The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says its Presidential flagbearer, President Goodluck Jonathan will beat the APC candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, fair and square in the north, come February 14.
The party also said with President Jonathan’s soaring popularity among the voting population across the country, it would win more than two-thirds of the total votes cast as well as the required 25 percent in all the states of the federation.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh in a statement on Saturday said President Jonathan will beat Buhari in the north not only because the PDP controls 12 out of the 19 states of the region but also because the citizens are pleased with the numerous development projects he executed in the region.
The party said the various projects and appointments in the north have placed President Jonathan ahead of Mr. Buhari especially following the fact that the APC presidential candidate never executed any in the region when he was head of state and has so far failed to articulate an acceptable blue-print for development.
“Indeed, Nigerians in the north are eager to re-elect President Goodluck Jonathan come February 14, 2015. Voters in the region appreciate the direct positive impact of the numerous development projects executed by the Jonathan administration in all sectors of life.
“They appreciate the fact that recognizing that agriculture is the mainstay of the northern economy, President Jonathan ensured that out of the 2.7 million direct farm jobs achieved by his administration, over 2 million are in the north.
“They appreciate the fact that President Jonathan established the e-wallet system, which eliminated the corruption in the distribution of fertilizer and other farmputs, making the products directly accessible to millions of farmers in the region thereby boosting their productivity. They appreciate the fact that silos are brimming and food pyramids are returning in the north.
“In education, President Jonathan’s imprint in the north remains indelible. Today, the once relegated Almajiri boys can now go to school following the establishment of the Almajiri System of Education, the first of its kind, with over 150 special schools already built, while others are nearing completion, a noble idea, General Buhari never thought of when he was head of state.
“Also, out of the 14 new universities established by President Jonathan, 9 are located in the northern states thereby ensuring that all states of the region have a federal university. This is in addition to the establishment of new secondary schools and training of teachers for quality education in the region.
“Furthermore our citizens in the north are happy with President Jonathanfor his efforts in tackling desertification in the region especially with the establish(ment) of more than 80 km of 15–row Green Belt in addition to the Presidential Initiative on Afforestation in Kano and 10 other Northern States”.
The party also recalled the increased attention to the health need of the area especially the interventions towards polio eradication and treatment of VVF among others.
Noting that President Jonathan has indeed repositioned the region for prosperity, the party pointed out that the north stands to benefit immensely from the revitalization of the railways, especially the rehabilitation of the Minna-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano narrow gauge, the Markurdi-Lafia-Kuru-Bauchi-Gombe-Ashaka-Maiduguri line and the branch line from Kafanchan to Kaduna, which are expected to increase productivity in the region.
The party also noted that roads in the region have received serious attention under Jonathan citing the decades-long intractable Kano-Maiduguri highway, the longest stretch in the country, which is now being successfully tackled in addition to the Abuja-Lokoja road, which is now a delight for road travellers.
Noting that there are hundreds of such gigantic road projects going on in the region, the PDP said that the dredging of the River Niger from Lokoja to Baro in Niger State have also contributed in placing the north on a sure path to economic prosperity.
It also cited the acceleration of work on the Geregu power station, the 700MW Zungeru Hydro-Power, the 3,050MW Mambilla Hydro-Power among others in addition to various dam projects including the Kashimbila Multipurpose Dam, which is being built to contain flood from Lake Nyos in Cameroon.
The PDP insisted that Nigerians in the north are mindful of the fact that their collective interest and aspiration are better protected under Mr. Jonathan hence the support and eagerness to re-elect him come February 14.
The Director General of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Ahmadu Ali says the Fulani socio-cultural group – Miyyetti Allah, the Yoruba socio cultural groups – Afenifere, and Odua Peoples Congress, OPC, have all endorsed the re-election bid of President Jonathan.
Mr. Ali said this at the campaign rally of the PDP on Saturday in Kaduna.
“We should tell ourselves the truth, Miyetti Allah, Afenifere and OPC have endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election”.
He said the North should start grooming a non-dictatorial leader who is between the ages of 40-50 to take over from Mr. Jonathan in 2019.
“I want to tell my fellow Northerners to start grooming a 40-50 year-old candidate that President Goodluck Jonathan will hand over power to in 2019 and not a dictatorial leader who attempted to kidnap my friend late Umaru Dikko. Is that the person you want to vote for? God forbid!” Mr. Ali said.
Ahmed Makarfi, a serving Senator, in his remarks said the PDP “will use our power of persuasion to ensure that, PDP is voted on the 14th and 28th of this month.
“I assure you that by this persuasion and consultations by the Vice President, the governor, many stakeholders and I will deliver Kaduna state to PDP,” he added.
Ahead of the presentation of the final report of the Thabo Mbeki Panel on illicit financial flows at the ongoing summit of African Union, AU, ActionAid Nigeria has called on the Nigerian government to play a leading role in ensuring the adoption and implementation of the recommendations in the report.
The anti-poverty civil society group said in Abuja on Saturday that this was the only way to rid Nigeria and other African economies of the menace of illicit financial flows.
