Nigeria: Booby-traps intended to derail the 2023 General Elections

 by Eze Eluchie

 

In view of the commencement of political party campaigns and electioneering activities towards the 2023 general elections which is scheduled for February and March 2023, as designated by the Independent National Election (INEC) in consonance with the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended);

And with a view to ensuring seamless campaign and electioneering processes towards a free and fair general elections come 2023;

And as part of our civic duties as concerned and committed Nigerians averse to occurrences and or actions which may serve to destabilize the polity to the detriment of all concerned;

 

We wish to notify all and sundry {the electorate, political parties and their membership/supporters, the general Nigerian public, domestic and foreign civil society and intergovernmental bodies involved with election monitoring and observation, the Government and its various agencies involved in preparations towards the 2023 elections (including but not restricted to INEC, the various security and paramilitary agencies), regional multi-State entities such as ECOWAS and the African Union, and the international community}, regarding strategically imposed booby-traps and obstacles, towards the path to free and fair general elections in 2023, which are intended, if not expeditiously addressed, to scuttle efforts at a peaceful, free and fair election in 2023. With the likely consequence of the truncation of the transition processes, orchestration of crisis and likely declaration of a State of Emergency and descent in chaos.

 

We have identified 5 key booby-traps, each of which has the capacity to solely truncate the 2023 General elections, and thus when viewed as an amalgam, jointly have the capacity to create sufficient crisis to destabilize the polity. These are:

1.      * Proposed 2023 Census

2.      * Proposal for Federal Inland Waterways Act

3.      * INEC’s lack of transparency with its Computer systems and IT infrastructures

4.      * Orchestrated violence & armed militia

5.      * Financial strangulation of component units of the federation

 

A.     Proposed 2023 Census:

Considering the following factors – (i) the enormous logistics requirement for a census, (ii) the surreptitious and clandestine nature with which plans at the 2023 Census are being undertaken (as most persons are concerned with the General elections); (iii) the believe amongst large segments of Nigeria’s population that the census is to forcibly integrate foreigners of a particular ethnic group, trafficked for ulterior motives into Nigeria, into the Nigerian polity prior to the emergence of a new government in 2023; and (iv) the clear unsettling of the polity conducting a Census a few weeks before Presidential elections is bound to cause: the plans to have a Census just before the 2023 general elections is an ill-thought agenda geared towards creating disquiet and mayhem in the polity with the intention of frustrating the conduct of the 2023 general elections.

 

The proposed 2023 Census is a crisis on its own and ought not be conducted before the 2023 general elections.

 

B.     Proposed Federal Inland Waterways Act (FIWA)

The current regime of Muhammadu Buhari has been at its most devious in churning out ideas to grab-lands from across Nigeria for the singular interest of cattle rearing, a vocation portrayed and effectively synonymous with a single ethnic group in Nigeria. In the course of over 7 years of the existence of the Buhari regime, several ideas to grab lands have been rolled out, and vehemently resisted by other peoples of Nigeria. Some of these ideas include: (i) RUGA; (ii) Grazing Routes; and plans for the National Inland Waterways Bill (under which the Federal Government will take over ownership of all lands adjourning rivers in Nigeria). Despite enthusiastic efforts of the regime to foist their land grab ideas, the rejection was vehement. For the Federal Government to resurrect the FIWA again, so close to the elections? Clearly someone up there does not mean well for the Nigerian polity and seems intent on raising issues that will scuttle the cause of peace and stability in Nigeria.

 

The idea of a FIWB will elicit resistance, as usual from diverse components of Nigeria and has the potential of snowballing into a crisis that will obviate efforts at conducting elections in 2023.

 

C.      INEC’s lack of transparency with its IT infrastructures

The discovery of sacks containing thousands of INEC’s ‘Permanent Voters Cards’ (PVC) dumped in gutters, bushes and waste bins in diverse locations in southern Nigeria, and the revelation of the inclusion into the INEC Voters List of thousands of fictitious names and uploading of pictures that were not captured directly onto INEC’s Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has raised the likelihood that the 2023 elections is already massively compromised. The perception of an already grossly compromised eletion outcomes is further entrenched when one observes the unholy silence and refusal of INEC leadership to address these weighty concerns and allegations. The questions agitating the population include: (i) If millions who tried to register are being delisted or cannot collect their PVC’s, how come thousands of PVC’s are showing up dumped as refuse? (ii) If mere passport photographs, pictures scanned from memorial posters and images/names whose origins are clearly distant from Nigeria’s shores are showing up on INEC’s Voters List, what is the guarantee that such names, which surreptitiously found their way unto the Voters List, will not surreptitiously be accredited and also vote on election day in 2023?

