In Gaza, the World failed, and is failing, in its Responsibility to Protect (R2P) Palestinians

 

by Eze Eluchie

 

As bombs fell on private residences in the Balkans, slicing limbs off and splattering blood across neighborhoods, and as the Serbs congregated Bosniaks in Srebrenika for what would ultimately result in a massacre, the real time beaming of the revolting images into homes across the world spiked palpable revulsion at the inability of the international community to effectively and timeously intervene to stem the atrocities being televised. There later was some intervention – but only after thousands had been slaughtered.

 

Less than a decade later, the gory spectacle of whole families and villages being rounded up by machete wielding murderous mobs, who smashed skulls, slit throats and set fire to entire communities, actions which made many across continents cringe in horror, proved simply too much for many to comprehend and rationalize why the countries which bordered Rwanda, or the broader international community, could not simply move in and come to the assistance of the hapless victims of genocide. The world watched in consternation as over 800,000 people were killed in an orgy of ethnic violence within 100 days – a killing spree that when one factors in the reality that the world watched it evolve and did nothing to stop it, questioned the commonality of our humanity.

 

Events which assault our common humanity

Reeling from the seeming helplessness with which the world observed mass atrocities which were televised live, via international broadcast channels, into homes across the continents, there was a convergence of opinions that there simply must be a mechanism through which the international community can intervene in conflicts wheresoever it was felt that our collective sense of humanity was being violated. It was also taken as a given that the doctrine of sovereignty of States cannot serve to prevent other States from intervening to protect victims of egregious crimes, when the State which has that primary duty is of protection of its population is incapable of according such and or is the perpetrator

 

The concern of humanity regarding sovereignty questions raised against international interventions where a State is incapable of protecting its residents from serious crimes, was aptly captured in Year 2000 Millennium Report of former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, presented to the UN where he asserted: “If humanitarian intervention is, indeed, an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to a Rwanda, to a Srebrenica, to gross and systematic violation of human rights that offend every precept of our common humanity?”.

 

In response to Kofi Annan’s query, diverse ideas were enunciated by diverse think-tanks across the globe, but the response that quickly gained acceptance across divides was contained in the report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) set up by the Canadian Government which postulated that there ought to be a shift in responsibility to the broader international community in instances where a State fails to protect its people either due to a lack of willingness or ability. The broader international community at that stage, assumes a Responsibility to Protect (R2P) the peoples whose State lacks the ability or is unwilling to protect.

 

After fine-tuning the submissions of the Canadian ICISS by various High Level Panels within the UN system, the R2P was finally adopted by the Heads of States and Government at the 2005 World Summit, and had three ‘pillars’, to wit:

a.      * Every State had a responsibility to protect all peoples within its borders;

b.     * The broader international community should help States attain their responsibility in (a) above; and

c.      * The broader international community has a responsibility to use diplomacy, peaceful means or force to protect peoples where their State is incapable or unwilling to accord such protection

The third ‘pillar’, which authorizes foreign interventions in the affairs of a State which has failed, or is incapable of protecting its own peoples, has proved the most contentions. 

 

Recourse to R2R

The first and second pillars of R2P has been cited in addressing domestic violence in diverse African countries, such as Sierra Leone, Cote D’Ivoire, Liberia, Guinea and Kenya. The third pillar, which allows the use of force to protect citizens where their State is incapable or unwilling to offer such protection was approved for use in the case of Libya in 2011, following the deployment of very brutal means by the Muammar Ghadaffi regime to suppress opposition elements. The surreptitious conversion of the UN Security Council (UNSC) approval for foreign troops deployment to attain humanitarian outcomes, by NATO member States to attain a regime-change mandate caused alarm and regrets in some quarters as to the use of the R2P doctrine.

 

Quite clearly, the misuse of R2P in the case of Libya, adversely affected the possibility of unanimity of purpose by the UNSC in subsequent episodes when such unanimous actions by the UNSC would have served to bolster R2P and perhaps elevate the principle to the status of international law. Efforts to deploy the principle to protect the Rohinghya peoples from genocide-grade attacks by the Myanmar regime, proved to be a primary consequence of the misuse of R2P in Libya.

 

The R2P principle was also unsuccessfully invoked to urge Turkiye to come to the aide of Kurds in the city of Kobani, Syria, as the people of that city, for weeks, expected to be overrun by Islamic State terrorists. It had been hoped that Turkiye troops who were just across basically unmarked borders, would have stepped in to prevent the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the approaching ISIS terrorists – the Turks, simply, probably on account of their age-old schisms with the Kurds, simply failed to step in. What followed was unfortunate decimation of civilian population of Kobani by ruthless terrorists. https://ezeluchie.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-justiciable-responsibility-to-prevent.html 

 

Gaza

In the course of the past 60 days, the world has looked on in horror, as hellish nightmares become the norm of the Palestinians in Gaza, as the occupying authority over their territory, the State of Israel, has unleashed brutal, debilitating and vicious attacks seemingly geared towards obliterating any semblance of life and development in the Gaza strip. The attacks commenced with a total blockade of Gaza, cutting off all food, water and electricity from the strip, actions that in itself, constitute war crimes. Over 40,000 tons of bombs, over three times the quantity of bomb dropped on Hiroshima, killing, thus far, over 17,000 residents of Gaza, with over 7,000 children and several thousand women.

 

As the world looked on, a classic example of a situation where the R2P ought to be applied unfolded before everyone. All hospitals and medical facilities in Gaza were targeted and bombed to ruins; medical personnel and journalists were specifically targeted with hundreds of them and their families being killed in the process; forced deportation of Gaza residents was ordered by the perpetrator, the Netanyahu regime; roads, water pipes and other infrastructure were targeted and destroyed; buildings dedicated to Educational, Religious, Science and Art were likewise targeted and destroyed. Gaza was effectively bombed back into the middle ages, as carts and donkeys soon replaced vehicles, wood and furniture were used for heating and cooking, life and living was scuttled.

 

The genocidal intents of the scorched earth policies the Netanyahu-led regime is implementing over Gaza is never in doubt and was brazenly audaciously broadcast, inclusive of biblical references by the Israeli Prime Minister to episodes of genocidal atrocities in Amalek, a suggestion by a serving Israeli cabinet Minister that a nuclear bomb could be dropped in Gaza, and sundry acts to reveal intent to commit crimes against humanity.

 

Yet, the world continues to fail in its responsibility to protect Palestinians, resulting in the commission of heart rendering mass atrocities, and this continuing failure serves to diminish our shared humanity and questions the fundamentals of global order. The continuing failure of humanity to abide by our collective responsibility to protect the victims of an ongoing genocide directly questions the utility of the United Nations Organization and semblance of global order that might have existed.

 

Questions that now agitate minds across the world include: Can a similar episode of mass atrocities be visited on another group and the world fail to act in protection of the victim group? Can another powerful country decide to wipe out a less endowed people knowing that there would be no consequences and world would remain docile? In failing in its R2P responsibilities to the Palestinians, the World has failed itself and humanity collectively diminished.

 

Has time run out? No.

