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Nigeria’s 2019 election ‘last grasp of the old order’: Moghalu
The 76-year-old, of the All Progressive Congress (APC) party, won 56 percent of the votes, compared with 41 percent for his top rival Atiku Abubakar, the candidate for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Following the electoral commission’s announcement on Wednesday, Abubakar rejected the result as “the implementation of grand theft of the people’s will” and said next steps would be revealed shortly.
 At the end of a long electoral process that was hit by a last-minute weeklong postponement, delays in the opening of polling stations and instances of violence, Al Jazeera spoke to Kingsley Moghalu – an opposition presidential candidate from the Young Progressive Party (YPP) – about Nigeria’s political system, the challenges ahead and the credibility issues arising from the just-concluded elections.
Al Jazeera: What was your experience running for the presidency?
Kingsley Moghalu: At some point, there was an epiphany when it became clear to me that the rate of poverty in this country, the rate of population growth, the rate of unemployment, were all heading towards a social cataclysm in the years ahead if the trajectory was not broken now.
In the past 20 years of our democratic experience, we have only gotten poorer. What can Nigeria take into the 21st century as a modern and prosperous nation? I answered the question – a visionary, competent and technocratic leader.
I have been a technocrat as a senior policymaker as the deputy governor of the Central Bank. I have been a professor of international business and economic policy. I’ve been a United Nations official for 17 years.
 But the democratic legitimacy that is conferred by being elected at the ballot box is the deciding factor of the progress or lack of progress of any country.
Al Jazeera: But Nigeria still has this issue of the electorate voting along party lines and not really about the manifesto of candidates.
Moghalu: It is because of the lack of political education, which my campaign really was about. My campaign was a process of political education but we did not have enough time in one year to educate the people away from habits that have been ingrained over the past 20 years.
The fact that there are too many people who are poor and hungry and for them, the immediate need is for survival in the moment; they don’t have time for the fine luxuries of electing a good and competent leader, they are just looking for somebody who can give them food today.
Right now, [the people] can see the vision, they are sympathetic to it but clearly, they were not just ready to act.
Many people who wanted to vote for me decided ultimately to vote for the PDP because the overriding priority was for them to defeat Buhari. They asked themselves, who can defeat Buhari?
In their view, it was only the PDP because it was an old, established structure, but then they don’t realise these are the very same people who have contributed together with the APC to bringing us to where we are today. They do not have the sophistication of making that distinction – it was just anybody but Buhari.
Al Jazeera: And in 2023, do you think you could win?
Moghalu: I believe so. I believe that a number of practical factors will be more in our favour than the situation today – 2019 is the last grasp of the old order.
By the way, the election is not yet over. We are still not sure who has won. The process itself has so many problems of credibility that we have to see whether it will survive all kinds of possible challenges, judicial or otherwise.
I know a lot of my votes were stolen – stolen by rigging, stolen by voters’ oppression, stolen by vote-buying by the two big parties, the APC and the PDP. I believe the two of them were rigging the election and it’s possible that one might out-rig the other and have victory declared for it.
Clearly, a lot of our votes are stolen so that means that this election has serious credibility problems and everybody is complaining about it.
Al Jazeera: Critics say that rigging has become more enshrined in the system over the years.
Moghalu: Part of our planning for 2023, if we were to come out again, is to learn the lessons from 2019, including the question of rigging, vote buying. We now have four years to begin to educate our people, to strengthen our political structures across the 774 local government areas – and who knows, time could meet opportunity.
My problem is that Nigeria hasn’t gotten to the problem of voting for people for positive reasons; instead, they vote against them. They don’t care very much who they vote for. That has to change.
Al Jazeera: You talked about the credibility of the polls, and the PDP has come out rejecting the results. What are the options for the opposition to ensure that polls get the credible backing they need?
Moghalu: Well, I don’t know because the opposition is fractured. There is the new breed of political parties and politicians like myself, and there is the old breed like the PDP, which is the main opposition force politically today.
