Seriously I tot hausas and yorubas are brothers though from another mother, the last born of hausas. Why not reach mutual reasoning than fight to kill, if it were the igbos now d yorubas will support them but we igbos we dnt support such.

more reason I never want an Igbo man to be president bcuz they can wash their linen outside, BACKSTABBER

my belle dey pain me as I dey read the grammar hard

Lol, no first lady can be like, none in Nigeria gat guts like her. every man prays they have a woman like her who will always stand by him good or bad. love u mama peace and will miss u much.

as APC candidates dey open teeth now, I pray make d teeth remain like that when buhari enter full on 29th, be ready to declare your assets so u can get political appointment. pray u all won't regret, for me I want a better tomorrow.

Ngwakwe:


Where are the pictures to confirm the bombings?

my friend listen to NTA news and stop your argument, am from enugu and my voting unit is WTC primary school where the bomb blast ok as of onistha is on air you can make calls if you have friends there. I can frame pictures I upload it here then you believe me but I don't need it because my eyes I've seen it ok.

Was supporting Apc too untill the bomb blast in enugu and onistha today, then I realised that Apc never wants good things for we christains and I looked around too, I didn't see any hausa I realise that no hausa is in support of goodluck so I ask myself, am I this fool to this point.

Evidence that they never want the christains to exercise their vote, but thank God for the heart of igbos, we still stood to our feets to vote rightly, no casualties in enugu but four injured at onistha. Goodluck will surely win.

Apc finally apologise to Pdp for all their propagandists

Pictures of Apc supporters crying for their loss

Apc finally apologise to Pdp for all their propagandists

And what makes you think he's pdp, next time put up the video because this picture is not worth it

Go and arrest them not ranting it here

PDP

Useless OP

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of plan to sponsor a military takeover should it lose the March 28 presidential election. Director of Media and Publicity of the ‎PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, who disclosed this at a press briefing yesterday in Abuja, also denied allegation by the APC that President Goodluck Jonathan had spent over a trillion naira from the national treasury to bribe traditional rulers, opinion leaders and on media advertisements.

Fani-Kayode alleged that the APC had produced a video aimed at creating the impression that the Federal Government was being dominated by people who took pride in enriching themselves at the expense of the national treasury.

Fani-Kayode’s press statement reads in part: “Worst of all, the producers of this video were attempting to incite the Nigerian people against the Nigerian government. They went as far as to suggest that when the presidential election is fought and won and President Goodluck Jonathan emerges as the winner, that the people should call for a full scale military intervention rather than allowing Jonathan to come back. They also specifically asked for the targeting and assassination of key members of this administration and a number of its supporters in the event of a Jonathan victory in the coming elections.

“We say in clear terms that the video in question and the intentions of those behind it is reprehensible, irresponsible and it is unacceptable. We wish to take this opportunity to let the APC know that under no circumstance will we allow them to rob us of our legitimate mandate which, hopefully, will be legitimately and freely given to the President by the Nigerian people on March 28.

“Secondly, we will not tolerate any act of violence or any attempt to assassinate anybody by their agents in the event of us winning and neither will the people of this country ever allow another military intervention.

As a party, we are committed to the democratic process. We believe that that is the only way forward. “We must not allow any political party that is being covertly funded and supported by shady foreign interests with an agenda of insurgency, butchery, murder, division and strife to take power in this country.

We must not allow a man like Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to set us back. We must always resist their attempt to incite people to violence. We must resist their attempt to prepare for war in the event of their losing and we must resist their attempt to demean and abuse the democratic process and set us back many years in this country.”

The PDP campaign spokesman, who also described allegation that the President had spent a trillion naira on campaigns in the form of bribery to traditional rulers in the South-West and North as untrue, Fani-Kayode said the allegation was a figment of the imagination of the APC leaders, pointing out that “we don’t have a presidential candidate that gives bribes and our traditional rulers don’t take bribes

APC plotting Coup


THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of plan to sponsor a military takeover should it lose the March 28 presidential election. Director of Media and Publicity of the ‎PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, who disclosed this at a press briefing yesterday in Abuja, also denied allegation by the APC that President Goodluck Jonathan had spent over a trillion naira from the national treasury to bribe traditional rulers, opinion leaders and on media advertisements.

Fani-Kayode alleged that the APC had produced a video aimed at creating the impression that the Federal Government was being dominated by people who took pride in enriching themselves at the expense of the national treasury.

Fani-Kayode’s press statement reads in part: “Worst of all, the producers of this video were attempting to incite the Nigerian people against the Nigerian government. They went as far as to suggest that when the presidential election is fought and won and President Goodluck Jonathan emerges as the winner, that the people should call for a full scale military intervention rather than allowing Jonathan to come back. They also specifically asked for the targeting and assassination of key members of this administration and a number of its supporters in the event of a Jonathan victory in the coming elections.

“We say in clear terms that the video in question and the intentions of those behind it is reprehensible, irresponsible and it is unacceptable. We wish to take this opportunity to let the APC know that under no circumstance will we allow them to rob us of our legitimate mandate which, hopefully, will be legitimately and freely given to the President by the Nigerian people on March 28.

“Secondly, we will not tolerate any act of violence or any attempt to assassinate anybody by their agents in the event of us winning and neither will the people of this country ever allow another military intervention.

As a party, we are committed to the democratic process. We believe that that is the only way forward. “We must not allow any political party that is being covertly funded and supported by shady foreign interests with an agenda of insurgency, butchery, murder, division and strife to take power in this country.

We must not allow a man like Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to set us back. We must always resist their attempt to incite people to violence. We must resist their attempt to prepare for war in the event of their losing and we must resist their attempt to demean and abuse the democratic process and set us back many years in this country.”

The PDP campaign spokesman, who also described allegation that the President had spent a trillion naira on campaigns in the form of bribery to traditional rulers in the South-West and North as untrue, Fani-Kayode said the allegation was a figment of the imagination of the APC leaders, pointing out that “we don’t have a presidential candidate that gives bribes and our traditional rulers don’t take bribes

APC plotting coup


THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of plan to sponsor a military takeover should it lose the March 28 presidential election. Director of Media and Publicity of the ‎PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, who disclosed this at a press briefing yesterday in Abuja, also denied allegation by the APC that President Goodluck Jonathan had spent over a trillion naira from the national treasury to bribe traditional rulers, opinion leaders and on media advertisements.

Fani-Kayode alleged that the APC had produced a video aimed at creating the impression that the Federal Government was being dominated by people who took pride in enriching themselves at the expense of the national treasury.

Fani-Kayode’s press statement reads in part: “Worst of all, the producers of this video were attempting to incite the Nigerian people against the Nigerian government. They went as far as to suggest that when the presidential election is fought and won and President Goodluck Jonathan emerges as the winner, that the people should call for a full scale military intervention rather than allowing Jonathan to come back. They also specifically asked for the targeting and assassination of key members of this administration and a number of its supporters in the event of a Jonathan victory in the coming elections.

“We say in clear terms that the video in question and the intentions of those behind it is reprehensible, irresponsible and it is unacceptable. We wish to take this opportunity to let the APC know that under no circumstance will we allow them to rob us of our legitimate mandate which, hopefully, will be legitimately and freely given to the President by the Nigerian people on March 28.

“Secondly, we will not tolerate any act of violence or any attempt to assassinate anybody by their agents in the event of us winning and neither will the people of this country ever allow another military intervention.

As a party, we are committed to the democratic process. We believe that that is the only way forward. “We must not allow any political party that is being covertly funded and supported by shady foreign interests with an agenda of insurgency, butchery, murder, division and strife to take power in this country.

We must not allow a man like Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to set us back. We must always resist their attempt to incite people to violence. We must resist their attempt to prepare for war in the event of their losing and we must resist their attempt to demean and abuse the democratic process and set us back many years in this country.”

The PDP campaign spokesman, who also described allegation that the President had spent a trillion naira on campaigns in the form of bribery to traditional rulers in the South-West and North as untrue, Fani-Kayode said the allegation was a figment of the imagination of the APC leaders, pointing out that “we don’t have a presidential candidate that gives bribes and our traditional rulers don’t take bribes

Unmasking Buhari

Text of press conference by the Director of Media and Publicity, PDP presidential campaign organization, Femi Fani-Kayode.
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, 
It is with a heavy heart that we are compelled to share with the Nigerian public the following sensitive information which we believe, if not handled properly and looked into, is serious enough to affect the outcome of Saturday’s presidential election in a negative way.
Before we go into detail permit me to make an important assertion which cannot be overstated or over-emphasised. That assertion is as follows: the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation and our candidate President Goodluck Jonathan are not in the least bit worried about what the outcome of Saturday’s election will be. We believe that we have the backing and full support of the Nigerian people and we believe that we shall not only win but that we shall win convincingly.  



Whatever we share with you here today does not, in anyway, mean that we shall not participate in Saturday’s election or that we are worried about how we will fare. The fact of the matter is that we shall not only participate but we are also very confident of winning. We believe that the Nigerian people will give President Goodluck Jonathan a fresh mandate for the next four years regardless of the shenanigans of the opposition and those that are covertly working for and with them. 


The purpose of this briefing and of sharing the following information with the Nigerian people is simply to ensure that they are fully aware of what is going on and to enable our security and intelligence agencies to ensure that INEC does the right thing, answers some of these questions and put their house in order so that the outcome of the election is not in any way questionable.  


We cannot sit by idly and remain silent when a desperate group of ruthless and greedy little men, in collusion with their friends in the APC, rob the Nigerian people of their historic opportunity to elect a President of their choice. This they intend to do by sitting in a dark room somewhere and rigging the election in the most sophisticated manner even before it holds.  


This is unacceptable and it is incumbent upon us, as a responsible, accountable and sensible campaign organisation to expose the rot, point out the dangers of doing nothing about it, finger and identify those that are involved and call on the authorities to do something about it before it is too late. We shall share this information in good faith and we shall then leave the matter for necessary action by the relevant security agencies and authorities.
 