At the 4th Joint Annual Meetings of the African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development at the AU Economic Commission for Africa Conference in March 2011, Resolution L8 was adopted, mandating the establishment of a high level panel, HLP, headed by the former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, to assess the impact of illicit financial flows on the continent’s economy.
Specifically, the mandate of the panel included the review of the complex and long-term implications of illicit financial flows on development.
The panel was to also sensitize African governments, citizens and international development partners on the scale of illicit financial flows and its effect on development.
The panel was equally expected to propose policies as well as mobilize support for practices that would help reverse the illicit financial outflows trend in Africa.
Despite being one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of hydrocarbon, Nigeria has remained one of the worst places where poverty and corruption are ravaging the economy and the citizenry.
Concerned about the impact of illicit financial flows on the African economy, ActionAid Nigeria called on the Nigeria government and the country’s delegation to the 24th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to support the adoption of the recommendations of the Mbeki Panel report.
The ActionAid Nigeria Country Director, Hussaini Abdu, identified Nigeria among the countries severely affected by illicit financial flows in the world, saying the situation demanded urgent and decisive action if poverty is to be eradicated.
Mr. Abdu, who said Nigeria was losing about $15.746 billion (N2.645trillion) annually as a result of illicit financial flows, called on the Federal Government to be in the vanguard of countries and groups demanding that the Mbeki report be received by the African leaders and acted upon.
“In view of the huge impact of illicit financial flows on the Nigerian economy, especially at this time when the country’s major revenue source, the crude oil money, has been eroded, it is time Nigeria takes the lead in ensuring that the Mbeki Panel Report is received by Africa’s Heads of Government and their Finance Ministers.” Mr. Abdu said.
The ActionAid Country Director appealed specifically to the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to compel the 8th Joint Annual Meetings of the African Union Conference of Ministers of the Economy and Finance, and ECA Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to develop an action plan on the implementation of the recommendations of the report.
The AUC-ECA meeting is scheduled for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia between March 25 and 31.
Musiliu Obanikoro, the immediate past Minister of State for Defence, on Saturday insisted that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress [APC], Muhammadu Buhari, was stoned in Lagos on Friday on his way to his party’s presidential rally at the Teslim Balogun Stadium.
Mr. Obanikoro had posted a comment on twitter on Friday condemning the purported stoning of Mr. Buhari, suggesting that the APC candidate was so attacked.
But the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Lai Mohammed, promptly issued a statement, saying Mr. Buhari was never attacked and that Mr. Obanikoro was playing political games.
“Not once was he (Mr. Buhari) pelted with stone during the almost two-hour ride,” Mr. Mohammed said. “It is obvious that those who were paid by Mr. Obanikoro to stone the General failed to deliver. We therefore urge him to seek a refund of whatever money he paid to his hired hands to pelt Gen. Buhari with stones.
“Gen. Buhari and other top leaders of the APC rode in an open bus from the Palace of the Oba of Lagos to the Teslim Balogun Stadium venue of the rally, to great cheers from Lagosians who lined the route.
“Obanikoro’s statement on an imaginary attack on Gen. Buhari in Lagos must be his own way of saying ‘thank you’ to his masters for nominating him as minister on Friday, as his reward for ceding the governorship ticket he claimed to have won to Jimi Agbaje.”
But in a statement on Saturday, Mr. Obanikoro chided the APC spokesperson for denying the purported attack on Mr. Buhari.
“It is pointless and futile, but also does not give the APC any advantage,” the former minister said via a statement by Ohimai Amaize, his Special Adviser on Media Strategy. “When things go wrong, we must acknowledge and condemn it in order to forestall any future occurrences.”
“Senator Obanikoro, based on eyewitness accounts is aware of the stoning incident at Idumagbo area of Isale-Eko, Lagos State, and the fact that a woman was injured in the ensuing fracas after General Buhari’s security detail had to shoot into the air to dispel the irate mob,” the statement added.
The APC is yet to respond to Mr. Obanikoro’s new statement on the matter.
On a bed at the female ward of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital laid a 15-year-old girl in an evidently bad state. Her face and head were bandaged, leaving slits through which only a bruised eye and swollen lips were visible. On her body were clearer signs of trauma, with burns running from her neck down to the lower parts of her body.
Around her bed wafted a foul smell, which a nurse who came to attend to her attributed to a septic wound in the girl’s skull.
A nurse who does not want to be named, because she is not authorised to speak to the on the matter, told the icirnigeria.org, that a group of people from the biggest Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camp in Maiduguri dumped Lami (the surnames of all victims in this report are withheld to protect them) at the hospital.
“We have many of them. They’d been either raped in the camp or sold by those that should be protecting them in the camps,” the nurse said.
Approached by the reporter, Lami tried to speak, but her voice was muffled into a whisper as pains coursed through her body.
She said her parents were killed by Boko Haram insurgents in her village and she managed to reach Maiduguri, capital of Borno State, in an open truck that dropped people off at a camp for displaced persons.
In the course of moving from one camp to the other, she was separated from her younger brother.
