RiversState Governor, Nyesom Wike, has declared that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lacked the capacity to conduct credible polls.
Wike also called on the international community to closely monitor the nation’s electoral process to stop INEC from manipulating the 2019 elections.
He spoke yesterday, during a courtesy visit by the German Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Bernhard Shlagheck, to the Government House, Port Harcourt.
“INEC does not have the capacity to hold free and fair elections. See what happened in Kano State. INEC says it wants to investigate the under-age voting that took place last week.
“Who gave the children the voters’ cards? We will not allow anyone to manipulate the electoral system of the country,” Wike said.
The governor said due to the failure of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party plans to use INEC and security agencies to create crisis and manipulate the electoral system .
He said the cries over the order of elections by the ruling APC revealed their intention to manipulate the process.
The governor urged the German ambassador to ensure the Federal Government is committed to the development of the Niger Delta.
He said despite resources produced in the Niger Delta, the people have been denied access to infrastructural development.
Earlier, Shlagheck lauded Wike for his investments in infrastructural development.
The ambassador said he was in state as part of his familiarisation tour of the Niger Delta, saying he started with Rivers because of the importance of the state in the structure of the region.
He called on political stakeholders to work for the success of the 2019 elections.
Meanwhile, Rivers East Senatorial District has endorsed Wike for a second term on the strength of his performance.
Thousands of people from the eight councils of the senatorial district trooped to the General Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt yesterday where they sang the praises of Wike.
Member of the House of Representatives Representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency, Kingsley Chinda moved the motion for the endorsement of Wike by the district. The motion was seconded by Majority Whip of the state House of Assembly, Evans Bipi.(the sun)
Members of ‘Our mumu don do movement’ almost disrupted activities at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over the lingering fuel scarcity in the country.
Charles Oputa (also known as Charly Boy) who led the group in Abuja, said that their mission was to submit a letter reminding management of the corporation to do everything possible to salvage the situation by making the Premium Motor Spirit available, adding that the suffering experienced by Nigerians was becoming unbearable.
“We have been able to submit the letter hoping the management would do the needful. All we are saying is that they should make our lives easier by supplying this product so that people would not go to hell and back to be able to carry on with their daily activities.
“Already the suffering is too much.”
He vowed that should the management fail to provide the product, the group would reconvene and storm the headquarters forcefully until the fuel situation improves.
“If they don’t, we would come back here ten times stronger and I think they will not like it.
“We are hoping that they will do the right thing and make this product available and accessible to Nigerians, at least to minimize the suffering,” Charly Boy stressed.
In his remarks, founder of Concerned Nigerians, Deji Adeyanju, called on the Federal Government to revisit the $20 billion turn around maintenance (TAM) wasteful spending allegation made by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu against the Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, stressing that if at all they have settled the matter the outcome should be made public.
“We won’t take it lightly if the issue is swept under the carpet. The outcome should be publicized,” he said.(the sun)
For the records, below are forty-one promises contained in the APC Manifesto as published by the party prior to the 2015 Presidential election.
The promises below are extracted from the two official documents released by APC as their Manifesto titled ‘Securing Nigeria’s Future’ and ‘Roadmap to a New Nigeria’, all published by the APC and signed by the then Presidential aspirant, now President Muhammadu Buhari. Please note that some of the promises that do not require funds to be implemented are even yet to even be initiated.
Securing Nigeria’s Future’
1. Initiate action to amend the Nigerian Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties, and responsibilities to states in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit. (This simply means that the APC actually promised to restructure Nigeria and entrench true federalism if voted into power). Page 6
2. Amend the Constitution to remove immunity from prosecution for elected officers in criminal cases. Page 6.
3. Require full disclosure in media outlets, of all government contracts over N100m prior to award and during implementation at regular intervals. Page 6
4. Amend the Constitution to require Local Governments to publish their meeting minutes, service performance data, and items of spending over N10M. Page 6.