 

The unwillingness of INEC to subject its Computer systems, Information Technology infrastructure to pre- and during and post-election audit, monitoring and evaluations by independent observers and agents of the political parties is a huge red flag for the conduct of free and fair elections in 2023.

 

D.     Orchestrated violence and Armed militia

As the 2023 elections approach, there has been marked increase in the proliferation of lethal arms nationwide, with these arms in several instances being openly displayed in possession of entities inclined towards the ruling APC. Some of these public display of weapons include the braggadocios displays by such non-State actors as Asari Dokubo in Rivers State and Bello Turji in Zamfara States and the recent display of AK-47 wielding vigilantes of Katsina State. The silence by Federal authorities and federally-controlled security agencies to these provocative gun-toting activities of elements aligned with, and vociferous rants by same Federal authorities against efforts at protecting lives and citizens by State Governments in Benue and Ondo (to name a few), to the extent of Federal Government proceeding against such innocuous efforts as the Ekiti State Governments intent to deploy civilian drones to monitor activities of criminals, clearly shows an intent on the part of the current regime at the center to strengthen armed non-state actors whilst scuttling efforts of component states of Nigeria to defend their residents.

 

The attendant apparently well-orchestrated increase in criminality, banditry and violence across the country foretells of a scenario of voter intimidation and suppression which will not augur well for the conduct of free and fair polls in 2023.

 

E.      Financial strangulation of component units of the Federation

Commencing from the unlawful appropriation of the entire crude oil resources of Nigeria, which had erstwhile been owned by the Federal Government and the Federating Units of Nigeria, under the Petroleum Industry Act, into being a mere corporate asset/entity owned by the Federal Government; to the repeated announcements that the NNPC has not paid a dime, from the sale of crude oil into the Federation Account; and recent revelations of large-scale horrendous looting of sale of crude oil proceeds, and theft of crude oil on a scale only possible with Federal Government express involvement and connivance; it is clear that deliberate acts are being made to financially strangulate the component strata’s of the Nigerian federation to the benefit of the ruling party at the center. Such financial strangulation can be manipulated to lead to popular resentment and revolts across the country at whatsoever times the central government feels such will be to its benefit.

 

This bubble of financial strangulation of the component federating units of Nigeria has been on for a while, making it possible for the central government, at will, to cripple any part of the country it so desires, with the attendant upheavals that will ensue.

 

Each of the above enumerated factors is capable, of its own accord, of scuttling efforts at a successful transition via the 2023 general elections. A combination of any two or more of the factors above can lead to sufficient public disquiet and instability to occasion the declaration of a State of Emergency across the country.

 

With recent revelations of mindboggling acts of large-scale corruption implicating the highest echelons of government, involving humongous sums in diverse sectors of Nigeria’s economy, particularly the petroleum sector, there is increasing worry that the incumbent President and his cohorts, will go to whatsoever extremes, to ensure that he is succeeded by a fellow who will be willing to cover his tracks.

 

Ironically, despite growing and palpable evidence of surreptitious efforts at creating the enabling environment to truncate efforts at free and fair polls in 2023, the President, Muhammadu Buhari and the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, seem to have adopted the practice of assuring any who cares to listen that the Government is intent on conducting free and fair elections and ensuring a smooth transition to the next government come May 29, 2023. Past experiences, particularly the events of the past few years, has made it mandatory that all and sundry concerned about the wellbeing of the Nigerian Federation, must be quite vigilant and watchful of all steps towards ensuring free and fair elections and a smooth transition. In the face of the realities confronting Nigeria, we simply cannot rely on the oral pronouncements of government when the occurrences and realities on ground point at a deliberate well scripted and coordinated congregation of resources and efforts towards truncating the democratic process, subverting the will of the people and scuttling the transition processes.

