…Says Security Concerns Could Lead To Low Voters Turnout

The deployment of a large number of security officers to Anambra State ahead of the next election on November 6, 2021 has been criticized by an election monitoring group under the auspices of Yiaga Africa.

Since February 2021, the state has had four Commissioners of Police, according to the report.

According to the Observer organization, the state has had three different Commissioners of Police in three months, with the most recent resuming in October 2021.

Yiaga further stated that, with the governorship election in Anambra scheduled for November 6, 2021, the state’s ongoing insecurity issues continue to raise major worries about the election’s conduct.

It linked the state’s instability to secessionist agitators’ actions, as well as political attacks and overlapping criminality seen in the run-up to the election.

Despite repeated assurances from security services, the group expressed reservations about their ability to ensure the safety of people and property in the state.

“While the security agencies have consistently assured the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the people of Anambra state and Nigerians that they will provide adequate security for the election, there still remains a major lapse in the management of the insecurity in the state.

“Yiaga Africa has observed heavy deployments of more security personnel and equipment to Anambra in recent weeks, while this is intended to assuage citizens and build confidence ahead of the elections, we expect more coordinated and professional engagements in a manner that will encourage and not discourage participation.

“Beyond the security challenges in the state, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is consolidating its preparatory activities towards the conduct of the elections”.

“The Commission convened a meeting with the 18 recognised political parties that are taking part in the forthcoming gubernatorial election on Thursday, 7th October 2021.

“The meeting was held at the Commission’s headquarters in Awka, to provide updates on the election preparatory activities and issue electronic copies of the voter’s registers to the political parties in line with its timetable and schedule of activities.

“At the meeting, the Commission put the total number of voters registered in the state at 2, 525, 471. The resident electoral commissioner stated that the commission had registered 138, 802 in the CVR exercise in the state, although it has removed 62, 698 registration details for double/duplicate registrations,” a statement by the group noted.

On Saturday, the Ijaw National Congress (INC) said the Federal Government should apologize to the people of Ogoni Kingdom, the Ijaw nation, and the whole Niger Delta for the alleged unjust assassination of Ken Saro-Wiwa in November 1995.

Professor Benjamin Okaba, INC’s president, announced this in a statement made in Yenagoa in response to the Federal Government’s proposed state pardon for the killed Ogoni activist and writer.

When leaders from Ogoniland paid him a visit in Abuja on Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari indicated the Federal Government would consider granting state pardon to Saro-Wiwa to bring the “Ogoni 9 tragedy” to a stop.

On the instructions of a special military tribunal set up by the late General Sani Abacha’s government, Saro-Wiwa and eight of his relatives were executed on November 10, 1995.

For allegedly masterminding the savage murder of some Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government gathering amid the height of Saro-nonviolent Wiwa’s campaign against environmental and resource injustice, the tribunal sentenced them to death by hanging.

The assassination of Sara-Wiwa and his fellow countrymen became known as the “Ogoni 9 saga,” an occurrence that prompted the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the international community to impose sanctions on Nigeria.

Okaba in the statement titled, “The Ijaws, Ogonis And The Niger Delta Demand Apology, Not Pardon- INC President”, described the proposal as laughable and fall short of addressing the people’s right to self-determination and resource control.

He insisted that the government ought to say sorry to the people for the way and manner Saro-Wiwa and others were reportedly killed “as a result of their peaceful campaigns against economic exploration, environmental despoliation and gross abuse of the people’s fundamental human and resource rights.”

According to him , “We wonder what crime Ken Saro-Wiwa and others committed that warrant state pardon. Secondly, even if he was allowed the defence, was he given the right of appeal? What are the positive aftermaths of Ken Ken Saro-Wiwa’s agitation?

“Would there have been the UNEP Report on Ogoni clean-up if Ken Saro-Wiwa and others did not draw the attention of state and international community to various human and environmental infractions meted out to the people?

“Now that the Federal Government has suddenly realized their wrongs and equally expressed willingness to seek reconciliation and national integration, we urge them to courageously go the whole hug as follows:

“Bring to book all persons, including the presiding judge and other officers, that were directly and indirectly involved in the unfortunate incident (murder of the Ogoni 9).

“Justice should also be extended to the innocent Ogoni youths and other Niger Deltans who were unlawfully massacred by state operatives for merely displaying green leaves in condemnation of the ghastly act.”

According to him, the last few words of Saro-Wiwa, ‘You can kill the messenger, but not the message’, remained very apt several years after as Ogoniland, Ijaw nation and the entire Niger Delta continued to suffer injustices, inequalities and rape of their freedom and right to control their God-given resources.