The atrocities thus far committed has no doubt widened gaps and gulfs between peoples and might have foisted and deepened transgenerational hatred in the Middle East region, and strengthened suspicion that the existing international order is hypocritical and rooted in bias.  The Veto against the Special UNGS Resolution brought sequel to Article 99 of the UN Charter on Friday, 8^th December, 2023, , which sought an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, served as a particularly pungent jab at the R2P principle. An immediate humanitarian ceasefire will prove that indeed there is still hope in humanity and a general common revulsion of atrocities.  

 

 

Necessary addendum

Origin of Gaza Genocide

This piece will be incomplete in the view of some if mention is not made of the events which precipitated the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Can anything justify the bestiality, carnage, destructions of lives and properties being collectively visited on Palestinians in Gaza? Certainly not! It is however, important, that the topic of the immediate origins be addressed. Reference is often made to the horrific terrorist attacks by the terrorist group Hamas, on Israel on the 10^th of October, 2023, during which over 1,200 people, mainly citizens of Israel were killed, in attacks lasting over two days, with over 100 people abducted and taken into Gaza, by Hamas.  

 

The dastardly attacks by Hamas on the 7^th October are condemned in its entirety. Hamas, its officials and processes should be targeted and made to bear the full consequences of its vile actions. Under no circumstances, however, should inflicting collective punishment on all Palestinians (in Gaza and the West Bank) be condoned or deemed as acceptable – in fact, collective punishment in itself, constitutes war crimes and a crime against humanity.

 

It must be realized that the Hamas attacks of 7/10 was not a stand-alone event. There have been perennial bouts of violence between the peoples of Palestinians and the State of Israel. Of crucial importance also is the reality that for over 50 weeks prior to the Hamas attacks, Israel had been embroiled in weekly protests against efforts by the Netanyahu regime to force through Judicial sector reforms which will greatly subject Judges to political interference from the political stakeholders. The protests were approaching a crescendo, when the Hamas attacks occurred - attacks that easily breached highly fortified security fortifications and continued for hours before any meaningful response from the ordinarily highly effective Israeli Defense Forces. The combination of the fact that the attacks served to ‘unify’ the population of Israel against external threats, the reality that security forces deployed to protect the border with Gaza were surreptitiously withdrawn some days prior to the attack itself, and the fact that some stock traders seemed to have foreknowledge of the attacks of 7/10, raises the likelihood that perhaps the 7/10 attacks might have been perfectly orchestrated to actualize long planned atrocities against the peoples of Palestine.

 

Need to guarantee Israel’s security

Considering that it is surrounded by people who seemingly have vested in her ultimate destruction, effective and verifiable guarantees must be institutionalized which will guarantee Israel’s right to peaceful and sustainable existence as a prerequisite to any resolutions to the conflict in that region.

 

 

Picture: Aerial view of parts of destroyed Gaza (@Reuters)

Mediterranean Migrant Shipwrecks: Accident or Mass-Murders

 

By Eze Eluchie,

 

Exactly 10 years ago today, early in the mornings of October 3^rd 2013, the world woke to the gut wrenching news that a ship with over 500 migrants aboard, which had taken off from the Libyan coast city of Misrata, headed for Italian port city of Lampedusa, had capsized, with majority of the passengers feared drowned. As dawn broke and the day got brighter, the magnitude of the disaster became evident to the ships that had hearkened to the distress calls, and soon enough the shock waves went global.

 

The migrant ship had totally sunk, 155 survivors had been rescued, and hundreds of corpses who had been ‘passengers’ on the now wrecked migrant ship, littered the Mediterranean (the Med). As the search and rescue operation gradually became a corpse recovery operation, it was discovered that hundreds of victims who had been in the hull of the ship, had gone down with the vessel. The total death count was officially stated to be ‘over 360’.

 

Barely eight days later, on the 11^th of October 2013, whilst the world was reeling from the shock of the 3^rd October 2013 shipwreck, yet another mass causality shipwreck occurred in the Med, within the territorial waters of Malta, leading to the death of over 130 migrants.

 

More in response to public concern at the horrific images of mass deaths that the media was projecting sequel to the twin sinking’s in the Med, the European Union adopted what can be described as a knee-jerk response, which was focused at preventing and discouraging migrants from embarking on the journey to Europe. The EU hurriedly raised budgets with which it supported the Navies and Coast Guards in the main take-off points of the migrants in their journey to Europe with speed boats and weapons (Tunisia and Libya) – essentially, facilities to forcefully stop emigration and or kill the intending migrants. The EU approach also included advocacy visits to the home countries from whence the migrants commenced their fatalistic journey’s to Europe, mainly in Sub-Sahara Africa and parts of the Asian subcontinent. In addition, the EU looked the other way whilst EU member States bordering the Med enacted vile and despicable laws which criminalized search and rescue efforts and assisting persons in distress at sea! Not even amongst animals who, as humans, we consider beneath our status, have such beastly evil as punishing saving lives been criminalized.   

 

Having equipped the border security officials in the North African countries of Libya and Tunisia, who are ordinarily vicious, intolerant and uncouth towards migrants, it was only expected that with such ‘greenlight’ and cooperation from supposedly democratic EU countries, an open cheque for mass atrocities had been issued, with an unspoken guarantee that the normal ‘human rights scrutiny’ expected from the major organizations who are ordinarily vociferous on matters of infringement on human rights.

 

Ever since, virtually no fortnight has passed without reports of the sinking, wreckage or disappearance of a migrant ship in the Mediterranean. In one dizzying spell of 5 days in the first week of August 2023, there was an astonishing officially recorded four migrant boat wrecks in the Med, on the Tunisia to Italy route, with 131 lives lost! Official figures in the range of 3,000 to 5,000 deaths on the Med per annum are touted only by those who, like the ostrich, opt to bury their heads in the sands. Estimated figures of fatalities are in the tens of thousands per annum. The idyllic Mediterranean which for centuries spawned countless visions of amity, trade and prosperity, has for many migrants and the families they left behind, turned into a graveyard of dreams for generations.   

 

Questions began to be raised as to what could be responsible for the increase in fatalities whilst crossing the Med. Some blamed it on the greed of the human traffickers who were willing to take greater risks for more profits, others attributed it to more turbulence in the Med due to climate change, yet others suggested that perhaps there now existed a new ‘Bermuda Triangle’ in the Med which was sucking in migrant boats. Plausible, but were those the reason? Are the waves in the Med now more violent than waves elsewhere? Did human traffickers suddenly become suicidal and no longer interested in raking in profits? Or were the EU efforts at preventing the arrival of migrants on mainland Europe now becoming more successful by virtue preventing and discouraging the arrivals of such migrants on EU soil – even if it meant torpedoing their vessels at sea and killing migrants in their thousands whilst also feigning to rescue them?

 

As more dead bodies of migrants begun to wash up on the shores of Libya, Tunisia and the southern shorelines of Europe, and reports of delayed or aborted rescue efforts of passengers aboard sinking vessels became normalized, it was clear that it would only be a matter of time before hard irrefutable evidence of some of the untoward practices in the Med would come to light.

