Many have cause to ask: “Is APC really working towards winning the 2015 Presidential Poll or just grandstanding?” Events in the last couple of days have shown that indeed the APC has come to the sordid conclusion that the odds against it in coming presidential poll, pitted against the PDP fielding incumbent President Jonathan, is far too great and there was no way they could win in a free contest. What is more sordid is that the Party is not giving up and has concluded plans to disrupt civil rule in Nigeria by inspiring a military takeover than allow President Jonathan to continue in office beyond 2015.
Investigations have shown that the shenanigans of Speaker Aminu Tambuwal (who one understands is a resurgent Britain’s project to replace the turgid , flagging northern leadership), to storm the National Assembly with thugs dressed like honourable members was part of the said grand plan in the series of provocative actions, programmed to ultimately culminate in a military coup. This decision was reached at a strategy meeting the night before the APC’s self-styled Salvation Rally at Abuja, held at the Rivers State Governor’s lodge and attended by top notches of the Party, including its National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun, Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, host Chibuike Amaechi, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Senator Bukola Saraki who was represented by the Kwara State Governor, Gov. Rabiu Kwankwaso, Lai Mohammed and a certain serving general with well established link with Boko Haram, among others. At that meeting the Party firmly resolved to pursue power through alternative means than through the ballot box, through instigation and provocation of mass actions and protests against the Government of President Jonathan and that way, either force him out of power or force a negotiated settlement, which would mean a sort of shared power deal as has happened in places like Kenya, Zimbabwe and so forth.
Part of the grand plan was to discredit INEC and convince Nigerians that the Commission has been bought over by the Presidency and the ruling PDP. Thus Oyegun disparaged INEC and rejected its commitment to hold a free and fair election: “The truth of the matter is that the ICT unit of INEC, which is working hands in gloves with the Presidential villa, deliberately corrupted the system in order to disenfranchise voters in APC controlled states”. This position was long echoed by the Party chieftains long before the Walk Rally, which APC said it called to commence the process of instigating civil disobedience and attract foreign attention reminiscent of Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG Group) which the Party inspired and publicly acknowledged that its members actually now lead.
The first kite flown in this direction was by Nasir el Rafai earlier in the year when he hinted at the predisposition of the APC to embrace anarchy, saying it did appear to be the only plausible option left to force President Jonathan from power. When questioned by the Directorate of State Service, el Rafai had said that his comment was in line with his freedom of speech as enshrined in the amended 1999 Constitution, insisting that “the statement I made was based on historical fact because it happened in 1964, 1983, 2003, 2007 and 2011”. It is quite instructive that el Rufai and his Party believe they are historically justified for choosing to pursue power through violence and coup d’état.
One important observation should be made here: all military coups, which disrupted democratic rules in Nigeria, had followed this sort of mindless agitations and direct invitation to the military to intervene as is increasingly being heard today and which is the final decision reached at the said APC strategy meeting. The presence of the military general with links to Boko Haram at the said meeting is connected to that desire of the APC to instigate a military takeover than allow President Jonathan return in 2015. A Radio Station in Sokoto was also reported to have been calling for military intervention as a panacea to the country’s security challenges.
The fact that APC is not working towards winning the 2015 Presidential election is no longer in the realm of speculation. Apart from the meeting where a series of destabilizing actions were hatched, Chibuike Amaechi and Odigie-Oyegun were clear and frank in bringing to the discerning public the real intension of the APC. Amaechi had said on the side of the so-called “Salvation Rally” as part of the grand plan to torpedo civil rule in Nigeria: “If the PDP rig the election in 2015 we will not go to court and we will make the country ungovernable. We will form a parallel government and there will be anarchy”. The idea of civil disobedience is to drum up mass discontent against President Jonathan and his government and justify military intervention by making it appear a popular demand.