Our concerns stem from the fact that the moving spirit and a major shareholder and board member of the company that supplied the card reader system and machines to INEC is not only a friend of but also an ardent and keen supporter of General Mohammadu Buhari and the APC. That man's name is Sani Musa and he is indeed the main force behind the company. The company's name is Act Technologies Ltd. and the Chairman of the company is one Engineer SK Danladi.  


How and why INEC would give the contract to supply the card readers to a fanatical APC supporter and to a man whose other company was officially blacklisted by INEC a couple of years ago for sharp practices, needs to be explained. Sani Musa has expressed his undying support for the APC and General Buhari and his hatred and virulent opposition to the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan openly and publicly on his Facebook wall. Some of his comments on Facebook read as follows: ''I stand with him (Buhari) for whatever reason” and “Imagine the kind of people given spaces in our nation’s news tabloids.  Hoodlums are having field day in Nigeria since the inception of GEJ’s administration.  Mad men, hooligans and vultures have taken over decency of the society.  May Allah save us from the torments of this (sic) rascals and expose their intentions on our nation state be it the Boko Haram, killer militants or by extension those in authority with wicked intentions-Amen.”  Photocopies of his Facebook wall where these comments were made and his picture will be made available at the end of this briefing.     
        


Worst still, it is clear that certain aspects of and electronic components within the card reader system which will be used in Saturday's election have not only been compromised but that the encryption codes and so-called ''master key'' may have been made available to the opposition or their friends and agents. This will enable them to access the system, fabricate and generate fake votes and manipulate the voting patterns to their advantage.  


This constitute a very serious breach of security and it is a criminal offence. It is also very dangerous. Worst still it can easily be carried out successfully because, if done quietly and properly and without any deep scrutiny, it is virtually fool-proof. All you need to make it work is to have certain relevant and key INEC officials that are in the know to work closely with the supplier of the card readers and an opposition party that is so hungry and desperate for power that they are ready to pay large sums of money to their friends and associates to help them get it by hook or by crook. 


We believe that all those components are now in place and that the biggest and most brazen attempt to rig elections in the history of our country will take place on Saturday if the necessary measures are not taken to prevent it. If the conspiracy is not exposed, if the Nigerian people do not rise up and demand answers, if the plan is not intercepted and aborted, if the Chairman of INEC does not answer the relevant questions and take the necessary steps and if the relevant individuals, including Sani Musa and his collaborators and co-conspirators in INEC and the opposition, are not called to order, arrested, interrogated and prosecuted their plan may well succeed. 


In view of this dastardly plan that is in the offing and this unwholesome conspiracy, we call on the party leadership and faithful to direct our supporters and polling agents to be very vigilant at every polling booth and to guard and protect their votes. After voting they should stay at the polling booths to ensure that their votes are counted and that they are not manipulated or changed.                      


Ladies and gentlemen, the facts, the evidence and our recommendations are as follows:         


INEC has concluded plans to utilize its recently acquired Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming presidential elections scheduled for March 28th 2015. INEC has carried out a mock poll to test-run the functionality of the Smart Card Reader in 12 states of the Federation with mixed results.


There is an on-going public debate regarding the pros and cons of the planned Smart Card use by INEC with a number of questions being asked regarding the security vulnerabilities of the technology. 


The purpose of this document is:


To highlight the most serious of such security vulnerabilities that are critical enough to justify a halt in INEC's plans to use the Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming general elections (until such issues are satisfactorily resolved and fully certified as being secured by reputable independent third party security auditors).
To demonstrate that the opposition APC has already secured, through rogue means, an unassailable advantage over the ruling PDP which will most likely result in a resounding electoral victory for it irrespective of PDP’s actions or inactions, in the event that the Smart Card Readers are used for the elections.


To highlight the need for INEC to admit to the security-related failings of its Smart Card Readers implementation under circumstances that will be credible to local and international observers, such that it will become obvious that the use of Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming polls cannot guarantee free, fair and credible elections.
The major issues that are worthy of consideration are summarized below. Each issue can be readily substantiated by verifiable sources of evidence.
i. Compromised Master Encryption/Decryption Key: The Master Encryption/Decryption Key that can "unlock" and simulate the PVC data processed by the Smart Card Reader has been compromised.  There is only one copy of the Master Key in Nigeria and it is in the possession of an individual who is a known APC sympathizer/supporter (and also the contractor responsible for the production of PVCs and manufacture of Smart Card Readers for INEC who was already blacklisted by INEC following his inability to deliver ballot papers during the 2011 elections).  The Master Key should rightly be in the possession of INEC, as the neutral umpire, under the most stringent access control protocol imaginable and not freely in the possession of a partisan actor.
INEC has already expressed concern over intelligence reports that APC has been purchasing VINs (Voter Identification Numbers uniquely identifying each PVC), which can only mean that the Party is already in possession of the Master Key (as the purchase of VINs would otherwise have been a fruitless exercise).
This has grave implications for the PDP as the opposition APC, armed with the Master Key and sufficient VINs, can actually simulate the same data transmitted from any Smart Card Reader deployed for the elections at will. The situation is even now worsened by the fact that APC no longer has to purchase VINs or PVCs as they can now download the entire VINs directly from the INEC database which they have successfully “hacked” into.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce the Master Encryption/Decryption Key (before it has the opportunity to cover up this monumental act of negligence).
ii.    Failure to carry out Independent Security Audit of its IT Infrastructure: Contrary to what the average political commentator thinks, the critical IT infrastructure for the use of the Smart Card Readers by INEC is not necessarily the actual device itself, but the back-end IT infrastructure comprising INEC servers, database, network, personnel and processes. Given the critical nature and purpose of this infrastructure, the standard global best practice is for the organisation to enlist the services of an independent third-party IT Security Audit firm to carry out a comprehensive (and indeed, periodic) Security Audit of its entire end-to-end IT infrastructure and prepare a Security Audit Report which forms the ONLY basis upon which INEC can certify its proposed technology as secure and safe from vulnerabilities that can be exploited by rouge persons/systems.
There are various internationally-acceptable information security standard certifications that a reliable back-end IT infrastructure like INEC's should pass in order to command public confidence, such as ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 27018, etc. The lack of such security-related certifications simply means that INEC cannot confidently assert that its systems have not been "hacked", compromised or otherwise illegally accessed by unauthorised persons. 
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce a copy of any Security Audit Report independently authored by a reputable and certified third party (before it has the opportunity to cover up this monumental act of negligence).
If INEC fails to produce a satisfactory Security Audit Report, then it should be compelled to conduct a fresh Security Audit of its entire IT infrastructure which can even be extended to its production/manufacturing facilities in China (indeed the only other copy of the Master Encryption/Decryption Key is in the possession of the Chinese Manufacturers) - this process of auditing cannot possibly be completed before the general elections.
iii.    Compromised back-end Personnel: Contrary to standard industry practice, INEC opted for the engagement of relatively inexperienced, “suitcase” IT Consulting Companies for the development of its back-end collation and transmission systems and other core server and database applications, using predominantly open source software characterised by publicly-available source code – another major security vulnerability. While significant budgets were made available for this purpose, INEC's choice of "greenhorn" consultants was due to the ridiculously low contract sums paid for these consultancy contracts. The unfortunate consequence of this indiscretion, however, is that the personnel associated with these firms are poorly motivated, ill equipped, poorly supervised and easily compromised. It is, therefore, easily understandable why the opposition APC has been able to compromise INEC's back-end personnel to its advantage.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to make public the company profile of the IT Consulting Firms it contracted to develop its back-end IT systems, the Curriculum Vitae of their personnel, their known connections to opposition APC figures as well as the financial details of their associated contracts (vis-a-vis the approved budgets). This will clearly prove the lack of credibility of INEC's critical back-end systems.
iv.    Millions of Unprinted PVCs: Contrary to the public perception that INEC has virtually completed the production of PVCs, the true situation is that, as at last week, INEC was yet to take delivery of over 2 million PVCs that were yet to be produced by the contractor, Act Technologies. It is not certain that the production of these PVCs will be completed before the presidential elections scheduled for March 28th 2015. It is, therefore, obvious that a significant number of eligible voters will definitely be disenfranchised in the process.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to invite stakeholders to an impromptu visit of the PVC production facility of ACTS Technologies in Ganges Street, Maitama, Abuja to observe, first hand, the on- going production process and take stock of the current and outstanding inventories in a transparent manner.

Absence of Quality Control (QC) Measures and Defective PVC Deliverables: INEC has failed to put in place reasonable Quality Control (QC) measures for the PVCs delivered to it by the contractor - ACTS Technologies. The implication of this procedural loophole is that INEC had and still has no way of determining the extent of "defects" in the supplied PVCs. 
This became most apparent during the recently-concluded mock polls in which a variety of very serious, but avoidable, problems were experienced during the exercise, including PVCs with absent fingerprint data; PVCs with poor picture quality; PVCs with mismatched data (i.e. encoded data different from printed data); Card Readers with low battery lifespan etc. INEC has deliberately hidden the extent of these problems from the general public as there would have been considerable outrage if the scope of the challenges is made known. 
Furthermore, nobody in INEC can reliably predict the likely percentage of defective PVCs that have already been distributed until during the actual election itself. If the percentage is significant and more concentrated to specific geographic locations, as is being suspected, then it is no doubt a recipe for disaster - as it can fuel electoral violence of immense proportions. 
If, however, INEC steps down the use of Smart Card Readers, then the aforementioned “defects” will become irrelevant as the PVCs will then be used as regular Voter Cards without the added complication of authenticating the encoded data. 
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce its Quality Control Policy with respect to PVC and Smart Card Reader deliverables.
INEC should also be officially requested to make public the detailed report of its mock poll exercise and its forecast of the probable extent of defective PVCs during the general elections. 
I thank you all for your attention

Text of press conference by the Director of Media and Publicity, PDP presidential campaign organization, Femi Fani-Kayode.
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, 
It is with a heavy heart that we are compelled to share with the Nigerian public the following sensitive information which we believe, if not handled properly and looked into, is serious enough to affect the outcome of Saturday’s presidential election in a negative way.
Before we go into detail permit me to make an important assertion which cannot be overstated or over-emphasised. That assertion is as follows: the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation and our candidate President Goodluck Jonathan are not in the least bit worried about what the outcome of Saturday’s election will be. We believe that we have the backing and full support of the Nigerian people and we believe that we shall not only win but that we shall win convincingly.  



