Time For National Healing-CPC

April 21, 2011 - 20:32

Good Morning, Gentlemen of the Press: Democracy is accepted universally as the best for the stability of Human governance. As eloquently attested to by recent happenings in the Arab world, more and more Nations are gravitating towards credible democratic governance!

Elections form the nucleus of Democracy. The plausible argument for this is that elections provide the people the constitutional empowerment of freely choosing their leaders.

Since the return of the Nigerian nation to democratic governance in 1999; there had been disputes trailing the conduct of each election. The election held in 2007 has, arguably, been adjudged as the worst in the electoral history of Nigeria.

The admission by the late President Umaru Musa-Yar’adua of the flawed election that brought him to power also lent credence to the need for putting in place a credible electoral process. In a demonstrable show of statesman-like disposition, concrete steps were taken in ensuring electoral reforms; the culmination of which was the empanelling of eminent Nigerians to navigate the way forward.

The major contention was the issue of true independence for the Electoral body. Though the recommendation of the eminent Nigerians was for the appointment of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be done by the National Judicial Commission, the government of the Federation felt otherwise.

The choice of Professor Attahiru Jega, a man with antecedent of meritorious service to the nation, was generally seen as a fitting response for the yearning of the people for demonstrable integrity at the top echelon of the commission.

The Electoral process was kick-started with an elaborate voters’ registration exercise, involving full biometric data capture- a development that drew applause as the necessary building block for the attainment of credible elections. Quite justifiably, the electronic register so produced contains data that should naturally facilitate resolution of electoral malpractices that have bedeviled past elections.

It is instructive to mention the hiccups experienced with the voters’ register verification exercise nationwide. There were numerous cases of prospective voters with valid voters’ cards not finding their names on original places of registration. This was attributed to the presence of virtual polling units, which are only known in greater details (of location and number
of registrants) by INEC without clear visibility by the Parties.

After a fault start, the national elections started with National Assembly elections on 9th April, 2011. As a way to give vim to the call for electoral transparency, INEC introduced the open-secret ballot system whereby voters would be expected to be accredited, vote and wait for the counting of the vote.

After polling, the result is displayed at the polling units. Afterwards, the results from the Polling Units are collated at the Ward Collation Centre (WCC). The aggregation of the results from the different wards are in turn done at the Local Government Collation Center (LCC). The results from the LCC are collated at the State Collation Center (SCC).

Ordinarily, this should be salutary; but on the contrary, transparency stops at the Polling Units while travesties hold sway. For instance, with the hindsight of two elections, it is clear why the PDP-led Federal Government sought the assent of the Council of States to use the Military for the Elections.

Despite the repeated assurances by INEC that soldiers would remain in their Barracks, only to be deployed to quell incendiary occurrences; the reality on the field was that at each collation center, soldiers were deployed to block the way of officials from opposition parties while granting unfettered access to the ruling PDP chieftains.

BUILD UP TO CONFLAGRATION
After National Assembly elections, on Sunday the 10th of April 2011; the governor of Jigawa state, Alhaji Sule Lamido drove to the private house of Alhaji Farouk Adamu, the Gubernatorial candidate for Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), in a manner reminiscent of a conquering war-lord over an occupied territory.

After the ensued pandemonium, over hundred canisters of tear-gas had been fired and the brother-in-law to Alhaji Adamu forcibly removed from the premises. Alhaji Farouk Adamu was also detained for several hours by the State Security Services (SSS).

At the wake of the bomb blast in Suleja, Niger State; the CPC house of Assembly candidate, Alhaji Abdullahi Lado, was arrested by SSS on March 3rd in an intimidating swoop on opposition candidates. He had been held incommunicado ever since, despite that there had been another more devastating bomb blast in Suleja.

On Sunday the 10th of April, 2011; two men (Messrs Akinlolu Akinto and Habila Stephen) were caught with a van loaded with about 100,000 ballot papers for the presidential elections of Saturday the 16th April, 2011. On further investigation by the police, they averred that about five of them were involved in the same business. On thorough search of the printing press, an additional one million copies were discovered.

