BREAKING NEWS, Politics
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MAGNUS Abe, former senator, in a petition to President Mohammadu Buhari argues that members of security agencies should be allowed to testify before the election tribunal on security breaches experienced during the March 28, National Assembly election in Rivers State.
The River State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has refuted the claims by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in that state that the APC was using the security agents to intimidate its members at the state election tribunal sitting in Abuja. Magnus Abe, former senator, said the allegation of politicisation of security agencies, Nigerian Army and State Security Service, against the PDP Rivers State candidates in the March 28, 2015 National Assembly elections, was untrue.
In his letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abe said petition written to him by the PDP which was severally published in both print and online media, was done in bad faith and same was a cheap attempt to mislead the president and members of the general public on the truth of matter.
The senator said the petition was calculated to ridicule and paint in bad light, the highly revered institution of the Nigerian Army and the office of the director general of the Department of State Security, DSS. Abe said what actually transpired at the tribunal was that the Tribunal, at the request of the petitioners, himself and others, issued a subpoena directed at the chief of Army Staff, or any of his designated officers, and the director general of the DSS, or any of his designated officers, to appear before the tribunal and give evidence of what they witnessed during the conduct of the National Assembly election in Rivers State on 28th march, 2015, because they provided security for the said elections.
“It is, therefore, mischievous and indeed unreasonable for anybody, especially the PDP, Rivers State to cast baseless aspersion on these gallant officers of the Nigerian Army and the DSS. One can only wonder whether it would not have been foolhardy for the Chief of Army Staff and the DG of the DSS to refuse to comply with the sacrosanct order of the Tribunal. In fact, such an act would not only have been foolish, same is indeed a crime as refusal to comply with the tenor of a subpoena is out-rightly punishable with a criminal contempt proceeding against the culprit,” he said.
Abe noted that the writers of the said petition deliberately refused to disclose to the president in their petition that apart from the chief of Army Staff and the DG of the DSS, the same subpoena was also issued against Gesila Khan, INEC resident electoral commissioner for Rivers State. He therefore alleged that there must be a synergy between Kahn and the PDP to subvert the course of justice by concealing some facts as they related to her appearance before the tribunal. “It is on record that despite numerous applications and solicitation to the REC for release of electoral materials purportedly used by INEC (led by the REC in Rivers state), she has consistently refused to release the said documents to us, in order to frustrate and jeopardise our chances in the proof of our respective cases before the election Tribunal,” the petitioners said.
Besides, they alleged that the resident commissioner instructed INEC’s team of lawyers to apply to set aside the subpoena issued by the Tribunal against her to present the electoral materials before the election tribunal.
“One cannot but wonder why a supposedly “neutral” and “unbiased” umpire would be afraid of presenting before the Tribunal, the electoral materials purportedly used for the conduct of the election, which she claimed was peaceful and properly conducted in accordance with the rules and regulations. Her actions so far confirm that she surely has a lot of skeletons in her cupboard, which the subpoena is about to blow open,” they further alleged.
They also appealed to the president to allow both the military chief and the DG of the DSS to give evidence in the case, saying such a move would not constitute politicisation of the security agencies.
Besides, they urged President Buhari not to worry about the spurious allegations by the PDP to affect his determination to fight against corruption.
— Aug 31, 2015 @ 16:45 GMT
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