Whatever we share with you here today does not, in anyway, mean that we shall not participate in Saturday’s election or that we are worried about how we will fare. The fact of the matter is that we shall not only participate but we are also very confident of winning. We believe that the Nigerian people will give President Goodluck Jonathan a fresh mandate for the next four years regardless of the shenanigans of the opposition and those that are covertly working for and with them. 


The purpose of this briefing and of sharing the following information with the Nigerian people is simply to ensure that they are fully aware of what is going on and to enable our security and intelligence agencies to ensure that INEC does the right thing, answers some of these questions and put their house in order so that the outcome of the election is not in any way questionable.  


We cannot sit by idly and remain silent when a desperate group of ruthless and greedy little men, in collusion with their friends in the APC, rob the Nigerian people of their historic opportunity to elect a President of their choice. This they intend to do by sitting in a dark room somewhere and rigging the election in the most sophisticated manner even before it holds.  


This is unacceptable and it is incumbent upon us, as a responsible, accountable and sensible campaign organisation to expose the rot, point out the dangers of doing nothing about it, finger and identify those that are involved and call on the authorities to do something about it before it is too late. We shall share this information in good faith and we shall then leave the matter for necessary action by the relevant security agencies and authorities.
 


Our concerns stem from the fact that the moving spirit and a major shareholder and board member of the company that supplied the card reader system and machines to INEC is not only a friend of but also an ardent and keen supporter of General Mohammadu Buhari and the APC. That man's name is Sani Musa and he is indeed the main force behind the company. The company's name is Act Technologies Ltd. and the Chairman of the company is one Engineer SK Danladi.  


How and why INEC would give the contract to supply the card readers to a fanatical APC supporter and to a man whose other company was officially blacklisted by INEC a couple of years ago for sharp practices, needs to be explained. Sani Musa has expressed his undying support for the APC and General Buhari and his hatred and virulent opposition to the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan openly and publicly on his Facebook wall. Some of his comments on Facebook read as follows: ''I stand with him (Buhari) for whatever reason” and “Imagine the kind of people given spaces in our nation’s news tabloids.  Hoodlums are having field day in Nigeria since the inception of GEJ’s administration.  Mad men, hooligans and vultures have taken over decency of the society.  May Allah save us from the torments of this (sic) rascals and expose their intentions on our nation state be it the Boko Haram, killer militants or by extension those in authority with wicked intentions-Amen.”  Photocopies of his Facebook wall where these comments were made and his picture will be made available at the end of this briefing.     
        


Worst still, it is clear that certain aspects of and electronic components within the card reader system which will be used in Saturday's election have not only been compromised but that the encryption codes and so-called ''master key'' may have been made available to the opposition or their friends and agents. This will enable them to access the system, fabricate and generate fake votes and manipulate the voting patterns to their advantage.  


This constitute a very serious breach of security and it is a criminal offence. It is also very dangerous. Worst still it can easily be carried out successfully because, if done quietly and properly and without any deep scrutiny, it is virtually fool-proof. All you need to make it work is to have certain relevant and key INEC officials that are in the know to work closely with the supplier of the card readers and an opposition party that is so hungry and desperate for power that they are ready to pay large sums of money to their friends and associates to help them get it by hook or by crook. 


We believe that all those components are now in place and that the biggest and most brazen attempt to rig elections in the history of our country will take place on Saturday if the necessary measures are not taken to prevent it. If the conspiracy is not exposed, if the Nigerian people do not rise up and demand answers, if the plan is not intercepted and aborted, if the Chairman of INEC does not answer the relevant questions and take the necessary steps and if the relevant individuals, including Sani Musa and his collaborators and co-conspirators in INEC and the opposition, are not called to order, arrested, interrogated and prosecuted their plan may well succeed. 


In view of this dastardly plan that is in the offing and this unwholesome conspiracy, we call on the party leadership and faithful to direct our supporters and polling agents to be very vigilant at every polling booth and to guard and protect their votes. After voting they should stay at the polling booths to ensure that their votes are counted and that they are not manipulated or changed.                      


Ladies and gentlemen, the facts, the evidence and our recommendations are as follows:         


INEC has concluded plans to utilize its recently acquired Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming presidential elections scheduled for March 28th 2015. INEC has carried out a mock poll to test-run the functionality of the Smart Card Reader in 12 states of the Federation with mixed results.


There is an on-going public debate regarding the pros and cons of the planned Smart Card use by INEC with a number of questions being asked regarding the security vulnerabilities of the technology. 


The purpose of this document is:


To highlight the most serious of such security vulnerabilities that are critical enough to justify a halt in INEC's plans to use the Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming general elections (until such issues are satisfactorily resolved and fully certified as being secured by reputable independent third party security auditors).
To demonstrate that the opposition APC has already secured, through rogue means, an unassailable advantage over the ruling PDP which will most likely result in a resounding electoral victory for it irrespective of PDP’s actions or inactions, in the event that the Smart Card Readers are used for the elections.


To highlight the need for INEC to admit to the security-related failings of its Smart Card Readers implementation under circumstances that will be credible to local and international observers, such that it will become obvious that the use of Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming polls cannot guarantee free, fair and credible elections.
The major issues that are worthy of consideration are summarized below. Each issue can be readily substantiated by verifiable sources of evidence.
i. Compromised Master Encryption/Decryption Key: The Master Encryption/Decryption Key that can "unlock" and simulate the PVC data processed by the Smart Card Reader has been compromised.  There is only one copy of the Master Key in Nigeria and it is in the possession of an individual who is a known APC sympathizer/supporter (and also the contractor responsible for the production of PVCs and manufacture of Smart Card Readers for INEC who was already blacklisted by INEC following his inability to deliver ballot papers during the 2011 elections).  The Master Key should rightly be in the possession of INEC, as the neutral umpire, under the most stringent access control protocol imaginable and not freely in the possession of a partisan actor.
INEC has already expressed concern over intelligence reports that APC has been purchasing VINs (Voter Identification Numbers uniquely identifying each PVC), which can only mean that the Party is already in possession of the Master Key (as the purchase of VINs would otherwise have been a fruitless exercise).
This has grave implications for the PDP as the opposition APC, armed with the Master Key and sufficient VINs, can actually simulate the same data transmitted from any Smart Card Reader deployed for the elections at will. The situation is even now worsened by the fact that APC no longer has to purchase VINs or PVCs as they can now download the entire VINs directly from the INEC database which they have successfully “hacked” into.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce the Master Encryption/Decryption Key (before it has the opportunity to cover up this monumental act of negligence).
ii.    Failure to carry out Independent Security Audit of its IT Infrastructure: Contrary to what the average political commentator thinks, the critical IT infrastructure for the use of the Smart Card Readers by INEC is not necessarily the actual device itself, but the back-end IT infrastructure comprising INEC servers, database, network, personnel and processes. Given the critical nature and purpose of this infrastructure, the standard global best practice is for the organisation to enlist the services of an independent third-party IT Security Audit firm to carry out a comprehensive (and indeed, periodic) Security Audit of its entire end-to-end IT infrastructure and prepare a Security Audit Report which forms the ONLY basis upon which INEC can certify its proposed technology as secure and safe from vulnerabilities that can be exploited by rouge persons/systems.
There are various internationally-acceptable information security standard certifications that a reliable back-end IT infrastructure like INEC's should pass in order to command public confidence, such as ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 27018, etc. The lack of such security-related certifications simply means that INEC cannot confidently assert that its systems have not been "hacked", compromised or otherwise illegally accessed by unauthorised persons. 
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce a copy of any Security Audit Report independently authored by a reputable and certified third party (before it has the opportunity to cover up this monumental act of negligence).
If INEC fails to produce a satisfactory Security Audit Report, then it should be compelled to conduct a fresh Security Audit of its entire IT infrastructure which can even be extended to its production/manufacturing facilities in China (indeed the only other copy of the Master Encryption/Decryption Key is in the possession of the Chinese Manufacturers) - this process of auditing cannot possibly be completed before the general elections.
iii.    Compromised back-end Personnel: Contrary to standard industry practice, INEC opted for the engagement of relatively inexperienced, “suitcase” IT Consulting Companies for the development of its back-end collation and transmission systems and other core server and database applications, using predominantly open source software characterised by publicly-available source code – another major security vulnerability. While significant budgets were made available for this purpose, INEC's choice of "greenhorn" consultants was due to the ridiculously low contract sums paid for these consultancy contracts. The unfortunate consequence of this indiscretion, however, is that the personnel associated with these firms are poorly motivated, ill equipped, poorly supervised and easily compromised. It is, therefore, easily understandable why the opposition APC has been able to compromise INEC's back-end personnel to its advantage.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to make public the company profile of the IT Consulting Firms it contracted to develop its back-end IT systems, the Curriculum Vitae of their personnel, their known connections to opposition APC figures as well as the financial details of their associated contracts (vis-a-vis the approved budgets). This will clearly prove the lack of credibility of INEC's critical back-end systems.
iv.    Millions of Unprinted PVCs: Contrary to the public perception that INEC has virtually completed the production of PVCs, the true situation is that, as at last week, INEC was yet to take delivery of over 2 million PVCs that were yet to be produced by the contractor, Act Technologies. It is not certain that the production of these PVCs will be completed before the presidential elections scheduled for March 28th 2015. It is, therefore, obvious that a significant number of eligible voters will definitely be disenfranchised in the process.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to invite stakeholders to an impromptu visit of the PVC production facility of ACTS Technologies in Ganges Street, Maitama, Abuja to observe, first hand, the on- going production process and take stock of the current and outstanding inventories in a transparent manner.

