The end of Buhari’s presidential candidacy

IF Nigeria is a nation of laws and of the rule of law, the presidential candidacy of Muhammadu Buhari should end this week. The reason is well-known to all. Buhari swore an oath on his INEC application that his credentials are with the military. This turned out to be a lie.

The military has come out to deny that it has Buhari’s credentials. That means Buhari committed perjury instead of fulfilling INEC requirements. For this reason, he must be disqualified from contesting the presidential election.

The matter has been taken to court and the courts should decide the matter this week. I am not a lawyer, but from my layman’s perspective, this is an open and shut case. Buhari lied willfully. As a former military secretary of the Nigerian Army, he knew that the military does not keep any credentials of its service-men. Nevertheless, he lied on oath that his credentials are with the military. He must face the penalty for this perjury. There can be debate about whether, and for how long, he should go to jail. However, there can be no question about his resultant ineligibility to contest: he must be disqualified.

To overlook this infraction is to succumb to Buhari’s appraisal that Nigeria is corrupt. If we are going to deal with corruption, we must not fail to deal with the likes of Buhari, who are contemptuous of the laws of the land. Buhari’s false affidavit is corruption. The disqualification of Buhari by the courts will be a testament to the determination of the judiciary to show zero tolerance for corruption in the coming new dispensation.

Some of us have watched APC make a song and dance about the possibility of postponing the 2015 elections. The party brought out all its big guns to tell us that the election cannot be postponed. They insisted that if it is postponed all hell would break lose. Well, the election has been postponed and nothing has happened. It has been postponed and the APC can do nothing about it. It was postponed according to the law.

Similarly, the heavens will not fall with the lawful disqualification of Buhari. Of all those APC could present as its presidential candidate, it chose a man without the appropriate credentials. APC has nobody to blame but itself for this fiasco. It has forfeited its chance of presenting a candidate for the 2015 presidential election. The contest should now be between the remaining 13 presidential candidates. Shikenan!

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Buhari’s Coordinator Is Dead

Latest reports say that the national coordinator of the Buhari Integrity Group, Alhaji Mubashiru Aliyu Bawan Allah, has died aged 55.

According to a Daily Trust report, the late Mubashiru Aliyu, who was the former chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) in Plateau State, died on February 7, 2015, Friday afternoon at a mosque in Kaulaha city, in Senegal.

The death of Mubashiru Aliyu was confirmed to journalists by the deceased’s elder brother, Barrister Muhammad Auwal Bidda.

He said that the former CPC stalwart died during the two rakaat prayers, usually said before commencement of the Juma’at prayer.

According to Auwal Bidda, “Nobody wants to die, but I would like to die in a similar way because he died in prostration, while on a visit to a mosque in Kaulaha.”

Nigeria to 'take out' all Boko Haram camps by March 28

Nigeria's National Security Adviser has said the date of the country's general election, which has been postponed until March 28, will not be moved again and that all known camps belonging to the armed group Boko Haram will be destroyed in the next six weeks.
"All known Boko Haram camps will be taken out. They won't be there. They will be dismantled,"

"Those dates will not be shifted again," Dasuki said when asked if the polls, initially scheduled for February 14, could be pushed back further.
Dasuki said he believed the new military co-operation agreed to between Nigeria and its neighbours - Cameroon, Chad and Niger - will prove decisive against Boko Haram.
Dasuki had urged election officials on Saturday to postpone the vote on the grounds that the military could not provide nationwide election security because all available resources were being deployed to the northeast to fight Boko Haram.
His justification for the delay was widely criticised, in part because the military is not primarily responsible for election security in Nigeria.

Military Says Nigeria Will Be Safe For Elections

The Nigerian military has given the assurance that it is committed to securing the country in time for the new dates of the general elections.

This is coming from the Director Of Defense Information, Major-General Chris Olukolade, in an interview with the Voice of America.

Maj. Gen. Olukolade is optimistic that this goal is achievable, given the increased regional cooperation that Nigeria is receiving at the moment.

“We have committed ourselves to working to ensure that we achieve the result of making the whole place secured and every effort is being made towards that end in the sense that we are improving our fire power, and improving on collaboration with other forces.

“What should interest you is what is now different about it. For the period we have said it has passed through different stages.