“I do not know where he is,” she said through muffled sobs.
How did she end up in the hospital burnt and battered?
Lami said some government officials came to the camp and took many young girls away and later sold them as slaves. She ended up in the house of one Alhaji Aliyu, whose brother and wife abused her. While Aliyu’s brother repeatedly raped her, his wife weighed in with physical abuse.
“One day, some people came to the camp and said that they were taking us to a better place. That was how I got to Alhaji Aliyu’s house and it was there, every day, his brother forcefully slept with me.
“After that, he would beat me and one of Alhaji’s wives too would always beat me. One day she attacked me with a knife. That was how I got the wound in my skull,” she recounted.
Lami’s case, depressingly, is not an isolated one. Hundreds of girls are now being trafficked from some of the IDP camps in the Northeast set up to cater for people displaced by the insurgency, especially unregistered ones.
It was learnt that because many of the camps cannot accommodate all the people displaced from their homes by Boko Haram attacks, many IDPs end up in makeshift unofficial camps close to the officially designated ones or in nearby villages.
The people in the makeshift camps are not officially registered and technically are not under the care of government.
They are usually taken care of by villagers or even relatives in the government-run camps. Somehow, state officials have the same access and control over these unofficial camps.
They ran from their village in Adamawa and are in small unregistered camp in Gombe
A fertile ground for child trafficking
Kingsley Ogar, a staff of an international donor agency, who does not want his organisation named, confirmed that child trafficking is rife in the IDP camps.
“We had a case in Gombe where a group of persons came from the South, Lagos or Ibadan, we can’t be so sure, paid some people and took away children from the camp.
“We went to deliver relief items in this particular IDP Camp and took a census so that we could come back the following day, which we did, only to realize that over a dozen of them were missing. They were mostly young children between the ages of 5 and 15. “Upon investigation we discovered that some “lords” in the camp were in partnership with the Lagos people to sell the kids.
“We reported to the police (Gombe State command), but we do not know whether they have done anything,” he said.
Our reporter learnt of an IDP camp in Yola where there were said to be about 900 children without parents. It was alleged that children were being sold and trafficked in the camp.
Our reporter visited the camp posing as an official of a church that takes care of children and made startling discoveries. An official in the camp named Raila, who wore the reflective vest of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, told the reporter to wait while she went into a makeshift office. There, she spoke with a male colleague, whom she said is an official of NEMA.
She returned to announce: “You will pay N50,000.for each child and you can only go with three if you want them today,” as if she was in a livestock market.
Apparently not totally devoid of conscience, she tried to rationalise her illicit trade. “We use the money to take care of the other children still here,” she said.
Without any attempt at verifying the reporter’s identity and in less than 30 minutes, three children were ready to be sold, possibly never to return to their roots.
Further investigations revealed that such child trafficking business is a thriving and well-run racket in most IDP camps in the insurgency ravaged North east. It is a triangular manifestation of evil that comprises some heartless displaced persons, unscrupulous camp officials and child traffickers.
Displaced persons who know the children without parents act as middlemen between the buyer and the seller. They liaise with people who come from places as far flung as Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Abuja, Katsina, to carry out the first step in the trafficking process.
The displaced person also identifies the children to be sold and goes ahead to negotiate a price, which, it was gathered, could range from as little as N10,000 to as much as N100,000. After negotiations, the middleman approaches the camp official in charge. The official collects the money and approves the release of the kids.
The child trafficker, we gathered, then re-sells the children to an interested family as a domestic servant or slave.
Like Lami, many, if not all of these children, have very little education. They have little knowledge of their rights and no clue as to how to return home. Those they entrusted their lives with at the IDP camps liaise with the traffickers and agents exploiting their vulnerability in this hideous transaction.
A woman and her child in an IPD camp in Gombe. Children, especially those without parents are targeted.
More heart-rending tales
In Gombe, 16-year-old Laraba told icirnigeria.org that an official of the state emergency relief agency named Ibrahim took her from the camp where she was to his home on the pretext that she would be helping the wife with household chores.
“I was happy leaving the camp, but when we got to his house, there was no wife. He raped me continuously for three nights, locked me inside his house for days and threatened me.”
She continued, “I managed to escape and came back to the camp. I got pregnant. An old woman we call ‘Kaka’, gave me some leaves. I was bleeding for almost two weeks and smelling.”
She said she is currently feeling better and has overcome the ordeal. But she had to suffer in silence as she could not tell anyone because she thought nobody would believe her and for fear of being sent away from the camp.
“I am not the only one this has happened to and I am sure Ibrahim, the health worker, is not the only one doing this type of thing,” she reasoned.
Thirty-two year old Binta caught our reporter’s attention as she muttered to herself, looking like a traumatized person. The tale she told was shocking and distressing. Sadly, no one believes her or is willing to do anything about it.
“After the attack in Mubi, I fled with my one year old child.
“From the first camp we were, a secondary school, I was told a family in Yola was coming to take us. They came to pick me and my baby. When I saw them I was suspicious, but what could I do, without anyone to help? I put my baby in the car, and they sped away,” she said resignedly.