He further said,”The people and the environment of the Niger Delta, in spite of the seeming interventions, have remained in a state of misery to the extent that the local economy has been disarticulated.

“In spite of our enormous contribution to the nation’s economy, the standard of living in our region is demoralizing and demeaning. State laws on Land Use, Petroleum Industry Act, Petroleum Act and other obnoxious policies have perpetually kept us as slaves and impoverished us in the midst of our God-given resources in the region.

“For us, true reconciliation should begin with the abrogation of these obnoxious laws and upward review of the principle of derivation to a minimum of 50 per cent. Thereafter, the envisaged apology and reparation will be functionally meaningful to also prevent a reoccurrence of injustices against persons who express their fundamental human rights to demand justice and equity.

“All the dramatis personae and others involved in Ken Saro-Wiwa’s case, dead and living, should be brought to book as a lesson for others.”

…Says Allegations Are Nothing More Than Propaganda

On Saturday, former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, criticised Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, for accusing Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemo of terrorist activities (Igboho).

Malami’s claims, according to Frank in an Abuja statement, were not only false, but also extremely selective and high-wired propaganda geared at gaining selfish political objectives.

He questioned why Malami, as the Federation’s chief legal officer, chose to have a demeaning press conference to address matters that were already being heard in Nigerian and Benin Republic courts of competent jurisdiction.

He claimed Malami was just trying to cover up the Federal Government’s illegal, ethnically prejudiced, and nepotistic arrest and trial of Kanu, the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and Igboho, the Yoruba Nation Separatist Agitator.

He stated that the current administration’s impunity towards citizens is the same reason why certain zones of the country are clamoring to leave the Nigerian union.

While the Federal Government is furious with Kanu and Igboho over alleged terrorist activities, Frank, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Ambassador to East Africa and the Middle East, said the government has failed and neglected to arrest and prosecute Boko Haram terrorists, bandits, and their sponsors operating in the north.

He bemoaned the fact that, more than a month after handing over the identities of six Nigerian terrorist financiers to the Federal Government, the UAE has refused to investigate, arrest, and prosecute them due to their religious connections and the region of the country from which they hail.

According to him, the UAE has listed Abdurrahaman Ado Musa, Salihu Yusuf Adamu, Bashir Ali Yusuf, Muhammed Ibrahim Isa, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad as alleged financiers of terrorism from Nigeria.

He emphasized that neither Malami nor any Nigerian security agency had briefed the press or reported any type of Federal Government inquiry, arrest, or prosecution of those on the aforementioned list.

Frank said: “Is it not laughable that Malami has blamed Igboho for financing terrorism in the North and Kanu for the hijack of the #EndSARS protests and attendant mayhem unleashed in Lagos last year?”

He described the recent arraignment of Nnamdi Kanu at the Federal High Court, Abuja, when lawyers, media and prominent Nigerians were denied access to the court which consequently intimidated the Judge and where the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) assumed the role of complainant, prosecutor and judge in their own case as a charade and show of shame on the part of the Federal Government.

He added that , “Malami told reporters at the press conference that Nnamdi Kanu is being prosecuted for his statements that led to killings and destruction of property both in the South East and in Lagos but when Buhari incited killings and destruction of property in the North through his “dog and baboon will be soaked in blood…” statement in 2012, in reference to the 2015 general elections, who prosecuted him?”

He challenged Buhari and Malami to name members of the National Assembly they have accused of sponsoring Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho to prove the veracity of their claims just like the Government of the UAE has made public the names of those financing terrorism in their country, Nigeria and others.

He called on Malami in particular and the Muhammdu Buhari-led administration in general, to stop spreading hatred, causing division and attempting to instigate and provoke mutual distrust and animosity between the South West and the South East through lies and disinformation.

He called on the international community to take cognizance of the lip service being paid to the fight against terrorism in Nigeria by the Federation Government and the witch-hunt it has continued to unleash on members of the opposition political parties and individuals with dissenting opinion from the Southern part of the country like Kanu and Igboho.

He,however, called on Nigerians to dismiss Malami’s half-truths against Kanu and Igboho and to continue to demand for fairness, justice and equity as bonafide citizens.

He also called Nigerian leaders in the South to speak out and condemn Malami’s statement as they are capable of inciting violence in the country.

While also calling on the international community to disregard the pre-arranged outcome from the trial of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho due to the obviously unfair and hushed trial being conducted against them by the Federal Government.