At the end, it was discovered that over twenty-five million ballot papers had been printed by this company called TULIP PRESS belonging to Alhaji Bello Gwandu, the former managing director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). Meanwhile, the accused persons were released by the Police because they were identified as INEC contractors.

When INEC was contacted to shed more light on this, we were simply told that contractors were expected to produce dummy ballot papers.

On further inquiry, we were told that dummy ballot papers were printed to deceive voters with valid card but unable to find their names on the register. Though this was not part of the process made visible to political parties; we were still at a loss why a whooping 25 million of such ballot papers would be printed. The explanation left much to be desired.

At the beginning of the preparations for the elections, Professor Jega pointedly asserted that the ballot papers for the election would be printed outside the shores of the land. But with the spate of numerous cases of ballot stuffing, the INEC Chairman had, in a volte face, admitted to the ballot papers being printed in Nigeria and distributed directly to the states by the same contractors. This is a clear infraction of the electoral act which requires the Political Parties to examine the electoral materials for the states!

Owing to the assurances by INEC that the votes of the electorate would count in the elections, many Nigerians saw the opportunity presented by the elections to use their vote to remove from power the political party that had brought them misery and woe in the last twelve years. Two notable examples: In Kano, a woman endured birth contraction and delivered while on the queue to cast her vote. In Kaduna, a woman just put to bed earlier in the day and begged to be taken to her Polling unit to cast her vote!
 
2011 Presidential Election.
As stated earlier, the electoral process was anything but fair and transparent after the Polling Units.

The time is propitious to give a snap shot across the states:

ABUJA—Many cars stuffed with ballot papers were alleged to have driven out of the FCT minister’s residence.

RIVERS-    The Hausa community prevented from voting.

NASARAWA- Ballot papers given not enough in most polling units eg.
PU/25/08/07/037 in Lafia.

GOMBE- Hon Magaji Doho in KWAMI LGA was apprehended with ballot papers. Also in Bajoga the DPO and the electoral officer were caught with ballot papers.

BAUCHI- In Missau and Azare LGA with short supply of ballot papers. 45,000
ballot papers missing in missau.

In Bajoga, there was ballot stuffing in the house of Dr Musa Babayo’ house. In Bogor LGA, There was ballot stuffing at Dr James Landi’s house.

AKWA IBOM- Voters were intimidated at ward 1 unit 1 David Ejoor barracks. Armed thugs chased away INEC Staff at polling units.

IMO- At Umueshi ward, Idiato South LGA, accreditation and voting were done at the same time before 12:00 noon.

BORNO- 12 JEEPS arrested with ballot papers, but the police later released them.

KADUNA- Fulani   herdsmen in kagoma, chased away in Kagoma, Aso and Bade in JAMA’A LGA. COLLATION AT INEC SITUATION ROOM, ABUJA.

The INEC Chairman appointed notable academics as state coordinators for the Presidential elections. Some coordinators’ presentations were suspended after discrepancies were discovered in their figures; which lend credence to the fact that they only read out what was handed down by their collation officers.

The attention of the INEC Chairman was drawn to many infractions of the electoral process by our representatives. After conferring with his colleagues, he called for a recess. On resumption, he simply ignored revisiting the issues and went ahead with the announcement.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE EFFECT.
Following the announcement, there were spontaneous incendiary protests in many parts of the Nation, notably the North. Many cases of arson were reported and lives lost, mainly of innocent people. We hereby seize this opportunity again to sue for peace and equally pray for the them families of the deceased that the Almighty God would grant them the grace and fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

We have taken notice of the overzealousness of our security agencies. The tense atmosphere in some parts of Northern Nigeria is being exploited by the security forces to intimidate and decimate opposition parties ahead of the Governorship and Assembly elections on 26th April, 2011.

Indiscriminate arrests of opposition functionaries are rife at this time. As we speak, over 200 CPC party agents (for the next elections) have been picked up by the security forces and kept incommunicado. The same acts of fascism are also being perpetrated in Minna, Kontagora, Suleja, Minna, Sokoto and Kaduna.