 

Despite its repeated feeble, unsubstantiated denials, the role the Greek Coast Guard played in the sinking of the trawler which was transporting several hundred migrants (mostly of Pakistani extraction), from Libya to Italy proved to be a smoking gun episode. When the lies and denials by the Greeks couldn’t stand the science, evidence and testimonies of the survivors, silence enveloped prior efforts at denial. With just 104 survivors from this 14^th June 2023 shipwreck and over 500 migrants missing, the Greek Coast Guards had been caught pants down as main culprits in a mass atrocity that dwarfed the Lampedusa tragedy.

 

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the various mechanisms for addressing mass atrocities in Europe and even the Security Council of the United Nations, have acted as though the mass murder of 14^th June 2023 off the coast of Greece never occurred.

 

If any was in doubt as to State complicity in deaths in the Med, the migrant boat wreck off the coast of Libya sometime in the last week of September, 2023, cleared any such doubts. The video released by Sea-Watch International which showed Libyan Coast Guard vessel in a most brazen manner and despite warnings and being aware that observers were watching, crash into and torpedoed a migrant boat with several migrants on board. Soon thereafter, as can be seen on the video, another Libyan coast guard patrol vehicle, hypocritically, showed up and threw life vests at the migrants who could swim. Were it not for the heroic and expository video by Sea-Watch International, this despicable attempt at mass murder (using equipment supplied and staff trained by the EU), would have been passed off as a ‘heroic rescue of migrants’ by equipment supplied by the EU. Could this be how the other several instance of rescues by Navies and Coast Guards have played out?

 

How many of these mass murders have taken place in the past one week, or one month or over the years? How many migrants were killed when their boats were wrecked by navies or coast guards who were striving to uphold the EU policy to prevent and suppress migrants from getting to the coast of Europe, in keeping with EU policies? One cannot but help if a similar crime was what transpired on the coast of Lampedusa in 2013, and several other such episodes.

 

Has the world kept silent in the face of mass atrocities of genocidal proportions?

 

Are the crimes of mass murders of identifiable segments of populations not within the purview of the International Criminal Court to prosecute under the Rome Statues?

 

Is the Prosecutor of the ICC unaware of the crimes against humanity being perpetuated in the Mediterranean?

 

Should the EU not take responsibility for the consequences of some of her actions which has directly led to the commission of mass atrocities?

 

Are there better ways to address the migrant crisis?

 

….the answers to the above questions will be addressed here shortly.

 

 

 

Picture: The coffins of victims of the Lampedusa migrant ship disaster, 2013.

Coup Season II in Africa: Causes and where the next one will occur

 by Eze Eluchie

 

Despite being awash with vast deposits of mineral and natural resources, countries across Africa, particularly in the West and Central regions of the continent, have maintained near-permanent positions on the lowest rankings in global index for all negatives: ranging from the poorest countries, the highest unemployment levels, lowest life expectancies, highest infant mortality rates, highest illiteracy levels, widest income gaps, amongst other global parameters for gauging standard of living, strength of national economies and quality of lives of populations within any jurisdiction.

Whilst the vast majority of the populations in the various countries in these region eck out a living at subhuman levels, the individuals opportune to rule over the mineral rich countries in these regions are globally notorious for ostentatious lifestyles, junketing in state-of-the-art private jets and yacht, shopping at the most exquisite and exclusive of designer outlets, purchasing multi-million dollar mansions and making payment for all these purchases and lifestyles in raw cash, and generally portraying themselves as living life to the fullest

A vicious looting-cum-ruling class:

Those at the helm of affairs and their inner circle (which often times cuts across all sectors of society including identified cronies in the political, religious, and military settings), in the various countries in the region often times have no other means of livelihood except for access to the public till. In direct and real terms, these characters were merely robbing their countries dry and living large off the loot, whilst viciously emasculating and pauperizing the populations over whom they rule.

The socioeconomic situations in most countries in sub-Sahara Africa is simply not sustainable, akin to being perched on a keg of gunpowder – all it required was the slightest spark to ignite an explosion. As the populations became more aware of their sorrowful predicament in the hands of their rulers, the agitation for betterment in life conditions was met with more brutal suppression of rights and more frenzied approach to stealing of public resources, by a rulership which had become less attached to their populations, and more fixated on their ‘friendship’ with foreign powers, who they felt would always come to their aide, whenever.

Not bothered about the responsibilities of a State to its citizens, the plight of their citizens or to even treat their nationals like human beings, regimes across the region focused more on crippling national economies, undermining their populations and allowing their States to be plundered by foreign interests under the most dubious of international agreements. To conform with what they perceived were ‘international norms’, these kleptos who ruled over much of Africa deployed mechanisms to schedule a date when their local populations will ostensibly, ‘revalidate their mandate’, under supposedly ‘democratic elections’. The practice of democracy was reduced to the sham of having a date set aside for ‘elections. Democracy thus became a ruse vile dictatorial regimes adapted to mask their stench and present their foreign collaborators with a tool to obscure sordid realities from populations in the West. The fragrance of domestic and foreign election observers and monitors served to spice up the façade, providing on the one hand domestic collaborators, who for access to donor-grants, will validate electoral heists, and on the other, foreign adjudicators who will using the veiled threat of ability to rule an election ‘far below acceptable international democratic standards’, ensure that even where there was a ‘slip’, only outcomes favorable to Western powers were deemed acceptable.

Unfortunately, the judiciary, which in times past used to exude some semblance of independence, objectivity and competence, and was generally thought of as ‘the last hope of the common man’, acquiesced their noble role and joined in-bed, with the looting class, and repeatedly failed to uphold basic tenets of justice, constitutionalism and the rule of law in adjudicating over election disputes and efforts to tweak constitutional provisions to prolong the sufferings of the people – thus leaving the majority disillusioned, anxious and worried.

Continuing hemorrhage by former colonial overlords:

Visible foreign collaborators with the ruling echelon of these African countries, are the same colonial overlords from whom the African countries had gained ‘flag’ independence in the 60’s – mainly France and Britain. These two European countries continue to maintain, with support of an elite looting class to whom they had ‘relinquished’ political power, lecherous relationships which serve to impoverish the vast majority of the populations in the African countries, allowing vain perks to the looting class whilst the colonial overlords, through deft bilateral agreements retain stifling control over the assets of the African countries. The French are more brazen in their approach as they virtually control the economy, serve as Central Bank and maintain military bases in all their former colonies. The British on the other hand are suave about their overbearing control, as they impose stooges and operate more from behind the scene. They both, however, achieve the same insidious goal of neocolonialism which has dastardlier consequences for the citizens of the African countries than what transpired during the colonial era.

The real coups in Africa occurs when the looting class who man the various African countries discard Constitutional provisions guaranteeing people’s rights and those related to Presidential tenure limits, renege on State responsibilities towards the citizenry under the Social Contract theory and institutionalize bad governance, corruption and vendetta as cardinal principles of the State. The silence of regional, continental and international multi-State organizations to these aberrations which diminish the citizens of African countries, convinces Africans that alternate templates for liberation and development must be adapted.

 

Fed up with the pretense at democracy without any positive add-ons to the lives of the people, and denied of any meaningful path towards effecting necessary changes to the leadership of their countries via the ballot box, the emasculated populations are primed, ready and prepared to support any and all change in government!