I cannot speak for them; I can only say the process has not been finally concluded. I will take a position when the process is concluded and we hear the final resolution.
Al Jazeera: This election saw a campaign for bigger youth inclusion in politics. You also talked about the older generations’ time being up. In 2023, you’ll be nearly 60 years old – will you be considered old?
Moghalu: No. In Nigeria, what we refer to as old is not [necessarily] the numerical age because somebody who is 60 is not old by any definition – he’s mature but not old.Nigeria’s young voters under spotlight as elections near
What’s more important is not their physical age, it’s the age of their ideas. That’s [what we mean] when we talk about old and new.People might have a higher numerical age but they can still be in tune with new ideas about leadership and transparency and governance.[When we refer to ‘old people’ we mean that] they represent a certain tendency, a certain habit that has been formed over the past 20 years. It is those habits and tendencies and pattern of thinking that we reject completely.
It’s about the way people think and mislead a nation that is the issue.
SOURCE:www.aljazeera.com
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Nigeria’s 2019 election ‘last grasp of the old order’: Moghalu
Igbo’s Will Suvive “NEXT LEVEL” Of Suffering – Omu Anioma Speaks.
2019 Election: Nigeria Lost – Igbo/Biafra Nation Won.
Ndigbo can never suffer, Agu anighi ata ahihia… Leopard don’t eat grass.
No matter how bad you try to oppress Igbo people, they will continue to florish.
Atiku Rejects Presidential Result
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has rejected the result of the February 23 presidential poll.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate President Muhammadu Buhari winner of the election.
Atiku, in a statement on Wednesday, said he would be challenging the election result in court, as the contest was marred by what he called “premeditated malpractices” in many states across the country, which vitiated the result declared by the electoral commission.
In the statement entitled “Democracy Will Not Be Emasculated in Nigeria,” the PDP candidate expressed appreciation to Nigerians for coming out en mass to cast their votes during the presidential election. He reassured Nigerians that he would not allow democracy in the country to be weakened.
sun
President Buhari Re-Election:What Next ? ADF
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An Address to Igbo Nation On The- Igbo National Predicament and the 2019 General Elections in Nigeria
1. They say it is never over until it is over.
Political Struggle is never based on the outcome of any one political event.
Ndigbo are a nation in quest of self-determination and freedom in the artificial Nigerian Federation in which they have been held in bondage since the Amalgamation of 1914.
2. This struggle is not predicated on the outcome of the 2019 General Elections. From our experience in the Nigerian Federation. it was obvious that the outcome of the elections will underscore the reasons for our struggle and our rejection of the artificial Federation
3. The 2019 General Election in Nigeria has so far clearly demonstrated a high level of Igbo national unity and solidarity.
We spoke through the ballot that we are one, one people one nation – from Abakaliki and Afigbo in Ebonyi State to Nsukka, Udi in Enugu State; from Awka, Nnewi and Onitsha in Anambra State to the entire Anioma Igbos in Delta State, from Anioma to Owerri, Oguta and Egbema in Imo State; from Elele, Ikwere and Port Harcourt in Rivers State; from Port Harcourt to Aba, Umuahia in Abia State, etc, etc. It does not matter that our votes were deliberately reduced to less than half of its strength. We have demonstrated and affirmed the reality and autonomy of our region.
We have also once more shown the world that Ndigbo have strong historical and political ties with our neighbors – the Okrika, Ijaw, Ibibio and Efik in .Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River States.
….
Recent events in the Nigerian Federation have underscored the artificiality of the Federation and the bondage in which various nations within it are held and subjugated. The Yoruba nation, the Tiv nation, the Edo nation, the Southern Kaduna, the Kanuris, the Ijaws, the Efik, Ibibio, etc, All are now singing the same song – longing form freedom and self-determination.
 4. Was it Right for Ndigbo to have participated in the Elections, knowing that it would be rigged?
Our answer is definitely YES! We say yes to our brothers and sisters who think otherwise as well as to the Internet warriors, political magicians and those whom we may call critical critics in our midst, who would want us to do otherwise. We are happy that at the last moment all the major stakeholders, pan-Igbo organizations and pro-Biafra groups in Alaigbo, all agreed we should participate.