5. Consult and amend the Constitution to enable States and Local Governments to create city, Local Government and State Policing systems. Page 7
6. Bring permanent peace and solutions to the insurgency issues in the North-East; the Niger Delta; and other conflict prone states and areas such as Plateau, Benue, Bauchi, Borno, Abia, Taraba, Yobe, and Kaduna. Page 8
7. Initiate policies to ensure that Nigerians are free to live and work in any part of the country by removing state of origin, tribe, ethnic and religious affiliations from documentation requirements in our identification of citizens and replace these with State of Residence and fashion out the appropriate minimal qualification for obtaining such a state of residency, nation-wide. Page 8.
8. Make our economy one of the fastest growing emerging economies in the world with a real GDP growth averaging at least 10-12% annually. Page 9.
9. 5 million new jobs by 2019. Page 9.
10. Put in place a N300bn Regional Growth Fund with an average of N50bn in each geo political region… to encourage private sector enterprise and to support places currently reliant on only on the public sector, to migrate to a private sector reality. Page 10.
11. Amend the Constitution and the Land Use Act. Page 10.
12. Create an additional middleclass of at least 4 million new home owners by 2019. Page 10.
13. Create a Social Welfare Program of at least Five Thousand Naira (N5000) that will cater for the 25 million poorest and most vulnerable citizens upon the demonstration of children’s enrolment in school and evidence of immunisation to help promote family stability. Page 10.
14. Provide allowances to the discharged but unemployed Youth Corps members for Twelve (12) months while in the skills and entrepreneurial development programmes. Page 10.
15. Construct a 5,000km of Superhighway including service trunks and (b) building of up to 6,800km of modern railway completed by 2019; Page 11.
16. Embark on PPP schemes that will ensure every one of the 36 states has one functional airport. Page 11
17. Speedily pass the much delayed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and ensure that local content issues are fully addressed. Page 12
18. Make Nigeria the world’s leading exporter of LNG through the creation of strategic partnerships. Page 12
19. Targeting up to 20% of our annual budget for Education. Page 13.
20. Provide One Meal a day for all Primary school pupils. That will create jobs in Agriculture, Catering, and Delivery Services. Page 14.
21. Establish at least six new universities of Science and Technology with satellite campuses in various states. Page 14.
22. Establish technical colleges and vocational centres in each state of the federation. Page 14
23. Increase the quality of all federal government owned hospitals to world class standard by 2019. Page 15.
24. Provide free antenatal care for pregnant women; free health care for babies and children up to school going age and for the aged; and free treatment for those afflicted with infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Page 15
25. Create an Insurance Policy for our Journalists as the nation faces hard times and our Journalists face more dangers. Page 15
26. Establish Zonal world class sports academies and training institutes and ensure that Nigeria occupies a place of pride in global sports and athletics; Page 16.
27. Assist Nollywood to fully develop into world class movie industry that can compete effectively with Hollywood and Bollywood in due course. Page 16.
28. Guarantee that women are adequately represented in government appointments and provide greater opportunities in education, job creation, and economic empowerment. Page 16
29. Use the Party structures to promote the concept of reserving a minimum number of seats in the States and National Assembly, for women. Page 16.
30. Create shelter belts in states bordering the Sahara Desert to mitigate and reverse the effects of the expanding desert. Page 17.
On the second document titled ‘Roadmap to a New Nigeria’
11. Create 20,000 jobs per state immediately for those with a minimum qualification of secondary school leaving certificate and who participate in technology and vocational training. Page 4
32. Place the burden of proving innocence in corruption cases on persons with inexplicable wealth. Page 7.
33. Pursue legislation expanding forfeiture and seizure of assets laws and procedure with respect to inexplicable wealth, regardless of whether there is a conviction for criminal conduct or not. Page 7.
34. Provide free tertiary education to students pursuing Science and Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). Page 9.
35. Provide free tertiary education to education majors and stipends prior to their employment as teachers. Page 9.
36. Create incentives and dedicate special attention to the education of girls. Page 9
37. Ensure every child attending primary school is properly nourished and ready to learn by providing a Free Meal a Day. Page 9.
