United States Deputy Secretary of State, John Sullivan, will be visiting Nigeria from November 19 to 20.
The Public Affairs Section, United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria, in a statement made available to Sunday Sun in Abuja, said during the visit, Sullivan will lead the U.S. inter-agency delegation to the Bi-National Commission (BNC) meetings in Abuja.
The Bi-National Commission, according to the US, will be hosted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.
“Working groups at the BNC will focus on security cooperation, governance and democracy, as well as economic growth and development.
“The Deputy Secretary is the highest ranking member of the Trump Administration to visit Nigeria and will convey the Administration’s commitment to a strong partnership with the government and people of Nigeria,” the statement read.
Giving a biographical background of Sullivan, the US Diplomatic Mission said Sullivan was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and sworn in as the Deputy Secretary of State on May 24, 2017.
“Prior to assuming his office, Sullivan was a partner in Mayer Brown LLP, and co-chair of the law firm’s national security practice.
“In addition to his decades of experience in private law practice, Mr. Sullivan has served in two prior administrations in senior positions at the Justice, Defense, and Commerce Departments.
“He served until 2009 as the Deputy Secretary of Commerce, following his service from 2005 to 2007 as the General Counsel of the Department.
“Previously, he was appointed Deputy General Counsel of the Defense Department by Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
“In the first Bush Administration, Mr. Sullivan was Counselor to Assistant Attorney General J. Michael Luttig in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.
“A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Deputy Secretary Sullivan received his bachelor’s degree from Brown University and his law degree from the Columbia University School of Law.
“Mr. Sullivan was a law clerk for Associate Justice David H. Souter of the Supreme Court of the United States, and for Judge John Minor Wisdom of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit,” the US Mission added.
The ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) took an early lead in the Anambra gubernatorial election held yesterday.
Early results show incumbent Governor Willie Obiano and his APGA clinching victory in most of the polling units which results have been announced since voting closed Saturday evening. With the All Progressives Congress (APC) chasing by some margin and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following closely behind.
The candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance and Governor of Anambra State in yesterday’s governorship election in the state, Chief Willie Obiano, is most likely to win re-election when the final result of the election is announced. Unconfirmed reports at press time indicates that he is leading in 17 out of 21 local government areas in the state
From all indications, the election was a straight fight between the ruling APGA inthe state and the All Progressives Congress(APC) as early results at the various polling units showed the two parties dominating lead in the results with most of the other 35 parties that entered for the election scoring zero.In most of the polling units visited by Sunday Sun across the state, APGA was leading with APC trailing behind, while the PDP in some of the places failed to clinch a vote.
Meanwhile, the election witnessed high turnout of voters in virtually all the 21 local government areas of the state under an unprecedented peaceful atmosphere in the history of elections in the state. However, the election may have thrown up a new trend where political leaders in the state were able to deliver their polling units irrespective of their political parties. The trend saw the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winning in Agulu Ward 2 polling unit 19, Amatutu, of former governor Peter Obi; APC winning in Prince Arthur Eze’s Ukpo Ward 1, Ekwueme Hall polling units and also in Nkwoide Ward 1, Alor of Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige.
However, the political leaders of the APC and PDP had great challenges trying to deliver their wards and polling units as APGA gave them good run for their money in their strongholds.
Governor Willie Obiano, who voted at his Eri Aguleri polling centre at 9:58a.m, said he was impressed by the large turnout of voters across the state.
He noted that the election was peaceful, saying that he was sure of a landslide victory at the end of the day.
He disclosed that as he tried to vote, the card reader could not verify his fingerprint, which he said was later rectified.
In a chat with newsmen at the polling station, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Jigawa State who was in charge of Anambra East and West local government areas, Prof. Shehu Riskuwa, admitted that they had card readers issues, which he said their technicians were working hard to resolve.
At Otolo Ward 1 in Nnewi North Local Government Area, when the counting of votes began, there was pandemonium as an APC agent tried to snatch the ballot box when he noticed that APGA was leading in the results.
Security agents at the centre intervened and the agent was chased away and the results were declared with APGA winning.
