[size=14pt]This Nonsense Has to Stop Now![/size]
24 Apr 2011
Simon Kolawole Live!: Email: simonkolawole@thisdayonline.com

Finally, I am beginning to question my convictions about the unity, peace and progress of Nigeria. After fifty years of independence and almost 100 years of amalgamation, Nigeria is still in shreds despite several efforts to stitch a country together. Hawkers of hate and vendors of violence always seem to have the upper hand. The sanctity of life is rubbish as far as they are concerned. When I saw the violence and killing spree that erupted up North after last Saturday’s presidential election, my ever-abiding faith in the unity of Nigeria was shaken to its very foundation. The only positive I could take out is that there were no reprisals in the South. This, as little as it may appear, has doused what might have become a widespread national calamity. I shiver at the thought of what might have been.

[b]By the way, I am a believer in Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. I started dreaming of a Buhari presidency in 1998. I supported him wholeheartedly against ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003 and against Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2007. But I saw certain things in the run-up to the 2011 presidential election that toned down my enthusiasm. First, I was very uncomfortable with the ethnic and religious undertone to the mobilisation for him. I kept getting reports of the messages being preached against President Goodluck Jonathan by Northern clerics on the ground that he is a “kafir”. I was further put off by the use of sheer intimidation and blackmail by Buhari’s supporters to force people to support their man.

Most importantly, I was highly discouraged by the failure of Buhari to factor the South into his political calculations. Since 2003, he had never won anything in the South.  If you’re going to be president of Nigeria, you have to reach out to all. Nobody is ever going to be president of Nigeria by appealing to only the people from his region and religion. In widely published news reports, Second Republic senator and deputy co-ordinator of Jonathan/Sambo Campaign Organisation in the North-central, Senator Walid Jibrin, pointedly accused Buhari’s party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), of whipping up religious sentiments against Jonathan in the North. It was an open secret. I was so worried because I knew where all these things would end up. Nevertheless, I believed it was overzealousness on the part of Buhari’s men, because the Buhari I know is not a bigot. Perhaps it was just politics.

Following the violence that erupted after Buhari’s defeat, it is amazing how some analysts have been so untouched by the killing of innocent Nigerians, including youth corps members, but have instead focused attention on politicking with figures. It is so amazing that some are trying to hide behind the “outrageous figures” Jonathan got from the South-south and the South-east to justify the killings in the North. These analysts tacitly support the mindless murders while pretending not to. They conveniently ignore the underage voting and the intimidation that jacked up the figures for Buhari in the far North. To them, there is nothing to be said about that. It is sauce for the gander and poison for the goose. Of course, under no condition should rigging be justified but fairness further demands that you don’t close your eyes to wrongdoing on any side anywhere in the country. How on earth can a sane person try to explain away the killing of innocent souls for any reason at all?[/b]

It is even more amazing that some people are saying the violence was not premeditated, that it was “spontaneous”. I beg to disagree. The violence started in Gombe on Saturday even before the results were announced. The Adamawa version erupted on Sunday night while we were still awaiting the results. Then it spread to other states. I don’t want to believe the rioters were so sophisticated that they had already compiled the results by themselves on Saturday or Sunday ahead of INEC’s announcement on Monday evening. They were being pushed to kill, to shed blood, to slaughter. By whom, I don’t know. But there was nothing spontaneous about that.

Come to think of it, the targets were clearly picked: anybody suspected to have supported Jonathan was put on the firing line. It was not just “kafirs” that were targeted. Even any Hausa/Fulani suspected to have supported Jonathan was dealt with for “selling out”. This explains why even the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, was not spared the venom, allegedly for asking people not to vote along religious lines. A politician friend of mine from Malumfashi, Katsina State, said his house was burnt because he was a PDP member. “The houses of eight of us who are PDP members were selected and burnt, even though Buhari won our local government by a landslide,” he lamented to me on phone. A similar thing, called “Wetie”, happened in the old Western Region in 1964-65: anybody suspected of working for the ruling Northern Peoples Congress was tagged a quisling and marked for murder. What have we learnt since then? Are we not going backward?