Absence of Quality Control (QC) Measures and Defective PVC Deliverables: INEC has failed to put in place reasonable Quality Control (QC) measures for the PVCs delivered to it by the contractor - ACTS Technologies. The implication of this procedural loophole is that INEC had and still has no way of determining the extent of "defects" in the supplied PVCs. 
This became most apparent during the recently-concluded mock polls in which a variety of very serious, but avoidable, problems were experienced during the exercise, including PVCs with absent fingerprint data; PVCs with poor picture quality; PVCs with mismatched data (i.e. encoded data different from printed data); Card Readers with low battery lifespan etc. INEC has deliberately hidden the extent of these problems from the general public as there would have been considerable outrage if the scope of the challenges is made known. 
Furthermore, nobody in INEC can reliably predict the likely percentage of defective PVCs that have already been distributed until during the actual election itself. If the percentage is significant and more concentrated to specific geographic locations, as is being suspected, then it is no doubt a recipe for disaster - as it can fuel electoral violence of immense proportions. 
If, however, INEC steps down the use of Smart Card Readers, then the aforementioned “defects” will become irrelevant as the PVCs will then be used as regular Voter Cards without the added complication of authenticating the encoded data. 
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce its Quality Control Policy with respect to PVC and Smart Card Reader deliverables.
INEC should also be officially requested to make public the detailed report of its mock poll exercise and its forecast of the probable extent of defective PVCs during the general elections. 
I thank you all for your attention

Text of press conference by the Director of Media and Publicity, PDP presidential campaign organization, Femi Fani-Kayode.
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, 
It is with a heavy heart that we are compelled to share with the Nigerian public the following sensitive information which we believe, if not handled properly and looked into, is serious enough to affect the outcome of Saturday’s presidential election in a negative way.
Before we go into detail permit me to make an important assertion which cannot be overstated or over-emphasised. That assertion is as follows: the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation and our candidate President Goodluck Jonathan are not in the least bit worried about what the outcome of Saturday’s election will be. We believe that we have the backing and full support of the Nigerian people and we believe that we shall not only win but that we shall win convincingly.  



Whatever we share with you here today does not, in anyway, mean that we shall not participate in Saturday’s election or that we are worried about how we will fare. The fact of the matter is that we shall not only participate but we are also very confident of winning. We believe that the Nigerian people will give President Goodluck Jonathan a fresh mandate for the next four years regardless of the shenanigans of the opposition and those that are covertly working for and with them. 


The purpose of this briefing and of sharing the following information with the Nigerian people is simply to ensure that they are fully aware of what is going on and to enable our security and intelligence agencies to ensure that INEC does the right thing, answers some of these questions and put their house in order so that the outcome of the election is not in any way questionable.  


We cannot sit by idly and remain silent when a desperate group of ruthless and greedy little men, in collusion with their friends in the APC, rob the Nigerian people of their historic opportunity to elect a President of their choice. This they intend to do by sitting in a dark room somewhere and rigging the election in the most sophisticated manner even before it holds.  


This is unacceptable and it is incumbent upon us, as a responsible, accountable and sensible campaign organisation to expose the rot, point out the dangers of doing nothing about it, finger and identify those that are involved and call on the authorities to do something about it before it is too late. We shall share this information in good faith and we shall then leave the matter for necessary action by the relevant security agencies and authorities.
 


Our concerns stem from the fact that the moving spirit and a major shareholder and board member of the company that supplied the card reader system and machines to INEC is not only a friend of but also an ardent and keen supporter of General Mohammadu Buhari and the APC. That man's name is Sani Musa and he is indeed the main force behind the company. The company's name is Act Technologies Ltd. and the Chairman of the company is one Engineer SK Danladi.  


How and why INEC would give the contract to supply the card readers to a fanatical APC supporter and to a man whose other company was officially blacklisted by INEC a couple of years ago for sharp practices, needs to be explained. Sani Musa has expressed his undying support for the APC and General Buhari and his hatred and virulent opposition to the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan openly and publicly on his Facebook wall. Some of his comments on Facebook read as follows: ''I stand with him (Buhari) for whatever reason” and “Imagine the kind of people given spaces in our nation’s news tabloids.  Hoodlums are having field day in Nigeria since the inception of GEJ’s administration.  Mad men, hooligans and vultures have taken over decency of the society.  May Allah save us from the torments of this (sic) rascals and expose their intentions on our nation state be it the Boko Haram, killer militants or by extension those in authority with wicked intentions-Amen.”  Photocopies of his Facebook wall where these comments were made and his picture will be made available at the end of this briefing.     
        


Worst still, it is clear that certain aspects of and electronic components within the card reader system which will be used in Saturday's election have not only been compromised but that the encryption codes and so-called ''master key'' may have been made available to the opposition or their friends and agents. This will enable them to access the system, fabricate and generate fake votes and manipulate the voting patterns to their advantage.  


This constitute a very serious breach of security and it is a criminal offence. It is also very dangerous. Worst still it can easily be carried out successfully because, if done quietly and properly and without any deep scrutiny, it is virtually fool-proof. All you need to make it work is to have certain relevant and key INEC officials that are in the know to work closely with the supplier of the card readers and an opposition party that is so hungry and desperate for power that they are ready to pay large sums of money to their friends and associates to help them get it by hook or by crook. 


We believe that all those components are now in place and that the biggest and most brazen attempt to rig elections in the history of our country will take place on Saturday if the necessary measures are not taken to prevent it. If the conspiracy is not exposed, if the Nigerian people do not rise up and demand answers, if the plan is not intercepted and aborted, if the Chairman of INEC does not answer the relevant questions and take the necessary steps and if the relevant individuals, including Sani Musa and his collaborators and co-conspirators in INEC and the opposition, are not called to order, arrested, interrogated and prosecuted their plan may well succeed. 


In view of this dastardly plan that is in the offing and this unwholesome conspiracy, we call on the party leadership and faithful to direct our supporters and polling agents to be very vigilant at every polling booth and to guard and protect their votes. After voting they should stay at the polling booths to ensure that their votes are counted and that they are not manipulated or changed.                      


Ladies and gentlemen, the facts, the evidence and our recommendations are as follows:         


INEC has concluded plans to utilize its recently acquired Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming presidential elections scheduled for March 28th 2015. INEC has carried out a mock poll to test-run the functionality of the Smart Card Reader in 12 states of the Federation with mixed results.


There is an on-going public debate regarding the pros and cons of the planned Smart Card use by INEC with a number of questions being asked regarding the security vulnerabilities of the technology. 


The purpose of this document is:


To highlight the most serious of such security vulnerabilities that are critical enough to justify a halt in INEC's plans to use the Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming general elections (until such issues are satisfactorily resolved and fully certified as being secured by reputable independent third party security auditors).
To demonstrate that the opposition APC has already secured, through rogue means, an unassailable advantage over the ruling PDP which will most likely result in a resounding electoral victory for it irrespective of PDP’s actions or inactions, in the event that the Smart Card Readers are used for the elections.


To highlight the need for INEC to admit to the security-related failings of its Smart Card Readers implementation under circumstances that will be credible to local and international observers, such that it will become obvious that the use of Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming polls cannot guarantee free, fair and credible elections.
The major issues that are worthy of consideration are summarized below. Each issue can be readily substantiated by verifiable sources of evidence.
i. Compromised Master Encryption/Decryption Key: The Master Encryption/Decryption Key that can "unlock" and simulate the PVC data processed by the Smart Card Reader has been compromised.  There is only one copy of the Master Key in Nigeria and it is in the possession of an individual who is a known APC sympathizer/supporter (and also the contractor responsible for the production of PVCs and manufacture of Smart Card Readers for INEC who was already blacklisted by INEC following his inability to deliver ballot papers during the 2011 elections).  The Master Key should rightly be in the possession of INEC, as the neutral umpire, under the most stringent access control protocol imaginable and not freely in the possession of a partisan actor.
INEC has already expressed concern over intelligence reports that APC has been purchasing VINs (Voter Identification Numbers uniquely identifying each PVC), which can only mean that the Party is already in possession of the Master Key (as the purchase of VINs would otherwise have been a fruitless exercise).
This has grave implications for the PDP as the opposition APC, armed with the Master Key and sufficient VINs, can actually simulate the same data transmitted from any Smart Card Reader deployed for the elections at will. The situation is even now worsened by the fact that APC no longer has to purchase VINs or PVCs as they can now download the entire VINs directly from the INEC database which they have successfully “hacked” into.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce the Master Encryption/Decryption Key (before it has the opportunity to cover up this monumental act of negligence).
ii.    Failure to carry out Independent Security Audit of its IT Infrastructure: Contrary to what the average political commentator thinks, the critical IT infrastructure for the use of the Smart Card Readers by INEC is not necessarily the actual device itself, but the back-end IT infrastructure comprising INEC servers, database, network, personnel and processes. Given the critical nature and purpose of this infrastructure, the standard global best practice is for the organisation to enlist the services of an independent third-party IT Security Audit firm to carry out a comprehensive (and indeed, periodic) Security Audit of its entire end-to-end IT infrastructure and prepare a Security Audit Report which forms the ONLY basis upon which INEC can certify its proposed technology as secure and safe from vulnerabilities that can be exploited by rouge persons/systems.
There are various internationally-acceptable information security standard certifications that a reliable back-end IT infrastructure like INEC's should pass in order to command public confidence, such as ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 27018, etc. The lack of such security-related certifications simply means that INEC cannot confidently assert that its systems have not been "hacked", compromised or otherwise illegally accessed by unauthorised persons. 
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce a copy of any Security Audit Report independently authored by a reputable and certified third party (before it has the opportunity to cover up this monumental act of negligence).
If INEC fails to produce a satisfactory Security Audit Report, then it should be compelled to conduct a fresh Security Audit of its entire IT infrastructure which can even be extended to its production/manufacturing facilities in China (indeed the only other copy of the Master Encryption/Decryption Key is in the possession of the Chinese Manufacturers) - this process of auditing cannot possibly be completed before the general elections.
iii.    Compromised back-end Personnel: Contrary to standard industry practice, INEC opted for the engagement of relatively inexperienced, “suitcase” IT Consulting Companies for the development of its back-end collation and transmission systems and other core server and database applications, using predominantly open source software characterised by publicly-available source code – another major security vulnerability. While significant budgets were made available for this purpose, INEC's choice of "greenhorn" consultants was due to the ridiculously low contract sums paid for these consultancy contracts. The unfortunate consequence of this indiscretion, however, is that the personnel associated with these firms are poorly motivated, ill equipped, poorly supervised and easily compromised. It is, therefore, easily understandable why the opposition APC has been able to compromise INEC's back-end personnel to its advantage.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to make public the company profile of the IT Consulting Firms it contracted to develop its back-end IT systems, the Curriculum Vitae of their personnel, their known connections to opposition APC figures as well as the financial details of their associated contracts (vis-a-vis the approved budgets). This will clearly prove the lack of credibility of INEC's critical back-end systems.
iv.    Millions of Unprinted PVCs: Contrary to the public perception that INEC has virtually completed the production of PVCs, the true situation is that, as at last week, INEC was yet to take delivery of over 2 million PVCs that were yet to be produced by the contractor, Act Technologies. It is not certain that the production of these PVCs will be completed before the presidential elections scheduled for March 28th 2015. It is, therefore, obvious that a significant number of eligible voters will definitely be disenfranchised in the process.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to invite stakeholders to an impromptu visit of the PVC production facility of ACTS Technologies in Ganges Street, Maitama, Abuja to observe, first hand, the on- going production process and take stock of the current and outstanding inventories in a transparent manner.