 

All are enjoined to be on the watch out for the above enumerated booby-traps and ensure that the current experimentation at democratic governance is not thwarted by the manipulations of anti-people and anti-democratic forces.

 

 

Picture: President Muhammadu Buhari and the man appointed by Buhari as INEC Chairman to superintend over Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, Mahmood Yakubu,

Open Letter to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu: Seize this unique opportunity to leave indelible footprints in the sands of time.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu

(Jagabanm Borgu)

Bourdillon Road

Ikoyi, Lagos

 

Dear Asiwaju,

OPEN LETTER TO ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU: SEIZE THIS UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO LEAVE INDELIBLE FOOTPRINTS IN THE SANDS OF TIME

 

Thus far, your life has been the stuff fables are made of. You have lived a life that can easily found the script of a Holywood blockbuster for an inspirational meteoric rise from grass to grace, from very humble origins to wining and dining with Presidents and nobility; from a junior staff of a sectoral conglomerate to the de-facto entity presiding over the affairs of multiple States in the Nigerian Federation, States whose total economic strength rank them in the top five bracket of economies in the African continent; from an activist involved in mobilizing against totalitarian regimes to a behemoth who almost singlehandedly enabled the emergence of Nigeria’s current ruler: General Muhammadu Buhari.

 

Indeed, the narrative of Nigeria’s 3^rd Republic thus far, will be very deficient if your incisive and deft inputs were omitted. As a man who has put in so much in political service, it is essential that conscious efforts are made to court a positive perception by posterity whilst at the same time laying and building on foundations for a sustainable, equitable and just society.  

 

It is in the light of the foregoing that it has become imperative and critical, that appropriate analysis and assessment of your current aspiration with regards to the 2023 general elections are made, so that whatsoever decisions your goodself ultimately arrive at, would have been one arrived at in full consciousness of the circumstances.

 

Used & Neglected

Dear Asiwaju, your role in repackaging an ethnoreligious extremist and ex-Military dictator, notorious for extrajudicial atrocities, muzzling the media and total disregard for the rule of law, as a ‘reformed democrat’, and against all odds, ensuring he attained the constitutionally required geographical spread of electoral votes which served as lifeline towards the ascendance into office of the incumbent President of the Federal Republic, Muhammadu Buhari, is all too self-evident.

 

Despite your role in the emergence of the incumbent President, your goodself was ignominiously sidelined in the governance structure of the APC coalition which you were vital to its emergence. With the Presidency actively engaged in efforts at whittling down your authority within your sphere of influence and encouraging your nominees into the Federal government to disparage your foundational role.

 

There is no doubt that your goodself might have been motivated by altruistic and patriotic desires in seeking to wrest power from the government of then President Goodluck Jonathan. The reality, however, is that due to a most extreme clannishness and religious bigotry unprecedented in the annals of Nigeria’s history, your goodself and whatever impacts you might have intended under the regime you were crucial in installing, were sidelined in a most reprobate manner.

 

Only for the same regime to remember your existence as they struggled towards the 2019 general elections – which you, once again, against expected indices, played yet another vital in securing for the current regime of Gen. Buhari.

 

Pyrrhic victory at primaries

I verily believe, dear Asiwaju, that the means via which you emerged as your political party’s candidate at the APC Presidential primaries in Abuja a few weeks ago would have given you a clear insight as to the intendments of the characters for whom you had sacrificed so much to get them into power.

 

After several months of outright denial of a gentleman’s agreement your goodself asserted you had with the incumbent President and his handlers for power shift, with the government embarking on all-out schemes to compromise your worth, akin to the antics deployed during General Buhari’s first term in office. The APC Northern Governors went public with provocative comments that there had been no such agreement for a power rotation or shift, and that all Nigerians were welcome to aspire to be president under the APC platform. The APC Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, had progressed on that ill-informed path, daring your tenacity of purpose and convictions, by endorsing the candidature of the current sitting Senate President, Ahmad Lawal, as the preferred presidential candidate of the APC for the 2023 general elections.  