Having effectively gauged the socioeconomic environment and the likelihood of mass support for a putsch, with public show of force in the form of motorized convoy of military hardware and troops taking over major parts of the national capital, staccato of bullets rendering the peace of night, and a terse broadcasts in local media announcing the sacking of the corrupt regimes, closure of all border entries and the airspace (pretending they have the capacity to monitor their national airspace), a group of soldiers readily step in: announcing oft rehashed condemnation of corruption and promising to right wrongs, better the lot of the citizens, and lead their country to Eldorado. The severely abused and maligned citizens of the African countries will readily troop out onto the streets to welcome their new found ‘messiahs’.

Coup Season II

In the course of the past 3 years, starting from 2020, sub-Sahara Africa seems to have cruised into a season of coups, with soldiers (renegade or patriotic, depending from which perspective one views the situation), with a rapidity that was last witnessed in the continent over 30 years ago, staging a total of 8 coups and counter coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Niger and now Gabon. The coups, with the sole exception of the coup in Sudan, occurred in countries which had continued to reel under the stranglehold and economic exploitation of France.

Blindsided by the rapidity of the collapse of its stooges in West Africa, France was left flatfooted with the swiftness with which it lost control of Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso, and the ridicule it was exposed to when its former victim-States ordered France to pull out the French military bases off their territories. Faced with the obvious economic collapse its loss of the freebies it raked in from outlandish exploitation of its colonial outposts, the French leadership delved into childish tantrums, threatening hell and brimstone when yet another coup occurred in its former territory, the Republic of Niger, from which France dubiously appropriated Uranium and Gold deposits. France realized the existential threat it would suffer if it lost the vice-like grip it had over a source from which she bolstered the Gold Reserve which found the French economy and the cheap uranium with which it lit up its homes and industries in France.

In desperation to ensure that Niger does not remain out of its grip, France reached out to known stooges, it had long propped up in Senegal and Cote D’Ivore, and a new lackey on the bloc whose very selection as President of Nigeria had come after a most dubious electoral heist that had further blighted Democracy as a reliable system of government in the estimation of Africans. The Nigerian ruler, in a stark display of his inexperience and novice status in international relations, acting on the behest of the former colonial overlords and using the auspices of the regional multinational body, ECOWAS, issued a one-week ultimatum to the coup leaders in Niger, to reinstate the deposed French stooge, or face military invasion by some ECOWAS member States.

Tinubu’s naivety & sour antecedents ups the stakes:

This unprecedented condescending acts of some sister-West Africa countries against Niger, backfired as it directly elicited patriotic fervor from Nigeriens, who thereafter trooped in their millions in support of their new Government. The position of the colonial overlords and their regional stooges masquerading under the ECOWAS tag was worsened when the Governments of Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso vowed support for the Government in Niger and concretized their support by moving in troops and armaments in support of the new regime in Niger

The fact that the Nigerian ruler who was spearheading efforts at ‘restoring democracy’ in Niger was himself a product of electoral heist tantamount to a coup, and had not been able to stem the rising waves of banditry and extremist Islamist terror attacks in Nigeria, coupled with the desperation in former colonial overlords exhibited in their avowal to commit human and material resources towards the invasion of Niger, exposed a deeper non-altruistic and selfish coloration to efforts to deny a people who had, via a coup, eased themselves of the yoke of bad rulers.

Whilst the Niger coup was approaching boiling point with the declaration by France that it would neither recognize the authority of the new rulers in Niger and would not withdraw its Ambassador as requested by the new regime, thus setting the stage for a possible invasion of Niger by France, yet another group of military officers struck in Gabon, and sacked another dictator who was seeking to use the ruse of a ‘democratic elections’ to perpetuate his families’ chokehold on Gabon. A hold that had rendered the population of what ought to have been one of the richest countries in Africa, to destitution and backwardness.

If the Niger coup, set alarm bells ringing, the Gabon coup soon thereafter, pushed the bells to overdrive across the globe. Sit-tight dictators across Africa immediately embarked on mass sacks/retirement of senior Generals in their military’s and replacing same with trusted cronies, laboring under the illusion that with such cosmetic changes in the military, they will continue their vice hold over their population. Member States of the European Union likewise got quite started about the sudden loss of stooges who had served to assure Europe of extremely cheap sources of gas, crude oil and myriad other mineral resources. The EU leadership, sequel to the Gabon coup, immediately summoned a meeting of their Foreign and Defense Ministers to harmonize actions to confront the desire by African countries to be free.

The usual condemnation for coups in Africa, such as announcement of the suspension of the ‘erring State’, and measured sanctions were announced by the Africa Union, and other Heads-of-States Clubs, also known as sub-regional multinational organizations in Africa, were reeled out after each of the 8 coup thus far in the course of the past 3 years – all to no effect whatsoever.

Where the next coup will take place:

The reality which all must acquiesce to is that there is a new wave of decolonialization sweeping across Africa. The old order had terribly short-changed Africa, rendering the continent richest in mineral and natural resources, the poorest and most raped continent. Those who have benefited from the scam which has held Africa so backward over the past few decades, need only to realize that human beings with a quest for advancement and betterment of themselves, their environment and safeguarding their future, also inhabit the Africa continent.

As the Coup Season continues, it is likely to, like a tornado, gather more momentum and intensity as it barrels across the continent. Thus far, the soldiers who had executed putsches over the past 2 years have remarkably been non-violent. In some instances, such as the Republics of Niger and Gabon episodes, allowing the rulers they had deposed access to meetings with foreigners, meetings that had sustained unwarranted foreign interference and which could have truncated the putsches. Bets are ow being wagered as to where the next ouster of despotic regimes masquerading as democracies will occur. Some countries which, by virtue of the disconnect between the regimes in power and their populations, level of large scale corruption, viciousness of the regimes in dealing with their civil populations and other criterion to assess good governance, can rightly be predicted as eminently qualified for a change of guards include: Cameroon, Uganda, Senegal and Central African Republic. Others not too far behind include such territories as Nigeria, Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire. Nigeria and Senegal have had very dubious election processes which led to imposition of unfits as rulers over very vibrant populations.

 

As the coup season unfolds, if coups were to take place in the aforelisted countries, the various international multi-State organizations (such as ECOWAS, AU, UN EU and others), which have not sufficiently urged for the adoption of good governance principles and the rule of law in the countries highlighted, will do their already depleted images before Africans a world of good, by refraining from the usual condemnations of coups and imposition of economic sanction, when and if the coups eventually occur.

 

The next few months before the Coup Season lapses would be quite interesting…..

Picture: Malians celebrate coup leaders the ouster of President Ibrahim Keita

France must respect Niger Republics sovereignty – an invasion would be against the so-called ‘Rule-based International Order’

 by Eze Eluchie,

 

It is preposterous that France has rejected orders from the defacto and dejure Government of the Republic of Niger to withdraw its Ambassador and diplomats by Sunday 27^th August 2023. This rejection is an affront to all norms and texts of international Law and the so-called rule based world order being championed by Western powers

 

Such rejection by France, leaves the leaders of Niger with no other option than to, at the end of the period to vacate, seek to arrest and deport from Niger, the said French Ambassador and other French diplomats in Niger. When it is realized that the French Ambassador will ordinarily have some French soldiers guarding him and his residence, there is all probability that confrontation may ensue.