At Umudim Ward 2 Nnewi, where the widow of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu voted,APGA swept the polls, dusting the APC that had earlier in the week received Ojukwu’s son, Emeka, to its fold.
Bianca said she was hopeful that APGA would win the election in a landslide, saying that the people had again demonstrated great love for Ojukwu.
Also speaking, Prince Ojinwafor Orizu said that APGA winning in Nnewi was essentially to tell Ojukwu’s son, Emeka, who defected to the APC, that he was alone.
He said that they were still standing on the legacies of the late Ojukwu as encapsulated in APGA. Former Ohanaeze President General, Dr Dozie Ikedife, whose son is the running mate of Tony Nwoye of the APC, said that the election was peaceful and turnout impressive and was no way affected by the persuasion of the Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB) for the people of Anambra State to boycott the election.
Ikedife noted that the new method of simultaneous accreditation and voting adopted by the INEC has greatly improved the electoral process in the country.
Also speaking, former APGA National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, who was present when the results of his Aguluzoigbo Ward in Aniocha LGA were announced, said that though the election in the area was peaceful, three card readers deployed to polling units failed, leading to delay in voting.
He thanked the people of the state for coming out to vote en masse and shunning calls by IPOB to boycott the poll, saying that such an action would have been against the state.
Umeh said that APGA has shown superior political power and acceptance by the people who had spoken through the poll.Also the PDP candidate, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, while speaking to newsmen shortly after casting his vote at his Ochuche Ward 6, countered the views of the APGA chieftains as he claimed that from his monitoring there seemed to be low turnout of voters.
He said: “I chose to wait towards the closing of the accreditation period to vote. I have been busy monitoring the process across the state. Evidently, there seems to be low voter turnout; I don’t know the cause of the apathy. You can explain low turnout in the city because people might have travelled to their villages to vote, but across some of the other places we don’t know why the turnout is low.”
While commending the peaceful process, which he said was gratifying, Obaze lamented that in some places, voting was yet to start as at 12:00 noon.
He said he received reports of vote buying but said he and his campaign organisation were not involved, saying he campaigned vigorously and believed that the people would vote for him because they believe in his mission.
The APGA National Chairman, Chief Victor Oye, commended INEC and the security agencies for the conduct of a peaceful election, noting that with the results he had already received from the polling units, his party, APGA was cruising to victory.
“Here I have a situation room and I get results from every polling unit, not ward, but polling units. As we speak, APGA has won almost all the wards in Anambra State with the exception of two polling units where we lost, like we lost in Amansea, the Igwe’s place, a very narrow winning for APC there. In my own Awka South here, we won all the 20 wards, we lost only one polling unit.
“Generally it is wonderful. I told the press two days ago that I have implicit confidence in the ability of Mammaud Yakubu to organise a free and fair election. Having listened to him during the press briefing he had on Tuesday, I listened to him carefully and I read his lips and I saw the truth in what he was saying.We went through the materials, for example, some of the security marks will make it impossible for anybody to clone anything, and the ballot papers were varied.
“The security agencies, contrary to people’s trepidation, did very well; nobody was intimidated. They were there just doing their job; they didn’t interfere with even the staff of INEC or the voters. So, I commend the DIG Operations who led the operations. We commend INEC; the Commission will write its name in gold if it conducts the type of election it conducted in Anambra State in 2019 when we have more states to handle,” he said.
Former Presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Senator Joy Emodi, who voted at her Central School polling unit, Odoakpu Ward 2, Onitsha, expressed gratitude to God for a peaceful exercise contrary to the tension that was created in the state, just as she commended the turnout.
Commenting on the exercise, the Police Commissioner on election duty, Mr. Ali Janga, described the conduct of the election as peaceful, noting that the Command had not arrested anyone as at afternoon when he spoke.
Janga, who is the Commissioner of Police, Kogi State said: “It is peaceful, so far so good, no arrest has been made.”
Meanwhile, two persons were arrested by the police at Ofianta Ward 8, Nsugbe, polling unit of the APC candidate, Dr Nwoye for disturbing the voting process.
According to an eyewitness, trouble allegedly started when the Council Chairman, whom they gave his name as Pius Ifeadi, came to the polling unit with some young men suspected to be thugs and went to the electoral officers with his boys but was stopped by the natives.