In Kaduna, Sheik Abubakar Tureta had his rights crudely abused when some Policemen stormed his house and took away  over 20 Islamic adherents under his custody. On calling the Inspector General of Police (IGP), he was coldly told, “because you are not with us.”  The right to choose one’s political persuasion is firmly guaranteed in the Nigerian constitution.

The over-militarization of Northern Nigeria is already creating a siege mentality among the people. By merely pasting of electioneering campaign posters of CPC is enough to earn an individual detention without trial.

Aside the debilitating effect of the curfew in states of the North, the shoot-on-sight order had been used to maximally decimate the opposition parties ahead of the state assembly and governorship elections on April 26, 2011.

Meanwhile, it is instructive to correct the insidious notion being peddled around that the protests were sponsored and ethno-religious. Nothing can be farther from the truth!

In the last 48 hours, some people have even told us as party leaders to call the protesters to order as if we have leash on them. General Muhammadu Buhari, in a statesman-like manner, had sued for peace. It must be stressed here that on Monday the 18th of April, 2011; while travelling to Abuja from Kaduna, General Buhari’s convoy was attacked. The drivers escaped with injuries.

The fact that the protests evinced the torching of the residence of notable traditional rulers of Northern extraction showed that the raison d’être was non-religious.

In our checkered political history, there had been similar spontaneous protests by the people in some other parts of the country; at that time nobody was accused of instigating the voters.

We want to seize this opportunity to alert the nation on the ominous signs of the use of coercive power of the state to diminish the strength of the opposition and  create the ambience for massive manipulation of polling.

Meanwhile, I wish to intimate our teeming supporters and the nation at large about the ruling of the Appeal court in the governorship tussle among CPC members in Kano and Katsina states. The governorship candidate for Kano State is Brig-Gen Lawal Jafar-Isa and his counterpart for Katsina state is Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari.

Let me say clearly that all hands must be on deck to ensure the party’s success not only in these states, but also in all other states. It is time to eschew bitterness and bickering so that we would record resounding success.

I thank you for your attention.
Rotimi Fashakin.

http://www.saharareporters.com/press-release/time-national-healing-cpc

These parties need to start articulating their fundamental idea on how to fix the centralized system we have. It is foolhardy to expect anything better than nonsense from the silly over-centralized FG system we have.

The center controls too much power. It will be foolish to expect the President to sit down and watch his party defeated when he has absolute control over the Police, Army, INEC, Treasury, Ports(air and land), and an overwhelming majority in the House of Assembly with little to no oversight.

Men are not infallible and Politicians are not saints. We need to help them so they can help themselves.

Reduce the power of the central government and strengthen checks and balances, if we don't make this fundamental changes, we will continue to see this massive chaos until we become Somalia.

Hopefully sensible people across all parties will gain the upper hand in the next four years. I'm not betting on it.

The political elite do not know what is happening on the ground. They are not connected to the pulse of this nation. We want DIVISION!

Kilode?!:

These parties need to start articulating their fundamental idea on how to fix the centralized system we have. It is foolhardy to expect anything better than nonsense from the silly over-centralized FG system we have.

The center controls too much power. It will be foolish to expect the Predident to sit down and watch his party defeated when he has absolute control over the Police, Army, INEC, Treasury, Ports(air and land), and an overwhelming majority in the House of Assembly with little to no oversight.

Men are not infallible and Politicians are not saints. We need to help them so they can help themselves.

Reduce the power of the central government and strengthen checks and balances, if we don't make this fundamental changes, we will continue to see this massive chaos until we become Somalia.

Hopefully sensible people across all parties will gain the upper hand in the next four years. I'm not betting on it.

Thats one way to look at it, but the clearer picture on the ground is that Nigerians are not yet as sophisticated as that. 99% of the votes buhari got was because of extremism and the whole northerner syndrome and nothing else. The people do not want things to change thats how I see it.

What stops the CPC from issuing a statement condeming the killing of corp members?
What stops the CPC from seriously campaigning using their influence in the North to protect these innocent people?
Why the fck do they trivialise the deaths of these very brave Nigerians?