38. Achieve the construction of one million low-cost houses within four years for the poor. Page 11
39. Stop all travel abroad at government expense for the purpose of medical treatment. Page 13.
40. Provide incentives for Nigerian doctors and health practitioners working abroad to return home, to strengthen the health care industry in Nigeria and provide quality care to those who need it. Page 14.
41. Make sure people at a local level benefit from mining and mineral wealth by vesting all mineral rights in land to states. Page 17.
Please note that these documents were officially released by the All Progressive Congress (APC) as its official manifesto, thereby making the documents legally binding now that it is in charge of the central government.
As contained in the document, the then Presidential aspirant of the APC (now President) said ‘This document sets out our side of the bargain: the things I as your future president, want to do to change Nigeria for the better’
Will these promises ever be fulfilled?
source: social media
Boko Haram terrorists have reportedly ambushed a convoy of about 20 commercial vehicles travelling on a major highway in Borno State.
The insurgents reportedly fired several shots on the convoy of commercial and private vehicles with military escorts at Yeleri, along Maiduguri-Damboa road, at about 12:00p.m., on Saturday, military and civilian JTF sources told Daily Sun.
Details of the ambush were sketchy even as the military was yet to confirm the incident, on Monday morning. However, sources said some of the passengers in one of the vehicles might have been kidnapped by the insurgents.
Another source said the insurgents abducted some of the passengers in the confusion that followed sporadic gunshots on the convoy.
The Maiduguri-Damboa road which was closed for use, in May 2014, in the wake of persistent Boko Haram attack, was reopened in February 2016, by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai.
The erstwhile Enyimba of Aba skipper was reportedly involved in a ghastly motor accident in Kano on Sunday night.
The central defender starred in Pillar’s 1-1 draw against Enyinba at the Sani Abacha Stadium.
He prominently featured for Enyimba before joining Pillars a few seasons ago.
Those who aspire to lead must bear in mind the fact that they are servants and as such cannot ever be greater than the People, their masters. A good Leader must work hard to inspire the people and tend to be a friend to all his People.
He should have right judgement both of people and of situations and the ability to attract to himself the right kind of lieutenants who can best further the interests of the People . The leader must not only say but always demonstrate that the power he exercises is derived from the People. Therefore, like every other public servant, he is accountable to the People for the use he makes of their mandate. He must get out when the People tell him to get out. The more power the leader is given by the People, the less is his personal freedom and the greater his responsibility for the good of the People. He should never allow his high office to separate him from the People. He must be fanatical for the welfare of the masses not the few cabal and ndi Otimkpu around him.
A leader must at all times stand for justice in dealing with the People. He should be the symbol of justice which is the supreme guarantee of good government. He should be ready, if need be, to lay down his life in pursuit of this ideal. He must have physical and moral courage and must be able to inspire the people out of despondency.
He should never strive towards the perpetuation of his office or devise means to cling to office beyond the clear mandate of the People or encourage his supporters to be wearing clothes bearing his name or face. He should resist the temptation to erect memorials to himself in his life-time, to have his head embossed on the coin, name streets and institutions after himself, or convert government into a family business. A leader who serves his people well will be enshrined in their hearts and minds. This is all the reward he can expect in his life-time. He will be to the People the symbol of excellence, the quintessence of the new Political Order.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
One of the corner-stones of our expected new political order is Social Justice. We believe that there should be equal opportunity for all, that appreciation and just reward should be given for honest work and that society should show concern and special care for the weak and infirm. Our people reject all forms of social inequalities and disabilities and all class and sectional privileges. Our new Political Order believes that society should treat all its members with impartiality and fairness. Therefore, we must not apportion special privileges or favours to some citizens and deny them to others. For example, how can we talk of Social Justice in a situation where a highly-paid public servant gets free bag of rice and the poor housewife in the village pays N100 for a cup? A situation where a Bank Manager goes for free medical attention with insurance cover while the poor Mechanic man has no such protection under the Law. The State should not create a situation favorable to the exploitation of some citizens by others. The State is the Father of all, the source of security, the reliable agent which helps all to realize their legitimate hopes and aspirations. Without Social Justice, harmony and stability within society disappear and antagonisms between various sections of the community take their place. Our new Political Order driven by Biafran Ideology will uphold Social Justice at all times.