His boys allegedly refused to leave and fracas ensued, which temporarily stopped the voting until the police arrested the situation and apprehended two of the boys.However, there was slight apathy in the Onitsha area as voting did not start early in most of the places.
A resident of Onitsha, Mr John Ugah, said that the voter apathy in Onitsha was connected with the IPOB threat and sit-at-home it declared to boycott the election, stressing that many people were afraid to come out due to the fear of the unknown.“You know that this area is prone to crisis which made some people to stay at home But at the end, nothing happened in the area as anticipated and we thank God for the peaceful election,” Ugah stated.
Also Senator Alphonsus Igbeke, who represented Anambra North Senatorial Zone between 2007 and 2011, commended the INEC for releasing election materials on time for the election. Speaking with newsmen in Nsugbe, he said he was impressed with the turnout of voters, just as he commended the police for securing the people and electoral materials.
Parties induce voters with cash
…Ben Obi loses ward to APGA
From Romanus Ugwu,
in Awka
The Interim National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ben Obi, has lost his ward to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in yesterday’s Anambra governorship election.
There was wild jubilation as APGA emerged clear winner of the four polling units in the ward, garnering 69, 63, 27, 34 to relegate the All Progressives Congress (APC) with 47, 33, 22, 10 and PDP with 35, 33, 31, 8 to the first and second runners-up.
Meanwhile, it was brisk business for the electorate at the three polling stations comprising EC 30 C, EC 30 A, EC 30 B of Oye Market Square III, Awka V, Awka South Local Government Area (LGA), as they pocketed amounts ranging from N500 to N2000 to vote for certian candidates in the election.
Incidentally, the inducements of the voters cut across all the political parties, as they battled to outsmart each other in all the polling stations monitored by Sunday Sun.
The voters were asked to show evidence of the party they voted for before collecting their money. However, those trusted by the agents were given the cash before voting, while certain persons stationed near the polling units had to confirm to the agents that those they were not sure of voted appropriately before they were paid.
Sunday Sun observed that most of the voters had to even bargain for an amount before making up their minds to cast their votes, just as some of the parties pegged their amount at N2,000 from the beginning of voting before reducing it to N1,000 later.
It was also observed that the security agents appeared to be in active connivance with the party agents, as they did nothing to stop the malpractice.
“They said they are giving us N2000 to vote,” some of the voters announced on arrival at the polling stations to attract the attention of the canvassers who would kick-start the bargaining process.
It was also observed that the canvassers, comprising both men and young ladies, pocketed N2000 for convincing any electorate and confirming that he or she voted accordingly. Canvassers who ran out of cash were seen making frantic telephone calls to their principals to supply more cash.
All the polling stations in Ezi Umuogbu, Awka, the parties virtually turned the station into a market place as the inducement was done with impunity. Fielding questions from Sunday Sun after casting his vote at 11.50am, the Interim National Secretary of the PDP, Senator Ben Obi, observed that there was low turnout of voters, blaming it on the massive deployment of security agents, which he said, intimidated the electorate.
Obi, whose fingerprint was initially rejected by the card readers, however, commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for improving the voting process especially with the introduction of simultaneous accreditation and voting.He however, urged the Commission to further improve on the process, saying, “the idea of battling with the card reader was discouraging.”
Now I have all the news at my finger tips. Thanks to this app, I cannot be left in the dark anymore. News without propaganda or government scripted. Download Now and thank me later.
Copy the link to download: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bvi.channel1
The much talk about Anambra State governorship election has come and gone, what is left is the stories it left behind as the general public awaits the final result.
But, just as anticipated, the election witnessed low turn out, which many attributed IPOB election boycott and threat as the major factor that affected the process today.
BVI Channel 1 visited some polling unit to get eye witness account from electorates during the exercise.
The interview reflects the opinion of the people without being bias.
President of South East Elders Forum, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, a member of the Southern Leaders of Thought, and Secretary, Eastern Consultative Assembly, Evangelist Elliot Ugochukwu Uko, and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have told President Muhammadu Buhari that Biafra remains and can never be forgotten.