Absence of Quality Control (QC) Measures and Defective PVC Deliverables: INEC has failed to put in place reasonable Quality Control (QC) measures for the PVCs delivered to it by the contractor - ACTS Technologies. The implication of this procedural loophole is that INEC had and still has no way of determining the extent of "defects" in the supplied PVCs. 
This became most apparent during the recently-concluded mock polls in which a variety of very serious, but avoidable, problems were experienced during the exercise, including PVCs with absent fingerprint data; PVCs with poor picture quality; PVCs with mismatched data (i.e. encoded data different from printed data); Card Readers with low battery lifespan etc. INEC has deliberately hidden the extent of these problems from the general public as there would have been considerable outrage if the scope of the challenges is made known. 
Furthermore, nobody in INEC can reliably predict the likely percentage of defective PVCs that have already been distributed until during the actual election itself. If the percentage is significant and more concentrated to specific geographic locations, as is being suspected, then it is no doubt a recipe for disaster - as it can fuel electoral violence of immense proportions. 
If, however, INEC steps down the use of Smart Card Readers, then the aforementioned “defects” will become irrelevant as the PVCs will then be used as regular Voter Cards without the added complication of authenticating the encoded data. 
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce its Quality Control Policy with respect to PVC and Smart Card Reader deliverables.
INEC should also be officially requested to make public the detailed report of its mock poll exercise and its forecast of the probable extent of defective PVCs during the general elections. 
I thank you all for your attention

Text of press conference by the Director of Media and Publicity, PDP presidential campaign organization, Femi Fani-Kayode.
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, 
It is with a heavy heart that we are compelled to share with the Nigerian public the following sensitive information which we believe, if not handled properly and looked into, is serious enough to affect the outcome of Saturday’s presidential election in a negative way.
Before we go into detail permit me to make an important assertion which cannot be overstated or over-emphasised. That assertion is as follows: the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation and our candidate President Goodluck Jonathan are not in the least bit worried about what the outcome of Saturday’s election will be. We believe that we have the backing and full support of the Nigerian people and we believe that we shall not only win but that we shall win convincingly.  



Whatever we share with you here today does not, in anyway, mean that we shall not participate in Saturday’s election or that we are worried about how we will fare. The fact of the matter is that we shall not only participate but we are also very confident of winning. We believe that the Nigerian people will give President Goodluck Jonathan a fresh mandate for the next four years regardless of the shenanigans of the opposition and those that are covertly working for and with them. 


The purpose of this briefing and of sharing the following information with the Nigerian people is simply to ensure that they are fully aware of what is going on and to enable our security and intelligence agencies to ensure that INEC does the right thing, answers some of these questions and put their house in order so that the outcome of the election is not in any way questionable.  


We cannot sit by idly and remain silent when a desperate group of ruthless and greedy little men, in collusion with their friends in the APC, rob the Nigerian people of their historic opportunity to elect a President of their choice. This they intend to do by sitting in a dark room somewhere and rigging the election in the most sophisticated manner even before it holds.  


This is unacceptable and it is incumbent upon us, as a responsible, accountable and sensible campaign organisation to expose the rot, point out the dangers of doing nothing about it, finger and identify those that are involved and call on the authorities to do something about it before it is too late. We shall share this information in good faith and we shall then leave the matter for necessary action by the relevant security agencies and authorities.
 


Our concerns stem from the fact that the moving spirit and a major shareholder and board member of the company that supplied the card reader system and machines to INEC is not only a friend of but also an ardent and keen supporter of General Mohammadu Buhari and the APC. That man's name is Sani Musa and he is indeed the main force behind the company. The company's name is Act Technologies Ltd. and the Chairman of the company is one Engineer SK Danladi.  


How and why INEC would give the contract to supply the card readers to a fanatical APC supporter and to a man whose other company was officially blacklisted by INEC a couple of years ago for sharp practices, needs to be explained. Sani Musa has expressed his undying support for the APC and General Buhari and his hatred and virulent opposition to the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan openly and publicly on his Facebook wall. Some of his comments on Facebook read as follows: ''I stand with him (Buhari) for whatever reason” and “Imagine the kind of people given spaces in our nation’s news tabloids.  Hoodlums are having field day in Nigeria since the inception of GEJ’s administration.  Mad men, hooligans and vultures have taken over decency of the society.  May Allah save us from the torments of this (sic) rascals and expose their intentions on our nation state be it the Boko Haram, killer militants or by extension those in authority with wicked intentions-Amen.”  Photocopies of his Facebook wall where these comments were made and his picture will be made available at the end of this briefing.     
        


Worst still, it is clear that certain aspects of and electronic components within the card reader system which will be used in Saturday's election have not only been compromised but that the encryption codes and so-called ''master key'' may have been made available to the opposition or their friends and agents. This will enable them to access the system, fabricate and generate fake votes and manipulate the voting patterns to their advantage.  


This constitute a very serious breach of security and it is a criminal offence. It is also very dangerous. Worst still it can easily be carried out successfully because, if done quietly and properly and without any deep scrutiny, it is virtually fool-proof. All you need to make it work is to have certain relevant and key INEC officials that are in the know to work closely with the supplier of the card readers and an opposition party that is so hungry and desperate for power that they are ready to pay large sums of money to their friends and associates to help them get it by hook or by crook. 


We believe that all those components are now in place and that the biggest and most brazen attempt to rig elections in the history of our country will take place on Saturday if the necessary measures are not taken to prevent it. If the conspiracy is not exposed, if the Nigerian people do not rise up and demand answers, if the plan is not intercepted and aborted, if the Chairman of INEC does not answer the relevant questions and take the necessary steps and if the relevant individuals, including Sani Musa and his collaborators and co-conspirators in INEC and the opposition, are not called to order, arrested, interrogated and prosecuted their plan may well succeed. 


In view of this dastardly plan that is in the offing and this unwholesome conspiracy, we call on the party leadership and faithful to direct our supporters and polling agents to be very vigilant at every polling booth and to guard and protect their votes. After voting they should stay at the polling booths to ensure that their votes are counted and that they are not manipulated or changed.                      


Ladies and gentlemen, the facts, the evidence and our recommendations are as follows:         


INEC has concluded plans to utilize its recently acquired Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming presidential elections scheduled for March 28th 2015. INEC has carried out a mock poll to test-run the functionality of the Smart Card Reader in 12 states of the Federation with mixed results.


There is an on-going public debate regarding the pros and cons of the planned Smart Card use by INEC with a number of questions being asked regarding the security vulnerabilities of the technology. 


The purpose of this document is:


To highlight the most serious of such security vulnerabilities that are critical enough to justify a halt in INEC's plans to use the Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming general elections (until such issues are satisfactorily resolved and fully certified as being secured by reputable independent third party security auditors).
To demonstrate that the opposition APC has already secured, through rogue means, an unassailable advantage over the ruling PDP which will most likely result in a resounding electoral victory for it irrespective of PDP’s actions or inactions, in the event that the Smart Card Readers are used for the elections.


