₦airaland Forum

nwakibie3:
The Nigerian Army on Thursday said 95 percent of its troops would be engaged in security duties during the forthcoming general elections.

It added almost 40 percent of the troops to be deployed would be in the Northeast.

Its Spokesman Brig. Gen. Sani Usman said in a statement that it was not true that the troops were being paid some allowances in other to sway their votes for a particular party as being alleged in the social media.

Brig Gen Usman said: “The attention of the Nigerian Army has been drawn to some insinuations on various social media platforms that the recent payment of uniform allowance to officers and soldiers was done to sway their voting towards a particular political party. This is not true.

“The payment of uniform allowance was started in 2016 to assist troops deployed on Operation LAFIYA DOLE as uniform upkeep and maintenance.

“The allowance was however extended to all Nigerian Army personnel because of their increasing engagement in various Internal Security Operations across the country.

“It is important to note that 95 per cent of Nigerian Army troops will be engaged in security duties during the forthcoming general elections.

“Out of this, almost 40 per cent are in the North East. Therefore, it is gross unfair and sheer mischief to associate the Nigerian Army with such mundane action.

“We therefore implore all well- meaning Nigerians to dissociate themselves from such fake and unwarranted information calculated to smear the Nigerian Army.

“Although investigation is ongoing to ascertain the source of such malicious allegations, we would like to warn such unpatriotic individuals to stop this mischief forthwith.

” We would like to further warn all officers and soldiers to desist from acts that are inimical to Service discipline and code of conduct and reiterate the Chief of Army Staff’s warning during his conference with General Officers Commanding and Operations Commanders that, “All Nigerian Army personnel must remain neutral, non-partisan and transparent in all their actions.

“I need to reiterate that there will be zero-tolerance for any action and in-action by commanders at all levels that is deemed tilted towards giving undue advantage to any candidate, political party, ethnic or religious leanings to the detriment of the unity and integrity of Nigeria.

“The Nigerian Army has always been professional, impartial and apolitical. We wish to state that no amount of campaign of calumny against it would change that”.

http://thenationonlineng.net/army-deploy-95-percent-troops-for-polls/

faaz24:
Kaduna Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, appeared on an NTA late-night programme on Tuesday.

Responding to a question from the host, Cyril Stober, the governor spoke about foreign intervention in Nigerian affairs. Mr El-Rufai said the country was ready to confront any foreign invader who tries to militarily intervene in the country, and that any such person would be taken out in body bag.

The comment has sparked controversies, with interest groups subjecting it to various interpretations.

PREMIUM TIMES has watched the about two-hour programme and hereby transcribed the governor’s exact answer to the question that triggered the comment.

Before I get to the issue of interference and intervention, I think you raised a fundamental question that I think I would want to comment on. Why are there shouts of rigging of elections? I think my brother …. tried to throw light on that. I mean when a politician faces an election situation and he thinks he is likely to lose, it is quite likely to start crying wolf. It is okay. It is normal. It is human and it is political.

Okay, but what we are seeing in Nigeria, in this election circle, it is illogical because President Muhammadu Buhari has, under his watch, overseen the conduct of several elections. He has seen the election of Kogi, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Anambra, Osun. At least five governorship elections have taken place since President Buhari took over and there is not one instance that anyone from the ruling party or the opposition party or any party for that matter accused the federal government of interfering with INEC’s operations.

Okowa Campaign AD

So the president I think has a credible track record in non-interference, in the running of INEC, under two different heads of INEC. So, I think anyone that accuses President Muhammadu Buhari or his party of trying to rig elections is being too clever by half or totally irresponsible or reckless because there is no record of the president in interfering in elections. And the best person to ask is the governor of Anambra State. He would give that testimony where the president even intervened to change the security chiefs when the governor complained that some security chiefs were compromised. The president has been trying.

I think in the public interest of Nigerians we should stop being irresponsible and politicising everything. Lets look at the record of this president and INEC. Secondly, I was quite visible in the Osun election and I know what happened in Ekiti and I was also in Edo. And what I have seen on the part of INEC is rapid improvement in their operations. Their logistical capabilities have improved. Their capacity to conduct credible elections has been significantly improved. I was most impressed. I think we are getting to a point, in my view as a politician, where I would not need polling agents on election day. Because it would be nearly impossible to manipulate results.