“If you thought oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1959, you could pass your high school economics with that information. It was actually discovered 50 years earlier.
Did you know that Oil from the Territory was sold for almost 50 years before the approach of Independence in 1960 forced the disclosure of Oloibiri by Britain? Even at that, the quantities were concealed from the newly Independent Nigerian Governments, until the Counter Coup of July, 1966, when the North packed their baggage to head back North in the famous ARABA putsch.
The then British High Commissioner to Nigeria, of course on the promptings and direction of his home Government, zoomed in upon Gowon halfway, and prevailed on him to reverse the decision of moving the North out of Nigeria, at a time Gowon already hoisted the Arewa Flag in a temporary Capital, Ilorin.
In the hurry to announce this reversal, the Gowon’s speech that was originally designed to take out the North, was poorly edited, leaving a portion that should have been expunged and so distorting the concluding part from the body of the speech.
That unexpunged portion is the celebrated Gowonian faux pas in which he in one breathe declared that “Everything considered, the basis of Nigeria’s Unity was no more”, yet going ahead in the next breathe to proclaim that “To keep Nigeria One is a task that must be done”.
It was in the heat of the ARABA (Northern Secession) move that the British whispered into the ears of the fledgeling Gowon Government, the huge quantities oil that Eastern Nigeria would have, if the North left, and so would become the poor neighbour of the South, particularly Eastern Region.
In a series of dubious underhanded exchanges that followed rapidly, the British practically took over the handling of the crises all the way to when it became War in July 1967, from the poor School Certificate-holder soldier, Yakubu Gowon (Gowon went for tertiary education only after he was overthrown in 1975 by his July 1966 comrade-in-crime, Murtala Mohammed).
In that dark period, Gowon signed off the entire oil/gas reserves of Eastern Nigeria to the British for 50 years, more or less, contracting the War to Britain.
The British which held those concessions via Shell, had to parcel out substantial blocs of their holdings to the other World Powers and Permanent Members of the UN Security Council.
Thus the entry of Gulf Oil and Mobil (US) Elf (France), Agip (Italy). Soviet Union had oil at home and so didnt need oil blocs. What Russia (USSR) got was an open order to supply the hardware for the War, including MIG Jet Fighters, Ilushyn Battle Tanks, AK 47 Riffles, all at double of prevailing market prices.
This oil blocs bribe was the basis of the cooperation of the then World Powers with Britain and its stooge, Northern Nigeria, to kill 3.5 million Easterners in a simple Self-determination disputate, substantially resolved in Aburi, January 1967.
Back to Willinks Commission.
Could it be because of the Special love the the British had for the Niger Delta that the Commission Recommended the preferential accelerated development of the Area. Dead no. So much had been taken.
The people would soon find out. The Development was an upfront bribe and containment Strategy to help calm would-be frayed nerves.
Unfortunately, the North-led Government that took over in 1960 from the British, abandoned that proactive scheme (partly because the whole truth as to the quantities of crude and money involved was not disclosed to them by the British departing arrangers).
Some of the findings of the LNC on reasons Isaac Boro and his Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, (yes NDPVF did not begin with Asari) declared the Defunct Niger Delta Republic, had to do with this “detail” of British concealments, some of which are still in force.
Those who are still in doubt should find out whether Shell was not Headquartered in Owerri for 42 solid years up till 1960 in the place still called Shell Camp to date (now broken into several large premises’ including the Government House, Rockview Hotel, Alvan Ikoku College of Education, the Federal Medical Center, the Mobile Police Camp and a number of other Governmental institutions).
It was Premier Michael Okpara who bought the large premises off Shell in 1961 on behalf of the the then Eastern Region, after Shell moved to Port Harcourt in the dawn of this grand pretence at a distinct Niger Delta that had nothing to do with Igbo, which has now been confirmed by Junaid Mohammed when he charged at Jonathan with the rebuke that the Niger Delta was a creation of the North to manage its interests in Eastern Nigeria!.