To highlight the need for INEC to admit to the security-related failings of its Smart Card Readers implementation under circumstances that will be credible to local and international observers, such that it will become obvious that the use of Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming polls cannot guarantee free, fair and credible elections.
The major issues that are worthy of consideration are summarized below. Each issue can be readily substantiated by verifiable sources of evidence.
i. Compromised Master Encryption/Decryption Key: The Master Encryption/Decryption Key that can "unlock" and simulate the PVC data processed by the Smart Card Reader has been compromised.  There is only one copy of the Master Key in Nigeria and it is in the possession of an individual who is a known APC sympathizer/supporter (and also the contractor responsible for the production of PVCs and manufacture of Smart Card Readers for INEC who was already blacklisted by INEC following his inability to deliver ballot papers during the 2011 elections).  The Master Key should rightly be in the possession of INEC, as the neutral umpire, under the most stringent access control protocol imaginable and not freely in the possession of a partisan actor.
INEC has already expressed concern over intelligence reports that APC has been purchasing VINs (Voter Identification Numbers uniquely identifying each PVC), which can only mean that the Party is already in possession of the Master Key (as the purchase of VINs would otherwise have been a fruitless exercise).
This has grave implications for the PDP as the opposition APC, armed with the Master Key and sufficient VINs, can actually simulate the same data transmitted from any Smart Card Reader deployed for the elections at will. The situation is even now worsened by the fact that APC no longer has to purchase VINs or PVCs as they can now download the entire VINs directly from the INEC database which they have successfully “hacked” into.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce the Master Encryption/Decryption Key (before it has the opportunity to cover up this monumental act of negligence).
ii.    Failure to carry out Independent Security Audit of its IT Infrastructure: Contrary to what the average political commentator thinks, the critical IT infrastructure for the use of the Smart Card Readers by INEC is not necessarily the actual device itself, but the back-end IT infrastructure comprising INEC servers, database, network, personnel and processes. Given the critical nature and purpose of this infrastructure, the standard global best practice is for the organisation to enlist the services of an independent third-party IT Security Audit firm to carry out a comprehensive (and indeed, periodic) Security Audit of its entire end-to-end IT infrastructure and prepare a Security Audit Report which forms the ONLY basis upon which INEC can certify its proposed technology as secure and safe from vulnerabilities that can be exploited by rouge persons/systems.
There are various internationally-acceptable information security standard certifications that a reliable back-end IT infrastructure like INEC's should pass in order to command public confidence, such as ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 27018, etc. The lack of such security-related certifications simply means that INEC cannot confidently assert that its systems have not been "hacked", compromised or otherwise illegally accessed by unauthorised persons. 
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce a copy of any Security Audit Report independently authored by a reputable and certified third party (before it has the opportunity to cover up this monumental act of negligence).
If INEC fails to produce a satisfactory Security Audit Report, then it should be compelled to conduct a fresh Security Audit of its entire IT infrastructure which can even be extended to its production/manufacturing facilities in China (indeed the only other copy of the Master Encryption/Decryption Key is in the possession of the Chinese Manufacturers) - this process of auditing cannot possibly be completed before the general elections.
iii.    Compromised back-end Personnel: Contrary to standard industry practice, INEC opted for the engagement of relatively inexperienced, “suitcase” IT Consulting Companies for the development of its back-end collation and transmission systems and other core server and database applications, using predominantly open source software characterised by publicly-available source code – another major security vulnerability. While significant budgets were made available for this purpose, INEC's choice of "greenhorn" consultants was due to the ridiculously low contract sums paid for these consultancy contracts. The unfortunate consequence of this indiscretion, however, is that the personnel associated with these firms are poorly motivated, ill equipped, poorly supervised and easily compromised. It is, therefore, easily understandable why the opposition APC has been able to compromise INEC's back-end personnel to its advantage.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to make public the company profile of the IT Consulting Firms it contracted to develop its back-end IT systems, the Curriculum Vitae of their personnel, their known connections to opposition APC figures as well as the financial details of their associated contracts (vis-a-vis the approved budgets). This will clearly prove the lack of credibility of INEC's critical back-end systems.
iv.    Millions of Unprinted PVCs: Contrary to the public perception that INEC has virtually completed the production of PVCs, the true situation is that, as at last week, INEC was yet to take delivery of over 2 million PVCs that were yet to be produced by the contractor, Act Technologies. It is not certain that the production of these PVCs will be completed before the presidential elections scheduled for March 28th 2015. It is, therefore, obvious that a significant number of eligible voters will definitely be disenfranchised in the process.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to invite stakeholders to an impromptu visit of the PVC production facility of ACTS Technologies in Ganges Street, Maitama, Abuja to observe, first hand, the on- going production process and take stock of the current and outstanding inventories in a transparent manner.

Absence of Quality Control (QC) Measures and Defective PVC Deliverables: INEC has failed to put in place reasonable Quality Control (QC) measures for the PVCs delivered to it by the contractor - ACTS Technologies. The implication of this procedural loophole is that INEC had and still has no way of determining the extent of "defects" in the supplied PVCs. 
This became most apparent during the recently-concluded mock polls in which a variety of very serious, but avoidable, problems were experienced during the exercise, including PVCs with absent fingerprint data; PVCs with poor picture quality; PVCs with mismatched data (i.e. encoded data different from printed data); Card Readers with low battery lifespan etc. INEC has deliberately hidden the extent of these problems from the general public as there would have been considerable outrage if the scope of the challenges is made known. 
Furthermore, nobody in INEC can reliably predict the likely percentage of defective PVCs that have already been distributed until during the actual election itself. If the percentage is significant and more concentrated to specific geographic locations, as is being suspected, then it is no doubt a recipe for disaster - as it can fuel electoral violence of immense proportions. 
If, however, INEC steps down the use of Smart Card Readers, then the aforementioned “defects” will become irrelevant as the PVCs will then be used as regular Voter Cards without the added complication of authenticating the encoded data. 
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce its Quality Control Policy with respect to PVC and Smart Card Reader deliverables.
INEC should also be officially requested to make public the detailed report of its mock poll exercise and its forecast of the probable extent of defective PVCs during the general elections. 
I thank you all for your attention

Text of press conference by the Director of Media and Publicity, PDP presidential campaign organization, Femi Fani-Kayode.
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, 
It is with a heavy heart that we are compelled to share with the Nigerian public the following sensitive information which we believe, if not handled properly and looked into, is serious enough to affect the outcome of Saturday’s presidential election in a negative way.
Before we go into detail permit me to make an important assertion which cannot be overstated or over-emphasised. That assertion is as follows: the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation and our candidate President Goodluck Jonathan are not in the least bit worried about what the outcome of Saturday’s election will be. We believe that we have the backing and full support of the Nigerian people and we believe that we shall not only win but that we shall win convincingly.  



Whatever we share with you here today does not, in anyway, mean that we shall not participate in Saturday’s election or that we are worried about how we will fare. The fact of the matter is that we shall not only participate but we are also very confident of winning. We believe that the Nigerian people will give President Goodluck Jonathan a fresh mandate for the next four years regardless of the shenanigans of the opposition and those that are covertly working for and with them. 


The purpose of this briefing and of sharing the following information with the Nigerian people is simply to ensure that they are fully aware of what is going on and to enable our security and intelligence agencies to ensure that INEC does the right thing, answers some of these questions and put their house in order so that the outcome of the election is not in any way questionable.  


We cannot sit by idly and remain silent when a desperate group of ruthless and greedy little men, in collusion with their friends in the APC, rob the Nigerian people of their historic opportunity to elect a President of their choice. This they intend to do by sitting in a dark room somewhere and rigging the election in the most sophisticated manner even before it holds.  


This is unacceptable and it is incumbent upon us, as a responsible, accountable and sensible campaign organisation to expose the rot, point out the dangers of doing nothing about it, finger and identify those that are involved and call on the authorities to do something about it before it is too late. We shall share this information in good faith and we shall then leave the matter for necessary action by the relevant security agencies and authorities.
 


Our concerns stem from the fact that the moving spirit and a major shareholder and board member of the company that supplied the card reader system and machines to INEC is not only a friend of but also an ardent and keen supporter of General Mohammadu Buhari and the APC. That man's name is Sani Musa and he is indeed the main force behind the company. The company's name is Act Technologies Ltd. and the Chairman of the company is one Engineer SK Danladi.  


How and why INEC would give the contract to supply the card readers to a fanatical APC supporter and to a man whose other company was officially blacklisted by INEC a couple of years ago for sharp practices, needs to be explained. Sani Musa has expressed his undying support for the APC and General Buhari and his hatred and virulent opposition to the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan openly and publicly on his Facebook wall. Some of his comments on Facebook read as follows: ''I stand with him (Buhari) for whatever reason” and “Imagine the kind of people given spaces in our nation’s news tabloids.  Hoodlums are having field day in Nigeria since the inception of GEJ’s administration.  Mad men, hooligans and vultures have taken over decency of the society.  May Allah save us from the torments of this (sic) rascals and expose their intentions on our nation state be it the Boko Haram, killer militants or by extension those in authority with wicked intentions-Amen.”  Photocopies of his Facebook wall where these comments were made and his picture will be made available at the end of this briefing.     
        


Worst still, it is clear that certain aspects of and electronic components within the card reader system which will be used in Saturday's election have not only been compromised but that the encryption codes and so-called ''master key'' may have been made available to the opposition or their friends and agents. This will enable them to access the system, fabricate and generate fake votes and manipulate the voting patterns to their advantage.  


This constitute a very serious breach of security and it is a criminal offence. It is also very dangerous. Worst still it can easily be carried out successfully because, if done quietly and properly and without any deep scrutiny, it is virtually fool-proof. All you need to make it work is to have certain relevant and key INEC officials that are in the know to work closely with the supplier of the card readers and an opposition party that is so hungry and desperate for power that they are ready to pay large sums of money to their friends and associates to help them get it by hook or by crook. 


We believe that all those components are now in place and that the biggest and most brazen attempt to rig elections in the history of our country will take place on Saturday if the necessary measures are not taken to prevent it. If the conspiracy is not exposed, if the Nigerian people do not rise up and demand answers, if the plan is not intercepted and aborted, if the Chairman of INEC does not answer the relevant questions and take the necessary steps and if the relevant individuals, including Sani Musa and his collaborators and co-conspirators in INEC and the opposition, are not called to order, arrested, interrogated and prosecuted their plan may well succeed. 


In view of this dastardly plan that is in the offing and this unwholesome conspiracy, we call on the party leadership and faithful to direct our supporters and polling agents to be very vigilant at every polling booth and to guard and protect their votes. After voting they should stay at the polling booths to ensure that their votes are counted and that they are not manipulated or changed.                      


Ladies and gentlemen, the facts, the evidence and our recommendations are as follows:         


INEC has concluded plans to utilize its recently acquired Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming presidential elections scheduled for March 28th 2015. INEC has carried out a mock poll to test-run the functionality of the Smart Card Reader in 12 states of the Federation with mixed results.


There is an on-going public debate regarding the pros and cons of the planned Smart Card use by INEC with a number of questions being asked regarding the security vulnerabilities of the technology. 


The purpose of this document is:


To highlight the most serious of such security vulnerabilities that are critical enough to justify a halt in INEC's plans to use the Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming general elections (until such issues are satisfactorily resolved and fully certified as being secured by reputable independent third party security auditors).
To demonstrate that the opposition APC has already secured, through rogue means, an unassailable advantage over the ruling PDP which will most likely result in a resounding electoral victory for it irrespective of PDP’s actions or inactions, in the event that the Smart Card Readers are used for the elections.


