Politics
Yakubu Advocates Community Partnership Over INEC Facilities
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says the spate of arson and vandalism of its facilities and property was worrisome as it would adversely affect its commitment to continually improve on the electoral process.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu stated this at a meeting of Resident Electoral Commissioners in the 36 states and the FCT, held on Wednesday, in Abuja.
Yakubu said the attacks had been on the rise since the 2019 General Elections, but had now developed into a crisis.
He said in the last three weeks or so, INEC local government offices in Essien Udim in Akwa Ibom , Ohafia in Abia and Udenu in Enugu State, were set ablaze by unidentified persons.
He added that on May 16, INEC state office in Enugu suffered yet another arson and vandalism in which parts of the building were ransacked and several vehicles razed, while more of INEC facilities were being systematically targeted and attacked.
“Just last night, Tuesday, May 18, two more offices in Ebonyi, including Ezza North Local Government Area of Ebonyi, were burnt down.
“ Although there were no casualties, the damage to the physical infrastructure and electoral materials was total. Nothing has been salvaged from ballot boxes and voting cubicles to generating sets, office furniture and equipment.
“Surely, these attacks are no longer freak events but appear to be quite orchestrated and targeted at INEC.
“Clearly, these are acts of unjustifiable aggression which may undermine the commission’s capacity to organise elections and dent the nation’s electoral process.
“The facilities of the commission are there to serve the local communities for the most fundamental aspect of democratic governance, which is elections.
“ Therefore, targeting such important national asset and repositories of electoral materials that took time and enormous resources to procure cannot be justified.
“Replacing these facilities in the prevailing economic circumstances will indeed be a tall order, thereby adversely affecting electoral services in the same communities.
“These facilities are not only limited to voting but also used for other critical electoral activities such as voter registration, coordination of stakeholder engagements, voter education and sensitisation.”
Yakubu said the commission would certainly work with security agencies to deal with the perpetrators of these heinous crimes according to the law, on which INEC would hold a meeting with all security agencies on Monday May 24.
Yakubu, however, urged all and sundry, particularly communities where INEC assets were located, to see themselves as owners and custodians of those facilities and assist the commission in protecting them.
He expressed delight that some of the communities were already doing so, as they shared with INEC, the commitment of improving electoral services to Nigerians.
“ They have, over the years, supported the commission during all electoral activities from Continuous Voter Registration to the conduct of polls.
“Some of them actually donated the land on which some of our local government offices are built.
“ Even in the recent events of arson and vandalism, many of them have demonstrated exceptional willingness to support the commission.
“For instance, following the vandalism on our offices in Osun during the #EndSARS protests in October 2020, the Ikirun community in Ifelodun Local Government Area and two communities in Ede South Local Government Area offered to contribute to the repairs of the offices and promised to work with the commission to protect them in future.
“Also, in Nnewi North in Anambra, the community also offered to repair our local government office destroyed during the #EndSARS protests.
“The commission do not take such partnerships for granted. I wish to thank our host communities in all parts of the country and appeal to them to continue to see INEC property as both national and local assets to be protected,” Yakubu said.
The INEC chairman said that in the light of the current circumstances, today’s meeting with RECs would take briefings from across the country on threats to INEC facilities and deliberate on how best to protect them.
Yakubu expressed the belief that INEC could dig deep and draw from its longstanding partnership with communities protecting it facilities, in addition to depending on the invaluable support of security agencies.
“Consequently, the challenges posed by these threats notwithstanding, we are still positive that we can find lasting solutions to the spate of attacks on our facilities.
“However, this must be done quickly to forestall disruptions to several upcoming electoral activities, particularly the CVR exercise which we plan to undertake continuously in 2,673 centres nationwide for a period of over one year, involving thousands of INEC officials supported by security personnel.”
Civil Society Coalition for Good Governance, Budget and Accountability has condemned the defection of the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Executive Secretary, Civil Society Coalition for Good Governance, Budget and Accountability, Amb. Emmanuel Nkweke, who said this in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt also described as illegal all legislations passed by the defected lawmakers.
Amb. Nkweke described the defection as “monkey politics’, queried the rational behind the action of the lawmakers few months after being sworn into office, adding that members of the civil society community were yet to be told reasons for the defection.