5. If we failed to participate, we shall have no political, legal or even moral right to question the manner in which the elections were organized or the outcome of the elections.
6. On the other hand, the scandalous manner in which the outcome of the election was programmed in advance provides us and other aggrieved neighbors a very strong impetus to continue our struggle for self-determination and freedom.
7. The fact that we participated has further justified our case that there is no democratic path to resolving the crises of unity and freedom within the Nigerian Federation.
8. The world is watching and the manner and outcome of the elections definitely arouse the disgust of those that have moral conscience. Already they feel repulsed by what has taken place in the name of elections and democracy.
9. President Buhari and his Fulani kinsmen have now shown the world –
– why they went after the Legislature hounding its leadership from pillar to post,
– why they seized the security apparatus of the state,
– why they went after the judiciary and destroyed its leadership.
– Why they took the Electoral Commission under its control.
– Why the control of the DSS, EFCC, the Police, etc, are now controlled by the Fulani and their minions, etc, etc.
10. What has taken place is no election. The various ways it has been rigged are too obvious-
– Use of the security forces to intimidate opponents
– Use of the compromised card reader.
– Why the card reader was used in only in the South.
– Why in the North they manually filled and thump-printed the ballot papers.
– Disenfranchisement of voters through the use of thugs to prevent them from getting to the voting centers
– Use of thugs to snatch ballot boxes and destroy ballots and ballot boxes and other election materials,
– Abduction of election officers and forcing them to declare APC candidates as winners
– Use of wrong voters’ registers to ensure that opposition voters names are missing and thereby disenfranchising them.
– Use of security men and thugs to attack and kill voters.
11. It is clear that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the Presidential election. The PDP should immediately publish the results from the various collation centers for the world to see the extent of reckless impunity displayed by the President and his men in order to remain in power against the will of the people.
12. We urge all lovers of freedom in the South-South, South-East, South West, Middle Belt, Southern Kaduna and other areas to support Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the quest to reclaim the mandate given to him by the people to govern.
13. We urge Ndigbo not to allow anything to affect their resolve and continue to take part in the other elections.
14. Finally, we must avoid Egbe onu, tigbuo sogbuo and other form of emotional outburst,
15. . Knowing our character and history, Ndigbo would rather die than be slaves to any other nation or nations! The world is aware of the historic Igbo Landing at Dunbar Creek on St. Simons Island, Glynn County, Georgia, USA in 1803. It was here that fourteen fellow Igbo brothers, under chains, held their hands and drowned themselves in a mass suicide rather than become slaves to other people.
Or again, we may recall the case of Igbo young men, already trapped as slaves, who organized the rebellion in Haiti that led to the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, facts that were not lost on the British in their activities against Ndigbo in Nigeria. That Revolution in Haiti, which started on 22 August 1791, lasted till 1804, ending French colonial rule in Saint Dominique, now the Sovereign State of Haiti. That historic event is now widely seen as “a defining moment in the history of racism in the Atlantic World”
We do not need to add the Women Resistance movement against British Rule in Nigeria 1929, which led to a radical redefinition of colonial rule in Nigeria and elsewhere.
From the above, the message to Ndigbo at his moment is clear
We must not surrender to the forces that wish to enslave us, destroy our Civilization and our Christian religious faith.
Prof. Uzodinma NwalaProf. Nath Aniekwu
ADF PresidentADF Secretary
February 26, 2019
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I Am Human I Can Make Mistakes – Nnamdi Kanu.
First, this video is about what true leadership is all about.
What is expected of everyone that finds him/her self in leadership position.
Secondly, this video is my own way of expressing my condolence to Nigerians who just activated next level of suffering for another four miserable years.
Finally, this video is about what Biafrans must do urgently if we are serious to be free.
PDP Rejects Presidential Results
The legal team of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is reportedly considering a legal challenge of the presidential election results, as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Topshots of the party are expected at an emergency meeting in Abuja, today.