President Buhari during a working visit to Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, on Tuesday, called on the Igbo to forget Biafra, and secession and work towards a united Nigeria.
But speaking with Saturday Sun, Dr. Ikedife said it was a wrong choice of word to say, “we should forget Biafra, nobody can forget Biafra”.
He said: “Somebody had told me before that we should forget Biafra, and I told the person that it was not possible to forget Biafra. It is not possible to forget that you are an Odudua son; it is not possible to forget that you are an Ijaw man; it is not possible to forget that you a Fulani; it is not possible to forget that you are Junkun, etc.
“It is a wrong choice of word to say, forget Biafra. Nobody can forget it. If you lost your father or son, mother or half of your family members during the Nigeria-Biafra war, can you forget that?
“Even the person saying it cannot forget Biafra, talk less of those that are concerned, who are called Biafrans.
“The person may say anything else, but Biafra is unforgettable.
We can never forget Biafra; nobody should ever forget Biafra.
Biafra has come to be, never mind that they removed Bight of Biafra and called it Bight of Benin, there are people who are Biafrans and there is nothing you can do about it, even if you kill them and it remains only one, that person still remains Biafra.”
In the same vein, Evangelist Uko noted that shooting and killing the youths will not stop the agitation, and pointed out that Biafra can never be forgotten.
According to him, “the people advising Buhari are misleading him.I have been in the centre of the protests by Igbo youth for over a decade, and I know that the solution is engaging them in meaningful dialogue, but some people preferred to shoot them, so I washed my hands off. “I know that they are angry, bitter and very pained about the killing by the soldiers during the invasion of Nnmadi Kanu’s home.
“Those political leaders telling Biafra that the agitation is over are just deceiving and misleading him.
“The boys are angry and the only solution is engaging them in meaningful dialogue, and secondly, embarking on a meaningful restructuring of the country. These are the two solutions.
“I have been talking with the boys for over a decade and they have absolute confidence in me. I know how they feel. Prof Ben Nwabueze and I tried to help the government by bringing them to a meeting, but some people advised the government to halt the dialogue process and embark on shooting them. Shooting and killing them will not stop the agitation. So, Biafra can never be forgotten.”
Also, Media and Publicity Secretary of IPOB, Comrade Emma Powerful, in a statement said telling the Igbo to forget about Biafra tantamounts to telling the sky to hold the rains.
He emphasised: “It is unfortunate that Buhari would make such statement to Ndigbo because he knows that nothing can stop us from leaving Nigeria.
“We are not bothered or worried about what he said, but Biafra independence is unstoppable, unquenchable and irreversible.
“Telling Igbo to forget Biafra is like telling the sky to stop raining. We have stayed in Nigeria for more than 50 years without any benefits, and we are leaving.”
IF you ask the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, and other Biafra independence activists what they want, they will tell you they want a referendum to enable “the people” to separate from Nigerian and establish the Republic of Biafra.
Ask them again who will organise the referendum, they will point towards the United Nations. They also believe the major Western powers, notably the United States, the United Kingdom and France, have the clout to put pressure on Nigeria’s rulers to allow “Biafra” to pull out of Nigeria. The assumption on their part is that once the referendum is granted, the “Biafrans” will vote overwhelmingly to get out of Nigeria.
They believe it is as simple as peeling and eating banana. It is this naïve mindset that appears to drive the mentality of today’s promoters of the Biafra utopia. IPOB members In truth, before you arrive at the portals of an independence referendum, the country from which you are breaking away has a BIG say in it. No power in the world can impose an independence referendum on a country which is unwilling to let go of any of its part.
Any such attempt could result in a war, which the pro-independence section must win to achieve its objectives. Which country will add to its own headaches to fight for your independence, except there is a strategic self-interest in it for them? For as long as the generality of Nigerians cling to the concept of the “indivisibility and indissolubility” of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, no section of this country will be allowed to break away. If any section of this tenuously “united” country is allowed to go (it does not matter if the area is as tiny as Ogoniland) the rest will suddenly develop unbearable appetites for independence, and no power can stop the disintegration of the country from that point.