Binta is realistic to know that she might never see her baby again but her problem is what to tell her husband from whom she was separated in the aftermath of the attack on Mubi.
“I have lost all hope of ever seeing my baby again. I do not know whether my husband is alive or not. A family member says he was among those who ran to Cameroon.
“If he finds me tomorrow, what do I tell him about our baby?” she wondered.
Sixteen year-old Aisha is in an IDP camp in Gombe and is three months pregnant.
She had been sexually abused by men from a community near the IDP camp and denied contact with anyone.
“I want to go back home, but there is no home. My village is near Gwoza. They started sleeping with me since I came to the camp. I was told that if I refused, they would kill me,” she claimed.
Hiding her face behind a veil, she said: “I feel like killing myself. I guess that’s the only way out of this misery.”
Official complicity and complacency
Many aid workers in the IDP camps allege that there is a conspiracy of silence, which encourages government officials in many of the IDP camps to continue to exploit the displaced persons.
One aid worker pointedly accused officials of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, the police and state government officials of being behind the child trafficking racket in the IDP camps.
Since the same officials that these cases should be reported to are the perpetrators. Many victims just keep quiet for fear of being sent out of the camp.
Osim Jones, a Jos-based lawyer, who has helped rescue some trafficked girls, said that the allegation of child trafficking in the displaced persons’ camp and the complicity of police officers and other government officials is real and that federal government should investigate the accusations.
Mr. Jones said it was sad that the authorities do not believe that these evils are happening in the IDP camps and that they constitute a major problem.
“We can’t give up or be silent because the police are denying, aid workers don’t want to talk,” he said.
The agency that should really be in charge of displaced persons camps is the National Commission of Refugees, but the agency has absolutely no presence in any of the IDP camps visited in Borno and Gombe states.
That is not surprising, as the Federal Government has not shown any seriousness in funding the agency. Not much is appropriated for the agency, and of its budget, funds allocated to purchases directly related to refugees matters have dwindled even though the insurgency in the Northeast has increased in the last two years.
In 2012, of the miserly N512 million appropriated for the commission, only N70 million meant for purchase of health and medical equipment had anything to do with refugee matters.
In 2014, of the N616 million budgeted for the agency, only N19.4 million was appropriated for medical supplies had any bearing to refugees. Even at that, there was no indication the medical supplies got to victims.
ICIR learnt that with increasing complaints to the government about the conditions in the IDP camps, the office of the Attorney-General, last year, sent an official of the National Commission for Refugees to one of the camps in Maiduguri to study the situation and see how the agency can get more involved.
However, no other agency in the camp was ready to relate with the official sent by the Attorney-General’s office. Worse still, it was learnt that the investigator’s visit and stay in the camp were also not adequately funded, a development that forced her to return to Abuja after two weeks.
In Yola, the Adamawa State capital, the state’s police spokesperson, was unavailable to comment. But an officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said: “We cannot exclude the fact that criminals are taking advantage of the current situation, but there are no official complaints.”
A volunteer taking count in preparation to share a meal in a camp in Gombe
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters, NAPTIP, the agency which by law should prevent human trafficking, appears to be unaware of the illegal trade in children going on in the camps. Efforts to speak to the executive secretary of the agency, Beatrice Jedy-Agba, were unsuccessful.
But the head Press and Publications Research Unit, of the agency, Josiah Emerole, said NAPTIP was not aware of any trafficking of humans in the IDP camps.
He said also the agency had not received any reports of such atrocities occurring in the camps.
Mr. Emerole, who appeared shocked when confronted with details of our investigation, promised to reach out to the NAPTIP zonal offices in the Northeast to verify and act speedily on the allegations.
Confronted with the results of our findings, officials of NEMA also claimed ignorance of the atrocities being committed by the agency’s officials and others in the IDP camps.
The agency’s chief information officer, Sani Datti, said NEMA headquarters was not aware of the allegations and had not received any reports of cases of child trafficking in the IDP camps in the North east.
“These allegations you have made are grave and serious but we cannot really address them here at the headquarters. We have to reach the zonal coordinators to get the real fact or investigate them,’ he said.
Mr. Datti gave our reporter the contacts of the NEMA coordinators in the Northeast but they all feigned ignorance of the criminal activities of officials in the camps.
NEMA’s coordinator in Gombe, Sa’ad Ahmad Minin, said he was not aware of any cases of rape or child trafficking in any camp under his jurisdiction. When given specific details of Laraba who was raped by Ibrahim, Mr. Minin referred ICIR to an official named Hajara, whom he said was on ground and in direct charge of the camps.
On the phone, Hajara too denied knowledge of any incident of rape or child trafficking but promised to investigate the matter.
‘I do not know of any such case. But as you have told me now, tomorrow I will go to the camp and investigate,” she said.
However, an official of NEMA who spoke to our reporter but does not want to be named confided that many of the officials of the agencies in the camps are not regular staff but volunteers.