THEY SHOULD GET OUT JOR!

Chrisbenogor:

Thats one way to look at it, but the clearer picture on the ground is that Nigerians are not yet as sophisticated as that. 99% of the votes buhari got was because of extremism and the whole northerner syndrome and nothing else. The people do not want things to change thats how I see it.

Nigerians will not get "sophisticated"(we are culturally sophisticated enough though-another topic) soon. But that is why we don't have 150million people in government, the political class are supposed to be the solution providers, the top echelon of society, they are clearly failing the rest of us. The mass of our people may not understand how to change things but if the top 0.1% are clueless about it too, then we can continue to expect more chaos.

EDIT: qualified "sophisticated"

Chrisbenogor:

What stops the CPC from issuing a statement condeming the killing of corp members?
What stops the CPC from seriously campaigning using their influence in the North to protect these innocent people?
Why the fck do they trivialise the deaths of these very brave Nigerians?

THEY SHOULD GET OUT JOR!

These are the symptoms of a disorganized system, as terrible as these deaths are, like so many political and social conflicts we've had in Nigeria, they are just symptoms of a disease that needs to be addressed.

After we are done mourning, crying, blaming, grieving and sometimes hating, we will have to focus our attention on fixing the system and the root causes. Else we will repeat the cycle again.

Chrisbenogor:

What stops the CPC from issuing a statement condeming the killing of corp members?
What stops the CPC from seriously campaigning using their influence in the North to protect these innocent people?
Why the fck do they trivialise the deaths of these very brave Nigerians?

THEY SHOULD GET OUT JOR!

I think they issued a statement and gave a speech condemning the violence and the  killings.

Kilode?!:

Nigerians will not get sophisticated soon. But that is why we don't have 150million people in government, the political class are supposed to be the solution providers, the top echelon of society, they are clearly failing the rest of us. The mass of our people may not understand how to change things but if the top 0.1% are clueless about it too, then we can continue to expect more chaos.

These are the symptoms of a disorganized system, as terrible as these deaths are, like so many political and social conflicts we've had in Nigeria, they are just symptoms of a disease that needs to be addressed.

After we are done mourning, crying, blaming, grieving and sometimes hating, we will have to focus our attention on fixing the system and the root causes. Else we will repeat the cycle again.

My grouse is this, we are complaining about a ruling party that is not doing enough. The opposition are worse off, I curse the day I thought to vote in Buhari and the CPC obviously all they care about is the North. I ask again is it too difficult to organize a press conference and condemn the killing of any youth corp member? I mean this bad too bad, how will these people then assure us that they are willing to listen to the cries of people not outside their region?

Look Yar adua was forced on us through a farce that was called an election, why did they not go about killing people in the North then? Oh well because they got what they wanted abi? having fully experienced the NYSC I fcking know what these people that died are passing through am sorry I am might not be rational I am just so angry!

OAM4J:

I think they issued a statement and gave a speech condemning the violence and the  killings.

As I speak I have first hand reports of text messages moving around the north threatening the live of these corp members. Postponing the elections in those states was as a result of the credible threat JEGA knew these young people face. Would it be too much for Buhari to come out and say nobody should take any life in my name or for my sake ? Really would it be too much? Or is it all about how to get power for them? Did you manage to catch the cold interview he gave on Al jazeera?

Chrisbenogor:

My grouse is this, we are complaining about a ruling party that is not doing enough. The opposition are worse off, I curse the day I thought to vote in Buhari and the CPC obviously all they care about is the North. I ask again is it too difficult to organize a press conference and condemn the killing of any youth corp member? I mean this bad too bad, how will these people then assure us that they are willing to listen to the cries of people not outside their region?

Look Yar adua was forced on us through a farce that was called an election, why did they not go about killing people in the North then? Oh well because they got what they wanted abi? having fully experienced the NYSC I fcking know what these people that died are passing through am sorry I am might not be rational I am just so angry!