 

Your goodself had to resort to extreme measures, to wit: your public pronouncement at a political rally in Abeokuta where you pointedly stated, ’emi lokán’ (Yoruba phrase which means it’s my turn to rule) and later at same venue, reminding Buhari that he had come to prostrate before you, pleading for your support before you intervened to halt his serial electoral loses after three presidential polls. Your particular words at that event, ‘ose kán, ose k’eji, ose k’eta, olule’, (he (Buhari) tried once, twice and thrice, and failed flat on his face at each try), has since become part of political folklore in southwest Nigeria.

 

If you recollect, dear Asuiwaju, the APC Chairman, Adamu, had the temerity to publicly threaten you with dire consequences for daring to voice out the truth about your role in foisting Gen. Buhari on Nigeria as President. It was only after it dawned on these political extremists that you were willing to reveal more sordid details which would unsettle the Government, that a hasty volte-face was patched up, and the same Governors, Party leaders who had threatened you a few days earlier, suddenly reversed themselves and claim to support your candidature, and thus your eventual emergence as APC Presidential candidate at the Abuja presidential primaries.

 

Post-primaries permutations

The smirking face exhibited by the President and the APC Chairman as they helped your goodself hold-up your shaky hands to uphold the APC flag at the end of the presidential primaries, and the smugness that characterizes their mien whensoever these associates of yours present you as the APC Presidential candidate, whilst fully aware of your health and physical frailties, is self-evident and suggestive of a ploy to use your goodwill for the sole purpose of ascending into office, and thereafter do their will.

 

A cursory inquiry into the 180⁰ turn around and pretentious support of your candidature by the government and leaders of the APC, and their imposing on your goodself as your Vice Presidential candidate, Alhaji. Kashim Shettima, a suspected sympathizer of extremist Islamist ideology grossly implicated in the infamous Chibok ‘abductions’, who has, without the presidential elections even taking place, already arrogated to himself the role of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (in clear violations of the provisions of the Nigerian constitution), is suggestive that there is intent to take advantage of your advancing age to steer the ship of state in a direction antithetical to the secular and federal ethos of the Constitution. Clearly, if your presidential ticket continues as is, Nigeria and its peoples will be enmeshed in a far deeper quagmire than the current regime has punished the peoples of Nigeria with.

 

In keeping with projections made by experts and practitioners versed in the antics of the leadership of your political party who merely allowed your goodself to assume the role of the APC presidential candidate for the 2023 elections, and in line with what transpired during the 2015 presidential elections when high ranking members of the ruling PDP publicly worked against their parties presidential candidate, the same APC Governors and leaders who at the last minute adopted your goodself as their preferred candidate, have begun to declare allegiance to one of the opposing parties, in a move that is intended to expose you to public odium and in payback for your objective stance in revealing the role you played in the enthronement of the current regime. 

    

I believe you are very conversant with the facts enumerated above. You might presently be under the misconception that despite all these, it will still be possible to control the situation in the unlikely event that the elections proceed. When the reality that those behind the schemes described above are the same persons who threatened to overflow the polity with ‘the blood of baboons and monkeys’ in the event of their electoral loss, and who have confessed to having gone outside the shores of Nigeria to recruit mercenaries to thwart the electoral process, it becomes clear that it is in the best interest of all for the vile machinations planned, to be aborted long before it has any opportunity to manifest.

  

A call to rise above self

Dear Asiwaju, it is my candid advice, and that of those who hold you in esteem, that you use the opportunity of your nomination as the presidential candidate for the APC in the 2023 election to undertake a path and role that will forever enshrine your goodself as a man who: when it mattered most, sacrificed personal interest for national interest; who was willing to let go a ticket that will perpetuate divides amongst people in favor of an act that will cement bridges; a man who lived above treachery and ethnic schisms, whilst setting high bars for good governance and national cohesion. It is that sacrifice and willingness that you are now being, most respectfully, invited and urged to make.

 

When your goodselve examines the other contenders for the Office of President at forthcoming presidential elections, you will readily arrive at a conclusion that the Labor Party presidential and vice presidential candidates, Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed respectively, are imbued with those qualities and attributes that is suitable for the leadership Nigeria requires to overcome decades of bad governance; represents the requisite equity and balance that will portray Nigeria as just; and has exhibited the candor and attainments that makes them ideal to preside over the affairs of Nigeria and ready her for future accomplishments.