“Up till now, we are yet to be told why they defected just few months of being sworn into office. For me, that is monkey politics”, he said.
He urged the lawmakers to go back to their former party and beg Rivers people for forgiveness, adding that if that is done, they may be welcomed back.
Amb. Nkweke also cautioned the lawmakers not to allow themselves to be used to do the bidding of an individual, adding that the present administration in the state needs the support of all to move forward.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of the group has commended Governor Siminalayi Fubara for giving civil societies the latitude to operate freely in the state.
He alleged that civil societies were caged in the last eight years, adding that there was no breathing space for civil societies in the last eight years in the state.
Amb. Nkweke described civil society as the engine room of democracy as it engages in sensitisation on the policies and programmes of government, regretting, however, that their inputs were never taken into considerations.
“Civil societies give signals, civil society creates the awareness and sensitize the people towards achieving a reliable democracy.
‘’i want to let you know, very frankly, that civil society space in Rivers State, for the past eight years, was suffocated. There was no breathing space, they didn’t breathe. Civil society was dead completely”, he said.
Amb. Nkweke said the situation also affected upcoming activists as some of them had to operate from hideouts.
By: John Bibor
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called on President Bola Tinubu not to condone incompetent personalities in his government.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, NANS President, Comrade Pedro Obi, expressed concerns about the competence of the Minister of State for Youth Development and the SSA to the President on Student Engagement.
Comrade Obi, after staging a peaceful protest at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), reiterated that the NANS will not be intimidated and will continue to fight for the interests of Nigerian students.
He said, “The message is very simple, we have incompetent people who have been appointed to offices. It’s unfortunate and it’s not the President’s fault, of course he believes in Nigerian youths and has also given us the opportunity to showcase our capacity in various roles that he has given us.
“We have the SSA to the President on Student Engagement, who has shown incompetence. He cannot continue to hold that office and we are calling on Mr. President that he should be sacked with immediate effect.
“Also we have the Minister of State for Youth Development. We are also calling that immediately he should be sacked, because he has left what he ought to do and has dabbled into the affairs of NANS.
“These people have displayed incompetence and are destroying the youth community. There are so many competent youths that President Tinubu can pick from.
“NANS can never be intimidated. This is an organisation that we grew up to meet and we will continue to protect the dignity of this organisation.”
Receiving the NANS on behalf of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, the Permanent Secretary, General Services Office in the SGF, Dr. Maurice Nnamdi Mbaeri, assured the NANS of relaying back their complaints to the SGF which he said will land on the listening ears of President Tinubu.
According to him, “I have listened to the complaints you raised. I assure you that your complaints will get to the listening ears of Mr. President.
“Let me assure you that I’m happy this was also re-echoed in the NANS President’s speech that President Tinubu has indebt love for the youths of Nigeria and also for the students of Nigeria. This has been demonstrated by polices that (has) been put in place for the youths.
“I want to assure you that the President has your concerns in his heart and he’s always ever ready to attend to your needs.
“With this, I am going to report back to my boss the SGF, who will take up the matter with the President. I urge you to continue to maintain peace and tranquillity. Don’t do anything that will make Mr. President feel bad about you.”
Former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Iyiorchia Ayu, has withdrawn the court action he instituted against the party over his controversial removal from office barely two years into his four year term.
His action has removed legal impediments likely to militate against the emergence of his replacement from the North Central.
Several meetings have been held and being planned following this new development.
On Tuesday, the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) passed a vote of confidence on the Ag. National Chairnan, Amb. Umar Damagum, whom members said has discharged his functions creditably.
It was gathered that the North Central Caucus of the party had long before now started mobilizing to ensure that the zone produces Ayu’s replacement to complete his tenure which expires in 2025.
In a related development, Amb. Damagum has held series of meetings with various groups to perhaps shore up his chances of retaining his seat as acting chairman.
He led the members of the NWC on Wednesday to interact with the PDP National Ex-officio ahead of the NEC meeting.
Immediately after the meeting with them, he led the NWC members to another meeting with the State Party Chairmen from the 36 States, including FCT, Abuja.
The meetings were held at the NEC Hall, PDP National Secretariat at Wadata Plaza, Wuse Zone 5, in Abuja.
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