Indeed, violence and intimidation had been systematically unleashed long before the general election began. Jonathan’s campaign office in Damaturu, Yobe State, was burnt down. When he went to campaign in Kaduna, his billboards were pulled down by youths shouting “Sai Buhari”. His campaign train was pelted with missiles in Lafia, Nasarawa State, and Gombe, Gombe State. Across the far North, people were routinely stopped and forced to chant “Sai Buhari”. You dear not say anything to the contrary! A former military governor told me he was returning from the mosque one day when Buhari’s supporters mobbed his car and asked him to tell them whom he was supporting. People were being forced to covert to “Buharism” through mob action. There is nothing spontaneous in this. Yet I insist that Buhari I know is not a violent politician. His campaign, to my mind, was hijacked by opportunists.

Why is Buhari so popular among the commoners up North? We need to understand the region’s socio-political structure a bit. There is a religious establishment, controlled by the clerics, and the political establishment in the hands of the political elite. Then there are the ordinary people on the street. The clerics wield the biggest influence on the crowd. The crowd goes wherever the clerics point to. The ordinary people detest the political elite because of perceived corruption and insensitivity to the plight of the masses. The political leaders are seen as oppressors. On the other hand, Buhari is seen as an honest person, “Mai Gaskiya”, the antithetical politician. He is, to the people, the liberator who would deal with the oppressors. It was very easy for the clerics to market Buhari; after all, he was running against a “kafir” and a “usurper” (Jonathan).

[b]There was this interesting story of a cleric in Sokoto who bought buckets of black paint, gathered four of his children and marched them to the streets with the singular assignment of removing or defacing Jonathan's posters anywhere they were found. In a newspaper interview he granted after he was arrested, quizzed and released by security agents, the cleric said he did it because Jonathan violated the zoning principle of the PDP as it was the turn of the North to rule Nigeria. This is intriguing. Zoning used to be seen as a PDP thing. But as soon as Jonathan won PDP’s ticket in January, zoning became everybody’s problem. Many of my Northern friends who used to support Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and hated Buhari with passion quickly shifted their support to the retired general and started calling him an honest person. And even though it was not openly pronounced, Buhari had become the official Northern candidate. Many politicians, some of them criminals and PDP riggers, seized the opportunity and defected to the CPC, knowing fully well that Buhari’s popularity was going to be a stepping stone to winning elections.

But beyond the emotions of the mob out there, could Buhari have won the presidential election? From indications, he believed he would win enough votes in the North to force a run-off. He had no presence in the South at all. I have said it a million times that nobody can become president of Nigeria by winning votes in his region alone. His strategy, as I understand it, is that if he led with a simple majority of votes based on the North’s population, then there would be a run-off which he would also win relying on the North’s population. The miscalculation here, in my opinion, is that the North would vote as one. Someone even told me Buhari would win in the 19 Northern states. I did warn Northern politicians last year that the North could never vote as one. It has never happened before. The most popular political figure ever produced by the North, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, never won in all the provinces in Northern Nigeria![/b]

Some smart analysts have told us that the post-election killings in the North should be understood within the context of rigging in the South. If it had not been rigged, they said, Buhari’s strategy would have worked. One strand of this belief is that Buhari won the election and INEC deducted 40 per cent from his votes, thereby handing victory to Jonathan (Buhari called it “computer fraud” and said he had evidence). If this is true, Buhari would still not have won the election. He was credited with 12,214,853 votes to Jonathan’s 22,495,187. If Buhari’s votes were marked up by 40 per cent across the 36 states and Abuja, his total would be 20,358,088, still almost 2 million votes less that Jonathan’s. Yet, no fair-minded person would say Buhari scored 40 per cent of the votes anywhere in the South. It was an impossibility. I never saw how Tony Momoh and Yinka Odumakin were going to deliver those 40 per cent Southern votes to the CPC.

[b]The other strand of this belief is that the figures from the South-south and South-east were “sexed up”. To be honest, the voter turnout in these two regions was staggering and suspicious. There is no doubt about that. There is no amount of explanation that will make me believe those funny figures from Abia, Imo, Rivers, Bayelsa and Anambra. But, let’s be reasonable here: even if we discount the “rigging” by as much as 70 per cent to keep voter turnout in the two regions at 30 per cent (compared to South-west’s 32 per cent turnout), Jonathan would still have polled 14,722,489. He would still have defeated Buhari by over 2 million votes. In fact, if the entire votes attributed to Jonathan from his region, South-south, were taken out, he would still have scored 16,376,579. He would still have won. So why the orchestration of violence and killings over a lost case?