“You will recall that when the State of Emergency was initially declared, we were able to curtail them and they simply left our shores and went elsewhere to improve on their mischief.

Rescheduled elections ’ll paralyse economy for 6 months

TOP finance and economic experts have raised concern over the economic implications of Nigeria’s rescheduled elections and turn of political events, saying the postponement has worsened existing tension in the business environment and will keep economy in coma for the first half of 2015. An economist and Managing Director, Head – Africa Macro Global Research at Standard Chartered

How Nigerian Security Force Foiled Boko Haram Attack, Intercepted 19 High Calibre Bombs in Adamawa

Adamawa State Police Command has uncovered 19 high calibre bombs in a bush near Yola, the state capital.

The State Commissioner of Police, Gabriel Adaji, who disclosed this at a media briefing at the weekend, said the bombs were busted in Hong local government area of the state, stressing that Boko Haram gunmen were planning to use them for attacks on the state.

Maintaining that the weapons were ready to be used when they were intercepted, as they were at 90 percent completion and only needed to be connected to batteries, Adaji said it is believed that the insurgents wanted to use the bombs to disrupt the forthcoming elections.

He disclosed that the interception was made possible based on intelligence report that some suspected suicide bombers were apprehended by soldiers in Yola, and that some of the insurgents were still at large within the town.

According to Adaji, “This made us to beam our searchlight on the some spots. Something that would have caused a hell of sorrows to the state was averted. One of the bombs is capable of bringing down a 10 storey building.”

Maintaining that the insurgents were planning to bomb Jimeta, the Police Commissioner said if the insurgents had t succeeded in their plan, several people would have been killed and properties destroyed.

He disclosed further that the insurgents wanted to blow up strategic structures including the more than one kilometre River Benue Bridge linking the state capital with Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola and Mubi area.

“The bombs have been detonated by the anti-bomb squad of the state police command, the feat has averted a major calamity because some of the bombs were capable of destroying a ten storey building” Adaji said, adding that the smallest among the bombs can completely destroy structures within 200 metre radius and they were on the verge of being moved to where they were to be deployed when they were intercepted.

Adaji urged the people of the state to be vigilant and report any suspicious character to the nearest security outfit.

Military forces shift in election dates

The nation’s military establishment has forced the postponement of the general elections slated for February 14 and 28, citing its inability to guarantee security nationwide.

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said at a press conference last night that the elections will now hold on March 28 and April 11 based on a request for a six-week postponement by the military high command.

Jega, who spoke after a series of marathon “consultative” meetings with several stakeholders in the electoral process, explained that the military leadership had indicated that troops would have to concentrate on fighting Boko Haram insurgents in the North East and would not be available for security duties during the elections at the earlier scheduled dates.

He however said that while the Commission was prepared, the postponement will allow for more time to perfects arrangements for the polls.

Reports indicated that about 20 of INEC’s States Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, were opposed to the postponement of the lections but their hands were tied.

According to the election timetable, which was designed over a year ago, the Presidential, Senatorial and House of Representatives elections were to hold February 14 while the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections were fixed for February 28.

Civil society groups reacted angrily to the postponement and demanded the resignation of the Chief of Defence Staff and heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Police for failure to live up to their constitutional responsibilities of protecting lives and property at all times.

Before the announcement, INEC had met separately with representatives of the nation’s 28 political parties, all the states Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, and 25 civil society groups.

As the moves to postpone the polls gained traction last week, at least 12 parties including the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and 25 CSOs had rejected the idea while 17 parties were in favour, citing the hitches being experienced with the distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards PVCs.

Three days before yesterday’s announcement meeting, 16 parties had called for a shift in the elections. They were the United Democratic Party, UDP; the Citizen Peoples Party, CPP; the Peoples Party of Nigeria, PPN; the Action Alliance, AA; the Peoples Democratic Congress, PDC; the Labour Party, LP; Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN; Alliance for Democracy, AD; New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP, and the Independent Democrat, ID.

Others were the Advanced Congress of Democrats, ACD; Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN; Fresh Democratic Party, FDP; National Conscience Party, NCP; All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA; and Progressives Peoples Alliance, PPA.

Twenty four hours later, 10 others rejected the call.