I am confident based on what I have seen from Kogi to Edo down to Osun One. I mean the first round of the Osun election because I was there. I was not around for Osun two. I think INEC is in a position to conduct a very credible election. Nobody should be afraid. You can only be afraid when you are sure you are going to lose and when you are trying to create a foundation for future crises.

And this is what is worrying me. All the information and signals we are getting from the PDP indicates that, one they know they would lose this election; two they want to illegitimise this result in advance. No one in the PDP can point at the leadership of INEC and say that they are in a position that they want to manipulate election results. There is no record of that after we have elected six governors out of the circle.

So they want to illegitimise the result in advance so that when they lose they would say we told you so. Number three it appears to me and from all the intelligence available to us that they are trying to create a crisis after the result has been announced and they have lost. I think every responsible Nigerian should rise up against this.

Where does interference come in. I now come to Prof. Prof is trying to differentiate interference and intervention.

It is a basic principle of international law that no country should interfere in the internal affair of another country. We can comment on Brexit. That is not interference. But when you come into a country and make statements without facts in an attempt to complicate the internal government of that country that is interference and it is irresponsible.




What we have seen from the three countries the EU, US and UK in response to the suspension of the chief justice and trying to link the suspension of the chief justice to the electoral act law is the most irresponsible piece of diplomatic mishap I have ever seen in my 59 years of living in Nigeria. I have read about international law. I have seen how countries operate. Those statements where coordinated. They were based on no information at all and they were most irresponsible.

And I am happy that the presidency responded to it and as Nigerians, we must understand that these guys can sit pretty in their countries, say things and when the crises happen we are here. We are the victims, our wives and children are the victims. We must rise up and unite and say no to violence in this country.

We have every confidence that INEC would conduct credible elections and we challenge opposition parties to point out what part of the logistical arrangement of the electoral preparations give room for any manipulations. Otherwise they should shut up and go and get people to vote for them.

We all do polls. A poll was released today by the opposition showing that they are likely to win. We have our own polls that show something different. But do not let us use our own internal polls or procured polls to try to delegitimise the election in advance. At the end of the day it is Nigeria’s 84 million registered voters that would line up and vote on the 16 of February. Let us wait for the result and if the results are not what we expect them to be, there is a process to challenge them. We have election tribunals. President Buhari did that three times. He never resorted to violence. He never called for violence. He went to the Supreme Court three times. Let these other parties that are not used to losing elections …. We are used to losing elections. Those of us that came from the opposition, we know the pain of losing elections and the pain of things stolen from us.

But we never resorted to violence. We went through the due process even if it was unfair to us. We accepted the outcome. Let every Nigerian, let us all commit that we have a country and we have institutions and we should allow those institutions to work. If we have a situation that the security forces are biased as the governor of Anambra complained to the president, raise the flag and give the authorities the opportunities to change them. But do not try to create trouble because your children have all been taken out abroad or they are studying abroad and it is the children of the ordinary that would be up on the streets killing one another.

This is my appeal. Now, intervention is the higher form of interference where countries intervene militarily. We have done that in Sierra Leone and Liberia and we only did so because we had the international community actually appealing to Nigeria to go in and restore order. It cost us a lot of money and lives and we never got anything from it. We did it out of good neighbourliness.