And may I ask: how come the statistics experts conveniently ignore the massive underage voting incidence up North? One of the youth corps members who was murdered in cold blood in Bauchi had said on his facebook page that CPC supporters forced underage voters on him and demanded that the remaining ballot papers be handed over to them for thumb-printing. Is that acceptable? Fairness demands that we should condemn both the sexed-up figures from the South as well as underage voting in the North. It is illogical to say every vote for Buhari was legal and willingly given, while only Jonathan “sexed up” his own figures. The best way to sort out this sort of problem is by legal means, not arson and slaughter. Those who attempt to justify the killings on the basis of some warped statistics should have their heads examined.[/b]

[size=14pt]I would sum up in this wise. One, the violence we witnessed last week was premeditated; the timing and the targets, in addition to the history of attacks that preceded the polls, put a lie to the suggestion that it was spontaneous. Two, the tension in the North over zoning—or the likelihood of a Northerner not occupying the No 1 position until 2019—contributed to the violence significantly; if Jonathan had not run, and say Atiku or IBB had defeated Buhari last Saturday, there would have been no killings.[/size] Three, even though Buhari is a good and credible candidate, his failure to command good following in the South, or work out an alliance with the ACN, was a political handicap for him; it was just practically impossible for him to win the presidential election with Northern votes alone, especially as the North was never going to vote in one direction.

Finally, while I agree that the figures from the South-south and South-east were too good to be true, even a generous discount would still not give victory to Buhari in those zones. Therefore, we should condemn the underage voting and forced support for Buhari in the North with the same passion with which we condemn the figures from the South-south and South-east. Justice must be done. Buhari and his supporters should gather their evidence and head for the tribunal. The fact that he lost at the courts in 2003 and 2007 does not mean there is no hope of a judicial victory, especially as Buhari says he has concrete evidence to prove that his votes were stolen or robbed off. Also, those who were responsible for the killings—and the reprisal killings—must be brought to book. The time has come for the government to show that it means business when it comes to protecting the lives of Nigerians. This nonsense must stop.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/this-nonsense-has-to-stop-now-/90206/

Had to read thru the entire interesting but long article.
This guy nailed it.
Where are all those CPC ardents?

Even if we discount the “rigging” by as much as 70 per cent to keep voter turnout in the two regions at 30 per cent (compared to South-west’s 32 per cent turnout), Jonathan would still have polled 14,722,489. He would still have defeated Buhari by over 2 million votes. So why the orchestration of violence and killings over a lost case?

This is mere conjecture and unfounded speculation which misses the point of the protests completely. The point is not whether GEJ should have won but that the rigging should have got his candidacy disqualified. This writer also assumes that the violence and killings were orchestrated by CPC, an unfortunate and disappointing stance.

We all condemn the violence, but we must not allow the action of irresponsible few put us in a position to continue to accept the rigging machine of PDP without protesting, preferably peacefully.

I'd be glad to read the author's article next week after PDP rigs Ogun Oyo, and Lagos. Based on the author's logic, we should just roll over and let it be, because violence is bad. olodo

Well written. Very well written!!!!

ndu_chucks:

This is mere conjecture and unfounded speculation which misses the point of the protests completely. The point is not whether GEJ should have won but that the rigging should have got his candidacy disqualified. This writer also assumes that the violence and killings were orchestrated by CPC, an unfortunate and disappointing stance.

We all condemn the violence, but we must not allow the action of irresponsible few put us in a position to continue to accept the rigging machine of PDP without protesting, preferably peacefully.

I'd be glad to read the author's article next week after PDP rigs Ogun Oyo, and Lagos. Based on the author's logic, we should just roll over and let it be, because violence is bad. olodo

So that you can guarantee that a northerner will win.

And you will not disqualify Buhari for underage voting? I hope you saw the reference to the facebook update where under age voters were forced on the corp member. You also would have seen where he said that they demanded the remaining ballot from him.

Did you also hear that 3 ballot boxes were recovered from some of the killers arrested?

