2015: Urgent tasks before INEC

INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega

The Independent National Electoral Commission is saddled with, among others, the responsibility of handling electoral matters in Nigeria. In this report, the issues that will be used to assess the success of the electoral umpire in the conduct of the 2015 general elections is simply examined below.

All eyes are on the Independent National Electoral Commission, Nigeria’s electoral umpire, concerning the conduct of the much-anticipated 2015 general elections. No doubt, it is a huge responsibility to conduct elections in an emerging democracy where many politicians crave for power.

The functions of INEC are contained in Section 15, Part 1 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (As Amended) and Section 2 of the Electoral Act 2010 (As Amended). The laws, among other functions, empower the commission to conduct elections into elective public offices. These include the office of the president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors. It is also to conduct elections into the Senate and House of Representatives.

The power to conduct local government area chairmanship elections, which were vested in States Independent Electoral Commission, is being moved to INEC, going by the amendment of the laws.

The country has experienced the good, the bad and the ugly, when it comes to elections.

The 1993 elections, especially the annulled June 12 presidential election, have been widely acclaimed to be the freest, fairest and most credible. It was conducted by the then National Electoral Commission of Nigeria, under the chairmanship of Humphrey Nwosu. The commission deployed Option A4 voting system and the Open Ballot System for the election.

Despite challenges, some close watchers of the electoral system have said there is relative improvement on how the country carries out its electoral process today. They cited computerisation of the system by INEC and the coding of ballot papers, ballot boxes and polling units, among others.

Aside these, political pundits have called the attention of the commission to other issues. They are:

Voter registration and voter card

The ongoing distribution of permanent voter cards is part of efforts towards having a comprehensive and up-to-date voter register. However, both the voter registration exercise and the distribution of voter cards have suffered public criticism.

The nationwide voter registration exercise conducted by INEC had recorded several irregularities until the anomaly was eventually corrected.

Currently, INEC is distributing PVCs nationwide and conducting a Continuous Voter Registration. However, this is not without criticism, especially from political parties and politicians.

For instance, it was the turn of nine states — Kano, Edo, Ogun, Imo, Lagos, Rivers and Nasarawa — last weekend for the third phase of the nationwide distribution of PVCs by INEC. The exercise, scheduled to hold between November 7 and 9, was marred by irregularities.

Expectedly, the opposition All Progressives Congress and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party had engaged themselves in a war of words over the hitches.

While the opposition party accused INEC of programming the exercise to favour the PDP, the ruling party fired back by accusing the APC of having a hidden agenda.

However, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Kayode Idowu, last Sunday, denied the allegations, while announcing an extension of the exercise in Lagos by 24 hours.

He said, “Contrary to allegations in some quarters, no duly registered person has been delisted from the Register of Voters, neither will any be denied his/her PVC.”

While INEC has deferred and reschedule the distribution of PVC and its CVR exercise in the affected areas, political scientists have warned that due to the political atmosphere which is becoming tense, any slight mismanagement of issues by INEC may generate controversy.

Voter apathy

Another issue INEC has to contend with is voter apathy. The development, observers have said, may frustrate efforts by INEC to ensure hitch-free and widely acceptable elections.

Just on Monday, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Abia State, one of the twelve pilot states where PVC distribution began in May, Professor Jacob Jatau, expressed worry over the alleged apathy by the electorate in the state towards collecting their PVCs.

Jatau told journalists in Umuhaia that voters in the state were not collecting their PVCs since the exercise started in May. He said less than 50 per cent of registered voters in the state had collected their cards since the collection exercise started six months ago – three months to the elections.

According to Jatau, unless there is an attitudinal change, many eligible voters might be disenfranchised in the 2015 elections.

Prior to the Ekiti State governorship election held on June 21, 2014, the REC in the state, Halilu Pai, had in May expressed fears that voters might shun the election.

He said over 285,794 permanent voter cards had yet to be collected with just five weeks to the election.

In a scenario like this, political analysts have raised the alarm over possible situations where the few who have their cards will have their say over the majority without cards.

Electronic voting

The commission has often blamed its failure to adopt electronic voting system on unavailability of enabling law.

The Head of Publicity Division of INEC, Mr. Nick Dazang, in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH in June, expressed the eagerness of the commission to adopt electronic system. He said this was why most of INEC’s operations were technology-driven.

He said, “By law, we are not supposed to use electronic voting machines. We also have canvassed for it but so far, the law does not permit the commission to use electronic voting machines. Until the law is amended, we cannot do so.”

Earlier in February, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, had said it would be “practically impossible to adopt the electronic voting model in the 2015 general election, even if the National Assembly were to lift the prohibition on its usage.”

At the Senate on April 1, 2014, when three separate bills seeking various amendments to the Electoral Act 2010 passed for second reading, the lawmakers were divided on e-voting.

However, the Nigerian Bar Association, on August 10, 2014, urged INEC to introduce electronic voting machine to enhance the credibility of future elections.

