BREAKING NEWS, Political Briefs
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PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has cried about the presence of anti-democratic forces working relentlessly to scuttle the general elections scheduled for 2015. Speaking at the All Political Parties summit, jointly organised by the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, and that of the presidential adviser on Inter-Party Affairs, in Abuja, on Thursday, June 12, Jonathan said that to avert the failure of the elections, all political stakeholders should support his administration with a view to promoting all-inclusive democratic process for the country.
The president appealed to political actors and other stakeholders against allowing the exploitation of the weak system by bringing it down. “Our roles should not be limited to the struggle to win elections and acquire political powers but also to handling the demands of patriotism and statesmanship and restoring hope to the Nigerian people. In all this, it is pertinent that the actions, conduct and utterances of all political stakeholders reflect the highest level of commitment to the defence of our social cohesion, our political stability and our sovereignty as a nation,” he said.
Reflecting on the birth of the Fourth Republic, Jonathan noted that it was the same Nigerian political class that rose to the occasion by coming together to rescue democracy, but expressed the regret that the attributes that gave rise to those patriotic actions had since been discarded. He said: “About 15 years ago, our nation found itself at the crossroads of political determination, instability and progress threatened and pushed to the limits. Fear, uncertainty and a near total loss of hope took over the minds of our people. They were close to losing our way in the struggle of building a united, prosperous and democratic nation. At that time, it was the political class that rose to the challenge of rescuing the nation and steering it back to the part of state building and productive enterprise.
“This courageous struggle for our democracy was fought across ethnic and religious divides by politicians and statesmen, who put everything at stake including their lives to bring back hope to Nigerians and the Nigerian state. Nigerians will still recollect the courageous struggles waged by various political associations and pressure groups notably the national democratic coalition, NADECO, the Eastern Mandate Union, the Afenifere and the G34 amongst others.
“These, they did irrespective of tribal, ethnic, ideological and political differences. In the process, quite a number of these gallant men and women paid the ultimate price in restoring the nation to the
Confab Removes Immunity Clause
IF the decision of the ongoing national conference is allowed to sail through no elected politician will henceforth enjoy immunity. The conference unanimously agreed to remove the clause which gives immunity to president, governors and all elected officers in the country.
Adopting the report of the Bola Shagaya-led committee on Economy, Trade and Investment, delegates in a voice votes, said: “There shall be no immunity for all elected government officials.”
The committee in its recommendation said:”The immunity clause should be removed if the offences attract criminal charges to encourage accountability by those managing the economy.”
The clause, which has attracted unfavourable comments at every national or constitutional conferences currently protects the president, vice-president, state governors and their deputies from prosecution as long as they are still in office.
If the recommendation is eventually adopted, it means that president and any other elected officer can be dragged to court over criminal and civil cases.
Confab Rejects Honour for Abiola
EFFORTS by some delegates to get the ongoing national conference to get national recognition for the late Moshood Abiola, business mogul and winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, were defeated on Thursday, June 12. Orok Duke, a delegate from the South-South, moved a motion calling for the national honour for Abiola for sacrificing himself in the process of enthroning democracy in the country. But the delegates were divided along regional lines as those from the South favoured the motion while those from the North rejected it.
Nasir Kura, a representative of the civil society, led the opposition to the motion by shouting “no!, no!” and chorused by other opponents of the motion. The reaction led to a rowdy session, which attracted the attention of security men and others, even outside the plenary.
But Duke argued it was not only Abiola who died in the struggle but also others that died as a result of the annulment of the election deserved to be honoured. He asked for the permission of the plenary to pay tributes to all those who died in the struggle, including Abiola, who he described as the arrowhead of the current democracy in Nigeria. As such, he wanted the conference to cause the authorities to always remember “June 12 as a watershed in the history of Nigeria. I suggest that a monument in tandem with what the conference had proposed for other heroes and heroines should be recommended in honour of MKO Abiola.”
But opponents of the motion refused to back down as they continued with the shouts of no, no. It took the intervention of Idris Kutigi, chairman of the conference, to stop the disagreement from degenerating to a free-for-all fight among the delegates.
Issa Aremu, deputy national president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Issa Aremu, in his opinion said that the best way to remember June 12 would be to have free and fair elections in 2015. “What we are seeing today shows we have not learnt from what happened on June 12. Elections are still becoming a do or die affair with a lot of unnecessary and avoidable violence. The real memory of June 12 to be significant for all of us and for us to make it worthwhile is to reaffirm our commitment to free and fair elections in Nigeria,” Aremu said.
Military Seizes Ballot Boxes
MEN of the Nigerian Army deployed to monitor the June 21, governorship election in Ekiti State on Thursday, June 12, arrested a truck loaded with ballot papers of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, at an undisclosed location in the state.
Briefing journalists in Ado-Ekiti on the development, Aliyu Momoh, a brigadier general and commander of the 32 Artillery Brigade, Akure, who made the disclosure, also threatened that anybody caught with dangerous weapons would be severely dealt by his men. Momoh, who said his men are on ground to maintain peace and order during the election, added that since it was not possible to vote with guns, cutlasses or any other offensive weapons, said, therefore, whosoever was caught armed with weapons would be brought down. According to the general, some of the materials in the truck included, INEC reflective jackets, 2014 INEC robber stamps, 2008, 2009 and 2011 expired materials.
Although, he said the materials were considered expired, they were curious about them because of the 2014 stamps used on the materials. Three young men were caught accompanying the truck were named as Oluwafemi Ose, Segun Akanbi and Biodun Erinfolami.
Momoh said during interrogation, the young men told his men that they were waste materials. The commander said his job was to arrest and later hand over to the men of the State Security Service, SSS, for further investigation.
Halilu Pai, state resident electoral commissioner, REC, in the state in his reaction, confirmed that they were waste INEC materials that had been sold out to auctioneer. He said that the materials had been approved for evacuation by the commission since last April to enable the commission prepare for the coming election.
According to him, since the commission was expecting huge materials to be used for the election, there was need to evacuate the expired ones to give space for the new ones coming. “And this is what we have done by allowing the company that already has the approval of INEC to evacuate it,” Paj said.
He admitted that the commission did not inform the security operatives in the state before the evacuation was carried out.
— Jun. 23, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
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