All sections of the Nigerian ruling class, the major Western powers and the United Nations know this all too well. They also know the implication of such chaos descending on a country of 180 million-strong population. They will do everything in their power to assist Nigeria to stay together or part ways only if they can find a peaceful means of doing so. Another daunting issue which the Biafra movements have not convincingly settled is the vexed matter of “who” the Biafrans are.
IPOB and many of its sister groups romantically assume that Biafra includes the South East and South-South (perhaps, excluding Edo State) and some parts of Benue State. Again, there is a big problem with this assumption. When the Military Governor of the defunct Eastern Region, Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, declared the Republic of Biafra on 30th May 1967, he did so with the full mandate and backing of the leaders of all the ethnic groups in the Region. But when the civil war started, the Igbo people were largely abandoned to carry that heavy cross, which they could not sustain against the mighty federal forces backed by the major Western and Arab powers (except France).
While Mazi Nnamdi Kanu reigned supreme, he regularly received delegations from many Minority groups even outside the presumed catchment area of Biafra. Still a lot of Igbo and non-Igbo groups openly distanced themselves from the separatist agenda. Unlike the Scottish and Catalan cases Biafra is not a settled matter among the Igbo people let alone their neighbours within the former Eastern Region. The Igbo people are too deeply involved in the Nigerian project to voluntarily abandon it – once again – and resume from the scratch. Igbo people have a saying: jide nke I ji.
Hold on to what you have achieved. They deride the okpata otufue people: those who throw away or waste their achievements. Though the Igbo man craves justice and equity within Nigeria or total freedom, he will no longer abandon what rightly belongs to him to other Nigerians out of rash emotional hoopla. It is against this background that I now address the Anambra election matter. In two days, the Anambra electorate will line up to vote for their next governor along with members of the State House of Assembly.
IPOB, which had been mute since its proscription and designation as a “terrorist” group by Muhammadu Buhari’s government, has once again, called for a “boycott” of the vote. As usual, IPOB has not explained the gains of a boycott. Rather, because it successfully called for a sit-at-home protest on 30th May this year, its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu had assumed that a boycott of the Anambra poll would work. IPOB shut down Onitsha a few days ago in a reiteration of the call. I am hereby urging the good people of Anambra State to come out in their numbers and vote for a candidate of their choice out of the 37 odd governorship aspirants, as well as legislative candidates.
The boycott call is foolish in the extreme. It will produce no positive result. Even if the candidates and their family members alone come out to vote, backed up by their strong supporters throughout the state, all it requires is a simple majority and 25 per cent of votes cast in 14 local government areas and a new governor will emerge. Even if the boycott call is heeded, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Federal Government will merely install an unpopular governor; a governor that is elected in spite of IPOB will emerge.
He will have the grudge motive to treat IPOB and its adherents as political enemies in cahoots with the Federal agencies and instruments of coercion. IPOB is on its own in the call for the Anambra poll boycott. All well meaning Igbo people should listen to Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo on all matters concerning their interests within the Nigerian commonwealth.
Like in a trans…. or what many can call a vision, I heard a voice and when I looked up to the sky, behold, he spoke with deep voice filled with passion to save Igbo race.
I wrote it down, and it reads:
“I fought with all I have to defend my people when it mattered most.
I carried the scars of the war until I was lowered into my grave.
I left behind 1 legacy for my people
APGA.
Do not allow APGA to die.
Do this for the souls of my people killed to rest here in peace
Your freedom and that of your generation unborn depends on it.
APGA Nkea bu nke Anyi….”
I decided to create a visual of what exactly I saw, so that those who see it might believe.
Being the text of a Special Broadcast by the Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano on the 2017 Gubernatorial Election, 16/11/2017
Ndi Anambra, ekenem unu
Umu nnem, a time comes that rarely comes in history when a people must stand up and take full ownership of their lives and circumstances or forever live in absolute regret. Ndi Anambra that time is NOW!
Three years and 8 months ago, when I assumed office as your governor, Anambra was in the firm grip of criminals. Kidnappers and armed robbers roamed the length and breadth of our state. Our people lived in fear and many of us could not go to sleep with both eyes closed.
Ndi Anambra, but our story has changed today. We have turned our adversities into advantages. We have taken governance from a mere construction of roads and bridges to fashioning out a new philosophy of life.