The meeting is coming on the heels of the rejection of the presidential election result of Nasarawa State and some states in the North, where Card Readers reportedly failed but voters were annually accredited.
Notice of the meeting was reportedly sent by the former minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Turaki, a senior advocate of Nigeria.
Turaki was a former PDP presidential aspirant.
The meeting, which will hold at the Legacy House, Abuja, is expected to start at 4:00pm.
He told invitees to “appear in person” as there will be “no representation please.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has warned against plans to cause a constitutional crisis by truncating the electoral process and making the February 23, 2019 elections inconclusive.
The warning was contained in a statement by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, yesterday.
He accused the PDP of laying the groundwork for a constitutional crisis by unleashing what it described as the party’s “talking heads” on the public space to claim victory from Saturday’s election, even when INEC has yet to announce the result.
He said by usurping the INEC’s role, through the announcement of results, the PDP has violated the Electoral Act and should face very serious consequences.
“This confirms what we said in a series of pre-election press conferences, that the PDP–realising it cannot win a free and fair election–will do everything possible to scuttle the polls, failing which it will proceed to the next stage; which is to discredit the entire electoral process, including the result, with the ultimate aim of precipitating a constitutional crisis and pushing for an interim government,” he said.
The minister wondered why “those who parade themselves as Democrats would show such disdain for the electoral process, which is a key ingredient of democracy.”
He called on the security agencies “to check the activities of the PDP, in this regard, by arresting and prosecuting anyone who announces the result of last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections, other than INEC.”
Meanwhile, INEC has dismissed PDP’s objection to the results.
Yakubu’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, said the Commission is doing the right thing and would not want to join issues with anyone or party.
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Video!!! I Thought Nigerian Youths Are Lazy, Now I know They Are Foolish Too
2019 Presidential Election has come and gone. but the foolishness of Nigerian youths will hurt them for another four years.
Listen to him.
BREAKING NEWS: Security operatives arrest Iwu, ex-INEC chairman
Security operatives have arrested former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Maurice Iwu.
Family sources said Iwu was arrested in Owerri, the Imo State capital on Sunday and whisked away to Lagos.
The source said the security operatives came from Port Harcourt and linked up with the Imo State Commissioner of Police, who telephoned Prof Iwu and invited him to Owerri.
When Iwu came for the meeting, he was whisked away by security operatives and taken to the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Lagos.
It was gathered that in Lagos, Prof Iwu was interrogated, release and asked to report back today.
On reporting today at the EFCC office in Lagos, Iwu was taken into custody, with his phones impounded and switched off. He is yet to be released.
When the spokesman of the EFCC, Mr Tony Orilade, was contacted on the development, he denied the story.
source :SUN
Breaking! Illegal Withdrawal: Polaris Bank Ltd Loses A Court Case
Hon Justice D.A.Onyefulu of High Court 4 ,Awka Judicial Division delivered a landmark judgment today against Polaris Bank Ltd.
In delivering the Judgement ,the Court ordered Polaris Bank Ltd to pay the Plantiff-Comrade Ndubuisi Anaenugwu a total sum of Four Hundred Thousand Naira only(N400,000).The Judgement reads : ‘1.That the withdrawal of N390,000 from Plaintiff Saving Account was unlawful and breach of Trust.2.That N300,000 be paid to Comrade Ndubuisi Anaenugwu for general damages and N50,000 for breach of trust, another N50,000 for other cost.
The Plaintiff –Comrade Ndubuisi Anaenugwu confirmed to BVI Channel 1 Online that he expected a more severe sanction against Polaris Bank ltd to guide against recurrence as most Banks in Nigeria have gone unethical against the interest of the Banking Public.In a related note ,The Plaintiff Legal Representative-Barr Agozie Mmotoh told our Reporter that his Client has gotten justice at last. However,Polaris Bank’s Lawyer – J.U.Okoroafor of Trulaw could not be reached for his comment.