 

I do hereby humbly call on your goodself, to withdraw forthwith from the presidential race (thus denying those who seek to rubbish your image for parochial and skewed reasons, an opportunity to so do), and wholly endorse, support and work towards the success of the candidature of Mr. Peter Obi and his Vice, Datti Baba-Ahmed, as presidential and vice presidential candidates respectively of the Labor Party in the presidential elections slated for February 2023.

 

If you hearken to the request above, your goodself would in addition to having elevated the bars of altruism and patriotism in service of Nigeria to a whole new level, cemented the proverbial and palpable ‘bridge across the Niger’ (and even beyond the Benue), announced yourself as a champion of equity and justice, invested in the prosperity and progress of Nigeria, and above all, carved an indelible pivotal position for yourself in posterity as a man who damned retrogression and infamy in favor of progress and glory of his country. Posterity will forever remember you and your name will join the ranks of the Nkrumah’s, Jomo Kenyatta’s, Azikiwe’s, MKO’s amongst other great Africans who rose up to be counted when it mattered most.

 

Remain blessed, dear Asiwaju.

Yours

 

Eze Eluchie, Esq.

 

 

Picture: Bola Ahmed Tinubu (APC presidential aspirant)

Gov. Hope Uzodinma: Mass Atrocities in the name of tackling insecurity in Southeastern Nigeria?

ANALYSIS OF GOV. UZODINMA’S EXCUSES FOR MASS KILLINGS OF YOUTHS IN OTULU AND PROLONGED DETENTION OF YOUNG GIRLS IN THE CUSTODY OF THE IMO STATE COMMAND OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE SECURITY (DSS)

Two serious, and perhaps damning gaps, exist in Governor Hope Uzodinma’s account of the discovery of the corpse of 14 male youths and the news that one of the ladies detained at the DSS cells for several months have gotten pregnant whilst in DSS custody (as recorded in the attached video interview); these are:

1. The corpses of those killed at Otulu (Oru West LGA of Imo State) were discovered abandoned at the locations where they were ostensibly killed. The standard practice of government security agencies is to evacuate the corpses of whosoever they kill and take same back to their State or Divisional or Operational Headquarters – never to abandon such corpses at locations where the killings occur. 

2. The Military personnel, long after the killers of the boys had departed the scene, had to escort the villagers who evacuated the corpses towards a morgue where the said corpses were deposited. 

3. The Million Dollar Question now is: Did the DSS personnel abandon the ‘criminals’ they killed at the place where the killings occurred?

4. Assuming those killed were criminals as the Governor claims, is the Operational Guidelines of the DSS to kill suspects (even those supposedly found in ‘bandit camps’ as the Governor claims, are suspects until proven guilty in a court of law) without according such suspects an opportunity to prove their innocence or otherwise?

5. Regarding the matter the Governor described as ‘what is trending the 15 year old impregnated by the DSS officers’, the Governor goes ahead to assert that the girls ‘have been helping the DSS for over 6 months to pick some of the bandits’. The girls have been in custody of the DSS without being brought before a court for over 6 months? In flagrant violation of extant Constitutional provisions?

With every supposedly exculpatory or defensive action and utterance of this Governor regarding the several apparent extrajudicial killings, abductions of citizens, arson attacks against communities and sundry acts of insecurity across Imo State, it gets clear that illegalities, wrongs, unconstitutional acts and probably crimes are being audaciously perpetuated under the regime of Hope Uzodinma as Governor of Imo State, under the guise of ‘tackling insecurity’.

It is pertinent, at this stage, to call upon the Federal security authorities, the National Human Right Commission and international organizations concerned about mass atrocities, extrajudicial killings and like crimes, to investigate ongoing in Imo State to forestall the commission of more atrocities.