 

The Emmanuel Macron regime in France has given the feeble excuse that it does not recognize the Government in control of Niger, claiming to still recognize the deposed Bazoum junta. President Macron must realize that, far and above France, the United Nations has already acknowledged the reality of the Government in Niger and is already obeying the instructions of the leaders of Niger – thus relegating France’s present stance as mere agent provocateur for conflict.

 

Under the false and deceptive pretext of ‘restoring democratically elected government of Bazoum’, a phrase used to mask a desperate desire to retain a stranglehold over the mineral resources of Niger, whilst ensuring that the people of Niger remain economically retarded and emasculated, the regime of Emmanuel Macron in France appears to be ready to invade Niger for economic and geopolitical reasons

 

If France under this pretext, send in her soldiers to invade Niger, all moral pretentiousness and rationale sustaining NATO support for Ukraine against Russia invasion will evaporate – reducing French and NATO involvement in Ukraine to a mere opportunistic frolic to undermine an adversary (Russia) without any regard for the cost of such endeavor on the peoples and territory of Ukraine.

 

It is hoped that France will refrain from levying an unjust and unproved war against the Government and people of Niger. Macron’s Government ought to obey the desire of the Niger Government and withdraw its Ambassador and diplomats from Niger.

 

 

Picture: President of Niger, Abdourahamane Tchiani and President of France, Emmanuel Macron

 

Niger Republic Coup: The West must realize that the world and Africans are watching:- but do they care?

by Eze Eluchie

 

 

 

“Political power is not to be served in a restaurant, it's not served in a la carte, it's what we are doing, its being determined to do it at all costs: Fight for it, grab it, snatch it and run with it”

~Bola Tinubu (Nigeria’s placeholder President) in London, 2013.

 

 

 

When soldiers of the Republic of Niger’s Presidential Guards in the morning of 26th July 2023, the detained President Mohamed Bazoum in a bloodless coup d’etat, the spontaneity of jubilations across Niger was quite infectious. Outsiders distant from the pains and sufferings of the people of Niger would be astounded, but any familiar with the goings on In this mineral rich country whose population have been derided for decades as ‘one of the poorest countries on earth’, will understand the euphoria.

 

Here was a country which was a major producer of uranium and had very rich Gold reserves, yet the population barely felt the wealth of their country, whilst conglomerates from France and other European entities profited immensely from Niger. Niger was on an edge and the slightest tilt was bound to effect the change witnessed in the coup.

 

Coming barely two weeks after the pronouncement by newly installed Chairman of the regional body, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Nigeria’s Placeholder President, Bola Tinubu, that ECOWAS would not tolerate any ‘unconstitutional’ changes in political leadership across the sub-region, the July Coup in Niger set up an early test-case for the potency of ECOWAS.

 

In a hurriedly convened meeting of some Heads of Governments of ECOWAS member States in Abuja, chaired by Mr. Tinubu (who ECOWAS had in view of Nigeria’s enormous financial contributions towards the sustenance of the West African regional multi-State organization, made Chairman during his very first attendance at any ECOWAS meet), ECOWAS rather undiplomatically and contrary to the regional bodies practices to arrive at decisions via consensus and unanimous agreements, brashly ordered those who had deposed the government in Republic of Niger to vacate office within a week, or face military intervention from ECOWAS.  Noticeably absent at the said ECOWAS Heads of State meeting, were the leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Equitorial Guinea. That the Authority of Heads of State of ECOWAS would arrive at such controversial decision without ensuring all the member States of the organization were on board was bound to later haunt the sub-regional body.

 

Being himself, a character who snatched and ran with political power against the wishes of the population freely expressed in the 25th February 2023 Presidential elections in Nigeria, the country’s current, Mr. Tinubu, was clearly in no position whatsoever to challenge the soldiers who grabbed power in similar vein. It is however important to note that unlike Tinubu, General Abdourahamane Tchiani and his compatriots apparently have the support of the overwhelming majority of Nigeriens and peoples of the West Africa sub-region

 

It must be pointed out at this stage that in the absence of unanimity amongst ECOWAS countries, any invasion of Niger (as being planned by some countries with support and prodding by some Western countries) would be an illegitimate war. Already, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea have already indicated that any attack on Niger Republic would be taken by those three geographically and linguistically contiguous countries, as an attack against their peoples.

 

Those who fail to condemn persons who attain political power by scuttling the Constitutions of their respective countries via acts of electoral heist and stealing votes, should spare us any sanctimonious indignations when non-politicians (in the strict sense of that phrase) opt to intervene in the political space. Such condemnations of non-politicians’ interventions in politics gets more condescending if the intervention is with the approval and support of the domestic population.

 

The old saying of universal validity that ‘those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable’ comes to light once more. When the existing political process consistently churns out scions and cronies of those who have held the population backwards, it is only a matter of time, before the bubble bursts. The population affected have to remain vigilant, lest the ideals of today become the nightmare of tomorrow.

 

The argument that any ‘democratic arrangement’ is better than military regimes is, as has been experienced by the peoples of West Africa, a fallacy from the pit of hell.

 

Are coups okay only when it is supported and planned by some external powers; and bad when it has popular support? Is the condemnation and sanctioning being applied by some Western countries merely for the purposes of exploring and ensuring protection of external interests, and will such be relaxed once age old parochial interests, which have left the peoples of the affected country pauperized are assured?

 

The West (the United States, United Kingdom, the European Union et al), should not taint their existing moral authority as democracies by prodding the mastermind and prime beneficiary of Nigeria’s 2023 electoral heist to plunge the West Africa region into needless and wasteful fratricidal conflict.

 

The implications of the continuing push by some Western countries, notably France, Britain and the United States for ECOWAS military intervention in Niger is that arguments being made by NATO against Russia for its ‘special military operations’ in Ukraine would be exposed as hypocritical and nonsensical if any countries supporting Ukraine were to participate in an illegitimate invasion on and against the peoples of Niger Republic.

 

Additionally, demands that former Nigerien President, Bazoum, be ‘released unconditionally’ being touted by the US, British and French governments is clear unsolicited interference in the internal affairs of Niger. A call for expedient production of the deposed President before requisite judicial authorities in Niger for the prosecution of any charges the new Government in Niamey may have against the deposed ruler, would have been more realistic and responsible.

 

 

Tinubu’s infamous declaration to fight, grab, snatch and run with political power 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/d4kgJAsHCok

 

 

Those who rig elections are Siamese twins with coup plotters – the only difference being that riggers are civilians and coupists are oftentimes soldiers

 

 

Picture: Niger leader, General Abdourahamane Tchiani and Nigeria ruler, Bola Tinubu

Open Letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on need to address wrongs of the greatest electoral heist in history: Nigeria's 2023 Presidential elections.