They dont get to read that part of the story!
They want to subject SS &SE papers for forensic analysis and I ask, what happens to those frm the north?
These guys really thnk we are fools

PDP rigged and CPC rigged at the end the of the day, the two riggings countered each other and the true winner emerged!

Why then are they killing people?!

@ndu_chucks
Even the courts would not disqualify a candidate for the actions of somebody else. Did you hear that he personal conducted any acts of vote rigging or what? This is what I don't like about both sides of this issue. They keep going for the "unreasonable" extreme in their arguments. In any case, the wanton destruction of lives, especially those of defenseless youth corpers in their midst, cannot be justified no matter how you cut it.

It just smells to hear Buhari supporters going from accusing PDP of vote inflation to Buhari would have won in a free and fair election to Buhari won the election to the rigging should have disqualified GEJ's candidacy. Bakare did his own magomago calculations already where he sees 50% of PDP votes taken away to bring GEJ's total to just under Buhari's 12 million. This is nothing but comedy for the masses - the courts are there to settle the matter. What are we going to do about the underage kids that went to the polls up north?

As for PDP rigging the election in the SW next Tuesday, they have already being warned. Mind you, we are not talking about the same kind of rigging. GEJ would have won the SS/SE handily without any accusation of rigging, but for PDP's overzealousness . On the other hand, rigging in the SW would actually be overtuning people's desires not fraudulently enhancing it.

Still it doesn't mean that the SW will devolve into violence or start going after people based on ethnicity or religion or start killing youth corpers. As it happened in Osun, Ekiti and Ondo so it will be - PDP will cough up the people's mandate, whether they like it or not.

The fact is that Buhari put himself in a position not to win this election. He virtually conceeded the SS/SE to GEJ, waited till the upteenth hour, when he had no viable offers to make to the ACN, for an alliance, and did not even have the North and Middle-Belt firmly under his belt - where was his win supposed to come from?

ndu_chucks:

This is mere conjecture and unfounded speculation which misses the point of the protests completely. The point is not whether GEJ should have won but that the rigging should have got his candidacy disqualified.  This writer also assumes that the violence and killings were orchestrated by CPC, an unfortunate and disappointing stance.

We all condemn the violence, but we must not allow the action of irresponsible few put us in a position to continue to accept the rigging machine of PDP without protesting, preferably peacefully.

I'd be glad to read the author's article next week after PDP rigs Ogun Oyo, and Lagos. Based on the author's logic, we should just roll over and let it be, because violence is bad. olodo

Odunnu:

They dont get to read that part of the story!
They want to subject SS &SE papers for forensic analysis and I ask, what happens to those frm the north?
These guys really thnk we are fools

If it is proven that the entire election was rigged then it should just be annulled.I believe everywhere had irregularities but the SS/SE case is ridiculous.

Rigging is rigging whether it is riggiclous or ridiculous

. . .and i'm sure you guys didnt even read the part where the author of that article said that violence against perceived antiBB agents started way before results were announced!

Well said.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201104192531878
Monday hailed the National Assembly and  presidential elections, saying they represented a  departure from previous flawed polls.  The international groups, including the  Commonwealth, European Union and the National Democratic Institute, stated this at separate news  conferences in Abuja. In a report presented by its Chairman, Mr. Festus  Mogae, the Commonwealth Group said that the  April 2011  elections “marked a genuine celebration of democracy in Africa’s most populous country and a key member of the Commonwealth. “Previously held notions that Nigeria can only  hold flawed elections are now being discarded and  this country can now shake off that stigma and  redeem its image.” He stated that in spite of organisational  deficiencies that characterised the botched April 2  polls, “the elections for the National Assembly and the presidency were both credible and creditable  and reflected the will of the Nigerian people.” The Commonwealth group attributed the success  of the electoral process to the respect enjoyed by  the Independent National Electoral Commission  and its Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega. “In him (Jega) the nation was able to look up to a  person of deep integrity, transparency and  commitment, who was determined to make every  Nigerian’s vote count,” he added. Mogae also commended members of the National  Youth Service Corps, who worked as INEC ad hoc  staff. Assessing the electoral process, he said campaigns  were generally peaceful. The former president of  Botswana, however, said that the group was  saddened by instances of violence during the  campaigns He urged INEC to improve the secrecy of voting,  adding that polling units should be better  improved. The EU, in a preliminary report presented by its  Chief Observer, Alojz Peterle,  said, “The  presidential . . . .

