Few weeks to the inauguration of incoming National Assembly, newly-elected members of the House of Representatives on Wednesday commenced moves that will ensure that the next lower chamber witness,peace and unity.
While promising to to make a difference in the incoming legislature by charting course for excellence while breaking down possible barriers, they pledge to look forward to developing and expanding working relationships, agreements and proposing solutions to common challenges.
The Convener of “New House of Reps Members Forum”, Mohammed Mahmud, who has just been elected under the platform of All Progressives Congress to represent Agaie/Lapai Federal Constituency of Niger state, said in Abuja that through the forum, the new legislators will possibly discover many other broader ranges of issues that will impact the House, thereby setting the pace for a unified House ready to hit the ground running.
According to him, the forum would be used to provide an opportunity for elected members in the Federal House of Representatives to build relationships, share ideas, information,concerns, create solidarity, and develop collaborative agreements on a wide variety of issues relevant to legislators.
Mahmud stated that there was need to ensure equity and fairness and promote solidarity in the new House.
He added that the issue of killing of bills because they were sponsored by members of another political party would not arise in the new chamber through the forum.
Mahmud said, “From my experience as a veteran in the National Assembly, having served in various capacities since the fourth republic, it is my desire to ensure that the incoming members understand the politics and operations in the House.
“Members will without doubt come to find that they have mutual concerns. Through this secretariat, we intend to create an avenue where these reservations, issues and doubts can be thrashed out.
“Legislators will possibly discover that many other broader ranges of issues that will impact the house will originate and be discussed. Thereby setting the pace for a unified House ready to hit the ground running.
“It is our hope that this secretariat and possible forums we would subsequently hold will transcend the usual game of partisan politics and fixed ideologies.
“We intend to make a difference in this new house by charting the course for excellence and breaking down barriers.
“We look forward to developing and expanding working relationships, agreements, and proposing solutions to common challenges in this secretariat.”
During the 45th independence celebration of Nigeria as a nation, David Feddes, a writer for The Radio Pulpit, writes:
“On October 1, 1960, foreign rule ended, and Nigeria became self-governing. As we celebrate this important moment in the country’s life, I pray that God will bless Nigeria and every person in it. I pray that government leaders may shun corruption and use their influence for the good of the people. I pray that fellow Christians in Nigeria and all the Nigerian churches may shine with love and truth of Jesus. I also pray that Nigerians who are not Christians may know God’s care for them and experience respect and kindness from Jesus’ followers. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. The Lord has his purposes for this nation. So, on this anniversary of independence, I ask God to fulfill his purposes for Nigeria.”
Independence from foreign rule is something to celebrate. And when God grants freedom, we must use it to serve God and bless others. This purpose of political power is not to gain personal wealth or to grant special favors to one’s family or tribal members. The purpose of political power is to serve all who are being governed and to work for their well-being. One of the big challenges we face in political systems is dealing with people who are not like us. But for government to be responsible, its leaders need to have all people’s needs and interests in mind according to Feddes .
As Nigeria continues to celebrate years of independence from colonialism, many Nigerians still need to overcome tribalism. Of all the problems that threaten humanity, tribalism is one of the worst. Tribalism involves caring only about your own tribe or group and ignoring people of other groups. Tribalism involves fear of anyone outside one’s own tribe group, hatred for people of different backgrounds, and contempt results in seeing people of another race or group as enemies. Tribalism sweeps through groups and tribes and infects entire nations with hatred.
The results can be dreadful. When you are tribalistic, you stop thinking straight: you judge people by the color of their skin or the name of their tribe or the place of their birth, rather than looking at who they really are. You become paranoid and irrational: whenever anything goes wrong, you blame it on those people you do not like, and you think they are hatching some kind of plot.
Tribalism has terribly destructive effects on those who hate as well as those who are hated. Just look at the 20th century: the Turkish slaughter of Armenians for many years up to 1915, the Nazi Holocaust of more than 6 million Jews during World War II, the tribal massacres in Rwanda and Bosnia in the 1990s – and these are just a few examples. As the 21st century has begun, many thousands in the Darfur region of Sudan have been murdered as a result of ethnic and religious conflicts. Tribal tensions have brought danger and death to Nigeria and to other nations as well.
How can we overcome tribalism? How can we defeat racism and suspicion and ethnic strife? That is one of the most pressing questions in the world today. In Eastern Europe and the Balkans, old hatreds exploded with renewed cruelty after communism collapsed. In Western Europe, there is hostility to immigrants and guest workers. Canada has ongoing tensions among French-speaking and English-speaking and aboriginal citizens – differences that many politicians have tried and failed to resolve. In the United States racial tension still enters into hiring practices, bank loans, home purchases, and law enforcement. Accusations fly about racism and reverse discrimination.
So tribalism is a problem we cannot afford to ignore. But what can be done about it?
TRYING SEGREGATION AND INTEGRATION
There have been those who thought that the best way to prevent conflict was to keep different groups apart. But segregation does not work. It does not prevent conflict; it promotes it. In the United States “separate but equal” turned out not to be equal at all. In South Africa, apartheid drew boundary lines that became battle lines. Too often, segregation defines justice as “just us”. It does not remove tribalism; it makes official policy.
Segregation does not work, so what about integration? Some leaders figured that if different peoples are mixed together and they live side by side for a while, they will lean to appreciate each other. But Serbs and Bosnians who were forced to live side by side for more than 40 years under communism still hated each other. Hutus and Tutsis lived side by side in Rwanda, but mistrust and hatred only grew stronger. In Nigeria and other African countries, people from many different tribes were brought together under their national government and people from different tribes flocked to huge cities and mingled there, but blending can still lead to conflict. In the United States, after decades of civil-rights legislation, racial hostility is still a problem. Integration is not enough.
This is not to deny the importance of civil rights and equal opportunity. But those things can take us only so far. Replacing an old policy with a new one will not replace hatred with love. The deepest problem is not legal or social; it is spiritual. We need more than new laws; we need new hearts.
HAVING NEW HEARTS
Until Nigerians will have new hearts by learning to love everyone irrespective of tribe, religion, region and other backgrounds, overcoming tribalism will be extremely difficult. All we need to live together in peace and love is to have new hearts.
Love, true love is all we need to live together in unity in our world of diversity. We may explore our world for riches and treasure, we may irrigate the world with rivers of pleasure but without love of any measure, our solutions will bring more problems, our encouragements, more frustration, our hope, more deprivation and tribalism will continue to cause more harm to those we are supposed love.
A socio political group in Abia state, Movement for Abia Unity and Progress (MAUP) has accused soldiers of the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army of working for the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abia state, Dr. Alex Otti and other candidates of the party.
It alleged that soldiers chased away PDP agents in some polling units in Aba North and Aba South local governments and provided cover for APGA agents to manipulate results of the governorship polls.
The group who stated this in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Francis Eme and National Secretary, Chidiebere Ogbonna, respectively and made available to 247ureports.comin Umuahia, said the conducts of the soldiers was most embarrassing as they (soldiers) in most polling units in Aba, chase away PDP members and provided cover for APGA to manipulate the results of the polls at many collation centres.
“We are shocked at the activities of the some soldiers who were reported to be from 82 Division, Enugu, chasing away PDP agents to help APGA supporters manipulate elections. We recorded such incidents were soldiers stormed polling centres to chase away PDP supporters at Umuagbai, Ohabiam, Aba town hall in Aba south local governments and Umuola council hall, Ogbor council hall in Aba North, among other polling units. We are calling on the authorities of the 82 Division, Enugu to investigate the activities of these soldiers.
“During the final collation of results at the local government level, soldiers also sent out PDP agents from the collation. This is unbecoming of a group of soldiers sent to ensure orderliness at the polls, but chose to be partisan.”
The group also alleged that it got report of an encounter in Umuahia where a senior military officer (name withheld) confronted one of the soldiers asking why they came to work in Abia state without reporting to the Army authorities in the state.
“We are aware that the soldiers of the 82 Division Enugu sent n election duty in Abia state is working for the APGA governorship candidate, Dr. Alex Otti, but we urge them to shun partisanship and be guided by the rules of their engagement which stipulates that soldiers must not be found at polling units except when there is crisis.”
Attempts by our correspondent to get the reaction of the Director of Army Public Relations, 82 Division, Enugu, Col. Idris Gambo proved abortive as his mobile line could not be reached as at the time of filing this report.
Independent National Electoral Commission Says Heads Will Roll At The Commission Over Electoral Fraud Connivance Just As It Fixed April 25 For Supplemenatry Election In Imo State
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday said it is compiling names of some of its staff involved in electoral rigging during the April 11, 2015 governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections in Imo State.
This is even as the commission has fixed April 25 for the run off of the Imo governorship and House of Assembly elections which were declared inconclusive. Speaking at a press conference in Owerri yesterday, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), for Imo State, Dr. Gabriel Ada said that the commission observed with dismay that some of its staff were involved in rigging the election in favour of certain political parties.
He added that such actions were meant to subvert the electoral process and the will of the electorate and as a result, those involved must be prosecuted.
The REC disclosed that the commission had since started forwarding the names of affected staff for prosecution, saying that the position of the INEC was always to achieve free and fair and credible election.
To achieve this, he said, there were guidelines which make it imperative for the commission to be fair to all, and as a result, no staff of the commission would go unpunished for getting involved in the subversion of the electoral process.
An electoral officer for Oru East Local Government Area of the state, Mrs. Emmauela Opara, had disclosed how she was kidnapped and taken to a secret location, by alleged agents of one of the political parties, and forced to enter figures as scores of various political parties that participated in the gubernatorial election.
Making the startling revelation at the INEC headquarters, Owerri, to the Returning Officer, Prof. Ibidapo Obe and other stakeholders who were waiting anxiously for results from Oru East Local Government Area, the electoral officer confessed that she was held hostage at a location in the Council Area “where I was forced to enter fictitious results.”
She said that the result that she entered was actually not the original results from the area, adding that “we were intimidated, harassed and attacked by some people from doing our job.”
Following the electoral malpractices detected in 24 local government areas, the INEC Returning Officer Prof. Ibidapo Obe declared the result of the gubernatorial election inconclusive. The REC said the number of cancelled votes, totalling about 150,000, were more than the 79,529 margin between the PDP candidate who polled 306,142 and the APC candidate with 385,671 votes.
He said the constitution and the Electoral Act states that if the difference between the cancelled votes was higher than the margin between the first and the second person, elections should be declared inclusive and a run off held.
The run-off election will be held in 256 polling booths across 23 Local Government areas.
Ada also disclosed that supplementary election would hold in six state constituencies on same April 25 to determine who would represent them in the State House of Assembly.
He listed the state constituencies that elections were inconclusive to include Isiala Mbano, Isu, Owerri West, Ikeduru, Oru East and Oguta.
Earlier in a statement released by the commission in Owerri and made available to The UNION, INEC listed 256 polling units as places to hold the election across 23 local government areas of the state that did not include Ahiazu Mbaise, Ideato North, Ideato South and Owerri Municipal.
According to INEC, Aboh Mbaise has three affected units with 5058 registered voters while Ehime Mbano has three units also but with 1473 registered Voters 1473 as well as Ezinihitte which had five affected units and with 2733 registered voters ahead of Ihitte Uboma which has only one affected unit but with 365 registered voters. Others are Ikeduru which had three affected units with 6304 registered voters; Isiala Mbano with 14 affected units and 8937 registered voters; Isu with 14 affected units and 6850 registered voters and Mbaitoli with 38 affected units affected and 20,200 registered voters.
Also, Ngor Okpala has three affected units with 1913 registered voters 1913; Njaba has six units affected with 4046 registered voters; Nwangele has six units also affected but with 2657 registered voters while Nkwerre had three units affected with 1011 registered voters.
In Obowo, INEC gave number of units affected as seven while the number of registered voters stood at 3374; and in Oguta, the number of units affected came to 21 while the number of registered voters is 7409 just like at Ohaji Egbema where the number of units affected was 10 while number of registered voters is 6941.
At Okigwe, INEC gave number of units affected to be three only while number of registered voters was 1540; and at Onuimo the units affected were four while registered voters affected were 1676 while four units were affected in Orly with 2598 registered voters.
At Orsu LGA, INEC found number of affected units to be four while 1453 registered voters were affected while at Oru East, 59 units with 41,776 registered voters were affected same as in Oru West where 12 units and 6365 registered voters were affected. In Owerri North, it said six units with 3672 registered voters were affected while 12 units and 6365 voters were affected at Owerri West.
With these INEC gave total number of affected units to be 256 while 144,715 voters were affected.
The Police Command in Kogi on Thursday said it arrested 15 persons for various offences during the April 11 Governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state.
The command’s spokesman, ASP Shola Adebayo, in a statement in Lokoja said the suspects would be charged to court after investigation.
He said that two of the suspects were arrested in Ofu Local Government with ballot boxes and ballot papers and one suspect at Ankpa for unlawful possession of firearms.
According to Adebayo, 12 of the suspects were arrested at Gegu-Beki community in Kogi Local Government for post-election violence.
“There is a case of someone arrested with eight stolen explosive detonators by the police on the eve of the election.
“This is a situation that would have spelt doom for the state but salvaged by the police,” he said.
The police spokesman assured that all issues related to security breaches during the polls would be thoroughly investigated.
He described the election as generally peaceful, attributing it to the proactive measures put in place by the police and other security agencies
Three Senators representing Akwa Ibom State on Wednesday rejected the state gubernatorial and house of assembly election of Saturday, April 11, alleging that there was no election in the state.
The senators subsequently called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reverse the result of the governorship election in the state and reschedule the polls.
The senators, who briefed National Assembly correspondents in Abuja, include: Senator Ita Enang (APC -Akwa Ibom North-East), who said that he did not vote in his polling unit because the result sheets that were presented were mainly photocopies and not the original copies.
“The people of Akwa Ibom State prepared for elections, but the institutions of the state, led by the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, prepared for war, came out for war against the people with armed persons. We have course to ask the IG of Police and the authorities of the Armed Forces to investigate whether these persons are men of the Nigeria Police and the Armed Forces.
“In most areas in Akwa Ibom State, including my area, there were no elections. Out of the 15 units in my ward, Ward 2, only two of them were given photocopies of result sheets stapled together. There was no election. So, no result ought to have been declared,.
“Therefore, we are calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to come out clean on this matter. No card reader was used in the state,” he said.
Senator Aloysius Etok (PDP – Akwa Ibom North-West) said that although the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was the beneficiary of the announced results, he was representing the yearnings of the people.
He said that the state had been mirrored in a very bad light over the years and had been made worse by the April 11 governorship and state assembly elections.
“As if that was not enough, during the first election on March 28, Akwa Ibom came out in bad light as one of the most talked about bordering on election irregularities and violence. On the 11th of April, Akwa Ibom came out in bad light and having listened to all the comments from stakeholders and observers, as very concerned leaders we need to address the issues.
“As a member of the PDP, I would like election to be freely won, if you lose, you lose gallantly; the process must be credible and transparent. Therefore, on behalf of the National Assembly caucus of the state, I want to say that I am very pained with the way the state has been projected to the world and a state full of violence and irregularities,” he said.
On her part, Senator Helen Esuene (Labour – Akwa Ibom South) said that what happened in the state on April 11 could best be termed “daylight robbery”.
She said that more than half of the polling units in the state did not receive electoral materials, while most of those who received had them were carted away by heavily armed men.
“This year makes 16 years of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria. We should be improving our democratic processes vis-à-vis the elections and the election processes. I dare say that there has been no progress at all.
“What we experienced on the 11th of April was brazen day light robbery. This is a state where the mantra is: what money cannot do, more money can do it,” she said.
She, therefore, joined other senators form the state to call on INEC to reverse the results and reschedule the elections in the state.
Indications have emerged that Bayelsa State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is contemplating instituting a probe into the anti-party activities of Senator Emmanuel Paulker in the recently concluded State House of Assembly elections.
Besides, there are indications that the PDP is also probing the role of some of the chieftains of the party, including some top aides of the President Goodluck Jonathan for allegedly working against the interest of its candidate in the elections.
Sources said the leadership of the party in the state had summoned and queried some top party chiefs in the state over their non-committal role and anti-party activities during the House of Assembly elections, especially the open support given to APGA, Labour Party and APC candidates.
For instance, the source gave clear instances where Senator Paulker and his wife reportedly mobilized thugs and resources against the interest of the PDP candidate in favour of his preferred APGA candidate, and in the process allegedly ordering his thugs to beat up the PDP agent for daring to challenge him.
According to the source, the Senator “looked like a wounded lion as he was stopped from having his way.”
The source said since it almost certain that the so-called Jonathan’s men are set to dump the PDP, the leadership of the party has threatened to wield the big stick against all erring members once its disciplinary committee is done with its findings.
An Indonesia military spokesman said the country’s F-16 fighter jet burst into flames as it was about to take off in Jakarta on Thursday but the pilot escaped unhurt.
Maj.-Gen. Fuad Basya, said the aircraft was one of the several F-16 planes provided by the U.S. government to help Indonesia protect its airspace.
“The plane was about to take off when the pilot saw a big fire on the back of the jet. The pilot stopped the plane and jumped but the fire could not be put out,’’ he said.
In 2012, the U.S. announced that it was giving 24 second-hand F-16s to allow Indonesia a much-needed capability to protect its airspace.
Indonesia said it would have to spend 750 million dollars to upgrade the fleet of aircraft.
President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, has dismissed as fictional and uncharitable, a report by an online medium that he had walked some government officials out of his residence in Daura, Katsina State.
This is contained in a statement released in Abuja by the Director of Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Wednesday.
According to the statement, no such incident took place on April 15 as reported by the online newspaper.
“’It was a false and an inaccurate presentation of the facts of what transpired when some government officials visited the President-elect at his country home.
“’It is totally out of General Buhari’s character to ask his visitors out’’, it said.
The document stated that the alleged visit by the Comptroller-General of the Customs, Abdullahi Inde, only happened in the imagination of the said publication. “He did not come visiting at any time.”
On another reported incident involving Mr Ade Abolurin, the Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the statement said the President-elect was already in another meeting when Abolurin visited.
“There was no way the President-elect could receive the new visitors. He was merely passing through the town and thought to stop by.
“As a matter of fact, words were promptly sent to the gentleman and his delegation that General Buhari was unable to meet them owing to the fact that he was at an ongoing meeting preceding the time of their arrival.
“The president-elect welcomes positive suggestions from every Nigerian about how to bring progressive change to the country.
“He will not walk anyone who had come to discuss ways of developing the country.
“Courtesy and civility will not permit that to happen. It is equally not his character.
“It is, therefore, important to put the records straight that the President-elect will be a President for all Nigerians irrespective of whether anyone currently holds a public office or not,” the statement said.
· restates demand for INEC to annul Idemili North, Idemili South, Awka South,12 others
We welcome further cancellations of State Assembly Elections by INEC in Anaocha 1 Constituency, Anaocha 2, and Aguata 1 State constituencies, and note that it is is a welcome intalmental progress that will eventually see the commission do what must be done with the other constituencies which cancellation we have demanded in the sham conducted on April 11, 2015.
Ekwusigo LGA/State Constituency had earlier been cancelled.
The four constituencies who may have luckily got a privileged mention are very mild in the effect of the stealing spear-headed by Mr. Willie Obiano, of APGA in order to turn the Anambra State legislature into a parastatal under executive control.
It shall fail!
Going forward, Gov. Obiano should liaise with President Jonathan to build more prisons before the latter leaves office, because he –Obiano- and his party that cannot win elections the right way have taken enough for the owner to be startled.
The irregularities committed in Anaocha , Aguata and Ekwusigo which we have vividly highlighted in our previous statements become child play when compared with the evil committed in Oyi, Idemili North, Awka South, Idemili South,Njikoka ,Onitsha South and Orumba South.
Others which we have succinctly captured in our comprehensive petition to the electoral body are Orumba North, Nnewi South, Onitsha North, Anambra East, Anambra West and Nnewi North
We are glad that the INEC agrees with our observations with respect to Anaocha,Aguata and Ekwusigo and look forward to their cancellation of all other such local governments where irregularities have been known to occur, which is virtually the entire election.
It is needless to repeat the rape in Idemili, particularly, at whose expense Obiano illegitimately rose tp power, only to return with a plan to entrench a culture of disenfranchising his own citizens.
We are not surprised that Anambra does not look like a land where elections have been won, because that was exactly the situation 18 months ago in November 2013 when Obiano stole power in conspiracy with those he is now fighting with clenched fists.
We hasten to say that what Willie Obiano and Anambra State INEC have now embarked on is a humongous misadventure that will surely end in a sorry political tale.
We consider Obiano’s thank you message, a deceitful smoke screen that ought to be lampooned because those who choose to rise by the ballot ,must not mix it up with the bullet..
While we are prepared to follow legal and legitimate means of in resolving these subsisting issues, we urge those who were purportedly declared winner against the will of Anambra State voters last Saturday to imbibe street wisdom by restraining themselves from any outstanding preparation for swearing-in ,or convening any meetings suggesting that they are representing constituents in those locations where they have been dressed in borrowed robes.
We assure Anambra citizens that this is the last time anyone will stop them from making progress with the rest of the nation in credible elections, just to satisfy personal avarice.