The Chairman, Election Working Group of the NBA, Dafe Akpedeye, in a statement on behalf of the group, said, “INEC should move towards the use of Electronic Voting Machines for elections, as it has indicated that it has the capacity to use such process, which it used to collate results in the collating centres.”

However, the National Chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, on October 30, 2014, stated, “We are hoping that INEC will do their best. Good as the chairman is, he does not know the reality of what is on ground under him. Our prayer, as far as INEC is concerned, is that they use card readers in the election so that we can be sure of a cleaner process. It is a no-go area and a must that card reader has to be used.”

Better INEC management/techniques

Electronic voting is not all that the National Assembly is working on to improve INEC’s performance. The lawmakers are also working on the powers of INEC to issue duplicate voter cards before election, determine voting procedure, holding of elections on a single day, and to conduct debate for all candidates who are contesting election into the office of president.

With the ongoing review and amendment of INEC laws, there seems to be more work for the commission, and more challenges too, according to analysts.

The Assembly had on October 21 deleted the State Independent Electoral Commission from the Constitution, vesting the powers to conduct council elections on only INEC.

The lawmakers also made provisions for independent candidacy in future elections   by amending Sections 65 and 106 of the Constitution. By so doing, analysts have said the electoral umpire may begin to cater for not only political parties but also politicians as independent candidates. In addition, ballot papers will carry more names, which translate to more cost on the side of INEC.

Political party (de)registration

Another issue the INEC contends with is the registration and deregistration of political parties.

In a massive swoop, INEC on December 6, 2012, announced the deregistration of 28 political parties.

The Commission’s Secretary, Abdullahi Kaugama, in a statement, said INEC deregistered the 28 parties “in the exercise of the powers conferred on it by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).”

However, some of the parties had sought redress in courts and won.

By the amendments made to the Constitution by the Assembly, the commission can now deregister political parties for non-fulfilment of certain conditions like breach of registration requirements and failure to secure or win either a presidential, governorship, council chairmanship or a seat in the national assembly or state assembly.

Not long ago, some newly-registered political parties emerged on the scene, including Dr. Frederick Fasehun’s United Party of Nigeria and Falae’s Social Democratic Party. This is an indication that more parties may emerge as the general elections approach, according to analysts.

With the new powers to be conferred on INEC in the constitutional amendment, observers of the political scene are expecting a massive deregistration of parties — those sometimes referred to as “mushroom parties” — after the 2015 elections.

Diaspora voting

At the moment, only citizens residing in Nigeria at the time of registration of voters can vote at any election, whereas Section 77 (2) of the Electoral Act says: “Every citizen of Nigeria, who has attained the age of 18 years at the time of the registration of voters for the purposes of election to a legislative house, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter for that election.”

Jega, who was represented by INEC Commissioner, Election Party Monitoring, Amina Zakari, had at a three-day National Stakeholders Forum on Electoral Reform in Abuja on January 29, 2014, said the much anticipated Diaspora voting was not feasible until the Electoral Act was amended.

The INEC boss, however, said it was proposing an amendment to the Act to enable Nigerians in the Diaspora, who were 18 years as of the time of registration, to vote. He added that denying the Diaspora the right to vote would be an infringement on their rights.

Terrorism and elections

Despite the ongoing terrorist acts by the Boko Haram sect, INEC has insisted it would conduct elections in the north-eastern part of the country, which is mostly affected by the insurgency.

In April, and subsequent other times, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said the commission would do its “best and conduct elections in every part of the country in 2015.”

Jega said, “Insecurity is a serious challenge to the commission and the entire electoral process. But we are ready to conduct elections in any situation. Security challenges are enormous, be it Boko Haram, kidnapping or even armed robbery.

“Elections can be conducted under situations of emergency rule. But all we are saying is that elections will be free and fair where there are minimal security challenges. Under a situation of emergency, many things are likely to happen, either people will be scared of coming out or they will come out and run into security cordons and be molested by security agents.

“Our hope is that by 2015 we will be able to conduct elections in all parts of the country. We are ready to conduct the elections everywhere in this country in 2015. We hope that security challenges will be minimal for us to conduct elections in 2015 and when we get to the bridge, we will cross it.”

Observers of the development in the region have expressed fears that a large percentage of the electorate might be disenfranchised in 2015 as millions of them had been displaced; some taking refuge in faraway Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

Again, observers have doubted the possibility of conducting free, fair and credible elections in troubled states like Yobe, Borno and Adamawa, where Boko Haram is in control of the areas.

However, INEC’s REC in Borno State, Prof. Tukur Sa’ad, on Wednesday hinted that the commission planned to make provisions for Internally Displaced Persons to cast their votes in the 2015 polls.

Sa’ad, however, said INEC had yet to work out modalities for the IDPs to vote.

Militarised election

One issue that often generates criticisms is militarisation of election. This is massive deployment of security personnel and hardware by security agencies. Nigerians have witnessed such in recent elections, where the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Police, the Department of State Security, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and several others deployed thousands of personnel for just a governorship election.

The October 20, 2012 governorship election in Edo State; the June 21, 2014 election in Ekiti; and the August 9, 2014 election in Osun are good examples.