We have become Nigeria’s safest state. We have become the new Agricultural model for Nigeria. Our cities and communities have become aesthetic wonders at night with dazzling lights. We have created an environment for businesses to thrive on a 24-hour basis.
We have attracted investments valued at over $5billion. We have touched every community in Anambra State with special projects chosen by each community. We suspended taxes for low income earners and put more money in the hands of breadwinners in a recession. In fact, we grew our GDP by N1trillion in the middle of recession and increased our Internally Generated Revenue without increasing taxes.
We have sent our teachers to Singapore for training and handed out scholarships to 200 students in a time of recession. In return, our children have continued to bring us honour with excellent performances in World School Debates and external examinations, year after year.
Ndi Anambra, we have constructed roads and bridges that have enormous economic importance. We have built the longest bridge in the South East and opened direct access to our oil-wells. We inherited 101 roads and completed 51 of them. We inherited 6 bridges and completed 3 of them. We awarded 94 new roads and completed 20 of them. We also awarded 12 new bridges and completed 5 of them. So, in three and a half years in which Nigeria has witnessed the worst economic recession, my administration has completed 71 roads and 8 bridges. Many more are still coming.
We have floated the Universal Health Insurance Scheme to make quality medicare available to the rich and the poor. We have renovated 3 major general hospitals and 10 maternal and child-health centres. We have also disbursed the sum of N747m to Mission Hospitals.
Umu nnem, we have increased workers’ salaries in the midst of recession and settled the arrears of pensions and gratuity of workers that were abandoned by previous regimes and next year, we shall give workers another salary increase by the Grace of God. We have completed the construction of the Golden Tulip Hotel in Agulu and it will open for business before Christmas. We have commenced work on the site of the Anambra Airport City Project in Umueri and the surrounding areas. This ambitious project will change our story and change the trajectory of our development forever. This project is the future of Anambra State and the economic game-changer of the entire South East region. It will be ready in three years and Anambra State is not putting a single kobo in the project. So, it is a win-win situation for us.
Ndi b’anyi, obodo anyi adigokwanu mma! Anambra achapugo! We have crossed the threshold of mediocrity and become one of Nigeria’s elite states. We have re-written our narrative and hoisted our flag among the greats. Our today is great. But our tomorrow will be greater.
Ndi Anambra, November 18 is two days away. The time to answer the call of history has come. The time to finally demonstrate our readiness to safeguard our future has come. The time to show the world that we are prepared to defend the freedom we have enjoyed in these past three and half years has come.
Ndi Anambra, the time has indeed come to preserve the only political heritage of Ndigbo and ensure that outsiders do not squeeze it to death. APGA is the only party that Ndigbo can lay any claims to. Anambra is the last frontier of the bloodless war to conquer Ndigbo militarily, economically and politically. We must therefore not allow the COCK handed over to us by our illustrious fathers to die in our hands. Indeed, this COCK must not die. We must be ready to protect it with our lives when the time comes. For in the words of the famous African American civil rights leader, Dr Martin Luther King Jnr, “he who has nothing to die for is not fit to live.”
My brothers and sisters, we must defend our heritage and honour with our strength and might and a firm faith in God who controls the affairs of men. No sacrifice is too much to preserve the momentum of development that we have achieved in Anambra State at the moment. So, we must not be found wanting on the Election Day. For APGA must not die!
Umu nnem, all eyes are on us today. Everyone is watching to see what we shall do with our votes on Saturday November 18, 2017. They are watching to see whether we shall keep what we have created for ourselves or throw it all away. Ndi Anambra we must not disappoint those who look up to us for leadership. We must not disappoint ourselves. We must take charge of our tomorrow from today. We must cast our votes for APGA this Saturday!
Umu nnem, casting our votes for APGA is important, but protecting our votes to make sure that they count is even more important. So, I urge you to show some commitment to this cause. Devote some time to vote and a little more time to ensure that your votes count.