Again, Odigie- Oyegun was far more detailed and minced no words in telling the world at the rally that his Party was out to fire a warning shot and set the stage for the torpedo to come. It will be recalled at that APC Rally, Odigie-Oyegun had said: “We are here today as a practical demonstration of our lack of confidence in the ability or willingness of President Goodluck Jonathan to organize a free and fair election come February 2015.” Oyegun had accused President Goodluck Jonathan of desperation to win re-election and that that has led the President and the security forces to turn a blind eye to the Boko Haram Insurgency so that the insurgents can occupy as much territory as possible and make elections impossible in these APC strongholds.
To prod the memory, Oyegun had blatantly claimed: “Without doubt, the war against Boko Haram has become a tool for self enrichment and a tool to disenfranchise Nigerians who are perceived not likely to vote for President Jonathan’s re-election. Everything points to the fact that President Jonathan’s handling of the Boko Haram insurgency is aimed at one thing and one thing only: disenfranchisement of persons who are perceived not to be in support of his re-election, especially in the North-Eastern part of the country”.
At the Rally, APC made very vague demands on the Jonathan Government and warned: “If we do not see any discernible change of attitude on the part of the government, then we will move to the next stage on the list of actions that our party intends to take to stop the rot being perpetuated by the PDP-led Federal Government”.
It is very evident that the APC has rejected the results of the 2015 Polls in advance. As they concluded at the nocturnal meeting, they believe that insurgency has depleted votes in the APC strongholds and INEC has not made the matter easier, with the permanent voters cards where biometrics have led to the detection of millions of phantom voters in virtually all the States and depleted the number of actual voters. The APC is therefore of the view that the election was already fate accompli in favour of Jonathan, hence their treasonable plans to torpedo civil rule.
Justifying both Amaechi and Odigie -Oyegun, the APC through its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, said: “Let us remind the presidency, in case it has forgotten, that election fraud triggered a civil war in Algeria in the early 1990s, led to the killing of over 1,000 people in post-election riots in Kenya in 2007/2008 and fired a near revolution in Iran in 2009/2010. For us, the gloves are off.”
All well meaning Nigerians should know that if it is true that millions of genuine voters are deliberately left out, the APC could have made a public show of them and get the courts to compel INEC to do the needful. But much of what the Party claims to be deliberate disenfranchisement of its members is more of double and multiple registrations, an illegality and criminality, which INEC is trying to eliminate.
It is also sad to note that Chibuike Amaechi who became governor courtesy of the Supreme Court ruling in his favour, is now using the same position offered to him by Judiciary and Rivers State money to fund insurrections round the country, as he has promised at the said meeting to provide all the funds that may be needed to execute the Jonathan-must-go-at all-cost project. The three major components of the APC have personal reasons why they are rooting for insurrection and anarchy: the northern clique wants power back to the north no matter how; the West sees this as a leeway to the Oduduwa republic, while the Governors believe it would provide a safe haven to escape the EFCC. In all this, the interest of the Nigerian masses is not represented at all.
Nigerians should therefore consider the justifiability of the nefarious plans of the APC. President Goodluck Jonathan is fighting insurgency by equipping the Nigeria military. In 2012 alone, Jonathan budgeted nearly a trillion naira for security. His Government has even gone to the extent of purchasing arms in the black market, just so that the military does not lack. APC Governors and politicians started and funded and still fund Boko Haram. The sect was on the payrolls of many states in the north and served as their Islamic Police aat least in Kano and Bauchi States, and receives huge sums of money from politicians in Northern Nigeria in the guise of Sallah gifts and for providing them protection. Northern are known to use the Boko Haram extensively during elections and that is why commonplace to see politicians listing Boko Haram as one of the important Muslim groups to mobilize for election. This gives the sect political cover and these politicians have equally infiltrated the military and cajole the Muslims among them not fight their ‘Muslim brothers’. This has led to very cowardly acts, desertions and court marshals. These are not Jonathan’s making. Nigerians should rise up against the APC; they are it again, the same way they used the military to annul June 12.
- Yakubu Mohammed wrote in from Kaduna.