Comrade Anaenugwu had in 2017 dragged Polaris Bank to court over a fraudulent withdrawal from his savings account domiciled in Awka,Anambra State.
Both Parties have presented their legal argument(s) and expected a favorable judgment.Counsel to the Biafran Activist –A.S Chukwuemeka of Agozie Mmotoh & Co told BVI Channel 1 Online that his Client has a very good case against Polaris Bank Ltd and concluded by saying that she has total confidence in the sanctity of the Court to do justice in the case one way or the other.
However, the Plaintiff –Comrade Ndubuisi Anaenugwu insisted that his case against Polaris Bank Ltd was not about himself but for the sake of justice and to prove to the whole world that there is a price to be paid for negligence and breach of trust mostly when the Custodian of money is involved. Ndubuisi confirmed to the Reporter that he is optimistic that justice will prevail to forestall criminalities from the operators in the Nigeria financial system.
Maureen Reporting for BVI
Lagos crisis: Afenifere condemns attack on Igbo
Pan Yoruba organisation, Afenifere, has condemned last Saturday’s attack on voters in Ago Palace way, Lagos, while voting in the presidential and National Assembly election was ongoing.
In a statement signed by its spokesperson, Yinka Odumakin, the organisation described the violence unleashed on voters and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at Ago Palace Way and other areas dominated by the Igbo as babaric and unfortunate.
During Saturday’s presidential election, thugs suspected to be members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Oouda People’s Congress (OPC) were seen in company with one of the leaders of the National Union of Road Transport Workers(NURTW) disrupting the voting process, snatching ballot boxes and burning ballot papers in full view of voters.
As early as 9am on Saturday morning, there was massive voter turnout in Ago, Amuwo Odofin, Festac, Oke-Afa and its environs. But between 10am and 11am, thugs begun arriving and from one polling unit to the other, burning ballot papers and ordering voters, most of whom were of Igbo extraction to leave the polling units or face deportation.
Reacting to the crisis, Afenifere, appealed for calm, while accusing those it described as political merchants for being responsible for the violence that broke out.
“We condemn in the strongest terms, the political violence visited on Nigerians of Igbo extraction in Lagos during Saturday’s presidential elections. Dirty political merchants and their band of thugs apart from engineering political disenfranchisement of the Igbo, went ahead to visit violence on them and burning their votes en masse.
“The political vandals they used were said to have been calling themselves OPC but our checks with the genuine leaders of the group have shown that the deranged elements had no affiliation with the OPC known by Afenifere.
“We frown seriously at the failure of the security agencies to give adequate cover to Ndigbo in the affected communities as these thugs went berserk carrying out the instructions of their sinking political godfathers.
“We want to assure our Igbo brothers and sisters that the bond of friendship the Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo have built particularly under the dynamic leadership of Chief John Nwodo remains strong and will not be broken by the nefarious activities of a few strange children in our midst.
“We are already in discussions with the Igbo leadership on the matter and we appeal for calm as these political vandals are only engaged in death kicks. We call on the security agencies to give adequate security covers to the Igbo in subsequent elections as we encourage them not to succumb to intimidation and harassment by political vampires.
“Our historical connectivity with Ndigbo will survive the Saturday madness and the perpetrators will be shamed eternally,” Odumakin said.
In a related development, the leadership of the OPC, has denied that one of the thugs named Demola, who was caught burning ballot papers and was beaten by voters but was later rushed to the hospital by Ago residents, is a member of the organisation.
Publicity Secretary of the OPC, Yinka Oguntimehin, said the man killed by the mob yesterday at Okota, Lagos, was not a member of the Aare Gani Adams – led members of the OPC.
Oguntimehin said: “The report at our disposal indicates that a member of the late Faseun’s group was beaten by an irate mob, following an attempt by some thugs to disrupt election process at the Okota area of Lagos state.
“I need to say it clearly that Ademola is not a member of our group. Ours is a group of professionals, and well educated members. We have our structure across the country, and everybody can attest to the fact that the Aare Gani Adams-led members of the OPC are not vagabonds or thugs.”