Although during the public hearing organised by the House of Representatives on the bill for the amendment of the Electoral Act, 2010, held on August 20, 2014, Jega had backed a proposed amendment that would confer the exclusive power to manage and assign security men during elections on INEC. The bill also sought to limit the role of the military during elections.

Aside massive deployment of security, the appearance of masked security agents suspected to be DSS operatives during the Osun election had sparked protests, most especially from the APC.

In an apparent reaction to the development during an interactive session with local and international election observers in Abuja on August 20, 2014, the INEC chairman said “In recent times, we have witnessed an increased presence of hooded security operatives during elections. This is an emerging trend, which is highly worrisome and which needs to be addressed in good time.

“Security agents who are deployed on election duties should not be masked, the doctrine of transparency requires that they should be identifiable. We will not allow such persons during the 2015 elections. Any security personnel deployed for the election must be someone identifiable such that if anything happens we will be able to know who to hold responsible.”

While Jega also decried over-zealousness of some security agents during elections, he however maintained that the perceived over militarisation of the elections in Ekiti and Osun did not deter the electorate from voting for their desired candidate.

Jega said, “In fact, the two elections proved that there was a high correlation between the massive deployment of security and the willingness of people to come out and vote.

“Apart from over-zealousness on the part of some of the security men on the field, we discovered that people actually felt more secured to exercise their franchise. The key lesson our politicians need to learn from the two elections is that the era has gone when they relied on corrupt electoral officers or security agents to manipulate elections.

“In this era, any politician that intend to win election must reach out and convince the voters, be it through ‘stomach-infrastructure’ or otherwise. The only guarantee to win election now is to let the voters come out to vote for you, which in turn means that you must first of all convince them on your credibility.”

Speaking to SUNDAY PUNCH, the Head, Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Prof. Jonah Onuoha, said Nigeria was not ready for a digitalised electoral process, due to the infrastructural challenges in the country.

He, however, expressed approval of any means by which Nigerians abroad could exercise their franchise, adding that a transparent process should be the underlying factor.

Onuoha said, “If there is electronic voting and the numbers are not influenced, then one can be rest assured, especially with regard to voting by Nigerians in the Diaspora. Ensuring the eligibility of the votes is a different thing all together. But I don’t see how electronic voting can work in Nigeria because you can’t be particularly sure of electric power.

“Any idea that will enhance rigging should not be encouraged. In my opinion, it is a thing for the future. However, for those in the Diaspora, in order for their votes to count, it has to be done electronically. The facilities, unfortunately, cannot support it in Nigeria.”

According to him, INEC is not ready for the 2015 general elections. He cited mixed reactions to PVC distribution exercise as a basis for the argument.

“Many participants, including aspirants and officials who are in office, have raised the alarm. For instance, in the North-East where there is conflict, there is no sign that INEC can conduct elections. In fact, we don’t know where elections will and will not be conducted. We are about three months away from the elections, and the picture is not so clear. If INEC must conduct this election, it has to show evidence of capability,” he said.

Similarly, Prof. Remi Anifowose of the Faculty of Political Science, University of Lagos, argues that Nigerian expatriates deserve to be given the platform to vote in elections.

He said, “Nigerians in the Diaspora are patriotic people and, to a large extent, they would like to perform their civic responsibility. They even look forward to it. I think INEC should make the needful arrangements to ensure that such people are not left out. They should not be denied the privilege of choosing their leaders.”

AFCON: Nigeria brighten qualification hopes, beat Congo 2-0

Steven Keshi and Vincent Enyeama

African champions Nigeria brightened their chances of qualifying for the 2015 African Cup of Nations courtesy of a 2-0 win over Congo in Pointe-Noire on Saturday.

Returnee striker, Ike Uche, converted a second half penalty before China-based Aaron Samuel added a second late on to the dismay of the Congolese fans, who threw missiles into the pitch afterwards in anger.

With the victory, Nigeria are now in second position in Group A of the qualifiers, with seven points from five games, and stand a chance of defending their title, won last year in South Africa, at Africa’s top football showpiece next year.

Congo, who defeated the Eagles 3-2 in the earlier phase of the qualifiers, also have seven points but are behind the Nigerians on the head-to-head to rule.

Group leaders South Africa had earlier defeated bottom-placed Sudan 2-1 at home to secure their place for the competition next year.

If the Super Eagles beat South Africa on Wednesday at the new Uyo Stadium, qualification would be secured by the Eagles.

Chelsea midfielder Mikel Obi should have put Nigeria ahead after 20 minutes, when he headed wide from a corner kick.

But Nigeria was more businesslike after the break. Goal-bound Emmanuel Emenike was fouled by goalkeeper Massa but it was Villareal forward Uche, who converted the resultant spot kick in the 59th minute to the joy of Nigerian fans at the stadium.

But six minutes later, man of the match, Vincent Enyeama, saved a penalty after centre-back Godfrey Oboabona, handled the ball inside the area.

Samuel then sealed the win for Nigeria in the 89th minute, when he scored from inside the box. It’s the ex-3SC’s striker’s second goal in two games, having also scored in the 3-1 defeat of Sudan in Abuja.

Angry Congolese fans then threw missiles into the pitch, which could earn their team a ban, after crowd incidents in their earlier game against Sudan.

A win over the Bafana Bafana on Wednesday will secure a place for the Eagles in the continental event next year but Congo could still qualify as best third-placed team if they beat Sudan away same day.

CBN restricts dollar sale to save naira.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has stopped the sale of dollars to some categories of importers at its twice-weekly regulated foreign exchange market in order to save the naira from falling.

The move is meant to also reduce the pressure on the naira amid falling oil prices and perceived dollarisation of the economy, according to industry analysts.

In a circular released on Thursday, the central bank specifically said it would no longer sell dollars to importers of electronics, finished products, information technology equipment, generators, telecommunication equipment and invisible transactions at its Retail Dutch Auction System forex market.

According to the directive, the importation of the listed items will now be funded at the interbank forex market only.

The circular was signed by the Director, Trade and Exchange Department, Mr. O.I Gbadamosi.

It read in part, “In order to maintain the existing stability in the foreign exchange market and to further strengthen the various policies already initiated by the CBN, the importation of the items shall henceforth be funded from the interbank foreign exchange market only.”

Meanwhile, the CBN said it had also reviewed the guidelines for the operation of its Standing Deposit Facility in order to encourage banks and discount houses to lend to the productive sectors of the economy.

The central bank noted that banks and discount houses preferred keeping their idle balances at the CBN’s SDF, thereby constraining the process of financial intermediation.

Consequently, it has reduced the remunerable daily placements by banks and discount houses at the SDF to maximum of N7.5bn.

In a circular signed by its Director, Financial Markets, Mr. E. U Ukeje, the central bank said, “All deposits by a bank or discount house in excess of N7.5bn shall not be remunerated.”

Defection: S’West APC panel meets over Osoba, others.

 

Olusegun Osoba

Members of the South-West Committee of the All Progressives Congress met on Thursday on how to make a former Governor of Ogun State, Olusegun Osoba, the embattled Deputy Governor, Segun Adesegun, and others have a rethink on their defection to the Social Democratic Party.

The APC National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, who made this known in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, said the committee headed by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has an ex-Minister of Information, Tony Momoh, as one of its members.

Mohammed neither gave the names of other members of the truce panel nor stated where the meeting took place.

He   said, “We believe that the grievances are not irreconcilable and we are redoubling our efforts to bring them back. What we share in common with them is much more than the areas of disagreement.

“There’s nothing absolutely fundamental that cannot be reconciled. The party’s South-West committee on reconciliation is in a strategic meeting right now as I speak with you to ensure that the family remains one.

“We will concentrate efforts on bringing the major players into accord. The committee has the mandate to get to the root cause of the disagreement and achieve total reconciliation.”

It was gathered from a reliable member of the APC that the truce committee would meet soon with Osoba, Adesegun and others who joined the SDP, a party led by a former Presidential candidate of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party.

The other APC members that defected are Senators Adegbenga Kaka, Ghenga Obadara and Akin Odunsi, who represent Ogun East, Ogun Central and Ogun West respectively.

The defected members of the House of Representatives are Kunle Adeyemi, Babatunde Olabode, Olumide Osoba, Abiodun Abudu and Bukunola Buraimo.

Earlier on Thursday, Mohammed,   in a terse statement   expressed the hope that the defectors would reconsider their decision and beat a quick retreat.

He also pointed out that the defection would not affect the overall chances of the party in the forthcoming polls in Ogun State.

Mohammed added that the party was   shocked   by the defection because it came at a time   efforts were ongoing to reconcile all its aggrieved members in the state.

He said, ‘’Yes, the defection of some our members will create some challenges for our party, but we will go back to the drawing board to restrategise and redouble our efforts to retain the state in 2015.

‘’Every member of our party is important to its overall success, but none is more important than the party. Against this background, no member can hold the party to ransom.’’

The APC spokesman said it was a mere fallacy for anyone to conclude that the defection of some members, irrespective of their importance, would dramatically alter the chances of the party in 2015.

 He therefore urged the APC members in the state not to lose any sleep over the latest development.

 

A member of the House of Representatives, Kehinde Odeneye, who was reported to have also defected, said he was still in the APC.

Odeneye said, “Contrary to reports that I have defected to the SDP, I am still a bona fide and committed member of the APC and have not at any time defected or expressed the intention of defecting to any other political party.”

Odeneye said he was approached by those who defected to the SDP but he declined on the basis of principles.

“When they were about to defect, they approached me but I refused because I don’t believe in   jumping from one party to another.”

The state   publicity secretary of the APC, Sola Lawal, has however said the party cannot take any action yet against Adesegun since he has not formally defected to the SDP.

“I cannot tell you the sanction yet; let us wait until he finally defects,’’ Lawal said in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents.

He said, “We are not aware of the move the deputy governor is making, either to defect to another party or not. At the party level, there is no document to show that he has left the APC.   Even Chief Osoba has not disclosed where he’s going.”

A member of the assembly, Remmy Hassan, told   our correspondent in the state that it would be difficult for the 26 -member House of Assembly to impeach Adesegun.

The House is factionalised into 13 members loyal to Governor Ibikunle Amosun and the other 13 making up the opposition.

Hassan,who is the Leader of the opposition lawmakers,   said   they were patiently     waiting   for any attempt to impeach the deputy governor.

He said, “It will be practically difficult to impeach the deputy governor because there is no constitutional breach.   However, everybody is awake even while asleep.

“We have 13 members each on both sides. But the other 13 loyal to the governor are at a disadvantage, because the   Speaker, Suraj Adekunbi, who is on their side cannot not vote. He only presides.”

Efforts   to speak with   Adekunbi proved abortive as his telephone line was unreachable.

In Abuja, Chief Olu Falae described the defection of Osoba and others to the SDP as a welcome development.

 He said, “I welcome all Nigerians to join this party from councillors to President because this party, although may not control the Federal Government, it is a party with a clear people- oriented ideology.

“It is a party which philosophy is zero tolerance for corruption. It makes the people   the central object of its endeavour. Any party that is not doing all these is not a party.

“I hope all Nigerians will join this party so that the country could be a different nation. The country needs to be changed. Change is absolutely necessary.”

The former presidential aspirant also said he had consulted with his lawyer to interpret what the law says if a politician holding a public office dumps his party for another party.

“I have consulted a lawyer who told me that the legal interpretation is that the law only requires legislators to resign if they change their political affiliation. That is what I was told, I am not a lawyer. The lawyers will advise us as a party. We are law-abiding. It is whatever the law says that we will do.”

Asked what his party would do if the APC moved to impeach Adesegun , Falae said, “that would amount to being speculative.”

He said, “The election is next year February. I don’t think it is a major issue for now. The Deputy Governor may decide to resign or decide to stay depending on what the lawyers advise him to do.”

No president resigns during war, Jonathan tells APC.

    President Goodluck Jonathan

The Presidency has said there is no part of the world where the President resigns during an ongoing war.

It therefore challenged the leadership of the All Progressives Congress to tell Nigerians where such presidents had resigned during war time.

The Presidency was reacting to the demand by the leadership of the APC, including its National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, that President Goodluck Jonathan should resign because of the on-going war against the country by the members of the Boko Haram sect.

Reacting on behalf of the President, his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, asked Nigerians to ignore such calls.

He said, “The suggestion by one of the leaders of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Bola Tinubu, that President Goodluck Jonathan should resign from office as a result of the activities of insurgents in the north-eastern part of the country, has once again shown beyond doubt that the former Lagos State governor and his colleagues in the opposition are a bunch of political anarchists and charlatans blinded by an unbridled appetite for power.

“The assertion by Tinubu at a political rally in Ilorin, Kwara State on Wednesday that in ‘civilised’ societies, the President should have resigned is unfounded and lacking in historical precedence.

“We challenge him to tell Nigerians which part of his ‘civilised’ world has there been a call on a President to resign during an on-going war.

“When terrorists attacked the United States of America in September 2001, the leaders of the Democratic Party did not demand a resignation of President George Bush but rather they rose in defence of the American nation to support the various measures taken by the President to defeat the al Qaeda terrorists.”

He said it was necessary to remind the APC leader that it was leading members of his party who vehemently opposed and openly criticised the proscription of the Boko Haram sect by the Federal Government in 2013 with some of them even going as far as describing it as a move against the North while others tried to incite the civil society to condemn this anti-terrorists’ action.

Okupe said that it was therefore unfortunate that the APC, in its desperation for power and eagerness to make selfish political gains from insecurity, had shown a total lack of the spirit of nationalism and statesmanship in its public comments on the challenges of insurgency in the North-East.

He added that it was particularly sad that the leaders of the APC would mount every available podium to pour invectives on the President and ridicule members of the Armed Forces of Nigeria who were in the battlefield against terror.

“Telling the President to resign because of an ongoing insurgency is the height of insensitive, indecorous and bad politics which ought to be roundly condemned by every patriotic Nigerian,” he added.

 

He said that by the provisions of the Nigerian constitution, the only recognised means of changing a government was through the electoral process.

Police arrest another Lagos DPO for rape

 Magodo Police Post.

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Oladipo Afolayan, for allegedly raping a woman in his office.

The development comes a few months after another Lagos DPO, Mr. Adekunle Awe, was arrested for allegedly raping a woman, Idowu Akinwunmi, in his office at the Onikan Police Division.

Rev4mation's world learnt that Afolayan, who is a Superintendent of Police, had only been recently posted to the Magodo Police Post when the incident allegedly occurred.

It was learnt that the woman he allegedly raped was a suspect in an ongoing investigation.

It was gathered that following a report by the victim, Afolayan was arrested and brought before the Commissioner of Police, Cornelius Aderanti.

Aderanti was said to have also reported the matter to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2 Command, Mr. Umar Manko.

Our correspondent learnt that the matter was transferred to the X Squad, a department at the state command which is in charge of investigating police crimes and misdemeanours.

When our correspondent visited the Magodo Police Post on Thursday, policemen on duty refused to comment on the matter.

It was, however, learnt that after taking his statement, the X Squad transferred the DPO and the case file to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.

When contacted on the telephone, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed that the police were investigating the matter, adding that the senior police officer would be made to face the law if found culpable.

He said, “Yes, we are investigating an allegation like that. As a result of the sensitivity of the matter, it would be too soon to come to a conclusion. The stance of the Commissioner of Police is not to condone any act of indiscipline whether from the public or from our men.

“Therefore, when investigations are concluded, and the officer is found culpable, he will be made to dance to the tune of the law, and if it is found otherwise, he will be cleared. The press will be invited and briefed once investigations are concluded.”

 

Jonathan should start dusting his table – Kwankwaso  

Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso of Kano state and Presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, spoke to journalists in Kano on his ambition to rule Nigeria and declared that it was high time President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan started dusting his tables ahead of the 2015 elections. Rev4mation's world recorded the conversation.

 Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso

 

Will you step down for General Muhammadu Buhari. Secondly, do you have the plans to anoint your Deputy, Dr. Umar Ganduje as your successor?
On the issue of Dr. Ganduje, let me just say that when the time comes, we will see how that can be handled. Then on the issue of four of us—my humble self; our leader, General Buhari; and of course, the other leader, Atiku Abubakar and my friend, Sam Nda-Isaiah, I believe all these people belong to APC and all of us are communicating. For example, I have been together with Atiku for over two decades under the leadership of the late Alhaji Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and to SDP, of course, under him where I contested elections. We were together during the constitutional conference, to PDP and now to APC—we have been together and I always consider him as a senior brother. So also for Muhammadu Buhari who I always respect, even though we have never been in the same party until this APC; and we will continue to communicate among ourselves—until at the appropriate time, as a family, we will agree on what to do, whether to leave it for one person, or two persons or we go for primaries. But whichever way, I want to assure you that anyone of the four of us that eventually emerges; we will rally round him to ensure that the party succeeds because I believe that the success of APC is not only for the party members, but also the success of this country. We have seen what has been happening in this country for over two years, insecurity has taken over—every day you listen to radio, television or local papers or social media, the issue has always been the same—people being killed, people being maimed and people being displaced. Now, we have about four million internally displaced people, we have thousands in Cameroon, thousands in Chad and thousands in Niger Republic—all these are Nigerians and the leadership in this country doesn’t even talk about it. I am sure you remember that recently we sent seven trucks to Niger—that is two trucks of rice and five trucks of maize; and five trucks each to Borno, Yobe and now we are sending some to Adamawa and other places where you have so many people who are being displaced from their homes as refuges. I want to appeal to the Federal Government not to keep its eyes away from Nigerians; and not only Federal Government but the people of this country to remember that these are our brothers and sisters who have found themselves in this mess. They didn’t bargain for it and I am sure many of them voted for this government in 2011; and now, this is what they have gotten from them—insecurity! What we are saying to people of this country that it doesn’t matter who started this crisis or who is executing it, what is important is that this government must stop it. People are sick and tired of these killings and destruction of properties. The primary responsibility of any government, either in Nigeria or elsewhere is to protect lives and properties; and this government is far from keeping this responsibility.

The defection of Speaker of House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal has created rumbles within the polity up to the extent that his security details were withdrawn by the alleged prompting of the presidency. How do you see this playing out?

Well I think some of these our friends in Abuja are furious; but anytime they have defection from any other party to their party, they celebrate it. But anytime we have defection from their party to any party, they will paint it as a problem. I don’t think double standard is good for them, I don’t think it is good for democracy or for this country. We have seen members of National Assembly and state Assemblies, we have seen so many people defecting from parties, including APC to their party, but all what we see is them celebrating with Champagne even if it is during Ramadan; and when any is defecting from their party, they see it as something abnormal. I think they have seen nothing yet, it is just a matter of time, God’s willing, Nigerians will kick them out from where ever they are today to their villages and I think they have to take note of that; and I don’t know why me and Jonathan collected our forms the same day— the indication is maybe, me and him are going to slug it out in 2015; and once that happens, I am sure that you know the answer—that he is going to lose.

 He will lose completely because I don’t see anybody in this country, apart from the hawks in Abuja and of course, these contractors and those who are stealing crude oil and oil money—I think these are the once that will be happy to vote for him again so that they can continue milking the economy of this country. Otherwise, the masses, the Talakwas of Kano, of Enugu, Zamfara, including Bayelsa will be very happy to have a change—a change that will guarantee the security of lives and properties of Nigerians, no matter where they live, no matter their religion or ethnicity—I think those are going to be the issues of 2015—the issues of security, the issues of economy—not minding the fabricated figures that we have seen coming from Abuja that all is well.

All cannot be well where you have crisis, where you have insecurity, where people are being scared from bringing their investment into the country—all these cannot help the economy anywhere in the world. So we have all these issues on the ground and certainly, sentiments will not and can never work in 2015. All antics of dividing the country based on religion, based on North and South, based on ethnicity and class will certainly fail in 2015. And I want to advice INEC because somebody was telling me that there were suspected tricks of INEC using computers to help a particular political party; and this means in 2015, we will keep our eyes open to make sure every single vote counts and that is what is going to happen in 2015.

If eventually you are elected in 2015, how differently are you going to approach the issue of insecurity in the country?

First and foremost, as a former Minister of Defence who has been associated with the military and the Air Force and Navy, I feel terribly concerned with what is happening with Nigerian military today. Nigerian military must be supported by all Nigerians. Nigerian military has done us proud over the years, both within the country and across Africa. This was a military that was being respected by its friends and feared by its enemies; but unfortunately, over time, things are beginning to change. And that glory must be restored; we should have a powerful military in this country. No single country in the world that can be proud of itself if it doesn’t have strong military. Any country without strong Army, strong Air Force, strong Navy where applicable, that country is a failed country.

Therefore, our administration can never ever take the issue of the Nigeria Armed Forces, the Police, the SSS and all other paramilitary—we won’t take them lightly. In my opinion, what we are lacking today is the political will. The political will to provide the necessary ammunitions, kits, welfare and of course training and retraining—I think these are the issues; otherwise we have seen the performance of our military even when I was the Minister of Defence, we have seen what they did in Dafur, Sudan; we have seen their performance practically in Sierra Leon, in Liberia. I can assure you that once you have strong and committed leadership in this country; things will certainly take their shape, not only in terms of security, even in the economy. We have the issue of unemployment of our youths, both men and women. As we are sitting here, schools are being closed in Adamawa, in Yobe and Borno states; and the battle line is moving, it is not static. That is the worrying aspect of it and that is why I believe this country needs change.

Change by 2015 and we must have to work together and bring the change. Those people in Abuja want to remain there but they know they are not performing, we only see them performing on the electrical poles along the streets of Abuja, telling us funny stories and people are laughing at them. I think they need to know that people are laughing at them; you should tell them when you see them that people are not only laughing, but are very angry over their leadership. You know, they don’t know what I happening on the ground, they are there in Abuja in the air—they don’t know the realities in the ground—the realities are that people are not eating well, people have no job, people are afraid of their lives, some have already been killed and the killings continues. This is what is happening on the ground, not what they write on their posters, bill boards, and their surplus amount of money to take over NTA and even their privately owned TV stations— only God knows how much they are spending. I was asking my friends, who are the sponsors of that TAN (Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria). The TAN before now, nobody had N1 million among them; but now see what they are sponsoring. It must come from the Villa!

If you are eventually elected president in 2015, what will your foreign policy to neighbouring countries look like with a view to fighting poverty and boosting the economy of border communities?

You see, some years before now, we all know that our neighbouring countries depended on Nigeria for protection and support, for their economy. The reverse is the case now, because we go to them cap on hands, begging them to help us. Our foreign policy has now come down from grace to grass. That is where we are. Those countries who were respecting us are now finding it difficult to believe what is happening to Nigeria. Countries like Benin Republic, Chad, Niger, and Cameroon were before now heavily dependent on Nigeria in terms of economy, in terms of Defence and so on and so forth. Now, you have seen that our leadership is going round begging them, kneeling down to them to help us. I think these are the things that must be reversed. Nigeria must take its rightful position in the comity of nations. Nigeria and Nigerians must take the leadership that we deserve. Of course, this should be the main focus of our government—to stabilize the security of the country, its economy, tackle the issue of education, health, agriculture. Now, we have seen this country surviving on one commodity—oil! We have to look at renewable energy, agriculture, education. We have to make sure that each and every Nigerian is supported by the government to realize his or her potentials; and these individual potentials put together is what will remedy this country. I you look at our educational policy here in Kano, you can understand what I am telling you. Before now, how many people are thinking of going to any university out of this country? By now, we have over 2000 people studying abroad, by the end of the year we would have sent another 500 people out to study mostly post graduate studies, Masters and Phd. These guys by the grace of God will realize their potentials, and put them together and otherwise push Kano state forward and by extension, make Nigeria great. Look at our students in the private universities. We are not even talking about those in public schools and Federal Universities. We have free education policy from primary, secondary to tertiary level, now we have a law banning the old system of Almajiri where young men and women going round the city of Kano and other parts of the state to beg for food; all these things we are doing, in the near future, we will live to harvest the positive outcome.

On the state of the nation’s economy, you said some people are in Abuja fabricating figures. Are you implying that Nigeria is broke? Second, we learnt that the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Muhammad 11 paid a reconciliatory visit to President Goodluck Jonathan, are you aware of this?

You see, I don’t know why you are asking me whether this country is broke or not, because we are all Nigerians. Now, I throw the question back at you: are you happy with the economy? I don’t you are because except very few of them, I don’t think anybody is happy with economy. Look at the private jets at the airports in Lagos and Abuja that always remind us that we are very rich but I don’t the jets are owned by people from my village, they are owned by them. So, they are telling us their private economy—how they transformed themselves from where they were to where they are today. To them, that is their economy. On the issue of the Emir—the Emir told me he was going to Abuja; and of course, as usual, I gave him the necessary approvals to go; and when he came, he thought he should come and brief me and of course discuss other state issues (when I say state, I mean Kano). And that was what happened, I didn’t invite him, he booked an appointment to come and talk to me; and I am sure he will continue to come and talk to me, not minding how and why he there. The Emir of Kano is the Emir of Kano. I am the governor of Kano.

Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso (R) is joined by Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State during the presidential declaration ceremony for Kwankwaso

We will like to know whether you are happy or not happy over the alleged reconciliation of the Emir with President Jonathan?

You see, I will be very happy if President Jonathan will every day invite Kano people to reconcile. That will be a good story for me and I am sure it will be a good story for them. We don’t even know much about the issues to be reconciled, but it is good that they want to reconcile; and I hope they will also invite me and Kano people to go and reconcile with him also; because we must be very angry for one thing or the other. We want reconciliation and we will continue to encourage reconciliation. If we didn’t want him (Emir) to go, we would have told him that; but you should not worry yourself because the Emir is an employee of the government.
Are you saying that all is well between you and the Presidency?
Of course, all is well as long as he starts dusting his table before 2015. Yes. All is very well.

If Jonathan invites you for reconciliation, will you make yourself available? Second, recently, some people went about town spitting fire that should Jonathan win election in 2015, there will be bloodshed, what is your take on this?

What many people don’t understand about democracy is that we have so many people in this country with different background, with different understanding of things, and you see, this is the first time that we have this democracy for a long time like this. Before now, within a period of two years, somebody will come and truncate it. And now, we are having real democracy where people are coming out to say their own opinion—and that is part of democracy. If you open your radio today in Kano, you hear people making all sorts of allegations against me, some against other people. As long as that doesn’t cross the line drawn against the law, Ii don’t think, anybody should worry because it is just an opinion. But the fact remains that we will continue to pray for this country. Bloodshed is not good for anybody; either governor or an Imam, Ulama, camera men—it is not good for them; it is not good for anybody. So, we should always pray for the good of the people of Nigeria, the good of the people of Kano state.
Some people from the Niger-Delta view your opinion on President Goodluck Jonathan very critical. If eventually you get the APC ticket, how are you going to sell your candidature in that area?
I don’t know, some of you are press men but you lack the real knowledge of South-South and other places. I don’t think there are no problems in the South-South. I don’t think it is only in the North that you have security problem.

They are so many people from the South; that is South-East, South-West, South-South and they are living in Kano and they call Kano their home. Just recently, I met somebody at the airport. I asked him where he was going and he said he was going home (he is an Igbo man). I was surprised I later met him inside aircraft en route Kano and I asked him again, and he said he was going home to Kano! And I said that is what I wanted to hear from you, I am so happy that you are calling Kano your home. And we have all stories of many of them living here in Kano. They go to Abuja for business, they go to the East for business and they come back here; because in spite of our security challenges here, here is still safer—they can’t try to go and stay where they will kidnap or steal you! Some will come and rob you or shoot you in the house. So, people thought poverty is only here in the North, but a poor here is as bad as a poor man in Bayelsa state; despite that their business men are flying to South-Africa and other places, yet their people are terribly poor. So, it is not like the whole of South-South, or South-East or South-West are supporting a particular candidate, no! So, don’t bring any quarrel issue between us and the good people of South-South who want better leadership. People in my village don’t care whether it is a Christian or Muslim who is a leader, who is the president. In many cases, we always give an example of what happened in the past so that somebody can understand our antecedents, you remember in 1993 when we had election between Abiola and Bashir Tofa.

You know I come from the same polling booth with Bashir Tofa in Gandu Albasa, so why didn’t he win there? He didn’t win in the ward, he didn’t win in the local government, he didn’t win in the state! Abiola from Ogun won. So it was in 1999, Abubakar Rimi from Kano, our leader was contesting, he got close to zero delegates from Kano; while Obasanjo, a Christian from the South, got Kano delegates and won the elections here in Kano. So, politics here doesn’t rely or go for sentiments, we are looking for the best, once we identify the best man, whether he is an Igbo or Yoruba or Tiv or any tribe, we will vote for him.

But in any case, if you look at history, you will know, this part of the country has always been very friendly with the South-South. It is only these group of people who came and stole everything. We are only lucky that we have people like Rotimi Amaechi, Adams Oshiomhole and other leaders that are bringing us together again; while the godfathers there, people like Edwin Clark and so on—people who should know better—you see, I think they say he is 97, before now, when his memory was good, I think he was a good man. Now, he is fighting, destroying, but we will always forgive him because we know when we are close to 100 years, probably, our brains will go on reverse.