The parties are the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM; African Peoples Alliance, APA; Kowa Party; Mega Progressives Peoples Party, MPPP; Social Democratic Party, SDP; African Democratic Congress, ADC; Hope Democratic Party, HDP; Democratic Peoples Party, DPP; United Progressives Party, UPP; Accord Party, AP.

Participants said yesterday’s meetings was not exactly “consultative” as Jega merely informed the stakeholders that all security agencies in the country had written to him to announce their non-availability for the general elections as they will be in the three north eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa battling terrorists.

While the national chairman of the ruling People’s Democratic Party PDP, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, was earlier quoted as saying that going ahead with the elections would have led to the disenfranchisement of about 34 per cent of registered voters, spokesman of the party’s presidential campaign organisation, Femi Fani- Kayode denied reports accusing the party of subtly pushing for a shift in the dates of the elections.

The PDP-controlled Federal Government had however been using security agencies, through the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, to advocate a postponement of the elections.

However, Sunday Mirror checks revealed that except where the federation is at war, the law does not provide for a blanket shift of all elections across the whole federation.

Section 26(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (amended) states that: “Where a date has been appointed for the holding of an election, and there is reason to believe that a serious breach of the peace is likely to occur if the election is proceeded with on that date or it is impossible to conduct the elections as a result of natural disasters or other emergencies, the commission may postpone the election and shall in respect of the area, or areas concerned, appoint another date for the holding of the postponed election provided that such reason for the postponement is cogent and verifiable.”

Consequently, a group of over 60 Civil Society Organizations, CSOs, under the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room have urged Nigerians to stand up in defence of democracy, saying it was absurd for the military to be dictating to INEC.

The group stated its position in a joint statement after meeting with Jega and the Commission’s 12 National Commissioners.

At the meeting, Prof. Jega, said that he had received a letter from the security services advising that he postponed the general elections on the grounds that the security agencies were engaged in a renewed battle against insurgency in the North-East that would require their full concentration.

In the said letter, the military reportedly demanded a rescheduling of elections by “at least six weeks in the first instance”.

The implication is that if the war is not won within six weeks, the elections could be further shifted.

The Federal Government had since 2009 fought the Boko Haram insurgents without winning, and political analysts are worried that a war that could not be won within six years may not also be won in six weeks.

The Situation Room said it conveyed to INEC its disappointment with the letter from the security agencies pointing out that this amounted to the military’s abdication of its constitutional duties to provide security to citizens and to the Commission to enable it conduct elections and appeared contrived to truncate the democratic process in Nigeria.

“Situation Room is further worried that the military’s position also aims to blackmail and arm-twist the Election Management Body away from its constitutional guaranteed function of conducting elections.

“Situation Room also condemns this advisory by security agents that they cannot guarantee the security of citizens, election officials and materials during the election”, the group stated.

It also called for the resignation of military chiefs and security heads including the Police on account of their inability to exercise their constitutional responsibility to secure lives and property at all times including during the elections.

The Situation Room also calls on Nigerians to be vigilant and be ready to protect this hard won democracy.

The Situation Room is made up of CSOs working in support of credible and transparent elections in Nigeria and includes such groups as Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, PLAC, CLEEN Foundation, Action Aid Nigeria, Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, Enough is Enough Nigeria and Wangonet

Others include: Partners for Electoral Reform and Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth & Advancement, YIAGA, Development Dynamics, Human Rights Monitor, Election Monitor, Reclaim Naija, Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and several others.

In the letter sent to INEC by security forces, military operations against the insurgents have been slated to begin on February 14.

As a precursor to the operations, military delegations of Nigeria and Chad had on Friday concluded a bilateral meeting to review the progress of the ongoing counter terrorism campaign being conducted in the Lake Chad Basin area.

The forum noted the recent successes in the various fronts of the operations and resolved on additional measures to sustain the momentum of the campaign.

They also resolved to enhance established structures for the coordination and logistics of the combined operations towards a speedy defeat of terror in the region.

Countries in the Lake Chad Basin had also reconstituted its Multi-National Joint Taskforce to soon begin operations to rein in the terrorists.

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The end of Buhari’s presidential candidacy

The end of Buhari’s presidential candidacy