                                               Pix: Gov. Hope Uzodinma of Imo State

Video links:

https://fb.watch/em-au5nJ0b/

https://www.facebook.com/realMaxwellC/videos/1093720231254016/

Kashim Shettima nomination as APC VP candidate – ultimate plans for handover to Boko Haram?

 by Eze Eluchie,

 

Is the nomination of Kashim Shetima, a close buddy and erstwhile colleague in the Bornu State Cabinet of Boko Haram founder, Muhammed Yusuf, as Vice Presidential candidate of the APC indicate the culmination of efforts by the current regime to hand over the realms of power in Nigeria to Boko Haram terrorists? This question is quite germane considering the advanced age and publicly observable poor health of the APC Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

 

We must recollect the following facts:

1.      It was Kashim Shettima, as Governor of Bornu State Government who directly overruled the written instructions of the Federal Government to relocate the students of all schools participating in the West African School Examinations and NECO Examinations away from the frontlines of Boko Haram activities. The infamous Chibok abductions took place within exactly 4 weeks of the Federal Government order being disobeyed.

2.      Within days of the Chibok ‘abductions’, whilst rebuffing efforts by the Federal Government to unravel what actually transpired in Chibok, the Governor Kashim Shettima was crisscrossing the capital cities of Western capitals deviously politicizing the terror attacks on Chibok – by the time the Goodluck Jonathan realized what was happening, they had permanently lost face and relevance before the international community, and the fall of the said Federal Government was merely a matter of time.

3.      Oddly, no government employee (Chibok school official) was abducted by the terrorists, who allegedly carted away over 300 students in unknown number of trucks to unknown destinations.

4.      On February 28^th, 2013, Kashim Shettima had led the infamous *walk of infamy* down major streets of Maidugri, alongside some opposition elements to show solidarity with Boko Haram and thus invincibility from attack by the terrorists – on a day several Nigerian soldiers had been killed in bombing attacks undertaken by Boko Haram in the Bornu State capital.

5.      In the period when Boko Haram was allegedly in control of his State, Kashim Shettima kept on collecting all due allocations for all Local Government Councils of Bornu State (despite the alleged control of such areas by BH

 

Proper auditing of any connections between this Kashim Shettima fellow and extremist Islamist terrorist organizations, inclusive of Boko Haram, ought to be undertaken by requisite security agencies, domestically and internationally, to ensure a surreptitious handover to terrorists is avoided.

 

 

Picture: Kashim Shettima, APC VP candidate

Closure of Schools for COVID-19 for almost 2 years: The World Failed the Children of Uganda!

 By Eze Eluchie, Esq.

 

As the world rails against the Taliban’s for stopping teenage girls and above from attending schools, it has just emerged that in Uganda, under the guise of COVID-19 protocols, the government of Museveni had stopped all schools from operating for almost 2 years!

 

How was this possible?

 

Millions of Ugandan children were denied education under bogus efforts to curtail the spread of COVID-19 and the world kept silent?

 

Where were the #UNICEF #UNIFEM #UNDP #UN #AU #ECA #EU #Commonwealth #ICC when this Crime against a generation, crimes against nature and Crime Against Humanity was being perpetuated? And what were the NGOs and CSOs in Uganda doing whilst this travesty lasted?

 

Why was it possible for the Ugandan President and his Ministers and anybody from that government to travel outside Uganda? And to what purpose would such a trip be claimed to have been made? What were the development partners of Uganda engaging the government for? #USAID #DFID and so on? Were these agencies aware and merely looked the other way? Were they complicit in these crimes?

 

The actions of Museveni’s regime to deny Ugandan children education for such a long period, with its attendant consequences of wasted childhood, diminished life expectations and values and stunted lives qualifies as a Crime Against Humanity under Articles 7 (1) c, e, f and k of the Rome Statute.

 

The closure of Ugandan schools for such a long period when nearly all students in the impoverished East African country do not have access to online education facilities and the top brass in government who had the capability to move their children to other countries to continue their education, can be described as a deliberate vicious attack effected with knowledge of the dire consequences the attack will have on Ugandan children.

 

The ICC has convicted persons for crimes against humanity on far lesser charges, this crime against the children and peoples of Uganda is one that the perpetrators must be held to account if indeed the raison d’etre of the ICC and the Statute of Rome has to make any sense.

 

This crime against the children and youths of Uganda, is one that cries ffor and deserves international justice.

 

 

 

Picture: Children in a school in Uganda and a picture of President Museveni.