Every body every where else hailing Nigeria's polls except a bunch of depraved simpletons, keep deceiving your miserable selves.

Rigging or no rigging is not the issue, Nigeria is not a banana republic. You cannot just take issues into your hands whenever you perceive some wrong doing against you, no country can survive when the rule of law is not followed. In north Africa where there has been a lot of protests we do not hear of people killing people from the presidents village or town, all protests where directed at the leadership. Why is Nigeria's case always different? Justice must be seen to be served, no sweeping under the carpet and saying God will judge or enough is enough. This has happened for far too long, in Jos so many innocent people were murdered for no reason including Youth Corpers and nobody was brought to book.  Is it that difficult to find out who the ringleaders of these killings are? you only need some basic police work to find out the ringleaders and foot-soldiers who carry out this dastardly acts but because of politics everything is swept under the carpet.

Grand delusion is what Bhuari and his supporters are suffering from. there is no path to victory for them in this Presidential election. They conceed 2 regions out of six before the election, got less than 10% in the other southern region, also discount the mid belt states.

Even, the court are humans, they will reason along the lines of the writer of this articles because if they deduct the amount of 'excess votes' even in the south althogether, BB CPC will still not have enough votes. Plus if they also go for the underage in the North, the eqaution of the difference will propably remain the same from where they start from, that is GEJ won about the same amunt of majority votes apart from the 25% in 24 states.

The only plan of BB is to win the Presidency of Nigeria via the Northern 'dodgy census majority' what they forgotten that it will be a bad victory for them as he will simply become the 'president of northern nigeria' Bhuari candidacy is based on Majority votes from the North assuming that the North will vote enblock for a Muslim ( which he advocated some while back) , what about the middle belters and Northern minority christuans or people who just not believe in Bhuari and his charade.

Mr. Bhuari should not try to forced himself on us, this is not 1983, and certainly NOT a Military country anymore. Part of the attribute of a good leader is to look at the whole picture and accept that good as you may claim to be, the people simply do not want you to lead them. Even Moses was reject by the Isrealites whist doing good for them.

My take  is that CPC and Bhuari want to rule NIGERIA BY INTIMIDATION AND FORCE, once a coupist always a coupist. His mindset has not change in spite of being in a civil dispensation. He should tell all his suppporters to go to court.


The tone of theis violence was set when a l'eader'
started at the outset of the election started using languages like ' lynching'ere is the rule of law?, what about 'wild wild North' ? do these people think there could be no wilw wild south?
The article is the best so far on all the issues outstanding and I commend it for anyone to read it.

koruji:

@ndu_chucks
Even the courts would not disqualify a candidate for the actions of somebody else. Did you hear that he personal conducted any acts of vote rigging or what? This is what I don't like about both sides of this issue. They keep going for the "unreasonable" extreme in their arguments. In any case, the wanton destruction of lives, especially those of defenseless youth corpers in their midst, cannot be justified no matter how you cut it.

It just smells to hear Buhari supporters going from accusing PDP of vote inflation to Buhari would have won in a free and fair election to Buhari won the election to the rigging should have disqualified GEJ's candidacy. Bakare did his own magomago calculations already where he sees 50% of PDP votes taken away to bring GEJ's total to just under Buhari's 12 million. This is nothing but comedy for the masses - the courts are there to settle the matter. What are we going to do about the underage kids that went to the polls up north?

As for PDP rigging the election in the SW next Tuesday, they have already being warned. Mind you, we are not talking about the same kind of rigging. GEJ would have won the SS/SE handily without any accusation of rigging, but for PDP's overzealousness . On the other hand, rigging in the SW would actually be overtuning people's desires not fraudulently enhancing it.

Still it doesn't mean that the SW will devolve into violence or start going after people based on ethnicity or religion or start killing youth corpers. As it happened in Osun, Ekiti and Ondo so it will be - PDP will cough up the people's mandate, whether they like it or not.