Those who wish to interrogate this claim of 50-years-oil-sale-before-Oloibiri should get on SPDC website so they can see for themselves that it was in 1936 that a certain Company called Shell D’Arcy (Shell’s predecessor) came under Crown Regulation, to pay more to the Crown probably because of the impending Second World War.
Prior to that time, Shell D’Arcy had the same kind of Charter as the Royal Niger Company (later UAC, UNILEVER).
Those Charters were issued about same period at the turn of the 19th Century, before your Nigeria was created in 1914.
Do the arithmetic. Nigeria was purely a business venture of the British and everything that became our “Constitution” took their roots from that Main Object to date”.
BEING THE RESOLUTIONS ARRIVED AT FROM THE EMERGENCY YORUBA FARMERS SUMMIT HELD ON THURSDAY 15TH FEBRUARY, 2018 AT THE HOUSE OF CHIEFS, PARLIAMENT BUILDING, SECRETARIAT, IBADAN UNDER THE AUSPICES OF OODUA REDEMPTION ALLIANCE
Theme: JUST BEFORE THE FULANIS FINISH US!
1. That we are conscious of the character trait of the Fulanis that they conquer people, occupy their lands and rule over the land.
2. That this led to their conquest, domination and rule over the entire Hausa land till today.
3. That we have the memory, to the external shame of us Yorubas anyway, how the Fulanis tricked the Ilorin Yorubas into capturing their land over which they rule till today.
4. That we are conscious of their further incursion efforts into the entire Yoruba land which led to the Osogbo war of 1840 between the Fulanis and the Ibadan warlords who decisively routed them thus stopping their further incursion.
5. That we are aware of their ceaseless plots and strategy to still capture Yoruba land in fulfillment of the will of their forebear Uthman Dan Fodio whose design was that the conquest of the Yorubas would only stop at the ocean in Lagos where their blood-stained swords would be washed.
6. That we are conscious of the highest degree of harms the Fulani herdsmen have done to our farmers over the decades where their cattle destroy their farm crops at will, where they rape their wives and children and kill anybody who dares their will with impurity.
7. That the resurgence or large scale perpetration of the evil has now gotten to an uncontrollable and unacceptable level that an open confrontation or war has now been provoked between the Yorubas and the Fulanis.
8. That before the war is ignited, we have deemed it fit to call this summit where we shall discuss and make our grouse and positions known to the Nigerian government and the global community to the effect of our further intolerance of the menace on our racial pride.
9. That, therefore, the idea of the Federal Government contemplating at all in the first instance to establish colonies or grazing reserves for the Fulanis is a direct ploy to take Nigerians’ lands for the Fulanis, and this is absolutely unaccepted to the Yorubas.
10. That the basis for giving preferential or sacred cow treatment to the Fulani herdsmen whose business contribute no resources whatsoever to the coffers of Nigerian government is not there at all.
11. That it is on record that 95% of the resources sustaining Nigerian government comes from the Southern part of the country.
12. That the cattle business of the Fulani herdsmen is their personal affair which other people of the country must not be sacrificed for.
13. That we are taking this opportunity to appreciate and declare as heroes the Governor of Kano State Mallam Abdullahi Ganduje and his Niger State counterpart Alh. Abubakar Sani Bello for gratuitously offering to allocate mass of lands respectively such sufficient enough as to harbor all the Fulani herdsmen in the country for the grazing of their cattle.
14. That consequent upon this, we implore the Federal Government to appreciate these gestures and seize the opportunity by the forelock and so direct all Fulani herdsmen in the country to relocate to Kano and Niger States respectively.
15. That we hereby implore the rest of the Northern Governors to emulate these two heroes.
16. That failure to accept these offers, any further incidents of farm destruction or attack on any person of Yoruba extraction in any Yoruba parts of Nigeria covering Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara, Kogi, Edo and Delta States would be given commensurate reprisals.