To highlight the need for INEC to admit to the security-related failings of its Smart Card Readers implementation under circumstances that will be credible to local and international observers, such that it will become obvious that the use of Smart Card Readers for the forthcoming polls cannot guarantee free, fair and credible elections.
The major issues that are worthy of consideration are summarized below. Each issue can be readily substantiated by verifiable sources of evidence.
i. Compromised Master Encryption/Decryption Key: The Master Encryption/Decryption Key that can "unlock" and simulate the PVC data processed by the Smart Card Reader has been compromised.  There is only one copy of the Master Key in Nigeria and it is in the possession of an individual who is a known APC sympathizer/supporter (and also the contractor responsible for the production of PVCs and manufacture of Smart Card Readers for INEC who was already blacklisted by INEC following his inability to deliver ballot papers during the 2011 elections).  The Master Key should rightly be in the possession of INEC, as the neutral umpire, under the most stringent access control protocol imaginable and not freely in the possession of a partisan actor.
INEC has already expressed concern over intelligence reports that APC has been purchasing VINs (Voter Identification Numbers uniquely identifying each PVC), which can only mean that the Party is already in possession of the Master Key (as the purchase of VINs would otherwise have been a fruitless exercise).
This has grave implications for the PDP as the opposition APC, armed with the Master Key and sufficient VINs, can actually simulate the same data transmitted from any Smart Card Reader deployed for the elections at will. The situation is even now worsened by the fact that APC no longer has to purchase VINs or PVCs as they can now download the entire VINs directly from the INEC database which they have successfully “hacked” into.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce the Master Encryption/Decryption Key (before it has the opportunity to cover up this monumental act of negligence).
ii.    Failure to carry out Independent Security Audit of its IT Infrastructure: Contrary to what the average political commentator thinks, the critical IT infrastructure for the use of the Smart Card Readers by INEC is not necessarily the actual device itself, but the back-end IT infrastructure comprising INEC servers, database, network, personnel and processes. Given the critical nature and purpose of this infrastructure, the standard global best practice is for the organisation to enlist the services of an independent third-party IT Security Audit firm to carry out a comprehensive (and indeed, periodic) Security Audit of its entire end-to-end IT infrastructure and prepare a Security Audit Report which forms the ONLY basis upon which INEC can certify its proposed technology as secure and safe from vulnerabilities that can be exploited by rouge persons/systems.
There are various internationally-acceptable information security standard certifications that a reliable back-end IT infrastructure like INEC's should pass in order to command public confidence, such as ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 27018, etc. The lack of such security-related certifications simply means that INEC cannot confidently assert that its systems have not been "hacked", compromised or otherwise illegally accessed by unauthorised persons. 
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce a copy of any Security Audit Report independently authored by a reputable and certified third party (before it has the opportunity to cover up this monumental act of negligence).
If INEC fails to produce a satisfactory Security Audit Report, then it should be compelled to conduct a fresh Security Audit of its entire IT infrastructure which can even be extended to its production/manufacturing facilities in China (indeed the only other copy of the Master Encryption/Decryption Key is in the possession of the Chinese Manufacturers) - this process of auditing cannot possibly be completed before the general elections.
iii.    Compromised back-end Personnel: Contrary to standard industry practice, INEC opted for the engagement of relatively inexperienced, “suitcase” IT Consulting Companies for the development of its back-end collation and transmission systems and other core server and database applications, using predominantly open source software characterised by publicly-available source code – another major security vulnerability. While significant budgets were made available for this purpose, INEC's choice of "greenhorn" consultants was due to the ridiculously low contract sums paid for these consultancy contracts. The unfortunate consequence of this indiscretion, however, is that the personnel associated with these firms are poorly motivated, ill equipped, poorly supervised and easily compromised. It is, therefore, easily understandable why the opposition APC has been able to compromise INEC's back-end personnel to its advantage.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to make public the company profile of the IT Consulting Firms it contracted to develop its back-end IT systems, the Curriculum Vitae of their personnel, their known connections to opposition APC figures as well as the financial details of their associated contracts (vis-a-vis the approved budgets). This will clearly prove the lack of credibility of INEC's critical back-end systems.
iv.    Millions of Unprinted PVCs: Contrary to the public perception that INEC has virtually completed the production of PVCs, the true situation is that, as at last week, INEC was yet to take delivery of over 2 million PVCs that were yet to be produced by the contractor, Act Technologies. It is not certain that the production of these PVCs will be completed before the presidential elections scheduled for March 28th 2015. It is, therefore, obvious that a significant number of eligible voters will definitely be disenfranchised in the process.
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to invite stakeholders to an impromptu visit of the PVC production facility of ACTS Technologies in Ganges Street, Maitama, Abuja to observe, first hand, the on- going production process and take stock of the current and outstanding inventories in a transparent manner.

Absence of Quality Control (QC) Measures and Defective PVC Deliverables: INEC has failed to put in place reasonable Quality Control (QC) measures for the PVCs delivered to it by the contractor - ACTS Technologies. The implication of this procedural loophole is that INEC had and still has no way of determining the extent of "defects" in the supplied PVCs. 
This became most apparent during the recently-concluded mock polls in which a variety of very serious, but avoidable, problems were experienced during the exercise, including PVCs with absent fingerprint data; PVCs with poor picture quality; PVCs with mismatched data (i.e. encoded data different from printed data); Card Readers with low battery lifespan etc. INEC has deliberately hidden the extent of these problems from the general public as there would have been considerable outrage if the scope of the challenges is made known. 
Furthermore, nobody in INEC can reliably predict the likely percentage of defective PVCs that have already been distributed until during the actual election itself. If the percentage is significant and more concentrated to specific geographic locations, as is being suspected, then it is no doubt a recipe for disaster - as it can fuel electoral violence of immense proportions. 
If, however, INEC steps down the use of Smart Card Readers, then the aforementioned “defects” will become irrelevant as the PVCs will then be used as regular Voter Cards without the added complication of authenticating the encoded data. 
RECOMMENDATION: INEC should be officially requested to IMMEDIATELY produce its Quality Control Policy with respect to PVC and Smart Card Reader deliverables.
INEC should also be officially requested to make public the detailed report of its mock poll exercise and its forecast of the probable extent of defective PVCs during the general elections. 
I thank you all for your attention

One month ago, the APC had whipped its supporters into frenzy in believing it was bound to win an election it really had no chance of winning. In truth, if the election had been conducted then for the chairman of the EFCC, Muhammadu Buhari would have been declared winner by a landslide. However, with the postponement of the election, a lot of water has passed under the bridge. Even Buhari’s self-styled credential as Mr. Integrity has unraveled.

Buhari’s entire campaign posture for the 2015 presidential election stands on two shaky grounds. He fashions himself as Mr. Integrity, the implacable enemy of corruption in Nigeria. He is the one who reportedly is going to ensure that corruption is a thing of the past in Nigeria. He is also the one who is going to destroy the Boko Haram in the twinkling of an eye, even though a number of months ago, he was negotiating for amnesty and golden handshakes for the insurgents, and they nominated him as their preferred middleman in any truce negotiation with Nigeria.

Things have not gone too well for the Buhari campaign since the postponement of the election. He did not help things by disappearing off the political radar for virtually two weeks. By the time he re-surfaced, Boko Haram was toast. We no longer needed Buhari’s vain promissory notes to deal with the insurgency. One after another, town after town were recovered from the Boko Haram. In many respects, they have been routed as the Nigerian army came into its own after having received its new consignment of weapons.

As a result, we no longer hear anything from Buhari about whipping Boko Haram. All he has left is his anti-corruption mantra. But that one has also come to grief with the airing of Africa Independent Television’s tripartite documentary entitled: “The Lion of Bourdillon.” This alleges that Bola Tinubu, the self-styled national leader of the APC, is steeped in corruption. It claims Tinubu is the biggest landlord in Lagos, and maintains he has acquired so much property through very sharp practices.

While the veracity of these allegations is yet to be ascertained beyond reasonable doubt, the documentary has brought to the fore the flies in the anti-corruption ointment of Buhari. The truth is that corruption in Nigeria is not the exclusive preserve of the PDP. It is also the chronic ailment of the APC. Neither is corruption only the malaise of the federal government; it is equally the malaise of state governments, including those ruled by the APC. Indeed, Murtala Nyako of the APC was impeached and removed as governor of Adamawa partly because it was alleged that he had corruptly enriched himself with government funds.

The question then is this: does Buhari’s so-called zero-tolerance for corruption extend to his APC colleagues? Will Buhari, in the unlikely event that he becomes president, go after APC thieves as well as PDP thieves? Or will he turn a blind eye to APC thieves and molly-cuddle them? Suddenly, the anti-corruption searchlight turned on to Buhari and his friends, and just as suddenly, we discovered what some of us have always known: that Buhari, the Emperor of Anti-Corruption, has no clothes.

Buhari’s response to the issue of corruption in the APC ranks reeks with sheer hypocrisy and double-standards. Like charity, Buhari’s anti-corruption stance must begin at home in the APC if it is to be credible. However, Buhari is not inclined to prosecute his friends. Instead, he came up with a pronouncement that virtually rubbishes his anti-corruption posture. He said: “Whoever that is indicted of corruption between 1999 to the time of swearing-in, would be pardoned. I am going to draw a line, anybody who involved himself in corruption after I assume office, will face the music.”

This means as long as you steal money between 1999 and 2011, you have nothing to fear under a Buhari presidency. This is, of course, an insurance policy for his corrupt supporters, assuring them that they would have nothing to fear by giving him their vote. Buhari did not come out in strident support of Bola Tinubu. He did not come out to tell the world that, contrary to the AIT documentary, the Bola Tinubu he knows is a man of unimpeachable integrity. Instead, he told the world that if there are thieves among his friends, they can rest assured that he would pardon their thievery.

When President Jonathan pardoned the former governor of Bayelsa, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, a man who had been convicted of corruption and was a refugee from justice from Britain, Nigerians were incensed. This was rightly seen as the president condoning corruption. One would have thought this kind of thing would not occur with a man who talks anti-corruption day and night. However, in the case of Buhari, he would not only pardon one corrupt associate, he would pardon them all.