The fact is that Buhari put himself in a position not to win this election. He virtually conceeded the SS/SE to GEJ, waited till the upteenth hour, when he had no viable offers to make to the ACN, for an alliance, and did not even have the North and Middle-Belt firmly under his belt - where was his win supposed to come from?

story story. One day we will find the courage to tell our leaders that rigging is no longer acceptable. Until then, you deserve what you get.

agabaI23:

So that you can guarantee that a northerner will win.

And you will not disqualify Buhari for underage voting? I hope you saw the reference to the facebook update where under age voters were forced on the corp member. You also would have seen where he said that they demanded the remaining ballot from him.

Did you also hear that 3 ballot boxes were recovered from some of the killers arrested?

I honestly don't give a damn whether Buhari is disqualified for rigging or not. The point is, you people do not see anything wrong with the masive rigging as long as it favoured your candidate. This is the saddest part of the issue.

If I were you, I wouldn't be so quick to assume that most of the underaged votes were for Buhari . Many of them were responsible for GEJ's showing in Sokoto and elsewhere in the North.

@edoyad, I thought you were brighter than this. Everyone knows where the weakest link lies - the collating centers.

You are the one who needs to get smart and stop reasoning like the child beggars who Buharis supporters wanted to impose on a dead corps member in bauchi.

I don't know why people are still arguing over this past issue. GEJ is the President and if anything in this world, NOT buhari nor his cohorts can change it.

What we should be looking to is the probing into the post-election violence and successful and peaceful gubernatorial elections.

Anytime I see the pro-BB comments, I just scroll down with speed. And very soon statements from that cpc/BB party will just be simply ignored cos they keep coming up with senseless talk.

Nice article, and well-founded on facts and truth.

ndu_chucks:

This is mere conjecture and unfounded speculation which misses the point of the protests completely. The point is not whether GEJ should have won but that the rigging should have got his candidacy disqualified. This writer also assumes that the violence and killings were orchestrated by CPC, an unfortunate and disappointing stance.

We all condemn the violence, but we must not allow the action of irresponsible few put us in a position to continue to accept the rigging machine of PDP without protesting, preferably peacefully.

I'd be glad to read the author's article next week after PDP rigs Ogun Oyo, and Lagos. Based on the author's logic, we should just roll over and let it be, because violence is bad. olodo

You're a clever guy, but you allow ethnic and sectional bigotry make you reach conclusions that sound clownish tomost people. From your words, it quite clear you didn't even bother to read the article. Dude, nobody is in the least bit interested in the silly and childish claims from the Buhari camp. No, what interests us now is blood. The blood that has been unecessarilly spilt by savages, who deprived of education by their masters, cut down the fleshiest fruit of the nation. Young saplings bursting with vigour and life, brandishing degrees were cut down by a hailstorm of primitive almajiri's brandishing the sticks and stones that have come to symbolise Buhari's CPC.

Blood sir, innocent blood is what concerns us. It is what has raised the ire of the International Criminal Court at the Hague, as well as the United Nations. The wanton spilling of blood should be your main concern too, because drawing up these strange, ridiculous and morally bewildering positions only ridicules the blood of our fallen youth; and that is unacceptable, it is untenable and an absolute disgrace.

We MUST get Buhari to face the International Criminal Court at the Hague.

The riots were premeditated. Even you promised there would be pogroms long before those riots occurred. The article makes the sequence of events clear:

It is even more amazing that some people are saying the violence was not premeditated, that it was “spontaneous”. I beg to disagree. The violence started in Gombe on Saturday even before the results were announced. The Adamawa version erupted on Sunday night while we were still awaiting the results. Then it spread to other states. I don’t want to believe the rioters were so sophisticated that they had already compiled the results by themselves on Saturday or Sunday ahead of INEC’s announcement on Monday evening. They were being pushed to kill, to shed blood, to slaughter. By whom, I don’t know. But there was nothing spontaneous about that.

As usual, Beaf reading into sections of the article what he wishes to believe.

The writer expressly states that he believes the imams are responsible for the violence and that Buhari is not in any way a religious bigot and quote "Buhari has been used by opportunist" paraphrase "who've been worked up by PDP zoning issue".

Where the connection comes between Buhari and ICJ is simply a machination of Beaf's mind.

Ibime:

As usual, Beaf reading into sections of the article what he wishes to believe.