“Our officials in those places are short-staffed and many of the people you see wearing NEMA reflective vests are actually not our staff but volunteers. But as you say they are there acting for the agency so we must be held responsible for their actions,” the official stated.
When ICIR confronted the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, with the result of its investigations, its chairman, Chidi Odinkalu, said that he had received reports of abuses in the IDP camps, including rape and child trafficking.
Mr. Odinkalu said the commission has set machinery in motion to engage government agencies involved in managing the IDP camps as well as security agencies on the need to investigate the allegations and stop such abuses. He, however, lamented that such efforts have not been very successful.
He added that the NHRC would explore all avenues to investigate the allegations and take appropriate action.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says its Presidential flagbearer, President Goodluck Jonathan will beat the APC candidate, retired Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, fair and square in the north, come February 14, 2015.
The party also said with President Jonathan’s soaring popularity among the voting population across the country, it would win more than two-third of the total votes cast as well as the required 25 percent in all the states of the federation.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement on Saturday, said that President Jonathan would beat Buhari in the north not only because the PDP controls 12 out of the 19 states of the region but also because the citizens are pleased with the numerous development projects he executed in the region.
The party said that the various projects and appointments in the north have placed President Jonathan ahead of Buhari especially following the fact that the APC presidential candidate never executed any in the region when he was Head of State and has so far failed to articulate an acceptable blue-print for development.
“Indeed, Nigerians in the north are eager to re-elect President Goodluck Jonathan come February 14, 2015. Voters in the region appreciate the direct positive impact of the numerous development projects executed by the Jonathan administration in all sectors of life.
“They appreciate the fact that recognizing that agriculture is the mainstay of the northern economy, President Jonathan ensured that out of the 2.7 million direct farm jobs achieved by his administration, over 2 million are in the north.
“They appreciate the fact that President Jonathan established the e-wallet system, which eliminated the corruption in the distribution of fertilizer and other farm-puts, making the products directly accessible to millions of farmers in the region thereby boosting their productivity. They appreciate the fact that silos are brimming and food pyramids are returning in the north.
“In education, President Jonathan’s imprint in the north remains indelible. Today, the once relegated Almajiri boys can now go to school following the establishment of the Almajiri System of Education, the first of its kind, with over 150 special schools already built, while others are nearing completion, a noble idea, General Buhari never thought of when he was head of state.
“Also, out of the 14 new universities established by President Jonathan, 9 are located in the northern states thereby ensuring that all states of the region have a federal university. This is in addition to the establishment of new secondary schools and training of teachers for quality education in the region.
“Furthermore our citizens in the north are happy with President Jonathan for his efforts in tackling desertification in the region especially with the establishment of more than 80km of 15–row Green Belt in addition to the Presidential Initiative on Afforestation in Kano and 10 other Northern States,” the statement read.
The party also recalled the increased attention to the health need of the area especially the interventions towards polio eradication and treatment of VVF among others.
Noting that President Jonathan has repositioned the region for prosperity, the party pointed out that the north stands to benefit immensely from the revitalization of the railways, especially the rehabilitation of the Minna-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano narrow gauge, the Markurdi-Lafia-Kuru-Bauchi-Gombe-Ashaka-Maiduguri line and the branch line from Kafanchan to Kaduna, which are expected to increase productivity in the region.
The party also noted that roads in the region have received serious attention under Jonathan, citing the decades-long intractable Kano-Maiduguri highway, the longest stretch in the country, which they said was being successfully tackled in addition to the Abuja-Lokoja road.
The PDP also said that the dredging of the River Niger from Lokoja to Baro in Niger State have also contributed in placing the north on a sure path to economic prosperity.
It cited the acceleration of work on the Geregu power station, the 700MW Zungeru Hydro-Power, the 3,050MW Mambilla Hydro-Power among others in addition to various dam projects including the Kashimbila Multipurpose Dam, which they said was being built to contain flood from Lake Nyos in Cameroon.
The PDP insisted that Nigerians in the north are mindful of the fact that their collective interest and aspiration are better protected under Jonathan hence the support and eagerness to re-elect him come February 14, 2015.
The Catholic Church would be deploying 4889 observers in 23 States of the country for the forthcoming general elections.
The Executive Secretary of Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria, Rev. Fr. Evaristus Bassey, said this during a press briefing on Friday in Abuja where he expressed fears of possible outbreak of violence.
Read full press statement below
PRESS STATEMENT URGING NIGERIANS TO PREPARE TO MITIGATE THE IMPACT OF POSSIBLE OUTBREAK OF VIOLENCE DURING THE FORTHCOMING ELECTIONS BY THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF CARITAS NIGERIA AND NATIONAL SECRETARY OF JDPC EVARISTUS BASSEY, CATHOLIC SECRETARIAT OF NIGERIA ON THE 30TH OF JANUARY 2015
“Gentlemen of the Press, this press statement is being issued in my capacity as the Executive Secretary of Caritas Nigeria who is also responsible for coordinating the JDPC groups within the country. Caritas Nigeria is the relief and development agency of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria while Justice Development and Peace Committee at the national level is the advocacy organ of the Conference.