Those that are calling for anyone to come and intervene in Nigeria, we are waiting for the person to come and intervene. They would go back in body bags because nobody would come to Nigeria and tell us how to run our country. We have got that independence. We are trying to run our country as decently as possible. And we know the history of those countries that are trying to teach us these things. We have read their history. We also know their own stages of development. They went through these challenges. So, let us work together. Let’s advise one another. But don’t lecture us.

detosho:
YOU HAVE TO READ ALL TO UNDERSTAND IN FULL...
OK guys, lemme explain somethings to you.
1) Hausa people had tried an invasion of the SW before, it didn't end well for them, we may not be violent, but we are skilled at self defence. Its not just you guys against them.
2) Every Yoruba is bred with knowledge of the perpetual enmity with Hausa's, infact an average Yoruba thinks of them as idiots (ask why they are called Abokis in SW)
3) Every Yoruba knows that Igbos are less of enemies and more of competitors to us. But every Yoruba also thinks of Igbos as prone to being dubious and disloyal, especially when they are set to benefit from it.
4) Due to the aforementioned, Yorubas prefer sometimes to deal with Hausas (whose state of enmity with them is sure), than with Igbos, who may be their friends but who may betray their trust, something Yoruba people value a lot, and know at least they cannot give to Hausas.
5) Be sure that like Igbos, Yoruba people also have a cause for feud with Hausas, one dat even goes beyond the creation of Nigeria, the place called Ilorin. No true Yoruba does not know of the story of Ilorin, Aare Afonja and Alimi.
6) Yoruba people are generally the most welcoming in this country, you may dispute it, but I've been to most other regions in this country, save NE. Thus we welcome Hausas as much as we welcome Igbos, Idomas, Efiks, Igalas, Tivs, etc. You are all welcomed in our Lands ( we don't like that no mans land talk).
7) Due to Pre-colonial trading, a lot of lingual similarities have occured between Hausas and Yorubas, thus in modern life, it may tell why Yorubas seem to understand Hausas and their Language/Culture faster and better than Igbos and their language/Culture. Its not for animosity.
This is subject to dispute, but an average Yoruba person,like Artisans and Traders and co, is highly interested in politics and governance, but doesn't really give a damn about either the Unity or Seperation of Nigeria, although when asked most would reply that "we are better off on our own".
9) The above Stated reason is why not too many Yoruba people go out of the SW for residence and those that do so are considered doing it at their own risk.
10) Yorubas are benefiting the most from the fracas between Hausas and Igbos, as they are able to make both bring their resources meant for other parts of the country to the SW, due to their non-partisan accommodation. Why do u think SW is the least poor region in the country, and having the highest per capita standard of living (fact from Nigerian Bureau of Statistics)

Alariiwo:
You are entitled to your opinion regardless of how useful or useless it is..

Compare the rubbish you wrote up there to what a foolish southerner (GEJ) did to fellow southerners..

All key posts in Govt - South East
Other supplementary roles - North
Massive retirement from the Fed. Civil Service - South West.
Gave all SW Fed. seats to non-yorubas (mostly Igbos).

You can cry from now till eternity, you will remain at the bottom of the food chain.

Clerverly:
Nothing wrong with showing enthusiasm in an uncommon way. Even in sports, Supporters and fans go unclad to show support for their team or person...

Anyway Buhari is a Movement

Shibaraba:
No matter how e bad reach we should learn not to spread our dirty linen outside.

They are not patriots.
Me go support my country anywhere.
If we don't paint it good who will?

BTW thunder fire 2015 APC presidential candidate.

BabaO2:
Those are the bold and courageous unlike:
Azikiwe that ran away and left his followers during the war for the fear of being killed, same thing applied to chest beating Ojukwu. Your Evans can't even own up to the crime he was caught inside of, he was crying like a baby.. set of coward generation..

OneCorner:
It’s inside d rock. There’s a door there dat only d President can unlock with his thumbprint.
D Vice President lives in d second rock close to d biggest one.
It’s a secret most Nigerians don’t know

rusher14:
Have you made your statement based on any empirical findings from the Gongola basin or are you simply looking for any statement that sticks?

StOla:
Atiku has hastily replied Director Nnamdi Kanu who has laboured to unearth the fact that the PDP Presidential candidate is from Cameroon.

What Atiku did not provide in his reply, is the name of his father and his own birth certificate for confirmation.

This is the same Atiku that lied and was caught to have stated that he grew up an orphan, when indeed Hus mother was alive till he became a working adult.

What is Atiku hiding about his parental ancestry?
Where is Atiku's birth certificate?

Atiku must remove his trouser for inspection (*covers nose*).