The writer expressly states that he believes the imams are responsible for the violence and that Buhari is not in any way a religious bigot and quote "Buhari has been used by opportunist" paraphrase "who've been worked up by PDP zoning issue".

Where the connection comes between Buhari and ICJ is simply a machination of Beaf's mind.

Beaf can continue to deceive himself. We all know that GEJ and his administration can never do anything wrong as far as as Beaf is concerned, particularly because GEJ is from the same region as Beaf's.

I agree with the writer that some radical Imams are responsible for the violence. GEJ and his administration know exactly who they are but the administration does not have the will to deal squarely with the issue. For this irresponsibility, the government is equally responsible for the violence.

ndu_chucks:

This is mere conjecture and unfounded speculation which misses the point of the protests completely. The point is not whether GEJ should have won but that the rigging should have got his candidacy disqualified.  [/b]This writer also assumes that the violence and killings were orchestrated by CPC, an unfortunate and disappointing stance.

We all condemn the violence, but we must not allow the action of irresponsible few put us in a position to continue to accept the rigging machine of PDP without protesting, preferably peacefully.

I'd be glad to read the author's article next week after PDP rigs Ogun Oyo, and Lagos. Based on the author's logic, we should just roll over and let it be, because violence is bad. olodo

Its as simple as the bolded. No one gives a Zap about[b] "he would have won anyway". If you would have won why did you Rig?

I dont care if Buhari had no support in the south. But dont give me numbers like 99.84% GEJ and expect me to belive you havent rigged this election with your 80% turnouts. In the States where GEJ was getting them magic  99's LWKMD. 

Let raw justice be served. We have spoken enough.

ndu_chucks:

story story. One day we will find the courage to tell our leaders that rigging is no longer acceptable. Until then, you deserve what you get.

I honestly don't give a damn whether Buhari is disqualified for rigging or not. The point is, you people do not see anything wrong with the masive rigging as long as it favoured your candidate. This is the saddest part of the issue.

If I were you, I wouldn't be so quick to assume that most of the underaged votes were for Buhari . Many of them were responsible for GEJ's showing in Sokoto and elsewhere in the North.

@edoyad, I thought you were brighter than this. Everyone knows where the weakest link lies - the collating centers.

Excatly they say "So what GEJ rigged Buhari rigged with underage voters". What kid of a lame excuse of a so called "free + fair" elections is this? Investigate both cases so we find out the truth of what happened. If you are so sure of GEJ openess let us see 22 million diff fingerprints on the papers. Do the same for CPC.

Ibime:

As usual, Beaf reading into sections of the article what he wishes to believe.

The writer expressly states that he believes the imams are responsible for the violence and that Buhari is not in any way a religious bigot and quote "Buhari has been used by opportunist" paraphrase "who've been worked up by PDP zoning issue".

Where the connection comes between Buhari and ICJ is simply a machination of Beaf's mind.

Firstly, a correction. It is the ICC (which can prosecute and lock away individuals), not the ICJ (which is a UN body that deals with govt disputes).

I am not reading from the article, but stating my mind and buttressing my thoughts with points from the article. I urge you to do the same, it is quite liberating.
Yes, I would like Buhari and those who plotted the riots to be carted off to the ICC and jailed for eternity.

The ICC is an incorruptible, neutral court, staffed by World class legal experts; it is also an upholder of human rights, morals and all tenets of civilisation. Why then do Buhari supporters squirm, fidget and stutter each time it is suggested that Buhari be made to face the ICC? Surely, one would think he would immediately jump at the chance of hosing and vacuuming his soiled name before such a court, since he is one of the "two honest men?"

The spilt blood is what concerns the nation now. We must dig to the bottom of the matter to find out why the rampaging almajiri's carried Buhari's picture and were identified by all they met as CPC supporters. Punishment for spilt blood is all that concerns us now, and all fingers, straight and crooked, point at Buhari.

Buhari must be tried.

Beaf:

Yes, I would like those who plotted the riots to be carted off to the ICC and jailed for eternity.

How about GEJ and his security aparatus cart the known culprits off to jail right now and stop the madness! They know who they are, don't they?

ndu_chucks:

How about GEJ and his security aparatus cart the known culprits off to jail right now and stop the madness! They know who they are, don't they?