 

Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd)

President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Aso Rock Villa

Abuja

 

Your Excellency

 

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUR EXCELLENCY TO RIGHT WRONGS -

RE: 25^TH FEBRUARY 2023 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: A CALL FOR YOUR EXPEDIENT INTERVENTION TO ENSURE CONSTITUTIONALISM, RULE OF LAW AND DUE PROCESS PREVAILS WHILST SAFEGUARDING NIGERIA FROM NEEDLESS DESCENT INTO PARIAH STATUS AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL.

 

Please accept our compliments as you approach the end of second and final of your 4-year tenure as the President of the Federal Republic. A tenure that has placed your goodself as one of only two Nigerians who have had the unique opportunity of presiding over the affairs of Nigeria firstly as a Military Dictator, and thereafter a civilian President.

 

Your tenure has witnessed several landmark events such as the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (after almost two decades of continuous efforts), passage of the Electoral Act 2020 (after close to a decade of efforts to make our electoral laws more just and equitable), and some efforts at enshrining the autonomy of the Judiciary and Legislative arms of government; and also some controversial episodes, such as the inability of our security forces and agencies to effectively stem continuing ethnic cleansing being experienced across the country masked in the garb of Herdsmen – Indigenous Farmers/Settler clashes; increased feelings of marginalization by diverse component peoples of Nigeria and lopsidedness in the management of affairs of the country; and downturn in the economy of the country.

 

In this twilight days of your administration, providence has offered you a unique opportunity to ensure that your name is enshrined in the annals of the history of Nigeria, and indeed the African continent, as one who did his best to uphold the tenets, spirit and intendments of the Constitution of the Federal Republic (CFR), uphold the integrity, dignity and elevated position of Nigeria amongst the comity of nations, in an altruistic manner devoid of partisan or other parochial considerations. The purpose of this correspondence is to bring to your notice this unique offer of providence in the effort that you will seize the opening to right wrongs and be on the right side of history and posterity.

 

Expectations of the 2023 general elections

In the buildup to the 2023 general elections, your goodself, had severally committed your administration to organizing the freest and most credible elections to ensure an orderly transition by the 29^th of May 2023. Based on the trust Nigerians had in your pronouncements and the publicly made undertakings by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) authorities to use technological advancements to ensure real-time online transmission of results of voting at polling units via the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines and real-time online collation of votes via the INEC Results Viewing (IReV) portals, Nigerians in their millions, who had either previously not registered as voters or had lost faith in the electoral processes, took up the civic responsibility and registered to vote, and indeed presented themselves to vote on the election day, 25^th February 2023, the date slated for presidential and national assembly elections.

 

In a most traumatic betrayal of a peoples trust and denigration of a country’s image, the leadership and management of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in a manner aggressively and directly in contradiction with the Nigerian Constitution and relevant electoral laws and pursuant regulations, particularly the Electoral Act 2022 and the INEC Regulations 2022, delivered what has variously been described as an electoral heist of unimaginable proportions bordering on repudiation of the basis and fundamental precepts of democracy.

 

The Nigerian electorate, domestic and foreign election observers, and the international community as a whole, took adequate notice of the charade INEC conducted under the guise of an election. The elections conducted by INEC on the 25^th of February served to directly impugn Your Excellency’s commitment to free and fair polls.

 

The Constitution directly accords your office necessary and cogent powers to ensure that the Federal Government and all its Ministries, agencies, and parastatals, inclusive of INEC, adhere to the tenets and spirit of the CFRN. In reality, unconstitutional acts, none compliance with extant laws, and wrongs generally can only be perpetuated by entities created under our laws to the extent that the President of the Federal Republic is either not aware of such infractions, or acquiesces to such infractions. We write believing that Mr. President is not aware of these unconstitutional acts, none compliance with the laws and wrongs generally, and would want to leave office knowing he has done his very best for the Government and peoples of the Federal Republic. 

 

At this juncture, we must admit that Mr. President’s patriotic and legitimate actions in response to the illegalities displayed by the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the recently concluded Adamawa State gubernatorial supplementary elections, gave us added impetus to pen this correspondence in the hope that Mr. President will likewise see the dangers in not nipping absurdities in the bud by similarly calling on the relevant security agencies to exhaustively investigate the conduct of the INEC Chairman and some of his associates regarding their announcement of results and declaration of a winner when the processes of the presidential elections were yet uncompleted. 

 

Issues Arising: Unconstitutional Acts, Infractions of Laws and Moral debasement

We shall hereunder proceed to highlight the constitutional aberrations, illegalities and uncouth acts that INEC indulged in, to arrive at the most unconstitutional and illegitimate outcomes it rendered as the outcome of the 2023 Presidential elections, in the believe that your goodself will direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and other agencies and instruments of the Federal Government on the proper steps to take with regards to containing the enthronement of illegitimacy and what we will choose to refer to as ‘unconstitutionalism’ in our polity.

 

 

1.      Declaring a person unqualified to be a candidate as President-elect

Section 137(1): A person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if -

  (d) he is under a sentence of death imposed by any competent court of law or tribunal in Nigeria or a sentence of imprisonment or fine for any offence involving dishonesty or fraud (by whatever name called) or for any other offence, imposed on him by any court or tribunal or substituted by a competent authority for any other sentence imposed on him by such a court or tribunal;

 

As Your Excellency may be aware, considering the fact that the issue has dominated public discourse and certainly should have elicited interest of the relevant security agencies, sequel to investigations and judicial processes conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations of the United States, the United States Government sought for and obtained forfeiture in the sum of US$460,000 in relation to drug trafficking and money laundering charges which are offences bothering on fraud and dishonesty, from the person INEC has pronounced as President-elect (and indeed the said Mr. Tinubu has never denied that he forfeited the said sum – his defense being that it was a forfeiture outside the jurisdiction of Nigeria and that the forfeiture were against his accounts, not his person).

 

From the provisions of the CFRN 1999 which we have highlighted above, which are each stand-alone provisions, default of which renders any person presented as a candidate by a political party ineligible to contest for the office of President of the Federal Republic, it is clear that the forfeiture of sums for charges related to drug trafficking and money laundering, renders Mr. Tinubu ineligible to be a contestant or candidate in an election for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 

Not being a candidate at the said elections in the eye of the CFRN, the purported declaration of the said Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President-elect sequel to the presidential elections held on 25^th February 2023, is gross and an abuse of the powers delegated to the INEC Chairman under the Electoral Act, thus rendering the act of the purported declaration, illegitimate and an affront on the CFRN

 

If this travesty is not immediately corrected as the travesty of an INEC REC announcing results and declaring a winner, as occurred in Adamawa State, there yet will be a time when an INEC Chairman will, of his own accord, declare a person who is not a duly nominated candidate of a political party as the President-elect.

 

 

2.      Declaring a candidate who did not meet constitutional prerequisites as President-elect

Sec. 134(2) A candidate for an election to the office of President shall be deemed to have been duly elected where, there being more than two candidates for the election-

(a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election; and (b) he has not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election each of at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

 

In his purported declaration of a President-elect on the 1^st of March, 2023, sequel to the 25^th of February presidential elections, INEC Chairman surreptitiously and deliberately feigned ignorance of the clear and unambiguous provisions of Section 134(2)A of CFRN.