As you may know there are several forms of humanitarian crises already brewing in Nigeria: There is the silent Sahel food crisis affecting the food and nutrition needs of those states in the Sahel region like Sokoto, Kebbi, Yobe etc; there is the post-flood humanitarian crisis, with many still to recover their livelihoods even after billions of naira were collected; there is the potential Niger Delta crisis which could erupt anytime, and there is the mother of all humanitarian crises caused by Boko Haram which has led to the greatest displacements and miseries since the civil war.
On top of all these are the potential dangers and humanitarian emergencies that may arise because of the already charged presidential elections. From our discussions with our partners in some parts of the country, the certain towns and cities are already so charged that potentially lives and properties are not safe, depending on the outcome of the elections.
It does appear that a predetermined outcome for the elections is demanded by some groups that no matter how free and fair it is, if it does not suit them, they would resort to violence that could lead to loss of lives.
Consequently at a Contingency Planning meeting for possible elections violence attended by JDPC representatives from volatile states, we resolved the following:
Preventive Measures:
Church and Mosque leaders should intensify sensitization of their members to avoid violence whatever the outcome of the elections
Clergymen themselves must avoid being inciting and partisan during their sermons
Clergymen should admonish their members against inciting and abusive language in the social media
Traditional leaders should hold meetings with youth leaders on the need for peaceful conduct during and after the elections
Parents and elderly relatives should call their wards and warn them not to be used as instruments of violence by politicians
Citizens should be aware that during voting there will be a card reader that would match the thump print on the permanent voter card with that of the holder; it is therefore useless to collect other people’s voter cards
Citizens should not rely on the assurances of security agencies alone, as the scale of violence, if it happens, may overwhelm their capacity, and therefore must be extra vigilant
Citizens must pray against violence. On this note the JDPCs will be holding prayer rallies across five geo-political zones, except for the North East.
B. In the Case of a Possible outbreak of Violence we advise the following:
Citizens in volatile places should stock essential commodities in case shops are not open for days
Citizens should by now make arrangements for safe havens in case they have to escape from their homes; and those who can, should move their families from volatile areas, as the right to life is stronger than the right to vote
After voting, although they could stay back to observe the counting, we advise ordinary citizens in volatile places to go home, and allow politicians to sort themselves out. The Catholic Church is deploying 4889 observers in 23 States, these observers will also stay back to observe to the end.
We advise churches and mosques to set aside some funds to deal with possible humanitarian crises that may arise, to complement government effort which often times is inadequate and therefore unreliable; especially with the experience of the current IDPs situation. After more than four years of a humanitarian crisis caused by Boko Haram we should be more proficient in handling these things but government is still dropping items and going away. Up till now no proper camps.
Finally we advise Nigerians to know that politicians are all the same. If APC, everyone will move there and if PDP wins, they will move back to PDP, so it is not worth it destroying property and or especially destroying lives just because one set of politicians have lost elections.”
Stranded Arik Airline passengers, originally scheduled to travel to Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital at 3.25 p.m. on Friday, were eventually flown to their destination 7 a.m. Saturday.
Saka Waheed, one of the stranded passengers made this known via a twitter post at about 9:08 a.m. Saturday.
“Safe landing at Ibadan Airport,” Mr. Waheed tweeted.
The passengers had on Saturday night shut down operations at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, blocking the boarding gate of the airport and disallowing Arik and other airlines from boarding passengers to other destinations.
After PREMIUM TIMES reported the incident Friday night, it was learnt that some top airport officials, including Airport Controller, V. C. Onyi, Airport Manager, M.M. Mukthar, rushed to the blocked boarding gate few minutes to 11 p.m on Friday to appeal to the aggrieved passengers for calm.
After extensive argument, it was also learnt, the officials agreed to ensure the passengers get 25 per cent refund and accommodation overnight.
However as at the time of filing this report, the refund was yet to be paid.
The Arik Airline spokesperson, Banji Ola, refused to speak to PREMIUM TIMES as regards his airline’s handling of the flight, the ordeal of the passengers and the compensation promised the passengers, saying there was no need commenting since the initial story on the matter had already been published.
Also, he would not say if indeed there was an agreement to pay the passengers 25 per cent refund.
The Coordinating Spokesperson of Aviation agencies, Yakubu Datti, said he had not received report on the incident.
He however said, “when we have a case like this, passengers are to lodge complaint at the Customers Protection Desk monitored by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.
“Then, there will be investigations. And NCAA, as a regulatory agency, will sanction such airline if found guilty of the passengers’ complaint.”
However, Mr. Datti said the flight could have been cancelled due to weather conditions.
The passengers say their grievances was because the flight was cancelled without notice and Arik Air officials were not available to explain reasons for aborting their journey.
Mr. Waheed, a civil society activist, had told PREMIUM TIMES at about 9:30 P.M Saturday that the aborted flight was originally schedule for 3.25pm.