You are still focused on the symptoms, I'm trying to address the fundamentals. I do not care about the parties right now. CPC, ACN PDP, they have work to do and roles to play if we want to prevent Somalia on our a$$es.

I repeat, while the killings of the past week, like several killings in the course of our political history are regrettable and should be condemned, I'm expecting more to happen and nothing will be done to get anyone any justice until we address the Fundamentals. Fix the system and the problem will be half-solved.

Kilode?!:

You are still focused on the symptoms, I'm trying to address the fundamentals. I do not care about the parties right now. CPC, ACN PDP, they have work to do and roles to play if we want to prevent Somalia on our a$$es.

I repeat, while the killings of the past week, like several killings in the course of our political history are regrettable and should be condemned, I'm expecting more to happen and nothing will be done to get anyone any justice until we address the Fundamentals. Fix the system and the problem will be half-solved.

And the first step would be to stop sending Corp members to the north Shikena!

My brother see, this country is polarised like it or not. I tried to open up these discussions in my analysis thread but I am just too consumed by grief to continue you can look it up.

Chris

Buhari has come out to condemn the killings, he has said that it is against the Islamic Religion to kill anybody, he has said it about two or three times, let Jonathan protect the lives of Nigerians by deploying his agencies to crack down on these people before they attack.

hercules07:

Chris

Buhari has come out to condemn the killings, he has said that it is against the Islamic Religion to kill anybody, he has said it about two or three times, let Jonathan protect the lives of Nigerians by deploying his agencies to crack down on these people before they attack.

Can you give me a link caused I watched his interview.

It is high-time the governors of these states to take responsibility for the deaths of especially the youth corpers. the governors should be made to vacate their sit if they cannot secure their people. Enough of cpc this, pdp that.

Chrisbenogor:

Can you give me a link caused I watched his interview.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13126971
I think an audio is attached to that report, I don't know if it's in hausa, you can check it, it was posted on some NL threads earlier in the week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13126839
Another report

Yes bro, we will continue the discussion on other threads, Many of us have raised the need to focus on fundamental and radical changes, until we do that, we will continue groping in the dark.

I see no reason why division should be off the table too, by we can't even get anywhere until we start focusing on these things politically.

I thought they weren't ready to call off their pack of bloodsuckers and murderers? CPC also got the distinct impression that they were on the war path, why the belated quest for healing by a blood thirsty "political" party.
Just yesterday, Odumakin strongly questioned Jega's integrity, why the sudden swooning over his character.

[size=14pt]We seriously don't wish to hear anything from these creatures of gore. What Nigerians demand is that they shut the eff up and head for court, nobody is blinded by their hollow cries. Please Mr Buhari, put a cork on the stench from your mouth and GO TO COURT. How long does it take to go to bloody court?[/size]

In the last 48 hours, some people have even told us as party leaders to call the protesters to order as if we have leash on them. General Muhammadu Buhari, in a statesman-like manner, had sued for peace. It must be stressed here that on Monday the 18th of April, 2011; while travelling to Abuja from Kaduna, General Buhari’s convoy was attacked. The drivers escaped with injuries.

More of that, now he's very methods are hunting his steps. Its karma blowing in the wind.

Chrisbenogor:

My grouse is this, we are complaining about a ruling party that is not doing enough. The opposition are worse off, I curse the day I thought to vote in Buhari and the CPC obviously all they care about is the North. I ask again is it too difficult to organize a press conference and condemn the killing of any youth corp member? I mean this bad too bad, how will these people then assure us that they are willing to listen to the cries of people not outside their region?

Look Yar adua was forced on us through a farce that was called an election, why did they not go about killing people in the North then? Oh well because they got what they wanted abi? having fully experienced the NYSC I fcking know what these people that died are passing through am sorry I am might not be rational I am just so angry!

I am overjoyed that I have lived to see this day. Welcome to the truth bruv, its never too late. We preached it and got kicked, heckled and abused on NL; the pain I feel though, is in the power with which the truth has kicked us in the teeth and left a trail of blood, death, destruction, trauma and sorrow. Sometimes I wonder why people never really cared to check the info we supplied, because it was always real.