Presidential election: Atiku, northern leaders have dumped Buhari —Fayose

EKITI State governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, has said the alleged withdrawal of support of former Vice President Atiku Abuba-kar and leaders of thought in the North for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), was enough signal that the APC has lost the battle.

My plan to defeat Jonathan and Buhari — Onovo, NCP presidential candidate

In this interview, the Presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party, NCP ,Mr. Martin Onovo maintains that there is no party that can defeat NCP in a free and fair election. Excerpts:

By Akoma Chinweoke & Achilike Anthony

For a country that shed military rule a decade and a half ago, would you say democracy has taken root in Nigeria?

We would say that democracy is not taking root in Nigeria. We would say that criminology has taken root in Nigeria. We say this because, several criminal acts are freely used with impunity in Nigerian politics. Acts like thuggery, rigging, forgery, perjury, etc. For democracy to take root, the two pillars of democracy must be in place.

The pillars are the ‘Rule of law’ and the Integrity of the ballot.Without one or both, it cannot be called a democracy. In the current Nigerian case, the Constitution and the Electoral act are the fundamental laws for elections in Nigeria. Both are commonly violated with impunity.
Onovo

Onovo

Currently, Gen. Buhari’s certificate issue is still unresolved. The associated perjury is also ignored. At the same time, Dr. Jonathan raised funds in violation of several election finance laws. Democracy cannot exist with lawlessness because democracy requires first, the ‘Rule of law’.

The process of coming to power by many of our rulers is criminal. So, mostly criminals find it easy to come to power. Alhaji Maitama Sule rightly pointed out that the actual process of coming to power involves rigging, election violence, political assassination, abuse of state power and bribing of judges and lawyers. Some judges have been previously indicted. So if you are doing all that, rigging, violence, assassination and bribery to get to power, then, you are a criminal. And the system of such government can be called a criminocracy. We must all reject and oppose any criminocratic acts and candidates.

Following endless controversy trailing the use of card readers and military personnel at election venues. Are you satisfied with the level of preparation by INEC ahead of the elections?

Card readers were used successfully for elections in Ghana. If the card-readers are used efficiently, they can improve the integrity of the elections. We think that the field tests conducted by INEC provide an excellent opportunity to identify all issues with the card-readers and fix them prior to the elections. We must ensure that only qualified and registered voters can vote. We must also ensure that no voter can vote more that once.

It has been widely reported that parties in power are cloning PVCs (another in the long list of criminal electoral practices). There are also public reports that same parties are buying up PVCs from registered voters.

We would keep wondering how the cloned or purchased PVCs will be used by the parties. On the use of the military, we must insist that we have always used the military to support internal security during elections. This is the practice. With so many unlawful but powerful private armies in Nigeria, it is clear that the Nigerian Police alone cannot provide robust security for elections.

With multiple fatalities in several states during the primaries of the ruling party, it will be inappropriate not to expect serious security issues during the elections. We will need the military to support civil security arrangements. With regards to the court judgment against the use of the military, it can be vacated by a superior court.

INEC must be pro-active and stay ahead of criminal political parties and their unlawful actions, INEC must not tolerate violations of our electoral laws but unfortunately, it seems that INEC prefers to keep silent while electoral lawlessness prevails.

A free and fair election cannot be conducted in violation of our laws. We must not accept lawlessness because it is the prelude to anarchy.

You have remained a strong critic of this administration. How do you hope to transform the country if elected the country’s president?

Nigeria is super-rich in human and material resources but Nigeria is very poor in economic terms due to corruption and bad governance. When our new NCP government is installed, we will control corruption and establish good governance. Our comprehensive strategy to control corruption is code named the 4Es anti-corruption strategy.

The 4Es represent; Education, Example, Empowerment and Enforcement. Specifically, we plan to, improve security by motivating, training, equipping and arming our security personnel. Please remember that corruption de-motivates. Also, we plan to: Double current electricity supply with only $9b in two and half years.

Your party is not as popular as the PDP and APC. How do you hope to win the election?

We will win the election because, we are the oldest party in Nigeria today and the people know our history of integrity and patriotism. Voters have also recognized and acknowledged our moral and intellectual superiority over other candidates.

It is very clear that the National Conscience Party (NCP) has fielded the very best candidates for most positions. We will win, also because, we have a better Vision than the other candidates, we are stronger and below the regular retirement age we are more experienced professionally and we are more nationally acceptable.

In this interview, the Presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party, NCP ,Mr. Martin Onovo maintains that there is no party that can defeat NCP in a free and fair election. Excerpts:

By Akoma Chinweoke & Achilike Anthony

For a country that shed military rule a decade and a half ago, would you say democracy has taken root in Nigeria?

Shocking Confessions From Ex-boko Haram Who Converted To Christianity. Alleged Ibb Is The Major Spon - Politics - Nairaland

Question: Who are you and where are you
from?
Answer: My name is Sheik Sani Haliru. I am
from Niger Republic, but my mother is from
Bornu State of Nigeria and I grew up in
Wulari, Maiduguri, (Northern Nigeria) where
I was trained.
Q: Trained as what and under whose
tutelage?
A: I was trained as an Almajiri, after four
years, at the age of 14, I was sent to Kano
City, Kano State where I was trained in the
Sheik Abubakar Gummi School of Arabic
studies.

Boko Haram: Can regional force beat Nigeria's militant Islamists?

The plan has now been approved by the African Union.

But what are the chances that this 8,700-strong regional force will root out an insurgency responsible for the death of tens of thousands in recent years?

Chibok girls are in Gwoza, says freed Boko Haram abductee

Over 200 girls abducted in Chibok in April 2014 are being held in Gwoza town in Borno State, a woman who was recently released by the Boko Haram sect has told the icirnigeria.org.

She said she was held in the same location as the abducted Chibok girls.

Mbutu Papka, 56, who was kidnapped in July 2014 and held by the insurgents for eight months in two locations, said confidently that the abducted girls were being held under very tight security in a house in Gwoza.

Operators panic over low oil prices

 

 Kaduna Refinery

International and local operators in the Nigerian petroleum sector on Wednesday declared that there was palpable fear in the industry as a result of the current low prices of crude oil in the global market.

According to them, the low prices and uncertainties in the local fiscal environment have prompted oil companies to review their work programmes across the country.