In the course of the announcement of the purported collated results from the presidential elections, the candidate of the Al Progressive Congress (APC), who was declared as President-elect by the INEC Chairman, scored 20% of the votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja – a percentage that is clearly below the minimum threshold required of any candidate to be declared as President-elect.

 

It is pertinent to point out that the various candidates declared as Presidents-elect under the current constitutional dispensation (Presidents Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan and your goodself) had secured more that the mandatorily required 25% of votes cast in the FCT.

 

By virtue of the said provisions, the person declared as President-elect did not meet explicit and clear constitutional requirement to be so declared as President-elect. In real

 

 

3.      Declaring a candidate as elected when the processes prescribed by the Constitution and Law for that purpose had not been concluded

In conformity with the Electoral Act 2020, the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections 2022, and Manual, the following are the steps that must be taken between the conclusion of voting and the announcement of election results and where possible, the declaration of a winner of the presidential polls:

Results are brought in from the various comprising units (in the case of the Presidential elections, the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory);

Issues raised concerning the elections are definitively addressed by the Returning Officer of the elections; and

Final results are announced.

 

In the case of the presidential elections held on the 25^th of February 2023, what were purported to be results from the States and Abuja were brought in, to which Political Party Collating Center Agents (PPCCA) vigorously opposed, and raised objections to their authenticity, validity and reliability as results coming from the States. The Returning Officer for the Presidential elections (who also happens to be the Chairman of INEC), undertook to address and resolve the issues raised by the said PPCCA’s prior to the final announcement of results.

 

Without addressing the issues raised by the PPCCA’s, thus skipping a vital aspect of the collation and announcement of election results protocols, the RO/INEC Chairman, surreptitiously in the wee hours of Wednesday, the 1^st day of March, 2023, announced what he termed as final results and declared the candidate of the ruling party as President-elect, and subsequently, within a few hours of the illegitimate declaration, proceeded to issue what he, the RO/INEC Chairman termed a ‘Certificate of Return as President-elect’

 

This audacious none-adherence to laid down procedures INEC had marshalled out for itself pursuant to its powers under the Electoral Act 2022, ordinarily renders whatsoever was announced illegitimate and beyond the powers of the RO/INEC Chairman.

 

The impunity and total disregard for laid down procedures by the RO/INEC Chairman, lays a most dangerous precedent wherein any person opportune to be the RO/INEC Chairman may delude him/herself into thinking that all it will take to become an elected public official is pronouncement as such by the electoral umpire, whether that pronouncement is in sync with the CFRN, the Electoral Act or subsidiary Guideline and Regulations for elections. This ugly and despicable act of the RO/INEC Chairman directly served as motivational precedent soon after the presidential elections of 25^th February 2023, when the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commission, in total disregard of laid down procedures, announced results of the Adamawa State Supplementary elections and declared a candidate as winner.

 

It is interesting to note that the INEC leadership at Abuja, who felt blindsided by the audacity and impunity of its REC in Adamawa State, swiftly annulled the declaration of the Adamawa State REC, and righted the wrongs committed. The INEC Chairman and the Commission was disciplining a member of its staff who, in neglecting laid down Laws and procedures to hurriedly declare illegitimate and ultra-constitutional results, had acted exactly as the INEC Chairman had done when the said Chairman had declared the candidate of the ruling APC as the winner of the Presidential elections and President-elect.

 

It is intriguing to note that whilst Mr. President had swiftly, and rightly so, condemned the actions of the Adamawa State REC and ordered security agencies to investigate and bring all the culprits to justice, the President had failed to equally condemn and invite the security agencies to investigate and prosecute the rascality of the INEC Chairman who had earlier acted in similar vein.

 

 

4.      Unlawful nomination for two elective offices within the same election circle.

Section 115(1)d of the Electoral Act clearly makes it a criminal offense for anyone to be nominated for two political offices within the same election circle. The Vice Presidential candidate of your political party in the last presidential elections, Kashim Shettima, is believed to have being a nominee of your political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), for the Senatorial elections for Bornu Central Senatorial district, as at the same time he was nominated as a Vice Presidential candidate.

 

If indeed this crime is established, the fact that the Vice Presidential candidate and the Presidential candidate of any party during the presidential elections have a joint ticket, with the ineligibility of one affecting the other, it translates to the fact that the ruling APC did not have any candidate during the February 25^th presidential elections. The pronouncement of Mr. Tinubu and Kashim Shettima as winners of the presidential elections and their declaration as President-elect and Vice President-elect respectively, becomes a crime in itself.

 

We enjoin Your Excellency to deploy the immense investigatory and law enforcement mechanisms available in the country towards addressing this issue, investigate and where found culpable, prosecute all involved in the criminal act of declaring an entity who could be a non-candidate as President- and Vice President-elects.

 

 

5.      Rectitude and National Integrity and Standing amongst the Comity of Nations:

(a). The so-called President-elect’s forfeitures for drug trafficking and money laundering: one of the sterling qualities which had given Mr. President some moral grounds to navigate unscathed in the murky waters of national and international politics and maintain a tag of a statesman, is the unequivocal revulsion to the vice of drug trafficking. Mr. President had in his first stint at presiding over the affairs of Nigeria, albeit exuberantly, executed three convicted drug traffickers for serving as couriers of illicit drugs. 

 

It is thus appalling that a President, who as Military Dictator in 1985 had executed 3 convicted drug traffickers (whose crimes, by the way, did not attract a death penalty as at the time when the three convicts committed the crimes), is now presiding over a most corrupted process which via unconstitutional means and in violation of electoral laws, seeks to hand over the reins of governance of Nigeria to a man who forfeited the sum of $460,000.00 to the United States Government for involvement in drug trafficking and money laundering offences. If indeed the said Mr. Tinubu had won the presidential elections, then Mr. President would have no choice than to abide by the choice of the people. In this instance, however, there are clear indications that the Constitution, Electoral laws and Guidelines were subverted, violence deployed and other uncouth irregularities and atrocities committed to foist the said Mr. Tinubu on Nigeria and Nigerians – this is most unfortunate.

 

It is our belief that Mr. President might not be fully aware of the incongruity of the persona who his party, with connivance of the INEC Chairman seeks to foist on the Nigerian State as President, with the need to keep Nigeria as a respected member of the international community free from the ravages of corrupt practices and the stigma of being regarded as a narco-State. In the event that Mr. President is unwilling to…… 

 

(b). Inviting the specter of a Presidents Manuel Noriega (Panama) or Juan Hernandez (Honduras) on Nigeria

Mr. President is very much aware of the harms the vice of drug trafficking and money laundering has occasioned the Nigerian State and the fact that the twin vices are looked upon with derision by the global community. It is our contention that the prospect of Nigeria being categorized as a narco-state, and thus treated like a pariah in the comity of nations, on account of having a character with proven track record of involvement in the twin vices being illegitimately foisted as President, cannot be the legacy Mr. President will wish to bequeath on Nigeria and Nigerians.