17. That essentially speaking, we implore all Fulani herdsmen to vacate Yoruba land with immediate effect and relocate to Kano and Niger States or their Northern States of conquest.
18. That we are conscious of the fact that a lot of our well-to-do people in Yoruba land also have their cattle breeding contracted to the Fulani herdsmen.
19. That we therefore implore all Yorubas in this category to withdraw their cattle with immediate effect and establish ranches, pens or byres for their cattle breeding.
20. That we take this opportunity to implore our well-to-do people to begin cattle breeding enterprises in a very conventional way.
21. That we implore all our states to establish cattle-breeding settlements for the beef consumption of our people without having to depend on the Fulanis’ cattle, after all, cattle-breeding is not a monopoly for the Fulanis alone.
22. That we are conscious of the fact that some of our traditional rulers in Yoruba land like Obas, Baales and Community leaders encourage the encroachment of the Fulani herdsmen into our lands by giving them titles like Jowuro, Seriki and Baranda. All traditional or community leaders in this category are implored to retract such titles.
23. That we emphasize that our traditional or community leaders should desist from mortgaging our land and the lives of our people to the Fulanis the way they did in the era of slave-trading.
24. That we take this opportunity to declare Mr. Ayodele Fayose the Ekiti State Governor as a hero of Yoruba land for being the only Yoruba governor who took the bull by the horns by legislating against the menace of the Fulanis in his State.
25. That we therefore implore all other Yoruba governors to be courageous enough as to follow suit.
26. That we are conscious that our law enforcement agents and military men have now started falling victims of the Fulani herdsmen’s menace.
27. That we therefore implore them not to be kowtowed by any compromise against their people but rather join us in the battle against the crudity and baseless murders of the people and destruction of farm lands.
28. That we commiserate with Governor Sam Otom and the people of Benue State on the recent evil perpetrated against their kinsmen.
29. That we also commiserate with all Yorubas’ relations who have fallen victims of the Fulani’s menace over the decades and most recently.
30. That we share our feelings with Chief Olu Falae and Admiral Samuel Afolayan a former Chief of Naval Staff of Nigeria over the wanton and massive destruction of their respective farmlands by the Fulani herdsmen.
31. That a standing committee of representatives from each state shall be established to ensure the implementation of the resolutions so arrived at.
The OurMumuDonDo Movement, on Tuesday, 13 February 2018, met with the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to discuss a myriad of electoral challenges currently beleaguering the electoral process. Representatives of the commission present at the meeting were National Electoral Commissioners Okechukwu Ibeanu, Muhammed Lecky, May Agbamuche-Mbu, Adekunle Ogunmola, and AT Mu’Azu. The NECs apologized for the absence of the Chairman of the commission, Mahmood Yakubu, and extended his regret for missing the meeting.
The OurMumuDonDo Movement raised concerns about the torturous manner in which Nigerians have had to struggle for the registration and collection of Permanent Voters Card (PVC) across the nation. In detail, the movement expressed dissatisfaction over:
A. The inadequacy of Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) centers in almost every state of the country; the issue of underage voting during elections.
B. The rigid practice of placing constraints on voters who are unable to vote because they had to move from their point of registration to another location within the country.
C. The urgent need for the commission to implement the Electronic Collation and Transfer of Election Results initiative as a way of eradicating rigging and irregularities during an election.
D. The urgent need to address the falling number of voters every election year despite the annual rise in number of registered voters.
E. The exigency of developing strategies to dowse the security threats and violence which characterizes elections in different parts of Nigeria.
Further to the movement’s observations on the conspicuous challenges beleaguering the electoral process, the movement proffered probable solutions which it strongly hopes that INEC would consider as days unfold.
According to the representatives of the Commision, the concerns raised by the movement are majorly the concerns of the Commision as well. And as a result, the discussion was centered around proffering solutions to the myriads of problems identified.