Fellow citizens, I will not fail to use this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari for reacting swiftly to order the reinstatement of my Security Details that were whimsically withdrawn from me two days ago. Mr President has indeed shown that certain excesses do not go unchecked under his watch. I must also thank the honourable members of the National Assembly, especially the distinguished senators who firmly insisted that my security details are a part of the statutory provisions for my office and should be respected by all. Indeed, I must thank the leadership of the PDP and APC who also stood up in my defence because they considered that incident an affront on democracy. My sincerest gratitude also goes to the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris for his swift reaction in reinstating my security aides. I must observe that the overwhelming support that we received over this incident has shown me that the ties that bind us as a country are stronger than the forces that separate us. I thank you all for your kind words and your support.
I will not conclude this address without a word to my fellow contestants. Oseloka, Tony, Osita, Godwin and the other fellow candidates, I address you as the Governor of Anambra State today. Unu ma na Anambra bu nke anyi nine. This great state belongs to all of us.
The beauty of democracy is that it allows every candidate a chance to pursue their own vision of society but it also places the power of choice in the hands of the people. Democracy never ceases to remind us that Power belongs to the people. So, my brothers, I plead with you today to let the choice of the people prevail in this election.
My fellow candidates, our people are inundated with the rumours of violence and war over this election. But I have always believed that none of our gubernatorial ambitions is worth the blood of our people.
Bikonu, let us all caution our supporters and followers to maintain the peace in our dear state. We all have a responsibility to prove to the world that Anambra State is truly the Light of the Nation. We must make this election a victory for democracy…a victory for Ndi Anambra!
President General of the apex Igbo socio-political organization, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo and rights activist, Ayo Opadokun, have insisted that restructuring of Nigeria will resolve agitations by various groups in the country.
Speaking at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, during the sixth Zik Lecture Series, the duo agreed that for the country to have peace, those in positions of authority should see the need to put in place mechanism to restructure Nigeria.
In a 28-page lecture, Nwodo identified two models, the conservative type and fundamental devolution of powers, for successful restructuring of the country.
He said the conservative type is aimed at shedding off some of the exclusive powers of the Federal Government, like “issuing of mining licenses, permission for constructing of federal roads and shedding of regulatory powers over investments in critical sectors of the economy like power,” while the other, a fundamental devolution of powers to states, as federating units and a lean federal government, with exclusive powers “for external defence, customs, immigration, foreign relations and a federal Legislature and Judiciary, to make and interpret laws in these exclusive areas. The first approach simply wants the states as the federating units and federal government with limited powers. It wants the states to control a percentage of revenue accruing from their areas and contribute agreed percentage of such revenue to the federal government and other states respectively.
“The second approach proposes the states as federating units, with a region as each of the six geopolitical units, whose constitution will be agreed to and adopted by the states in the geopolitical region. The regions will have the powers to merge existing states or create new ones. There will be regional and states legislature in the respective political entities.”
In his own paper titled, “The political economy of restructuring in Nigeria: Problems and prospects,” Opadokun stressed that the consequences of abrogating a negotiated federal constitutional arrangement, upon which the ethnic nationalities, which were the building blocks subscribed to the independent constitution for a centralised and unitary governance, resulted in perceived and real injustice, inequity, unfairness, discrimination and undue advantages for some, to the detriment of other groups of Nigerians…”
Opadokun who argued that restructuring would not lead to the breakup of the country, but would rather restore power to the federating units to make them legitimate authorities said, “The campaign for national restructuring be it in the form of campaign for resource control, Niger Delta Avengers, MASSOB, IPOB, OPC, Middle Belt Youth Forum etc. accompanied with violence and bloodshed are dimensions of the suffocating nature of the currently unsustainable overreaching unitary government deceptively called Federal Government.
“Since the Military Government started creating states and local governments by fiat, the lop-sidedness and skewed nature of the national structure had become too prohibitive to finance.
“Chief Awolowo had 16 Ministers and 16 Parliamentary Secretaries to run the old Western Region now broken into eight states. Each of them now has at least 15-20 Commissioners who, in turn have private secretaries and special assistants with accompanying housing, vehicular entitlements along with other perquisite of office.
“Therefore, restructuring the Nigerian state to its Federal constitutional arrangements whereby the component units have constitutional power to create administrative units for effective service delivery, will certainly reduce the cost of governance substantially.