“Later, they came to tell us it had been changed to 4p.m. By 4 o’clock, they said flight would be 7pm. When it was 7, we were directed to enter a bus to take us to the tarmac so that we could board the plane and leave for Ibadan.
“Although we entered the bus, yet the driver later told us to get down. In short, that was the point we were told the flight had been cancelled, after we had spent over four hours at the airport,” Mr. Waheed said.
He said they could not also assess their luggage, which had already been checked in.
He complained that neither airport officials nor Arik Air staff offered them any explanation on why the flight was cancelled and how to get their luggage.
“Because of that treatment, we are not allowing anybody to travel out of Abuja until either airport officials or Arik officials come to address us,” Mr. Waheed said.
Also complaining, another passenger, Tope Oladele, said, “Well, as you can see; these people are very barbaric. They are treating us like animals. Nobody has come to explain what happened. They have left us stranded.”
Both Messrs Waheed and Oladele said there was no official at the Arik stand to attend to passengers’ complaints.
Passengers said Arik is notorious for arbitrary flight postponement and cancellation and that they are disappointed that aviation authorities have so far failed to call the airline to order.
In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES’ Michael Abimboye, journalist, social critic and former presidential candidate, Dele Momodu, speaks on the coming presidential election, the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other sundry issues. Excerpts:
You are one of the critics of the Jonathan administration, what do you think it could have done better?
For a man with that kind of background similar to mine, he should have been president of the people. Jonathan became an elitist president and the moment you are elitist in nature, outlook in attitude, you are bound to fail. Nigeria requires a selfless leader and reduces personal comfort for overall comfort of the people. The moment you gallivant all over the world, drive special jets, go to Jerusalem with entourage of people and people are lying to you that you are the best thing that ever happened to Nigeria, what nonsense.
The mistake he made was that he did not come as a leader who was ready to serve his people. You look at their budget in a year they are budgeting billions for food in Aso rock. If the president is ready to downgrade his personal lifestyle, you will see that people will follow him.
The key element of leadership is trust. If you are coming to Lagos, you lock down everywhere; you cannot be a man of the people, you cannot see anything and that is why the Benin-Ore road they are making noise about is still useless. They have repaired some parts of it but did not do it all the way to Sagamu. Jonathan does not see all these because when he moves, they shield him.
Look at the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the most important road linking the heartbeat of Nigeria to the rest of Nigeria. The PDP has not been able to complete it in the last 16 years. There is headway in the railway, looking at Sijuade and the rest, but the government must be more serious than ambitious. If you just want to do one rail from Lagos to Kano then make it the best quality. When are we going to start doing quality projects?
Look at the international airport, the first point of contact with foreigners. I will expect the renovations that they are shouting about. I do not know how much it cost but the airport is one of the worst in the world today and that is why I took some pictures to show the world.
If I were in his shoes I would have merged all the universities so that it will reduce the overhead cost. In those days, University of Ife started from University of Ibadan. The Adeyemi College of Education was in Ondo but under University of Ife. If that is done we will have a single vice chancellor manage them well and standardize them.
I was made to know education is the bedrock of any great nation. Any nation where you do not make education as priority, you are going to have glorified illiterate. If we switch to economy, to create jobs is not difficult. It is for you to reduce cost of running government. If you reduce cost of running government you will be able to use money for the health of the nation. He should approach the National Assembly and tell them he is reducing the cost of running the government by 25 per cent or 50 per cent. If the National Assembly sees that he has reduced the cost by 25 per cent and plead with them to reduce the cost and they say no, then we will now take them to the court of the public. But when they see you are living lavishly, you cannot tell others not to do so.
The cost of running the Federal Government is outrageous. Imagine Nigeria wanting to go and borrow $1billion to fight Boko Haram. If corruption is reduced you will see that Nigeria will be top all around the world because we are the most brilliant people in the world. If it is seen that we have a good president, people will come back home to be among the best in the world. I interacted with them – our military as far back as 2001 in Sierra Leone, later in Liberia. As a matter of fact, Nigerian military was controlling 10 out of 15 states in Liberia. They were well equipped, motivated, well protected. Until that is done we are going to continue having the security situation. Our secret service has been politicized. I have never seen where FBI, CIA……..They should be well equipped so that they can carry out their job of spying, which is one of the important jobs in a country. That is why in France when the enemy strikes before 24 hours, they are tracked. Our men can do it but everything in this country has been politicized. We now have to choose based on ethnicity. Nigeria has brilliant people who can lead this country.
A lot has been said about governance in Nigeria, what actually do you think is Nigeria’s problem?
Our problems are multifaceted. They are not problems we have not seen elsewhere. They can be solved by one man. People think it can be solved by all of us. I disagree with them and that is why I ran for the presidential race. The day we get the right president with the right mindset, a lot of things will go away because everybody is looking at the man at the top. If you see that the man at the top is not corrupt, even if you are corrupt, you will be more careful. People will say they are many corrupt people in APC, but I can tell you because I have good relationship with top characters in APC that they have maximum respect for Buhari. That is why I will call Buhari the Mandela of the nation. Once there is respect, we will not want to tarnish his image.
Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has been criticizing President Jonathan. Don’t you feel he is one of the people that created the problem in Nigeria?
He has been a critic of the government but if he makes a mistake, it is good for you to admit. I believe what Obasanjo is doing now is a way for atoning for his sins. He must be feeling bad and guilty that this problem is on Nigerians. So whether he is doing it for selfish reasons, the reason is best known to him. We must listen to him. He is one of the best we have in Nigeria, against all odds. He was able to fight for Nigeria, hold Nigeria together, went to prison, came out, and became president though he is not perfect. By now, I am sure he will be regretting some of these things that happened under his administration. He has his followers too and he is respected, internationally.
As a former presidential candidate, why did you decide to support Mr. Buhari for presidency in the coming elections?
Well, the mood of the nation favours a change in our state of affairs. The average Nigerian, except maybe those who are profiting from the government, believes that government has not performed. So I have looked at the political situation, based on my vast experience working with late Chief M.K.O Abiola, working with Chief Olu Falae, and working for myself and I can see that the only way to dislodge the PDP is if we all join forces. I’m not a member of the APC, I’m a member of the National Conscience Party and I never thought a day would come when I won’t support my own presidential candidate. But the reality on ground is that we have to face the reality.
I now know what it takes to win a presidential election. I went through it. All the idealism that I had has evaporated. I was one of those who felt that Nigeria was ready for change in 2011. They would look at the track records, merits and they could see that I was one of the best candidates that was available in the country but the truth is that it takes much more than your personal character, achievement, popularity to win a presidential election and that is why I’m humble enough to say enough of contesting and let me find one of the candidates who has the ideals that I had in 2011. Unfortunately, I can’t find any other person than Buhari. It does not mean Buhari is a saint; it does not mean Buhari does not have his own faults because he’s human being and we are all mortals. But if I have to choose between Buhari and Jonathan, I will go for Buhari.
So you are sure of Mr. Buhari winning the election?
Oh, I have no doubt that General Buhari is set to create an upset in Nigeria’s political configuration.
Despite the violence-free peace pact signed in Abuja by President Jonathan, Buhari and others, there are still cases of electoral violence. Do you see a violence-free election in February?
Oh, we can. What usually happens is that once a particular candidate is overwhelmingly popular and the mood of change permeates the entire society, it becomes difficult for people to fight because it becomes oblivious that one candidate was more popular than the other. That’s what happened in 1993. Nobody fought when Chief Abiola won. People expected that there was going to be violence, but there was no violence because it was clear that Abiola was way ahead of Tofa. How will you fight when your own people are supporting your opponent?
If Buhari wins this election, it is not going to be a close election because he is going to win by a wide margin. Jonathan’s supporters who think they can fight now, by that time, it would have dawn on them that even in their own village, Buhari has supporters and in situations like that who are you going to fight?
There have been attacks on candidates as the elections get closer. What do you make of the advertorial by Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose on Buhari?
I will describe the advert as very satanic, extremely satanic. It is probably worse than the cartoon that caused problem in France and this is where you know that Nigerians are not really violent. In other places, that would have caused violence. What he did was to provoke anger in the people against the PDP and against Jonathan. If I were Jonathan, I will distant myself from Fayose immediately because that advert was totally reckless and irresponsible. I will appeal to us to tread carefully. Who knows tomorrow? Nobody has the power to life and death. Old age doesn’t mean you will die before a young man. I think he carried it too far. I’m sure by now he is regretting it but might not admit it. If I were him, I will run another advert on the same pages and apologize. If he carries on with this recalcitrant approach to life, he would not like it in future. We must all guide what we say and do because we need peace in Nigeria.
There are reports that elections might not hold in some areas within the troubled north-east region. If elections do not hold eventually in those areas, do you think this will affect the outcome of the election?
I do not know what will happen. The elections are still over 20 days away. I don’t know what INEC’s decision is going to be. I’m sure the candidates will agree before a decision is reached. If the candidates agree to exclude those affected areas, so be it. The governors in those states are insisting that election can be held. Maybe what they have to consider is to do special election for the affected areas so they can concentrate more security. If it is just a one day affair, whatever it will take for those people to exercise their voting right must be done.
The Federal Government announced reduction in price of petrol, what can you make of this?
My reaction when I heard this was that it was a little too small and a little too late. I wrote in my column in ThisDay that what has been done in Nigeria is wrong and that it is different from what is done in other countries. You use to tell us that you were paying subsidies. If the price has fallen, so what subsidies are you paying? Removing N10 naira is an act of ‘tokenism’ and I’m sure it is because of election, which is sad. It is something you should have done under normal situation. You (Jonathan) went to Borno also. It is something you should have done on a normal basis. If sufficient interest has been shown, even the military would have driven into action but his body language is ‘I don’t care.’
What is next for you?
Well, you know I have always been a media person and I hope we will be able to achieve more aims because as you know that is my lone interest. I have been working quietly. My attitude to business is that – if you cannot make a difference do not bother investing. Whenever, you see me bring any media thing it has to be top notch.