This is the time for Obasanjo to let the general public know what he found out about Atiku's parents, just like Director Kanu has done.

BabaO2:
Check the meaning of a coward and compare it with the lives of the following:
Azikiwe
Ojukwu
Evans
Then compare it with
MKO Abiola
Fajuyi
Godogodo

Tochyno1995:
� � �....
Born cowards � laugh ... Guy you wicked o

Mgbadike80:
lol, boisterous cone head shaped cowards and chest beaters.

7Alexander:
Nigerian politicians and their useless grandstanding. Shame on Tinubu and his goons.
Isn't Ambode the most chicken hearted givernor ever? 4 years as governor and you have no voice nor footmen.

Hundreddegrees:
He will not die, he will be alive to witness his defeat ...IJN AMEEEN

MrSix:
Please don't have kids, else they'd be dumb as fu.c..k.

MrSix:
Errrm
I just finished streaming the interview on YouTube and I'd say that ,on a general note, I wasn't impressed.
There are implications to the answers made by Peter Obi especially. He wouldn't answer the questions but would throw them back, and also points stuffs in a direction I'd break down with their logical implications below. And as a matter of fact, he cared less if he was wrong as long as it paid or he wasn't caught. Same thing for Atiku, especially on the latter.

*If you steal money to feed the society, it's ok since the end of the outcome is good.
Question: What about where the money was taken from?
*If you can't prove God exists, then he doesn't exist.
Why: Because according to the Atiku/Obi/PDP logic, if you can't prove Atiku guilty of any corruption allegation, as a matter of fact, he didn't commit any.
Atiku expressly claimed OBJ investigated him more than any other politician/person and yet found no evidence for his allegations.

Those above break downs were the overtones of the interview; it doesn't matter if it's legal, but as long as Obi invested $30mil to result $100mil, it's ok. Clearly, the ends justify the means here. And also, if you've no evidence, it never happened.





Check my signature
I sell USA used Laptops
Free delivery within Lagos only and it's pay on delivery.

Slonge2:
i don’t think they are personally, but the popular sentiments here in Rivers state is the Igbo are trouble makers, and they try to enforce their wishes on their host. Infact, the igbos were chased from Ogoni Land in the early 1990’s for this exact reason. And they don’t sell land to the Igbos in some parts of Akwaibom and even Ogoni and Okrika. I actually love the Capitalist nature of the Igbo, and feel they are a abhorred because of that, but y’all will keep on getting the hate you give till you learn to live and let live.

rusher14:
Just as I'm saying "if" you had a brain, you would realise that Buhari's office isn't under threat.

Be guided, I said 'I'd.

Slonge2:
lol! Fool! Stop deluding yourself. The average southerner will stone you to death if you dare try to lump him together with your desperate asses. I was born and bred in Port harcourt, so I can speak confidently on this issue. Is it the Ikwerre man, or the Ogoni man, or Eleme man, that hates y’all obnoxious land grabbers. The Igbos are practically the most inconsequential major tribe in Nigeria, y’all can’t survive on your own, and your desperation is ever so brazenly displayed that no one wants to associate with y’all. Y’all are the easiest to manipulate, the SS use y’all the same way the Hausa’s are used by the Fulanis for the numerical strength, and all y’all know how to do is wail like babies after you have been used and dumped like used diapers. I don’t hate the Igbo, i’m Indifferent about your existence, but when you try to drag in your overlords(we the yorubas) into your puerile and infantile rants, I will always make sure you are taught a lesson with facts. And you don’t have to claim to be a Yoruba man, your akpu smelling body reeks to the high heavens. Have a nice day, and try to sort your drug trafficking asses before you talk about the yorubas

rusher14:
At least some sense of reality is seeking into your cranium.

SalamRushdie:
The fastest interpretation would have been to suspend Buhari and see how he and his zombies react

kayfra:
If Buhari wins, you'll sell more gala. If Atiku wins, you'll sell more gala. Your destiny is to sell gala and so shall it be.

Igbo Amaka

jomonic:
These people were defenseless. What they did to them is pure act of cowardice.