dispensing only new notes.
“The configuration of the ATMs is an ongoing thing; yes, all the ATMs have not been fully configured. There are gaps from the regulator, which is the CBN, but we will obey the directive within the limit of what we have. Customers are depositing old notes in huge volumes. The CBN has stopped the supply of the notes that will soon cease to be legal tenders to the banks.
“I am sure that before January 31, the new notes would have spread to different parts of the country. Though I work in a bank, I have not seen the new N200; I have only seen N500 at a party in Abeokuta and it was being sold as your paper rightly reported a few weeks back.”
The last may have not been heard of the gruesome murder of the President General [PG], Engr Ikechukwu Okolo on the 2nd of January 2023 by a gang of local cultists as reported by the press – Killers Of Obosi PG Uncovered, Igwe Obosi Develops ‘Cold Feet’
The Igwe of the community, Igwe Chidubem Iweka – who reports points to as having developed cold feet in eradicating the menace of cultism in the Obosi community – have responded to the killing of the PG via a two minute video recording
The Igwe confirmed the killing was due to cult activities within the community – of which the PG was in the process of eradicating from the community. The Igwe pointed to the Anambra State government and the security agencies in the State as being partly responsible for the killing of the PG.
He stated that the Governor, Charles Soludo was briefed on the activities of the cultist group. The Igwe indicated that the PG had been threatened repeatedly by the cultists – and “the Governor was intimated of the situation“, he said.
THIS IS WHAT THE NEW ELECTORAL LAW SAYS ON OUR NEXT ELECTIONS THAT WILL MAKE PETER OBI TO WIN Presidencial Election Come Feb 26,2023.
1. No manual accreditation.
2. No use of incident forms.
3. All accreditation is electronic.
4. Accreditation is Bimodal meaning facial recognition and finger printing.
5. No pre-election cases after conclusion of Elections.
6. No election cases after swearing into office of the winner.
7. All results must be uploaded to INEC official website at the polling units before taking it to ward, constituency, LGA or state collation centers.
8. If the number of votes cast is more than the accredited voters the polling unit result is cancelled.
9. No more agreement between parties to share the remaining ballot papers that were not used.
10. No more massive thump printing and stuffing of ballot boxes. If you like go and steal ballot boxes you are wasting your time. You cannot change the result.
The people’s votes are counting now. If you didn’t serve the people well when in public office or you are not popular in your political locality, it is advisable to save your money because they will collect your money and vote against you.
End of ballots snatching has come to stay in Nigeria. With the amendment of Nigeria Electoral Act, our votes now count.
Go and collect your PVC Please share this information to go viral.With the power of internet ,we can fix our environment.
The Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry Enugu, Nigeria, Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka has arrived Nigeria after spending few weeks at the Monastery as mandated by the Catholic Bishop of Enugu, Most Rev. Calistus Onaga.
According to a trending video, thousands of his supporters filled the Enugu airport to receive the anointed Man of God into the country at around 9:00 am this morning. Musical instruments and chants were heard as soon as he was seen by the people.
Thousands of his supporters were seen singing, and chanting Hosanna Songs, right from the Akanu Ibiam International Airport Enugu, march through streets to welcome clergyman back to the state.
It would be recalled that Rev. Fr Mbaka was suspended by the Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese Most Reverend Calistus Onaga, for his statement on the candidature of the Presidential candidate of Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi. Shortly after his suspension was lifted, he was asked to proceed to a monastery for a retreat.
Rev Fr Ejike Mbaka obeyed the instruction of the Bishop and in November 2022, he
arrived the Saint Andrew’s Abbey, Monastery in Los Angeles, Valyermo United States of America for retreat.
It is unclear if he will resume immediately at the Adoration Ministry Emene.