“Today, by genuine available data from the Federal Office of Statistics, World Bank and other international institutions, Nigeria for some time, has been spending about 80% of its annual earning on recurrent expenditures to service the various unproductive bureaucracies they have unreasonably created.
“Furthermore, arising from some Army personnel’s determination to have absolute control of Nigeria, which they considered part of their spoils of office, they appropriated all major sources of income residing in the various regions/component units to the central government.
“In the process, the federating components became glorified outposts of the Commander-in-Chief. Call them vassal states/outposts. As a result, everyone had to go cap-in-hand to seek the favour of the Commander-in-Chief for running the state government.
“Again, the military in its determination to have absolute control over Nigeria from 1970s, took over all prime assets and investments of the regions dictatorially; and most of those regional endowments have been ruined, mismanaged and even run out of existence; some today are shadows of what they were when they were founded by the regions.”
In about 24 hours from now, the good people of Anambra State, in the Biafran Region of Nigeria will be going to the polls to elect a Governor that will occupy the state Government House for the next 4 years that will commence from the 17th of March 2018.
For the past 3 years and 8 months, the incumbent Governor, Chief Willie Obiano has been on seat, having taken over from his predecessor, Mr. Peter Obi, who governed the state till March 2014.
The Customary Government of Biafra, being the De facto Government of the people of Biafra indigenous Community wishes the good people of Anambra State a successful election day.
The Customary Government wishes to reaffirm her commitment to the use of political, legal and diplomatic processes to pursue self determination for the Biafran people without breaking any law of any land, including Nigeria.
On that note, we wish to reiterate our conviction on the rule of law and our firm belief that the only route to Biafra that will be at peace with her neighbours is through peaceful political process.
We are quite aware that the people against whom we are contending our freedom are not comfortable with our choice of peaceful restoration of freedom, because it completely disarms them from resorting to reckless killing of our people which they have shown serious penchant for. For this, they have repeatedly tried to torpedo all our approaches to freedom through legal, political and diplomatic route.
We are not deterred.
We are progressing, though slowly, bearing in mind the adage that says, slow and steady wins the race.
We must continue.
My Great Biafran people, let us remember, and always bear in mind that the road to freedom is tedious, rough and sometimes lonely. We must therefore take solace in the fact that on that lonely and precarious road, we are not alone. Our Lord God is firmly behind us. Let us not lose hope, that though the enemy runs around in rampage, our Lord will definitely put him to rest.
Therefore, the Customary Government of Biafra is urging all eligible voters in Anambra state to troop out enmass and vote a candidate of their choice. Let nobody deceive you into believing that there is any gain in boycotting the election. No gain comes to a man that abandoned the village square where dispute affecting him was being discussed. The implication is that whatever decision that is reached, he will accept.
Therefore, the Customary Government is calling on all eligible voters in Anambra state to go to their voting centers and cast their votes.
Our candid advice is that after voting, MAKE SURE YOUR VOTE COUNTS!
What Biafrans need at this time is a suitable political platform from which Biafran freedom fighters will engage their Nigerian counterparts on the political chessboard in order to take over our political environment.
For many years, since the cessation of hostility in 1970, Biafrans had erroneously believed that engaging Nigeria politically by moving on to the centre will make us to be accepted in Nigeria as equal partners and equal shareholders. We have tasted this center-politics since the return of democracy in 1999. We can remember our horrid experience then. We can also remember our experience during the military regime from 1970 till the coming of democracy in 1999.
We can never forget!
It is therefore the view of the Customary Government of Biafra that what the Igbo and all her neighbours making up Biafran region need in order to succeed in championing our course to peaceful freedom is regional cohesion amongst ourselves. That should be our priority! And that regional cohesion must be forged through a regional-based political platform. Biafrans’ love for Nigerian nation building has been misused and maligned enough, however ,we have seen that being in opposition is better than being used as laborers for baking a cake that is always shared in our exclusion.
Therefore, anybody or any political party that do not give you the feeling of Biafran regional cohesion, please distance yourself from him or that party.
Let us build our home. Let us build ourselves and strengthen our fortresses as we engage our contenders. There is no other peaceful route to Biafra than that.