Important to note, that the representatives of the Commision mentioned the following as some of the steps that INEC has taken so far to mitigate the challenges, and to also eradicate them in the long run;
1. That in response to the complaints of Nigerians on the dearth of CVR centers in the country, the Commision has increased the numbers of CVR centers across the nation from 774 Local Government Areas to 1446 CVR centers.
2. That the Commision has registered 4Million Nigerians since it started the CVR exercise in April 2017.
3. That the commission will begin to distribute in batches the Permanent Voters Card of Nigerians who registered between April 2017 and now, starting from May 2018.
4. That there are 8.30Million uncollected Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in the custody of the commission.
5. That Nigerians can transfer their residence from the place of registration to wherever they relocate within the country.
6. That the commission is currently under-budgeted-for and underfunded by the National Assembly.
7. That the commission is faced with huge technical challenges, financial challenges, and manpower challenges.
8. That the commission completely frowns against underage voting and that it is committed to ensuring that defaulters are punished according to law.
9. That the commission is under-equipped and ill-equipped.
10. The representatives of the Commision encouraged Nigerians to report irregularities observed before, during, and after elections to the commission so as to ensure that such irregularities are addressed in the most stringent way possible and also take proactive measures to avoid reoccurrence.
In addition to the above-mentioned, the commission expressed deep concerns over electoral violence and the empowerment of thugs by desperate and unprincipled politicians. The commission, however, promised that it will ensure that proactive measures are taken to forestall electoral challenges and that it will ensure that all necessary and possible steps are taken to make the process of participating in the electoral process less-wearying for Nigerians.
The meeting ended with a sincere message of appreciation from the OurMumuDonDo Movement to the commission for honoring the request of the group to engage the commission, in less than 24 hours. Certainly, more engagements will be done in the coming days between both parties to appraise previous efforts and strategize on proactive measures to eradicate electoral problems, and also devise more impactful ways to achieve free, fair, and credible elections in the country.
Adebayo Raphael
National Publicity Secretary OurMumuDonDo Movement
In the press release forwarded to the BVI Channel 1 online and personally signed by the Administrator of the Customary Government of Biafra-Engr Anthony Aniebue;the release reads in full ‘The attention of the Customary Government of Biafra has been drawn to the recent upsurge in defying places and articles of religious belief by some religious fanatics masquerading as Biafrans.
The Customary Government of Biafra wishes to make it abundantly clear that it is the biggest act of irresponsibility for anybody, be him/her a Biafran or not to descend so low as to desecrat other people’s places or articles of worship.
We have notice recently the news on social media where some people from Biafra land are reported to have burnt or are burning down places of traditional religious worshippers or the much referred Christian Holy Book, the Bible.
This is highly condemnable, and the Customary Government hereby request that the law enforcement agents should go after such individuals, for this act which is likely to instigate social/religious disharmony in Biafra land. This act is a clear violation of the constitution and Law of the land which is firm against religious intolerance, and which supports citizen’s freedom of worship and association.
The Customary Government is of the view that individuals should be allowed their right to choose their religious belief while also allowing others their rights to do so without any form of intimidation or coercion.
Destruction of other people’s communal edifices in places of worship is very ignoble and also is a denial of people’s right to own traditional antique and artifacts.
Burning the Christian Holy Book, the Bible can be regarded as highest form of ignorance and can only come from mentally disorganized mind.
The Customary Government of Biafra wishes to state that the Biafra of our dream is a society that is filled with high level of religious tolerance, where citizen’s right to religion should not be interfered with by the state nor any other citizens or groups.
We wish to make it abundantly clear that nowhere in Biafra land shall such act be allowed.
All Biafrans are therefore advised to disregard those actions as having come from the pit of Hell and carried out by agents of destabilization and from unsettled minds.
This Government believes that such actions are fallout of this harrowing experience we are being forced to be part of in this disjointed association called Nigeria.
In our promised land, Biafra such act should not only be discouraged, but should be highly fought against.
Therefore we encourage all Biafrans to continue to support and be loyal to the Customary Government being led by the elders of the land, so that in due course, our freedom in all its ramifications will be ours’the statement concluded.