 

With Mr. Tinubu’s history of involvement in international drug trafficking and money laundering, what and who is there to stop a repeat of the scenario of extra-jurisdictional arrests visited upon the former President of Panama, Mr. Manuel Noriega – who eventually died in a United States Federal Prison after being sentenced for drug trafficking related charges) and immediate past President of Honduras (Juan Hernandez (who is currently cooling his heels in a US prison on similar charges. I believe, Mr. President, that you indeed do have a modicum of love and respect for the Nigerian state and would not wish such calamity upon her.

 

The prospect of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) being ultimately answerable and accountable to an individual who had in time past forfeited humongous sums for involvement in the twin vices of drug trafficking and money laundering, is mindboggling and will be an indelible and destructive stain on the integrity, standing and moral fabric of the Nigerian state that will no doubt retard efforts by various past governments to pull Nigeria out of poverty and on the path of development.

 

 

6.      Perjury in lying about dual citizenship in affidavit submissions to INEC:

Not content with manipulating the electoral processes for own interest, whipping up ethnocentric sentiments which served to push Lagos, the economic nerve-center of Nigeria to the edge of inter-ethnic conflagration, and involvement in drug trafficking and money laundering offences which led to his forfeiture of colossal sums to the US Government, the same Mr. Tinubu is now, in documents presented to INEC towards facilitating his candidature for the said presidential elections, revealed to have lied under oath with regards to whether he has acquired the citizenship of another country other than Nigeria.

 

As Mr. President may be well aware, lying under oath is a serious offence under the Laws of Nigeria, moreso when the person who is suspected to have committed such offence is being foisted on Nigeria as its next president by virtue of uncouth practices earlier enumerated.

 

For the sake of consistent abhorrence of unconstitutional acts and illegalities, s Mr. President had swiftly, and we must add patriotically and lawfully, acted in the illegalities occasioned by INEC in the case of the Adamawa State gubernatorial supplementary elections, Mr. President is hereby called upon to act with urgency, to direct relevant law enforcement agencies to investigate, and prosecute whosoever is found culpable in the matters of Perjury, presentation of forged certificates to INEC and other infractions of the Constitution, Electoral Act and pursuant Guidelines and Regulations guiding the presidential elections processes.

 

If Mr. Tinubu is allowed to use the guise of being unconstitutionally declared as President-elect to avoid responsibility and accountability for his lies under oath in public affidavits, the Office of the President of the Federal Republic would have been unfortunately turned into a place of refuge for criminals.

 

 

Are issues raised here overtaken by the actions before the presidential elections Tribunal?

The question may be asked in some quarters: ‘are the issues being raised here for Mr. President attention and action not all issues pending before the Presidential Election Tribunals’ and thus subject to the doctrine of ‘lis pendens’ (matters already before a court for adjudication), and not worthy of presidential interventions as the Executive arm of Government may be accused of interfering in the judicial processes?

 

The answer to the above query is an emphatic ‘No’! The fact that civil remedies are being sought in a suit does not preclude requisite authorities from inquiries, investigations, prosecutions and taking other steps into the criminal components arising from facts pending in a civil action.

 

The Presidential Elections Tribunal is focused on civil claims. Perjury, presentation of forged certificates and violation of electoral laws are criminal law issues which the relevant law enforcement agencies can take up whensoever they consider appropriate, irrespective of the civil matters before the elections tribunals. The urgent need for law enforcement agencies to step in timeously and investigate the myriad allegations against Mr. Tinubu is buttressed by the fact that if, for any reason, the said so-called President-elect gets inaugurated into office, our Constitution accords him immunity from investigations and prosecution.

 

  

Mr. Presidents Valedictory Messages

As Mr. Presidents exit date from office draws increasingly near, Your Excellency has taken it upon himself to reassure Nigerians that you want to leave Nigeria a better, more peaceful and prosperous place then Your Excellency met it in 2015. Your Excellency asserted at your last Sallah meeting with high profile residents of Abuja, that you are desirous to return to your hometown, Daura, in Katsina State, where you will be retiring to, which is a trackable distance to the Republic of Niger, and that if Nigerians try to visit and disturb you at the expiry of your tenure, you will simply cross the border to have some rest.  At that same meeting, you rightly pleaded for forgiveness from Nigerians for whatsoever wrongs or errors you might have committed during your stay in office as President.

 

Regarding how Your Excellency will leave Nigeria by May 29^th 2023, when your tenure expires, it is quite late in the day to begin to wish or hope, as the reality of the impact of your current administration is quite entrenched and impossible to re-wish, one way or the other, in the 35 days you have remaining in office. For instance, the reality that at the inception, Nigeria was the fasted growing economy in all Africa is not in doubt; another reality is that as your administration exits, the same Nigeria has not only fallen off the list of 10 fastest growing economies in Africa, the country has attained the status of the Poverty Capital of the World.

 

To err, Sir, is human, to forgive divine. The people will no doubt be willing to forgive, as you have desired for past errors and misdeeds. I believe your assertion that since your hometown is a few kilometers to Republic of Niger, that you could easily walk away from Nigeria’s problems which you might have helped to foster, was a mere joke. It is however apt to correct that impression here, by reminding your goodself, Sir, of the happenings in Sudan, where citizens of Sudan are already flowing over into neighboring countries to take refuge. The Republic of Niger may not provide your Excellency the desired refuge, if you do not seize the present opportunity to right wrongs in Nigeria.

 

 

Presidential interventions sought:

The interventions hereby sought from Mr. President regarding the matters contained in this correspondence are germane, explicit and concise:  

1.      order all relevant law enforcement agencies to thoroughly investigate the sundry issues raised in this correspondence, and where deemed appropriate, prosecute the culprits, including the erring INEC Chairman and his collaborators – as Mr. President had done in the case of unconstitutional, unlawful and immoral acts committed by INEC in a wrongful declaration of a winner in the Adamawa State gubernatorial supplementary elections

2.      more specifically, order the NDLEA and the EFCC to investigate the forfeiture by Mr. Tinubu to the United States Government, to determine the likely consequences of such forfeitures to the Nigerian State, her peoples, integrity, and standing in the comity of nations; and

3.      ensure that inauguration into the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not used as a shield or ruse to avoid accountability and responsibility for crimes earlier committed.

 

Dear Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd.), Your Excellency, we hope you will seize this unique opportunity availed you by providence to right wrongs and assuage the multiple harms that have befallen Nigerians during your now-ending tenure. Quite a sizable number of Nigerians believe that Your Excellency may have vested interests in the unfolding impasse - we, however, write believing that altruistic patriotic considerations will trump whatsoever other considerations that might exist if indeed they do exist.  As you exercise the powers conferred on your office by the Constitution to do what is right for the people of Nigeria, we wish you a peaceful and quiet retirement within the borders of the country you have been opportune to rule for a cumulative period of over 9 years.

Yours respectfully,

 

 

Eze Eluchie, Esq.

 

 

NB: In view of the fact that this correspondence will be broaching on legal issues, we have routed this letter through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, in the believe that the said Minister will accord you deeper perspectives and insight into the contents thereof and the need to act timeously to safeguard the integrity of Nigeria, its Constitution and its position as a responsible member of the international community governed by the rule of law.

 

                        Pix: President Muhammadu Buhari and Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu