Leaving his flooded two buildings at Ikarama 1,Yenagoa LGA of Bayelsa State, to unknown destination
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claims that it killed over 15 policemen and not 12 as reported by the media after its men successfully ambushed a boat transporting police escorts in Azuzama, Southern Ijaw, Bayelsa State, on Saturday evening.
It said that it killed the policemen to teach the security forces a lesson for claiming that the group was incapable of resuming attacks in the oil-rich Niger Delta to avenge alleged collaboration between the Federal Government and South Africa to jail its former leader, Henry Okah.
According to MEND in a statement yesterday signed by its spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo:
“For dismissing Hurricane Exodus as an ‘empty threat’ heavily armed fighters from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, at about 17:00 Hrs., Saturday 06, April 2013, intercepted and engaged government security forces in a fierce gunfight lasting over 40 minutes at Azuzama, Southern Ijaw, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
“The clash which happened in the river left over 15 security forces dead as we also lost two (2) of our fighters in the battle. We hope this encounter will serve as a lesson to the Joint Task Force from making careless utterances that cannot be backed as we remain resolute in our resumption of hostilities.”
MEND advised oil companies and the public to disregard the assurances of security by the Joint Military Task Force (JTF). It disowned one Comrade Azizi who claimed to be its spokesman, advising members of the public to ignore his comments.
“All oil companies and the public are advised to ignore the false sense of security being peddled by the JTF as well as the false comments from a ‘Comrade Azizi’, who claims to be the spokesman for the group. This person is not known to MEND, does not speak for MEND and his utterances and style do not reflect our plans and actions,” MEND said.
But reassuring the oil firms and the public, JTF spokesman, Lt.-Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, said in a statement released yesterday: “Our maritime and air assets have also been mobilised and we have intensified our patrols to dominate both land and water ways to check any assailant. We will not permit any lawlessness that will jeopardise the peace in the region.
“We again call on all peace loving and progressive Niger Deltans to dissociate themselves, their communities and leadership from this gang of retrogrades parading themselves as MEND.”
President Goodluck Jonathan has praised the Senate President, Senator David Mark for consistently demonstrating “exceptional patriotism” and capably leading the National Assembly into a productive partnership with the executive arm of the Federal Government in the overriding interest of national progress and development.
In a congratulatory letter to Senator Mark who attains the age of 65 years tomorrow, Monday, April 8, 2013, President Jonathan commended the Senate President for exhibiting great faith and commitment to peace, unity, stability and progress in Nigeria in the various capacities that he has served the country in a glittering career of public service.
“I write to convey my goodwill and warm felicitations to you on the occasion of your 65th birthday anniversary.
“Over the past years, you have consistently demonstrated exceptional patriotism and abiding faith in the peace, stability, and progress of our dear nation in every capacity in which you have been called upon to serve: through distinguished service in the military; as a military governor, and member of the Federal Executive Council.
“You have brought these worthy ideals to bear on the discharge of the functions of your high political office as President of the Senate and head of the legislative arm of government. It is therefore no surprise that you have been able to lead the National Assembly on the path of constructive engagement and productive partnership with the Executive in the larger national interest, without compromising the independence of the legislature,” the President wrote.
Wishing him happy birthday celebrations, President Jonathan prayed that God Almighty will continue to keep Senator Mark in robust health and bless him with many more years of distinguished service to Nigeria.
The crisis plaguing the All Progressive Grand Alliance(APGA) party appears t o be turning a new corner. Information available to 247ureports.com indicates that the APGA national convention slated to hold on Monday April 8th 2013 will hold on Sunday April 7th at 11:30 pm at the woman’s development center in Anambra state.
According to the information received, the national APGA convention under the faction led by governor peter obi had to shift the convention from Monday to midnight Sunday to avert anticipated court judgment that may come on Monday April 8th 2013.
The national factional chairman of APGA chief victor Umeh who had been expelled from the party by a court judgment from an Enugu court is said to have filled an appeal to against expulsion- at a higher court in Enugu. According to the Anambra state APGA chairman, Chief Mike Kwento the planned convention is illegal and unnecessary because ‘our’ tenure has not expired. he explains that APGA held a national convention two years ago-of which governor Peter Obi was in attendance along with Bianca Ojukwu. at the said convention the current national exco was re-elected for another four years tenure. The four years tenure has not expired.
The state chairman continues to state that the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) did not sanction the said convention. but the Peter Obi led faction of APGA stated that state chairman was wrong. According to the national chairman of the Peter Obi led chapter of APGA chief Maxi Okwu, INEC has given us clearance to conduct a national convention (see INEC letter below). INEC has already agreed to monitor the convention. Chief Okwu also pointed at Kwento as a political parasite who does not know which side of the aisle he belongs.
NEC LETTER ON CONVENTION
In talking to Mike Kwento, 247ureports.com learnt that the convention may not be ‘the’ convention expected by majority of APGA members. He adds that no congresses were held in the 36 states of the nation and that the convention has become a criminal event that Peter Obi led APGA he claims had gone to hire rented crowds to serve as delegates from the 36 states. Printed t-shirts bearing logos like ‘delegates from kano, borno, kastina, Bayelsa, etc’ will be distributed to the rented crowd- and then they will serve as delegates for the 36 states.
Maxi Okwu has however denied Kwento’s allegations.
Maxi Okwu is expected to be elected the new national chairman of the peter obi led version of APGA
Frantz Fanon it was who said that “every generation must out of relative obscurity discover its mission, fulfil it or betray it”. In the aftermath of the Kano terrorist attacks and the seven decades of routine ethno-religious mass killings in the North, our generation must as Frantz Fanon said confront the unique mission of our time which must be fulfilled through the choice of freedom over slavery and of self determination over internal colonialism.
It should be clear to all and sundry that the freak contraption known as Nigeria is not sacred, it is purely and simply a British creation designed first and foremost to service her imperial interests and not for the benefit of those who inhabit the geographical space. Given the history of Europe, which not surprisingly is the bloodiest continent in human history with the 1st and 2nd world wars originating from Europe, the later ending as recently as 1945 and the many nationalist battles fought across many generations on ethnic lines including the recent ethnic conflicts in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia etc, the British knew they were creating in Nigeria, a tinderbox of contradictions and endless conflicts, but never bothered because the servicing of her imperial interests was more important than the cohesion or unity of their colonial subjects. To date the European Union has refused to let Muslim Turkey join the EU because they want to avoid creating religious contradictions within the European club.
Thus, those who argue to keep a nation that has failed exceptionally due to her contradictions are mentally lazy people who are afraid to take any challenges. They give all kinds of laughable excuses to keep a nation in a state of paralysis rather than trying something new. If a marriage is unworkable, unprogressive and violent, the simple solution is to get a divorce. Nations are no different; if it is not working there should be a break-up.
Mental laziness which manifests in a fear to try something new or take on daunting challenges is a phenomenon that has kept the black race in perpetual retrogression and slavery. While the white race and other races are willing to take on daunting challenges, going to the moon and overcoming all kinds of formidable situations, the black race is content to sing, dance and give all kinds of silly excuses why nothing can be done. Paralysed by a fear of every challenge, the black race has remained to date the most unprogressive of all human species. It is this same mindset of a fear of something new, a fear of challenges that those who argue to keep a failed Nigeria exhibit. They prefer to remain in a nation that is a hopeless jungle of failure rather than take on challenges to chart their own destiny, they prefer to remain in slavery rather than try freedom, they prefer to live under oppression rather than fight for their rights and dignity. Dr James David Manning once said that the black race was found to be the most suitable for slavery because then as now are always willing to accept any situation without a fight. This is the exactly the mindset that those who argue for one Nigeria exhibit.
There is no sane argument to keep Nigeria. It is a nation consumed by injustice, hatred, self destruction, it is also the most failed nation on earth incapable of providing the most fundamental right, which is the right to life without which any other right cannot exist and of providing the basic essentials such as electricity, pipe borne water etc. These are basic amenities that are taken for granted in the poorest African countries. In spite of being the 6th largest oil producer in the world and the largest in Africa, Nigeria imports fuel. There is no other nation on the face of the earth with this level of failure. It is a nation that dehumanises her citizens and strips them of every human dignity. A nation that makes animals out of men. A nation that is at best a human zoo. There is a reason why Nigeria has failed so exceptionally and it is her irreconcilable contradictions.
Any careful observer will realise that “one Nigeria” has always been a scam which even the loudest advocates do not believe in. It’s only been a convenient ploy to loot the nation. The so called one Nigeria leaders have contributed more to the destruction of Nigeria than anyone else. In anticipation of the nation’s eventual collapse, all of them are busy building their future outside Nigeria. These leaders send all their children abroad, buy houses abroad and stash their wealth abroad, yet these are the same leaders that sing “one Nigeria”. How long can we be fooled? Indeed is Nigeria not an already disintegrated nation? What is left of a nation where ethnic groups are returning to their enclaves because of ethno-religious crises or where a section of the country introduces sharia laws in violation of the constitution, or where terrorists bomb and kill innocents in churches and other locations on account of their religion and ethnicity? Must we wait for everyone to be killed before we realise that Nigeria cannot work?
Nigeria is a nightmare. We need to finally confront the reality of it’s impossibility as a viable nation and break-it up. The Scottish have just scheduled an independence referendum for September 2014 after centuries of union with Britain. In 1991, the Soviet Union, a nuclear world power disintegrated. In 1947, Pakistan seeking a separate nation for Muslims seceded from India. In 1993, following a referendum, Eritrea seceded from Sudan. In 1992 Yugoslavia disintegrated leading to more than 8 new nations. In 1993, Czechoslovakia disintegrated. In 1971, Bangladesh seceded from Pakistan. In 2002, East Timor seceded from Indonesia and in 2011 South Sudan seceded from Sudan. There is thus a long precedent of self determination by many nations around the world. Most importantly, none of the new nations have ever regretted their decisions to separate from their former nations in spite of whatever challenges they might be facing. There is no reason why the aftermath of Nigeria’s breakup scenario will be different.
The French live in France, the Irish in Ireland, the Germans in Germany amongst others, so why should so called Nigerians be forced to live with a myriad of disparate ethnic nations that is further divided along religious lines? Amongst former British colonies, three nations namely, Nigeria, Sudan and India were created with contradictions that made them impossible to function by particularly lumping significant Muslim populations with other ethno-religious groups. Out of the three, India and Sudan has disintegrated, only Nigeria remains. There is no nation in the world where significant populations of fundamentalist Muslims cohabit peacefully with other religions and this reality has been vindicated in Nigeria with the endless ethno-religious mass killings in the North. No matter how much we try to pretend, empirical evidence suggests that there will never be peace, harmony nor progress until there is a separation between the fundamentalist Muslims in the Sharia North and the rest. The route of disintegration travelled by India and Sudan must therefore, inevitably include Nigeria and the time is now.
Advantages Of Break-up:
(1)Accountability of Leaders
Amongst the many advantages of Nigeria’s break-up, the single greatest gain will be the possibility to hold leaders accountable in a new nation freed from Nigeria’s contradictions. It is no secret that Nigeria’s monumental corruption-patronage is fuelled and sustained by tribalism. It is impossible to effect the kind of radical and draconian measures needed to stamp out corruption without awakening the ghosts of tribalism. This is the simple reason why there hasn’t been a Jerry Rawlings kind of revolution in spite of the monumental looting and destruction of the nation. It should be recalled that Major Kaduna Nzeogwu’s coup in spite of its shortcomings and excesses was fundamentally against election rigging-corruption, violence and misrule but the coup was defeated on the altar of Nigeria’s ethno-religious contradictions.
Nigeria thus provides a tribal shield occasioned by her contradictions to leaders who conscious of this “ethnic immunity” engage in unlimited looting. Nigeria’s Break-up will remove this important tribal shield and render the leaders accountable to their people with the possibility of severe consequences for recalcitrant leaders.
(2)Job Creation And Opportunities
Many people still do not realise that Nigeria’s breakup will open up many job opportunities. There are presently 36 states and 774 local governments in Nigeria that have to be accommodated by restricted quota in federal jobs such as the Police force, the Armed forces, the customs service, immigration service, the SSS, NNPC, PHCN, Nigeria airways, Nitel, NAFDAC, foreign missions and other boards and parastatals. Sharing these positions between 36 states and 774 local governments’ means that very few people within any jurisdiction gets employed in these services. Since every nation must have these essential services, it means that Nigeria’s disintegration will open up these job opportunities to only people from the new nations. Rather than sharing these positions with a myriad of states and local governments, these positions and many more will open exclusively to people from the new nation creating a lot of job opportunities.
(3)Reconstruction and Concentrated Localised Development
One of the advantages of breakup is localised construction to develop the new capital city and other national projects. Unlike Nigeria where every development was concentrated in Lagos and now Abuja while other areas were ignored to the extent that there were even official policies of marginalisation preventing the development of an international airport and other capacity building projects in other areas, the new nations must necessarily build such important and capacity building projects as an international airport and other infrastructure for their capital and other major cities without let or hindrance. Other national development projects around the new nations will also naturally be undertaken creating concentrated localised development and the attendant job creation opportunities.
(4) Increased Resources, Membership of The UN and Direct Foreign Aid
In present day Nigeria under the parasitic monkey dey work baboon dey chop system, resources from the 10 oil producing states, 6 in the Niger Delta, 3 in the East and 1 in the West plus resources from customs and excise duties accruing from goods imported into the country and value added tax from consumption are the chief sources of resources distributed to the 36 states and 774 local governments. This system robs resources from those who generate it to fund those who contribute nothing. For example, the 12 Northern sharia states with the highest concentration of local governments in Nigeria that contribute nothing is funded to the tune of more than four trillion Naira or $40 billion annually. Nigeria’s Breakup will free these resources and return it to those who generate the resources.
Breakup will also lead to increased investments and exploitation of natural resources such as coal, limestone, crude oil and others in parts of Nigeria where such activity has not been allowed in present day Nigeria. Local taxes generated from customs and excise, value added tax etc will be for the sole use of the location from where it is generated. Many African nations such as Rwanda,Uganda, Tanzania etc that thrive solely on foreign aid are all doing better than Nigeria. Breakup will lead to the establishment of international finance, aid and political organizations such as the UN, IMF, world bank, WHO, UNICEF etc in the new nations which will in turn lead to direct foreign aid and intervention for the construction of critical infrastructure and other social programs.
(5)Localised Education And Industrial Policy
It is not for nothing that other African countries have maintained a basic standard of education while education in Nigeria has practically collapsed. Nigeria’s leadership was dominated for long by the North that had no desire to encourage education since their own people hardly went to school, they also never encouraged youth empowerment, since they have groomed their own youths to become poverty ridden-destitute almajiri’s. Since a man cannot give what he does not have, it was never in the interest or calculation of erstwhile northern leaders to invest in education or youth empowerment, which has now birthed the crisis of collapsed education, youth unemployment, poverty and social chaos in the nation. Breakup will make it possible for the new nations to articulate and develop a robust education and industrial policy that caters specifically to their needs, aspirations and addresses the problem of poverty- youth unemployment.
(6)Biometric ID Cards And Social Security
Whereas less endowed African countries are well organised with a structured ID card system and a database that helps in planning, security and general administration, the politics of population manipulation and fraud by the north induced northern leaders to block all initiatives for a secure civic registration ID card system in Nigeria. Breakup will make it possible for the new nations to create a comprehensive database with biometric ID cards that incorporates fingerprints, digital photographs and DNA profiles. An added advantage of biometric identification is the creation of a social security system that provides a safety net for the citizens.
(7) Convening Of A Sovereign National conference
For so long the sovereign rights of each ethnic group have been suppressed through the consistent refusal to convene a sovereign national conference by selfish northern interests who want to maintain the status quo of social, economic and political injustices. Breakup will make it possible for the citizens of the new nations to convene a sovereign national conference on the basis of equality and exhaustively negotiate a covenant or constitution of association that respects the autonomy of all constituent units and creates a harmonious and prosperous nation.
(8) End Of Marginalisation And Apartheid
Since the end of the Biafra-Nigeria conflict, marginalisation and apartheid has been the official policy of the Nigerian government towards some sections of the citizenry that resulted in the near total absence of federal infrastructure in their region and the near total exclusion of those citizens from the upper echelons of government. Breakup will bring a definite and final end to more than four decades of marginalisation.
Conclusions:
The advantages of break-up are so many that there is neither the time nor the space to catalogue all of them. The undisputable fact remains that Nigeria is an unworkable and irredeemable failure. If other less endowed African nations can have basic amenities and a measure of peace while Nigeria does not, then there is something seriously wrong with Nigeria and it’s time to finally confront the reality of the impossibility of Nigeria as a nation. Except for those who have chosen collective suicide or perpetual slavery, I see no reason why anyone would want to be part of a nation where there is marginalisation, injustice, inequality, oppression, ethno-religious mass murders and a total lack of progress. A nation where if you live in the North you are segregated into strangers quarters known as “sabon gari” because the northerners consider you a stranger who should not live in their midst. The same Northerners segregate themselves into Hausa quarters when they move down south because they don’t believe they should mix with strangers and yet this is the country we pretend to be a nation.
Is it not also true that a Nigerian from the South is safer living in another African country or anywhere else in the world as a foreigner than living in the North as a Nigerian where he would sooner be murdered on account of his ethnicity and religion? Where then is the nation in Nigeria? The worst lie is the lie a man tells himself. Nigerians have continued to lie to themselves that Nigeria is a nation when the reality and all empirical evidence have consistently proven otherwise. As Fanon said, it’s time to undertake the mission of our generation and breakup this contraption. The mass killings in the North will never end and there will never be peace or progress in Nigeria until there is a breakup and permanent separation between the Muslim North and the rest of the nation. It is the greatest yoke holding the nation down the lifting of which will herald freedom, peace, prosperity and other profound changes.
There are many ways, means and options to break up this hopeless and useless nation. One of them is simply to de-amalgamate the North and the South, others include scheduling a referendum or plebiscite on self determination. For the sake of our children and the coming generation, Southern leaders and all men of goodwill must come together to actualise this divine and necessary duty as a final solution to save our children from the burden of being trapped in such a tragic and nightmarish contraption. The time is now!
Bayelsa State Police Command has continued the search for twelve of its men allegedly attacked by suspected gunmen on their way to Azuzuama in Southern Ijaw local government area of the state.
Also, the Command has denied the involvement of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, (MEND) in the heinous act, arguing that the threat earlier issued by MEND has nothing to do with the attack.
Briefing newsmen, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kingsley Omire said some aggrieved ex-militants that had earlier embraced Amnesty programme as put forward by the Federal Government took advantage of the malfunctioning speed-boat to launch the attack, which resulted in the missing of twelve policemen.
His account, “50 policemen set out on assignment to Azuzama. On their way, one of the boats conveying them developed engine fault. A Joint Military Task Force gun boat was moving ahead of them. They were isolated and became soft target. Intelligence report have shown that those involved in the armed attack were hoodlums within an ex-militant group that were supposed to be enjoying Amnesty”
Out of the Fifty policemen deployed to Azuzuama community, the 12 officers were declared missing including two Police Inspectors, Four Non-Commissioned Officers, (NCO) and Six Constables.”
On the claim of an illegal trip, the Police Commissioner said the deployment of the Policemen was authorized by him and done to provide security to high profile visitors expected at the burial ceremony of the late Mother of an ex-militant leader, Kile Selky Torughedi a.k.a Young Shall Grow
According to him, “as I speak to you, some policemen are still at the community. It is the disabled nature of the speed boat conveying the affected policemen that made them soft targets. We had lots of gunboats and security personnel in the area. As I speak with you now, the entire Azuzuama community is condoned off.”
An All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) stalwart, Ichie Okuli Jude Ejike has dragged former national chairman of the party, Chief Victor
Umeh to Supreme Court seeking an order staying further proceedings in
the Court of Appeal pending the determination of the substantive
appeal No. SC124/2013 filed by his lawyer Chudi Obieze on 4th April
2013.
Okuli’s grounds of appeal are:
a. The court of appeal heard the motion for stay of execution of
the judgment of the Enugu State High Court, on 25/03/2013, in the
absence of the appellant Ichie Okuli Jude Ejike.
b. Whilst the proceedings, was still going on, the appellant Ichie
Okuli Jude Ejike, rushed into court, identified himself and informed
the learned Justices that he had not been served.
c. The court of appeal then directed the bailiff of the court to
serve the appellant all the processes in the appeal, which order was
complied with, there in the open.
d. After the appellant was served the processes, the court
adjourned the appeal to the 8th day of April, 2013 for a ruling to be
delivered on the motion for stay of execution, without affording the
appellant the opportunity of reacting to the motion or to be heard in
opposition.
In another development, APGA Youth Leader Ibrahim Carefor has taken
Chief Tom Ikimi, a chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) to an
Abuja high court seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining
the defendant from claiming or alleging that APGA is part of the
merging parties forming APC, a retraction of Ikimi’s statement in ThisDay newspaper of 6th March 2013, claiming that APGA is part of APC
and 50 million damages in favour of the plaintiff.
In eleven paragraphs statement of claim, Carefor averred that APGA has
not been path of APC and will never be. He said the statement credited
to Ikimi has caused much disaffection among the youths membership of
the party who have at no time evinced interest in joining APC, adding
that no known member of APGA’s national leadership including himself
has ever participated in the APC merger talks
The attention of the All Nigeria Peoples Party [ANPP] has been drawn to media reports on Friday whereby a so-called ANPP stakeholder in Usuman ward of Bwari Area Council, by name Mallam Isah Bala, in a letter addressed to the National Chairman of our great party alleged that the Action Congress of Nigeria [ACN] was trying to hijack the merger of opposition parties, and then advised our party to withdraw from the ongoing merger plans. Yesterday, the same character published the said letter in a full page colour advertisement in a national daily.
We wish to state categorically that if not for the lone signature and particulars of Mallam Bala fully delineated in the advert, we would have ignored the initial media reports as the handiwork of some ghost political mischief-makers yet on another round trip to scuttle the progress All Progressives Congress [APC] is making as the emerging platform for the nation’s progressives. This is for the obvious reason that if the author where a true member of our great party, he would surely know the right channels to air his opinions and grievances to the party, and also the processes to deploy in advising the party leadership.
We are confident to assert that concerning party politics and ancillary best practices, the ANPP can hold its head high as an icon of internal democracy in our nation today. This is an intrinsic particular in all our membership and leadership from top to bottom; and this calls to question Mallam Isah’s motive in his present antics. For sure, he is sponsored, tele-guided and used by the same forces that have been doing all things possible to foil the merger of the opposition in Nigeria. Therefore, we dare these shadow puppet masters to show their face if they are not shamelessly imploding with blatant failure in their unpatriotic enterprise.
The ANPP is well aware of the capacity and abilities of Mallam Isah Bala. He does not have the intellectual fibre or material resource to both research and pen the said letter, or to fund the publication of a full page colour advert in a national daily. Moreover, the fact that he signed the document alone simply means that there are no stakeholders anywhere; he just manufactured a fictitious platform [so-called Concerned ANPP Stakeholders Forum] to claim the paltry pittance from his dumb patrons. We challenge his funders to name other members of the phantom forum.
As a responsible party, and a believer in democratic best practices, the ANPP shall treat this case via the appropriate constitutional mechanisms of our great party with all diligence. We also wish to use this opportunity to call on all our teeming members and supporters not to concede an inch of space to these desperate agitators from outside bent on casting a spanner in the patriotic and historic task we have willingly and diligently embarked on with other progressives in our great nation. As a party, we believe that history will not forgive us if we fail to act now to save our great nation from the decade-and-half old strangle-hold of the ruling party on our blessed and greatly endowed country.
— Oil pipeline protection contract is a smokescreen. — Arrest of suspected Boko Haram members in Bayelsa government-owned house in Lagos raises red flag. — Boko Haram baiting in the South West a dangerous ploy. — FG allegedly pitching North against West, Christians against Muslims and making scaremongering a state policy.
(Being text of a Press Conference addressed by the National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Lagos
on Sunday, April 7th 2013)
We are compelled to once again raise the alarm about some disturbing developments in the polity. To be sure, this is not the first time we are raising concerns about what seems a deliberate ploy in certain quarters to plunge Nigeria into a deep crisis, by instigating widespread violence and insecurity and engaging in scaremongering tactics
On January 8th, 2013 we issued a statement which said inter alia: ”For the Jonathan-led Administration, and not minding its deceptive aloofness from it all, the race for 2015 has started in earnest and it is a do-or-die affair, and all means foul and unfair are on the table to cripple the opposition, by ensuring that nothing will be left of the integrity of its key leaders even if they are fortunate to make it to 2015.”
As recently as April 2nd, 2013, we issued another statement calling attention to the plan by the Federal Government to frustrate the coming together of progressives by targetting key leaders for intimidation and harassment. We also said the Federal Government intends to ensure that elections do not hold in 2015 or they will be held under curfew.
Today, the situation is even more alarming, and it is also not unconnected with the politics of 2015.
It is no longer a secret that the PDP-led Federal Government has failed the nation in all ramifications. In the provision of social amenities and standard infrastructure, ensuring the security of lives and property, provision of jobs for our teeming unemployed youths and generally ensuring better life for our people, the party that has presided over the affairs of our nation since 1999 has fallen short. To make matters worse, the party itself is imploding as a result of its own failings, and its tattered umbrella can no longer provide shelter from the elements for its increasingly disenchanted members.
Against this background, the PDP is keenly aware that it has totally lost the confidence of all Nigerians, and the long-suffering people of this great country are now ready and eager to vote out this clueless party. Keenly aware of this fact, the PDP has now realized that if indeed the 2015 elections are free and fair and conducted in a conducive environment, there will be no chance for the party.
What is the way out for the PDP? The party has decided to go for broke: Either there will be no elections in 2015 or the polls will be conducted in an atmosphere of chaos, thereby paving the way for the PDP to do what it does best – rig the elections!
Recent events corroborate this, and I will elaborate on them.
Since the Boko Haram crisis broke out in some parts of the north, it has been largely restricted to those parts. This has made it possible to say to prospective foreign investors and others that the whole country has not been engulfed in violence and insecurity. But now, the areas that have been largely peaceful are being targetted by those who will only be happy when the whole country is in turmoil.
Let’s take the South-west for example.
Three recent events, all at the instance of the Federal Government, raise the red flag.
1. A multi-billion naira contract has suddenly been awarded for the protection of oil pipelines in the region.
2. The main beneficiary of the contract has suddenly realized that the Unity Party of Nigeria, formed by the respected statesman Chief Obafemi Awolowo, is no longer in existence, and has thus decided to revive it.
3. Just about the same time, suspected Boko Haram members have been arrested in Lagos, specifically at a house belonging to the government of Bayelsa state.
The questions that arise are:
What is the real intention of the Federal Government in awarding this oil pipeline protection contract?
Is it a mere coincidence that the main beneficiary of the multi-billion naira oil pipeline protection contract is also the same fellow who is promoting the revival of the UPN?
Could the huge contract have been meant to provide the seed money for the promoters of this party?
Is it true, as it is being alleged in certain quarters, that the essence of the contract is to recruit 30,000 youths who will ostensibly protect the pipelines, but in the real sense are ready hands to foment violence on demand in the South-west?
Is it true that the so-called revival of the UPN is to provide a platform for anarchists and end-gamers in the South-west to infiltrate the ranks of the progressives and throw the region into chaos?
Why is it that suddenly, Boko Haram suspects are popping up in Lagos, and some of those who have been arrested were residing in a building owned by the Bayelsa state government? Is the Bayelsa state government aware of this and, if so, what has it done to evict them from the building? Who are the ragamuffins paraded by security agencies as Boko Haram suspects working for?
Why have some people in the South-west been engaging in Boko Haram baiting in recent times, vociferously warning that if Boko Haram comes to the region, they will be crushed? Is it a coincidence that this Boko Haram baiting has become stronger since the oil pipeline contract was awarded?
Who are the brains behind the continuous efforts to sabotage the merger of the progressives? Who bankrolled the tatterdemalions, the disreputable people who are parading themselves as African Peoples Congress? Only this morning, it was reported that a new group is trying to register APCN, in continuation of the sabotage attempts. And who are the real faces of the so-called ANPP stakeholders who have been making spurious claims concerning the All Progressives’ Congress (APC)?
Gentlemen of the press, ponder these pertinent questions, and place the stated developments in the South-west against the new threat of resurgence of violence by MEND in the Niger Delta, the worsening Boko Haram crisis in the north, and the unrelenting attempts to stop the APC, and you will understand why we have decided to raise this alarm once again.
We are also concerned by the allegation that the Federal Government may be promoting a policy of inciting some parts of the country against the other, as well as Christians against Muslims. We sincerely hope this is not true.
May we also use this opportunity to restate our stand, that the Boko Haram crisis – which by the way is a social rather than a religious problem – has festered either due to the ineptitude of the Federal Government or because it fits into the game plan of those who are bent on erecting a road block on the path of free, fair and peaceful polls in 2015.
CONCLUSION
1. We make bold to say that the stand of the PDP is that having seen the handwriting on the wall, the party realizes it cannot win any free and fair elections in Nigeria in 2015. PDP and its stalwarts are therefore perfecting a sinister plan that will make free and fair elections impossible in 2015, or if at all the elections will be held, they will hold under curfew to give the party the cover it needs to rig the polls.
2. Also being considered is a plan under which emergency rule will be imposed on most parts of the country, following which elections will
be put in abeyance, paving the way for tenure elongation. Instigation of violence in hitherto peaceful parts of the country is one of the means to achieve this plan.
3. We are therefore alerting the good people of Nigeria as well as friends of the country around the world to closely monitor events as they unfold in the days ahead, along the lines that we have enunciated above.
4. On our part, we will be keenly watching events as they unfold, either in the South-west or elsewhere. After all, it is said that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. In this regard, we call on all our supporters, all progressives and indeed all Nigerians to be vigilant. We will also like to warn that no nation can survive a combination of ethnic and religious conflagration, and that those who will instigate crisis to push a personal and selfish agenda risk being consumed by it.
5. We say NO to violence! We say NO to do-or-die politics! We say NO to any anti-democratic measures as a means of retaining power at all cost.
6. And lest we are misunderstood, the constitution of our great country allows freedom of association and anyone who so desires can form
a party. But where the purpose of the party being formed is to instigate chaos and scuttle democracy, every right thinking person must be concerned!
Information available to 247ureports.com through sources close to the northern oligarchy indicates that the members of the Jihadist group, the Yusufiyya sect popularly referred to as Boko Haram may have rejected the amnesty offer extended to the group by the President of the federal republic of Nigeria.
According to the information received, the group said that they have not asked for the said amnesty deal. They added also that they will not accept the amnesty which the Governor Alhaji Kashim Shettima promised to offer them.
A spokesman of the Jihadist group who spoke to the Hausa version of the BBC- under the name – Abu Dardam stated that their reason of not accepting the amnesty is that they don’t recognize democracy as a form of government. He added that the group does not agree with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, stressing that justice can only be found in the Holy Quran, that is Shariya system of government. Reacting the Borno state Commissioner of Home Affairs Information and Culture Mr. Hyeladi Inuwa Bwala, appealed to the group to see reason and embrace dialogue with a view to restore lasting peace in Borno state. He said most wars and crisis in the world were settled mostly through dialogue, and therefore called on the group to see wisdom in the amnesty offer and come to a round table for dialogue.
