TheNewsGuru

Tag: Violence

  • Delta: PDP in strong early lead in Delta despite thuggery, violence

    Delta: PDP in strong early lead in Delta despite thuggery, violence

    The PDP in Delta state is in strong early lead in Delta Central, North, and South despite rigging allegations in Ethiope West and Ughelli axis of the state.

    This is just as the PDP in the state has accused its Reps-elect in Ethiope West and INEC official of snatching ballot papers with the aid of security operatives for the opposition APC.

    A quick check by TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) across the state and through results already uploaded to INEC’s IREV indicate that PDP is in early strong lead in the three Senatorial districts of the state.

    The PDP gubernatorial candidate, Sheriff Oborevwori from results on the INEC website is ahead of his main opponent who is the current Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege in 16 of the 19 local government areas that have been uploaded.

    Nevertheless, feelers from ward 7 and 8 in Ethiope West where an embittered prominent politician in the state holds sway shows that massive cloning, thumb printing of ballot papers is underway to deliver ‘miracle’ results.

    In the same politician’s Ethiope West, thugs in active concert with security operatives burnt houses and cars  while three people were shot dead during efforts to snatch BVAS machines and ballot papers on Saturday.

    Also in Ward 1 and 2 in Ughelli West, the stronghold of the opposition, the PDP alerted that that ballot boxes were snatched and thumb printing of ballot papers were said to be ongoing there.

    Also, the PDP also issued a statement accusing a Reps-elect and an INEC official, Mrs. Odiurho Rhoda Oke, of colluding to rig the election in Ethiope West, Ward 7 and 8.

    The duo, the statement said, snatched ballot boxes under the cover of darkness and are now falsifying results to favor the APC, despite a clear victory for the PDP.

    Dr Ifeanyi Osuoza who signed the release implored Deltans to call the Electoral Officer of Ward 7 & 8 in Ethiope West, Mrs. Odiurho Rhoda Oke, and demand that she stops her alleged collusion with the Reps-elect.

    “Don’t let your vote go to waste – let your voice be heard and demand justice for the people!” Another statement said.

  • Analysis: Violence, voter suppression and apathy taint Nigeria’s governorship and state assembly elections

    Analysis: Violence, voter suppression and apathy taint Nigeria’s governorship and state assembly elections

    There were cases of violence and voter suppression reported across several states on Saturday March 18, as Nigeria held its Governorship and State House of Assembly elections nationwide.

    States such as Benue, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Ogun and Lagos, experienced varying degrees of viciousness against voters, observers and journalists.

    In Imo state for example, as much as 19 ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), were kidnapped in the early hours of Saturday and also the police immediately swung into action and ensured the release of the abductees, sensitive election materials, including BVAS machines were carted away.

    Similarly, thugs stormed polling units in Yenagoa constituency II, ward 8 and Ekeremor constituency 1, ward 1, unit 15 of Bayelsa state and carted away some election materials, while destroying others and disrupting the voting process.

    An election observer in Ekiti state, Sunday Awosoro, reported harassment by suspected thugs at Irepodun/Ifelodun, in the Igede area of the state, while staff of Arise TV were reportedly brutalised in the Elegushi Palace area of Lagos State whilst covering the elections and their cameras and drone were seized.

    A Vanguard Editor, Prince Osuagwu, was also harassed by thugs in the Satellite area of Lagos state, on the allegation that he was using a spy pen to record activities at a polling unit in the area, which turned out to be false.

    Meanwhile, INEC has postponed Saturday’s governorship and state assembly elections in 10 polling units in the Victoria Garden City (VGC) around the Lekki area of the state where elections did not hold.

    The Lagos state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Segun Agbaje, said the ad hoc staff deployed to the VGC estate became hesitant to conduct the elections in the venue, alleging that they were held hostage by residents during the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections.

    The staff instead set up voting materials in front of the estate, but residents claimed they did not feel safe about the new venue as hoodlums could disrupt the process.

    “After due consultation and further directive from the national headquarters that we should remobilise here tomorrow (Sunday) morning by 08:30am to conduct the elections, Agbaje said.

    Thugs also attacked a journalist working for Premier Radio in Kano state, Ashiru Umar, at Gidan Galadima, Galadanci Primary School, Gwale local government area, thinking that he had captured them while snapping voters who show up their ballot papers to them after casting votes, allegedly in return for some gift items later.

    Low voter turnout was also reported in many polling units, compared to the impressive turnout for the Presidential elections held two weeks ago.

    The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) also observed that in many voting centres, accreditation and voting commenced late.

    “From the data gathered across 18 states at the time of analysis, CJID observed that elections started late in most states, that is, after 10:00 a.m. as against the 8.30 a.m. opening time,” the organisation said.

    “From the data received, only 20 per cent of the polling units observed started election processes before 8:30 a.m…” The CJID deployed 56 observers across 31 states to observe the election day activities.

    Voting has ended in most polling units across the country, while collation and counting of votes is underway.

  • Amb. Ojukwu submits commission’s report on violence in South-East to Soludo

    Amb. Ojukwu submits commission’s report on violence in South-East to Soludo

    Amb. Bianca Ojukwu, Secretary of the 17-Man Truth, Peace, and Justice Commission, has submitted its report on violence in the South-East to Gov. Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra.

    The commission was constituted by Soludo to look into the remote and immediate causes of the agitations, restiveness, violence, and struggles in the South East as well as document victims and circumstances of death, brutality, and incarceration.

    This is contained in a statement issued by the Commission on Saturday and made available in Enugu.

    The statement said that the “Commission is headed by Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission”.

    It said that the report was submitted to Gov. Soludo on Friday at the Executive Chamber, Government House, Awka, by Ojukwu who read out a summary of the Commission’s work and later presented the same to the governor on behalf of the Commission.

    Giving a background to the report, Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, explained that the inception of the report provides a framework of diagnosis for the crises of agitation, violence and victimisation in the South-East.

    “The Chairman indicated that the report paints a clear picture that the narrative of the present agitation and violence in the states of the South East is quite complex and not amenable to a single narrative.

    “The interim recommendations, amongst others, include a Bureau of Missing Persons (BMP) within the Ministry of Justice or of Security and Homeland Affairs to document the missing and the disappeared.

    “Other recommendations include professionalization and effective co-ordination of vigilante services in the state, institutionalising deliverables for the Ministry of Security and Homeland Affairs.

    “Establishing an Anambra Integrated Civic Surveillance System as well as establishing an Anambra State Safety and Environmental Commission.

    “The commission will commence its public hearings after the election cycle,” it said.

    Responding, Gov. Soludo thanked the Chairman and members of the Commission for the good job done so far.

    The governor also approved their (commission’s) request to extend time for the conclusion and submission of their final report until the end of 2023.

  • No need for violence over cash crunch – Lagos Govt

    No need for violence over cash crunch – Lagos Govt

    Lagos State government on Friday says there is no need for violence over naira redesign as the Supreme Court is looking into it and will make its position known on Feb. 22.

    Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso stated in Ikeja that the government had noted protests in some parts of the state on Friday with deep concerns.

    Omotoso noted that the protesters were said to be angry over the naira redesign and its consequent scarcity that had caused so much hardship and confusion among the people.

    “Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu believes there is no need for violence as the Supreme Court is looking into this controversial matter and will make its position known on Feb. 22.

    “Lagos State has since joined the legal dispute – all in the interest of our people – in the belief that the highest court in the land has the capacity to adjudicate on the matter,’’ he stated.

    According to him, the fuel situation is easing following some steps taken by the government.

    The commissioner commended Lagos residents for showing understanding, in spite of the pains that the Federal Government’s measures had brought.

    He urged residents to continue to be law-abiding, by shunning any form of incitement by mischief makers.

    Omotoso assured that Gov. Sanwo-Olu was working with his colleagues to ensure that the hardship ended.

  • When government prompts the citizenry to violence – By Owei Lakemfa

    When government prompts the citizenry to violence – By Owei Lakemfa

    A Lebanese man on September 16, 2022, wielding a gun, held up the Byblos Bank in Ghazieh, Southern Lebanon. No, not to rob the bank or its customers. Just to retrieve part of his money trapped in the country’s banks!

    So, to retrieve part of his money, he had to hold up the bank and take hostages. As news of the holdup spread, crowds gathered in front of the bank to cheer him on.

    Two days earlier, there had been two other holdups in Beirut and the town of Ale. Although all the weapons turned turned out to be toy guns, but nobody will confront a desperate armed man believing the gun he is carrying is a toy.

    In August, 2022, a man held up a Beirut bank just to withdraw his own funds to treat his sick father. He went home a free man when the bank dropped its lawsuit against him. Also, a Lebanese woman seized a bank in Beirut demanding her frozen deposits in order to pay the medical bills of her sister.

    These were surreal images and I felt sorry that Lebanon, once considered the banking capital of the Arab world, which was why it was called the “Switzerland of the Middle East”, could have become a failed state.

    Never in my wildest imagination could I have conceived not too dissimilar scenes in Nigeria just four months down the line. This was because I did not reckon with a man called Muhammadu Buhari, a retired general and former Military dictator who runs the regime in Nigeria as elected President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

    His regime decided to change the three highest denominations of the Naira with effect from December 15, 2022. The end date was fixed at January 31, 2023. While in compliance, the populace returned the old bank notes to the bank, the new notes did not flow in sufficient quantity. The mass media quoted Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai as claiming that while the Central Bank mopped up N2 trillion old notes, only N300 billion new notes were in circulation. Whether this claim is true or not, the fact is that a financial crisis is sweeping through the country and Lebanon-like scenes are being enacted. Although guns have not surfaced in bank halls, they have in the streets where armed policemen engaged citizens protesting the cash shortage and the failure of banks to pay customers.

    Also in the historic city of Benin where protesters had taken to the streets, armed soldiers have had altercations with the students of the University of Benin over access to Automated Teller Machines, ATM, which has become the primary means of collecting money.

    In Abuja, I saw the trending video of a naked, elderly man in a bank weeping inconsolably because he could not retrieve his money to take care of his family. He ignored the entreaties of bank officials. Rather, he demanded to be killed: “Make dem shoot me make I die. Make I forget my children, make I forget my wife(shoot me and let me die, kill me and let me forget my children, let me forget my wife)”, he wailed in Pidgin English.

    Some days earlier, a lady stripped to her under pants in a bank hall, demanding access to her money so her daughter can return to school. In another bank, a man climbed the counter, removed his top and decided to sleep there unless he was given some of his money. In another bank hall, a machete-wielding man was said to have been subdued.

    In some cities, angry Nigerians took to the streets in protest, leading to the burning of some ATMs and banks buildings.

    What is going on is the undisguised sale of the Naira to buy the Naira. As at Sunday February 5, 2023 in Abuja, the Point-Of-Sale, POS, operators were charging at least 15 per cent of whatever money customers were withdrawing.

    Also, the POS in almost all fuel stations were non-functional. I observed fuel station operators who insist on cash, counting whatever money they make, and selling the currency to Nigerians at 15 per cent interest rate!

    The mass media reported that as at Saturday in Lagos, N5,000 old notes attracted a N1,000 commission while N6,000 new notes attracted as much as N2,000 commission; that is, a Nigerian is forced to lose one third of his money just to have the Naira in his hands!

    The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, claimed enough new bank notes have been given to banks. It followed this up with some clips of its officials leading security men to exposing some banks hoarding the new notes. If this was a serious move, then over 75 per cent of the bank managers would have been behind bars.

    Meanwhile, some bank officials are feeding the ATMs with Naira in wraps so currency cannot be dispensed. Many banks are also debiting customers without remitting their money or reversing the transactions. So, what is going on is the mass robbery of Nigerians with no government or security agency to defend them.

    The induced currency crisis has crippled small businesses while the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, says if the currency crisis persists for another three weeks, there is the likelihood of a 25 per cent monthly drop in sale of locally produced goods.

    Eleven governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, on Thursday met President Buhari to work out an urgent solution, including the concurrent use of the old and new notes till the end of the year. Buhari, while having no solution, requested that the current state of anarchy be allowed to continue for another one week when the old notes would have ceased to be legal tender. As usual, he blamed others for the failures of his government.

    Thirty nine years ago, as Military Head of State, Buhari carried out a similar currency change which was disastrous for many Nigerians. In his 1984 album titled: ‘Owo Tuntun’ (New Money) which is now trending on the internet, Fuji musician, Alhaji Kollington, the Kebe Kwara, sang: “I no longer understand the world. We have ended the new currency swap on May 6 (1984). The currency change has been effected, yet we are all still hungry…A lot of people queued at the banks for 7-8 days without being able to change to the new currency…All times the sinner is made to pay for his sins, the innocent is also made to suffer.”

    Africans have a saying that a god that cannot better the lot of the people, should at least not worsen it; the lot of Nigerians under Buhari has worsened. But I am confident that collectively, we shall survive his regime.

  • The drum of crisis and violence is sounding louder in Nigeria – By Godwin Etakibuebu

    The drum of crisis and violence is sounding louder in Nigeria – By Godwin Etakibuebu

    Last week I captured my usual Sunday broadcast as The Nigerian political atmosphere is becoming darker. And the caption of what I am presenting today is not too much different – The drum of crisis and violence is sounding louder. Are the two captions not similar enough?

    Yes, they are. In fact, both would run, through whatever tunnel of interpretation, to one confluence point of decoding. 

    The point of final analysis may not be too different from what Lokoja; the Capital City of Kogi State, in North Central geopolitical Zone of Nigeria, stands for. Lokoja is that beautiful city where both the River Niger and the River Benue met. Isn’t that being why it is called a Confluence point?

    So, there is a looming darkness over the Nigerian atmospheric space. It is actually dark enough for all to see. It is not like anything not physically visible and real. Except for those who might be pretending. Or those human catalysts that pulled the darkness out of the pit of hell into covering the Nigerian territorial space. And these – that brought/or bringing the darkness over Nigeria, are powerful and strong. They are Principalities and Powers. They are Rulers of Darkness in High Places at the Special Realm of Control. 

    They know what Power meant. They speak to Powers at all the time. In fact, they have paid the prices for Power acquisitions from the Kingdom of Darkness. These people are the same people we sometimes dine and fraternise with. We can, sometimes; and almost all the time, vouch for their integrity.

    We do so because they are the outstanding benevolent of our Society. We call them the “kind and good men/women God sent to us”.  Their shoulders are always available for us to lean upon. Don’t they wipe away tears, at most times, from our eyes?

    We run to them for help whenever we are under life pressure. They present themselves as our burden bearer. Yet we don’t know them. And all of us cannot decode the ironic code of knowing them. And that is . . .

    These people are the same; as part of the Powers, they hold over those of us [who are ordinary mortals] would have others recruited for another trajectory differently. They need this different voyage to accomplish their acquired route of total conquest. Again, they are triumphantly diabolic in this assignment. Just as they are in all their other penetrations. 

    In the face of this assignment, what the Political Principalities and Powers of Darkness in Nigeria do is simply to recruit a few individuals; across the country’s ethnicity, tribes, cultures and religion. Having been fully assured of the recruitment, the next stage they move into is purchase of Drums. Drums painted of different bright colours and place the painted drums in the hands of the recruited performers. 

    The political demonic gods of the land would now turn the drummers loose on the people – who are their brothers and sisters, with only one instruction. Go out there and keep the drums talking as we dictate it to you. 

    Once this is accomplished, and unknown to the recruits – the drummers, mostly with their glittering drums of many colours, a siege is of terrorism would have been unleashed on Nigerians. Blame these hypnotised drummers less, please. And for a one or two reasons.

    In the first place the glittering colour and decorations of different currencies of the drums put in their hands could transfer many mortals from the land of reality to a community of Eldorado. How many of them – the drummers, would know that it was coat of many colours that put Joseph, son of Isaac, in the Bible, into greater trouble?  

    This very long preamble – you will be right to say so, brings logic to what last week’s caption [The Nigerian political atmosphere is becoming darker] and today’s [The drum of crisis and violence is sounding louder] have in common.

    Metaphors of the 2023 general election is approaching faster with sound of crisis/violence on one hand and almost total darkness in the other hand. 

    Yes, Nigerians are happy with INEC’s preparation for the elections in terms of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System [BVAS] and other technological equipment for the election. That should be always seen as good news. 

    But in the other hand, let us take a cursory look at the languages and body showmanship of the politicians and subject same to full interpretation as it relates to fair, free and credible election. There is surely visible void in the horizon. And this should worry us much.

    For example, let us look at disclosures and revelations being made against each other amongst two of the four leading political parties – speaking of the APC and PDP, and their flagbearers; Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar.

    What the whole international community is hearing from Nigeria within the last two weeks is nothing but total embarrassment to the Nigerian Nation. It is either APC telling PDP that its flagbearer is a big scammer/fraudster of international dimension that should rot away in prison or the PDP is telling the APC that its flagbearer is the heaviest hard-drug kingpin the world ever produced.

    And both political parties have gone to the courts for the authentication of each other allegation against the other. Isn’t shameful that these are the type of people contending for Nigeria’s presidency in a country with over Two Hundred Million people?

    Let us say, just for the purpose of this Peculiar Mess; in the language of the late Ibadan politician – Adegoke Adelabu [which Ibadan people turned to pekelemesi] that it is only APC and PDP that are contending the election, how will Nigeria and its over 200 million people be feeling now?

    It would have been a dilemma of producing one of the two alleged criminals as president. Or, are we so sure that one of them shall not even emerge, the way things are now moving? If it so happens, which of the two shall we be referring to as the deep red sea and which will be the devil?

    This is on the one hand. Yet, there are many other things to look at. 

    The long awaited elections is few days away from us, yet there are thousands of problems the Nigerian government has created, and still creating. Each of the problems is darkening the Nigerian sky more.

    The Federal Government and the Nigerian President; who is the defacto Minister of Petroleum Resources for the country, have defrauded the citizenry in all areas of petroleum product to the extent that all Nigerians are now morbid and moribund. We have become are a pitiable revelation in the study of morbid anatomy.

    What about the truth concerning the Naira redesign and distribution? All that we now know is of Nigerians languishing in abject squalor, while the same political class that have betrayed us is accusing each other over things that shall never benefit us – the down-trodden citizens.

    We have mounting debts – going up to 77 trillion; as we have been told, awaiting the unborn generations for payment.

    It has now become a situation where all Nigerians are resulting into allying their thought with that great Author – Sidney Sheldon, in that famous book – If Tomorrow Comes. Must it be so?

    Isn’t it true that the words of our own cherished Chinua Achebe – Things fall apart; the Center cannot hold, has become fulfilled in today’s Nigeria?

    This is the time that The Nigerian political atmosphere is becoming darker while The drum of crisis and violence is sounding louder. May God help us. 

    The Guru adjourns!

     

    Godwin Etakibuebu

    Contact:

    Website: www.godwintheguru.com

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    Phone: +234-906-887-0014 – short messages only

    You can also listen to this author [Godwin Etakibuebu] every Monday; from 0930 – 1100 hours @ Lagos Talks 91.3 FM live, in a weekly review of topical issues, presented by The News Guru [TNG].

  • 2023 Election: INEC cautions political parties against violence

    2023 Election: INEC cautions political parties against violence

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has cautioned political parties and their supporters against violence, saying it could further complicate the security situation in the country.

    Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman, INEC said this at the Training of Master Trainers on Election Technology for the 2023 General Election on Tuesday in Abuja.

    Yakubu expressed sadness over recent clashes among party supporters in some states, describing it as worrisome.

    “Even as the commission is working hard to ensure a credible process in the forthcoming elections, reports of clashes among parties and their supporters in some states of the country during the ongoing electioneering campaign are worrisome.

    “So too is the reported denial of access to public facilities for parties and candidates in some states of the federation.

    “Let me caution parties and their supporters to focus on issues and steer clear of attacks on each other.

    “These are not only violations of the Electoral Act, 2022, but also negate the voluntary commitment by all political parties and candidates to the letter and spirit of the peace accord signed about three weeks ago under the auspices of the National Peace Committee (NPC),” he said.

    “Parties, candidates and their supporters should not by acts of commission or omission further complicate the prevailing security situation in the country.’’

    The chairman said that a peaceful electioneering campaign was critical to the conduct of peaceful and credible election.

    He said that INEC would continue to monitor the situation closely and would convene a meeting with leaders of political parties next week to discuss among other issues the imperative of peaceful campaigns and equal access to public facilities.

    “In the same vein, the commission will also meet with the security agencies under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) next week,” he said.

  • Threatening Labour Party with violence – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    Threatening Labour Party with violence – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    Last Wednesday some hired political thugs, hoodlums and hooligans threatened the Labour party in Lagos to stop conducting a rally tagged: #Obidattti23 Forward Ever Rally” scheduled to hold in Lagos on October 1 2022. Also last Saturday another set of hired thugs, hooligans, hoodlums and policemen were sent to disrupt the peaceful one-million-march movement organized in Ebonyi State by the Labour Party supporters in Ebonyi State. All these travesties of democracy are happening at the threshold of the commencement of political campaigns that would usher in the 2023 elections, and, also around the time that the test polls conducted by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s NOI Polls Limited and Tedo N. A Peterside Foundation reveal that the Presidential candidate of Labour party Peter Obi towers above the duo of Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    Without holding brief for the Labour party or its Presidential candidate Peter Obi, the aforesaid threat, aggression, hooliganism and violence meted out against the Labour in both Lagos and Ebonyi States, is, to say the least, a big set-back for Nigerian democracy. Why should a political party descend to the barbaric low level of threatening another political party to refrain from carrying out their political campaign? Democracy is a learning process but I seriously doubt whether our Nigerian politicians are really and truly learning the lessons of democracy. I had thought that the Nigerian democracy had outgrown the weaponization of threats, intimidations and violence in cowing down political opponents or in disrupting their political activities. It is obvious that I was mistaken. Impelled by an inordinate thirst for power, pomp, property, quick money, some dirty politicians are still using threats, intimidations and violence in their bid to grab political power. Machiavellianism still reigns supreme in our national politics, otherwise why should a political party issue a threat to stop another political party from holding its political rally? If the man with a cheap appetite is so desperate to become the next President of Nigeria he should roll out his manifesto and engage the electorate in a robust political discourse instead of hiring political thugs, hooligans and never-do-wells to threaten the Labour Party to stop its political activities in Lagos.

    Labour must not succumb to their threat, violence, aggression and hooliganism. Rather it should simply ignore them and work harder to coast to victory in the 2023 general elections. I have perused the scrap contained in the writ issued against Labour in Lagos State by the hoodlums, and, I would advise the party to ignore the scrap. First, the makers of that scrap are hired young hoodlums and never-do-wells. Besides, the court does not act in vain. No court makes an order that cannot be obeyed. No judge makes a court order to take away the inalienable rights of an innocent citizen or to prevent the citizen from exercising his or her constitutional right to freedom of expression, freedom of movement, freedom of association and freedom of thought, conscience and religion as enshrined in our 1999 Constitution. No judge can make an order contrary to the current Election Act to empower hooligans to continue to indulge in their illegality, hooliganism, and violence in our national politics. Therefore the threat issued against Labour in Lagos is a violation of the Electoral Act. It is illegal and unconstitutional. Ditto for the disruption of the political rally organized by Labour in Ebonyi State. Look, you cannot stop anybody from exercising his or her God-given freedom. You cannot force a voter to vote for you in 2023. I am disappointed with the dirty politicians hiring thugs to intimidate and harass their political opponents. Instead of concentrating on winning the confidence of the electorate to vote for them in 2023 despite their monumental failure in the last seven and half years they are busy issuing threats and unleashing violence against Labour because they are afraid that Labour might win the Presidential election next year.

    As I earlier said, I am not a member of the Labour party neither am I a card-carrying member of any political party for that matter. But I must call evil by its name. I cannot say that evil is good. The violence unleashed on Labour in Lagos and Ebonyi States is illegal and antithetical to the tenets of democracy and by extension human civilization. Note that this is not the first time political thugs have been hired to issue threats and unleashed violence against perceived political opponents in Lagos State. I remember that during the last general elections in Lagos State hired political thugs were seen gallivanting about intimidating potential voters to refrain from voting for candidates of their choice or else they would be driven out of Lagos. One man even went to the ridiculous extent of threatening to throw some people into the Lagos Lagoon. Apart from threat and intimidation, they have formed the habit of sending their political things to remove, or yank off or destroy the hoisted campaign banners or billboards of other political parties. There is one thing I cannot still fathom: the gullibility of the governed. Aside from the leadership crisis, the next crisis undoing Nigeria is the followership crisis. When will Lagosians and the people of the South-West understand that the politician with a cheap appetite is merely exploiting them for his own benefit?. When will they understand that the man does not put food for them on their respective tables? At times I wonder whether this man has cast a kind of spell on the people which blinds them to follow him. What does it profit a man or woman to vote for the politician with a cheap appetite only for him or her to thereafter continue walking the streets battered and hungry?.

    This is sad. I tell friends that violence has never been used to solve the problems of mankind. If violence is useful in the settlement of human disputes Russia would have won the Russia-Ukraine war a long time ago. Violence begets violence in the same way injustice begets injustice. Violence is a recipe for anarchy. Ours is a multi-party and multi-religious system. Therefore it makes no sense for one political party to choose to become a nuisance to other political parties or disrupt their political activities. Life is live and let live. No man is a single verse. Nobody can live alone in this passing world. Man is a social animal. We are members of the same human family. We need one another in our socialization and even political processes even though our tribe, tongue and religion may differ. By using threats and violence to disrupt the political activities of Labour the politicians sponsoring these hooligans are conveying the impression that they are incapable of winning an election except through violence, rigging, gerrymandering and election manipulation.

    The current Electoral Act punishes electoral threat and electoral violence. For instance, sections 116 and 128 of the Act stipulate that anybody or group persons disrupting a political meeting or gathering or anybody directly or indirectly, by his or herself or by another person on his or her behalf, makes use of or threatens to make use of any force, violence against any political candidates or political party commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment or both. Therefore Labour is advised to lodge a petition with the law enforcement agents to arrest the Lagos hoodlums and their sponsors threatening to stop the rally of the Labour Party on October 1 2022. The party is also advised to petition the law enforcement agents to arrest the hooligans who disrupted the Labour activity in Ebonyi State last Saturday. Certainly the arrest and prosecution of these hoodlums and their sponsors would serve as a deterrent to other hoodlums and party stalwarts planning to commit the same crime.

    Legitimate competition to win power is not synonymous with deployment of thugs to intimidate and harass political opponents. If political competitiveness is allowed to degenerate into violence the negative fallout of it might spell doom for our country. This is why the Federal government must warn all political parties to desist from wielding violence against their political opponents. INEC, federal government and the police must ensure that the Lagos hooligans and thugs do not make good their threat against Labour. Nobody has the monopoly of violence. If the Lagos hooligans proceed to disrupt Labour rally on October 1 2022 and Labour tries to repel the attack in self-defence, a breakdown in public peace might occur resulting in the killing and injury of many people. This is why the law enforcement agents must intervene now to arrest the hired Lagos hooligans and thugs threatening to stop the Labour rally on October 1 2022.

    As fragmented and pluralistic as our political culture is it justifies our faith in a common creed-belief in human freedom even though some politicians have shown an inclination to think otherwise despite what freedom means for modern society. We still hold this truth bequeathed to us by our nationalists and freedom fighters: freedom is our greatest achievement, and our greatest bequest to posterity. Therefore all hands must be on deck to denounce hooliganism and violence that violate freedom in our national politics. In his book, Spirit of Liberty, Learned Hand, writes, inter alia, “Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women: when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it.

  • Violence disrupts Abia North PDP Senatorial primary election

    Violence erupted midway into the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ) primary election for Abia North Senatorial District on Tuesday, bringing the exercise to an abrupt end.

    The three-member ad hoc delegates election was organised at the Ohafia Local Government Headquarters, near 34 Army Brigade.

    The party had earlier concluded a rancour-free rescheduled House of Representatives primary election for Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency under tight security.

    Barely one and half hours later, the primary election committee proceeded into the senatorial primary with the accreditation of delegates from Arochukwu, Bende, Isuikwuato, Ohafia and Umunneochi Local Government Areas that make up the district.

    The process began with Umunneochi delegates and was immediately followed by Isuikwuato delegates.

    However, trouble erupted midway into the process, over arguments surrounding alleged non qualification of some delegates from the area.

    The argument degenerated into a serious fight, in spite of the frantic efforts of the military personnel deployed to maintain the peace and security at the venue.

    The free-for-all that ensued and the firing of some shots into the air to restore nomalcy, caused stampede.

    Members of the election committee, officials of the INEC on hand to supervise the exercise as well as delegates, newsmen and observers at the venue scampered into safety.

    The scenario, however, turned more chaotic when security operatives began to chase everybody out of the premises with clubs, whips and rifles.

    The contest was between a former lawmaker, Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa, and the lawmaker representing Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency, Rep. Uko Nkole.

    While Ohuabunwa aspires to return for a second term in the Upper Chamber, Nkole, who is doing his second term, seeks to go to the Senate.

    The Police Spokesman in the state, SP Godfrey Ogbonna, said he travelled out of the state and was not aware of the incident.

    But his counterpart in the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Ndukwe Agu, said he heard about the development but declined further comments.

    According to Agu, the command has yet to receive a formal report of the incident from the Ohafia Division of the corps.

    Meanwhile, the Deputy Speaker of the Abia House of Assembly, Mr Ifeanyi Uchendu, has clinched the party’s ticket to run for a second term in the state assembly.

    He polled 36 votes to defeat his closest rival, Kelvin Jumbo, who scored 28 votes.

    The two other aspirants, Mr Samuel Anya, and the only female aspirant, Love Ezema, got three votes and nil, respectively.

  • Pope Francis urges peace at New Year, says violence against women an affront to God

    Pope Francis urges peace at New Year, says violence against women an affront to God

    Pope Francis urged the world to “roll up our sleeves” for peace in a New Year’s message Saturday, while calling violence against women an affront to God.

    Marking the 55th World Day of Peace, the head of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics devoted his Angelus address to encouraging a stop to violence around the world, telling the assembled crowd at Saint Peter’s Square to keep peace at the forefront of their thoughts.

    “Let’s go home thinking peace, peace, peace. We need peace,” said the pope, speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace under sunny skies.

    “I was looking at the images in the television programme ‘In His Image’ today, about war, displaced people, the miseries. This is happening today in the world. We want peace,” he added, referring to a religious broadcast on Italian state television.

    The pope — who turned 85 on December 17 — reminded the faithful that peace required “concrete actions,” such as attention to the most fragile, forgiving others and promoting justice.

    “And it needs a positive outlook as well, one that always sees, in the Church as well as in society, not the evil that divides us, but the good that unites us!” he added.

    “Getting depressed or complaining is useless. We need to roll up our sleeves to build peace.”

    Francis, who in March begins the ninth year of his papacy, called violence against women an insult to God during a mass in honour of the Virgin Mary earlier Saturday in Saint Peter’s Basilica.

    “The Church is mother, the Church is woman. And since mothers bestow life and women ‘keep’ the world, let us all make greater efforts to promote mothers and to protect women,” he said.

    “How much violence is directed against women! Enough! To hurt a woman is to insult God, who from a woman took on our humanity.”

    To mark the World Day of Peace, Francis recommended education, labour and intergenerational dialogue as building blocks for peace.

    “Teaching and education are the foundations of a cohesive civil society capable of generating hope, prosperity and progress,” the pope wrote in a message published by the Vatican on December 21, noting that military spending had increased beyond Cold War levels.

    “It is high time, then, that governments develop economic policies aimed at inverting the proportion of public funds spent on education and on weaponry,” wrote the pontiff.

    The pope, who has spent much of his papacy highlighting economic inequality, the plight of migrants and the environment, returned to those themes following his Angelus prayer Saturday.

    “We are still living in uncertain and difficult times due to the pandemic. Many are frightened about the future and burdened by social problems, personal problems, dangers stemming from the ecological crisis, injustices and by global economic imbalances,” said the pope.

    “Looking at Mary with her Son in her arms, I think of young mothers and their children fleeing wars and famine or waiting in refugee camps.”

    On New Year’s Eve, Pope Francis did not preside over vespers at St Peter’s Basilica as planned, instead turning the service over to the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals.

    The pointiff read the homily but spent most of the service seated on the sidelines.

    The previous year, Francis was unable to celebrate New Year’s masses because of a painful sciatica.

    On Friday, the Vatican cancelled the pope’s traditional visit to the Nativity Scene in Saint Peter’s Square over coronavirus concerns.

    As elsewhere in Europe, Italy — and by extension the tiny Vatican City State — is facing a surge in coronavirus cases fuelled by the new Omicron variant.