When asked how he is going to get funds to revitalise the economy, Buhari stated that he is going to get all corrupt past leaders and officials to cough out their stolen money. This is nothing but a nonsensical policy. It is bizarre and odd for Buhari to think he can run Nigeria, revamp the educational system for example, by recovering stolen money. Where will he get this money from? Who will give it to him? Would such recovered money not amount to a storm in the teacup?

But now that he has dumped this anti-corruption charade in favour of a blanket pardon for the corrupt, it is clear that political reality is beginning to erode Buhari’s highfalutin campaign grandstanding. It is equally significant that Buhari’s new stance on corruption comes coincidentally after the AIT documentary on “The Lion of Bourdillon,” where one of his most important allies is accused of corruption. Clearly, it is high time Buhari stopped deluding Nigerians that he is genuinely anti-corruption and that he can eradicate corruption in Nigeria by sending corrupt politicians to jail.

Buhari was Nigeria’s Head-of-State for a period of 18 months in the 1980s. At the time, he ran so rough-shod over the Nigerian judicial system that the Nigerian Bar Association proscribed Nigerian lawyers from appearing in any of Buhari’s kangaroo courts. Buhari sent both corrupt and non-corrupt politicians to jail, sometimes for up to 300 years. Nevertheless, corruption was not eradicated. It continued unabated because it was not addressed structurally. Even the practice under Obasanjo of shooting armed robbers by firing squad in Bar Beach failed to stop armed robbery. All it did was to brutalise the Nigerian public.

Surely, the more reasonable and effective method is to remove the avenues for corruption. This is what Goodluck Jonathan has been doing. He has sanitised the payroll system by removing some 50,000 ghost-workers, saving the country a whopping 200 billion Naira in the first instance. He has removed the fertiliser middlemen, saving Nigeria hundreds of billions of Naira. He has sanitised the electoral register. Over three million ghost voters have been removed; one million in Zamfara State alone. He is going after corruption in the oil sector with the Petroleum Industry Bill.

In the vainglorious case of Buhari, it did not help matters that he fought corruption with corruption. He interfered blatantly in the judicial process. The judge who sent Fela to jail later went to apologise to him in hospital afterwards that he did it under government duress. Nevertheless, some members of the Nigerian public, baying for the blood of corrupt politicians, hanker back to the high-handed days of the Buhari era, when the human rights of innocent Nigerians were violated on the altar of anti-corruption, and some Nigerian were even judicially murdered under heinous retroactive decrees.

What Buhari is not telling them is that he has no power to do this under today’s democratic dispensation. Buhari goes on the stomp and says: “When we come into power, anyone who steals Nigerian money will end up in Kirikiri Maximum Prisons. We are going to make sure that Nigeria’s wealth belongs only to Nigerians.” But the truth of the matter is that, in a democracy, the president does not have the judicial power to send anybody to Kirikiri. If the EFCC does not prosecute, the president cannot become the chairman of the EFCC. If the judges do not convict, Buhari cannot transform himself into a judge.

All those who have been deceived into believing that Buhari will just become president and begin to lock up corrupt politicians left, right and centre are dreaming. In the unlikely event that Buhari becomes president, he will neither have the power to do so, nor the inclination to do so. The reason is simple: many of the thieves are his friends and allies in the APC. Buhari talks change, but he is running around with the old breed of politicians. You can always tell a lot about a man by the composition and character of his friends.

Buhari fashions himself as Mr. Integrity, nevertheless, he was not averse to serve under Sani Abacha, one of the most corrupt Heads-of-State in the history of Nigeria. Even more significant, Buhari insisted that Abacha was not corrupt at all. On the 10th anniversary of Abacha’s death, Buhari told incredulous Nigerians that all the allegations of looting the treasury leveled against Abacha were “baseless.” He said: “ten years after Abacha, those allegations remain unproven because of lack of facts.”

Buhari held this position in spite of the millions of dollars of Abacha’s loot recovered from banks around the world, and in spite of the fact that the Abacha’s family signed a formal agreement to return over $1 billion of such monies to the Nigerian government. We can see therefore that, from the point of view of Buhari, only the PDP has the copyright on corruption. Every allegation of corruption levelled against his friends and financiers must surely be “baseless.”

It is this kind of double standard that prompted Buhari to jail Vice-president Ekwueme, while only putting President Shagari under house arrest. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti poked fun at this in one of his songs. He said: “Driver commit accident Buhari lock conductor.” Given the many corrupt drivers that abound in Buhari’s APC’s, we can anticipate that he will only be interested in locking up conductors in the unlikely event that he ever becomes president.

During the time of obasanjo, nigeria artists sang song like
* Nigeria jaga jaga by Idris
* food no dey water no dey by African china
* you don hit by car by Tony Tetula
* we go flog politicians koboko
* dem just dey do us ojoro by oritse femi
Because there was so much hunger and corruption

During GEJ's tenure
Chop my money and testimony by Psquare
Show you the money by wizkid
Emi omo baba olowo by davido
Emi ni baller by miss kedike
Limpopo by kcee
Bank Alert by illbliss
Godwin by koredo bello
This simply means that hunger and corruption is reduced
Don't vote out of hatred, vote for better nigeria, vote Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

> A Pharoah will take us back to the land of Egypt, where we will become slaves again (apart from the few who will be his associates and collaborators), whilst all others will be whipped into order, slammed into jails without due process and will have to bow down to the Pharaoh. 
>
> The Pharaoh's tribe and religion will be super-imposed upon all, as the born to rule superiority complex will override all other tribes and religion/s.
>
> Some slaves may want to go back to Egypt again, to be slave masters, as they see gains lording it over other slaves, but the majority of the other slaves want their own freedom and will rather take their destiny into their own hands, serving their own living GOD.
>
> A Moses is no Saint and has his faults, but like Moses, he is leading the slaves to cross the red sea and then take the slaves into their promised land, a desert, flowing with milk and honey.
>
> To be able to get to the promised land, the slaves have to first cross the red sea, and need Moses.
>
> However, we are at a cross road and need to decide between a Pharaoh who will take us back as slaves into the land of Egypt, or a Moses who will help the slaves cross the red sea, into the promised land.
>
> Spiritually, we all have to decide if we want Pharaoh and to go back as slaves to the land of Egypt, or we can chose Moses, who has his faults, but who is already taking us to cross the red sea and is trying to help us cross into the promised land.
>
> Spiritually, the battle is on, either back to Egypt as slaves and bowing to Pharaoh, or choosing Moses with his faults, then, crossing the red sea into the promised land.
>

A former military ruler of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has called for the introduction of ‘total’ Islamic law across the country, reports said on Monday.
He made this call at a conference organized by the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs in Kaduna.Buhari, who ruled Nigeria from a coup in December 1983 to his ouster in 1985, told a seminar in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, at the weekend that the strict Islamic law code known as the Sharia should be introduced in full across Nigeria.
“I will continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the Sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria,” Buhari said, quoted in press reports.

“God willing, we will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of the Sharia in the country,” Buhari said.

Northern Nigeria is mainly Muslim but southern Nigeria is mainly Christian and has led criticism of the introduction of Islamic law in a dozen northern states in the past 18 months.

Africa’s most populous country has been shaken repeatedly in the past by religious unrest. In February 2000 between 2 000 and 3 000 people were killed by Christian-Muslim riots in Kaduna over the introduction of Sharia.

Call for Sharia across the country

Buhari’s comments were interpreted by the southern-based papers as a call for the imposition of Sharia all across the country, even in the mainly Christian south.

“Buhari calls for Sharia in all states,” was the headline of the respected newspaper The Guardian.

Buhari’s comments were defended by supporters as simply a call for the full implementation of Sharia in areas where Muslims predominated.

But the comments are the second by Buhari that have courted controversy after he called earlier this year for Muslims to vote at the next presidential elections only for someone who would defend their faith.

This was criticised by the press as a call for voting along religious lines, as well as an attack on the current president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who is a Christian.

Buhari made the latest comments at a seminar organised by the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, a newly set up body attended by northern state governments and Islamic scholars.

“It is a legal responsibility which God has given us, within the context of one Nigeria, to continue to uphold the practice of Sharia wholeheartedly , and to educate non-Muslims that they have nothing to fear,” he said.

“What remains for Muslims in Nigeria is for them to redouble their efforts, educate Muslims on the need to promote the full implementation of Sharia law,” he went on. – AFP
Pointblanknews.com

The Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, has advised the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) not to bicker after losing this week’s presidential poll.

The governor urged the APC to take its  impending defeat in good faith, saying the party and its candidate would be trounced severely in the election.

Fayose stated that President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would through the election send Buhari on permanent political retirement.

Fayose, who stated this through his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, said that the APC would, by the election, be taught a political lesson that elections are not won on the pages of newspapers and through sheer propaganda.

The governor said the defeat would put an end to propaganda, bad mouthing and the noise of the APC, “because lies will always fail, while truth will stand the test of time.”

Fayose said it was imperative to offer the advice because of Buhari’s antecedent of inciting people to violence as his own response to defeat in elections, adding that the APC had always believed that any election it did not win was rigged.

He said: “The reason APC will fail woefully is because people have come to know it as a party peopled by liars, deceits and hypocrites who should not be entrusted with the leadership of this country.

“Even leaders of thought in the North have since withdrawn their support when they realised the agenda of certain APC leaders against the North.

“I can say it categorically that Buhari will be beaten silly and I am advising Buhari and his APC to take the impending defeat philosophically as an act of God.

“May be after this election, the party will change its name from APC to Panadol.”

Speaking further, Fayose said the APC represented bad luck for
Nigeria, maintaining that there was nothing in the antecedents of the retired army general and other leaders of the party to suggest any good thing for the nation and the people.

He added that Buhari’s stint as Head of State was characterised by pains and woes.

Rivers state Governor Rotimi Amachi regrets his joining of Apc, would have remained in PDP if I knew my deputy Engr. Tele ikuru would betray me, tele was even the one who seconded the motion for us to defect to the APC. So is unthinkable that he would return to PDP, if I knew tele was going to make peace with wike I wouldn't have left the PDP. I will encourage you to remain steadfast and expect the worse because some commissioners will soon join him and we can't go to elections with a divided house and political moles- Gov Amachi.