Its best to get a court as beautifully neutral as the ICC to try Buhari.
The immediate reason is so you people can't start a new song about how Southern "kafirs" and "Zionists" are jailing holy Northern Muslims; or whatever other hogwash gets almajiri's eyes bloodshot and works them into a frothy primeval frenzy.

Beaf:

Its best to get a court as beautifully neutral as the ICC to try Buhari.
The immediate reason is so you people can't start a new song about how Southern "kafirs" and "Zionists" are jailing holy Northern Muslims; or whatever other hogwash gets almajiri's eyes bloodshot and works them into a frothy primeval frenzy.

Your obsession with GEJ and now Buhari, for different reasons have turned your objectivity on its head. You are now making foolish excuses for why GEJ should not provide for the security of Nigerians. Carry on. olodo

ndu_chucks:

Your obsession with GEJ and now Buhari, for different reasons have turned your objectivity on its head. You are now making foolish excuses for why GEJ should not provide for the security of Nigerians. Carry on. olodo

If you look into the mirror, you will see the real olodo staring right back.

The riots occurred as a direct result of Buhari's campaign style. No? He even attended ralies with a spear, same goes for Bakare.
Buhari asked almajiri's to lynch people, while Bakare asked them to go and vote with kerosine in one hand and matches in the other.

Now that people are dead in the aftermath, I am proposing that the perpetrators be taken to the Hague and their rusty arses hauled before the ICC. Most people I know would think that is justice served and security threats dealt with, but in a very strange way, you don't. Weird!

Buhari must be tried before the most competent court where excuses and almajiri action will be futile.

Some Nairaland fantasists have gone too far with their fantasies, and seek to achieve political expediency by naming Buhari and Bakare as sponsors of the riot. Of course those responsible for the riots should be tried, but I would be doing a disservice to logical reasoning to entertain deranged arguments that Buhari and Bakare should be tried without any evidence of them having ordered any riot.

As it stands Beaf and Papabrowne are insignificant and unknown citizens who are just mouthing off nonsense. If ICC wanna try anyone, Naija AG must first submit names to ICC, or there must proof of someone having ordered riots ala Major Hassan Katsina in the 1966 progroms.

Ibime:

Some Nairaland fantasists have gone too far with their fantasies, and seek to achieve political expediency by naming Buhari and Bakare as sponsors of the riot. Of course those responsible for the riots should be tried, but I would be doing a disservice to logical reasoning to entertain deranged arguments that Buhari and Bakare should be tried without any evidence of them having ordered any riot.

As it stands Beaf and Papabrowne are insignificant and unknown citizens who are just mouthing off nonsense. If ICC wanna try anyone, Naija AG must first submit names to ICC, or there must proof of someone having ordered riots ala Major Hassan Katsina in the 1966 progroms.

Take a look at the alert from the ICC Prosecutor below, it really neglects to mention the AG or ask if anyone ordered the riots. I wonder why?

Statement: 21.04.2011

[size=14pt]OTP Statement on Electoral Violence in Nigeria[/size]

The Office of the Prosecutor is closely following on the situation in Nigeria and is concerned with the outbreak of violence surrounding the National Assembly and Presidential elections of April 2011.

In the context of its on-going preliminary examination activities, the Office will seek to establish whether the recent violence may have been planned and organized and whether crimes falling within the Court’s jurisdiction may have been committed.

The Office is mindful that the upcoming governorship elections on 26 April could lead to further violence. Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo stated. “Those who commit atrocities to gain power will be held to account”. The Office of the Prosecutor welcomes Nigeria’s political leaders’ call on their supporters to show restraint and avoid unrest. In accordance with the complementarity principle, the Office will, in the first place, support national investigations into the violence and its perpetrators.

Source: Office of the Prosecutor

http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/exeres/FFAB57D5-3986-4208-8BC3-CEF1971629E7.htm

I wonder why anyone should be scared of Buhari and Bakare clearing their names before an incorruptible court. Leaving aside their understandably jittery supporters, I'm certain beyond doubt, that the "two honest men" will jump at the chance to defend their integrity in a court with impeccable pedigree such as the ICC.
I see little to worry about, rather all hands should be on deck to make the trial possible and bring the date closer.