CPC Press Statement

CPC Press Statement

Rotimi Fashakin. (Engr.)
National Publicity Secretary, CPC.

24 April 2011

A Nation on the throes of self-inflicted destruction.
The Presidential elections held on the 16th April, 2011 generated much interest from Nigerians at home and abroad. Understandably so, because for twelve years; the citizens had been assailed by institutionalized corrupt perpetrated by the top-echelon of the Nation’s leadership.

In the first few years, impeachments of heads of the Nation’s bi-cameral
legislature were mainly due to paucity of  integrity and indecent diversion of public funds under their watch into private accounts. The Executive led in demonstrable brigandage: cabinet ministers were sacked and
arraigned before law courts on account of sleaze; state governors showed
recklessness in their use of public funds, often creating scarcity in the
foreign exchange market on receiving their monthly allocation from the
federation account. It is no news that there are many former governors that dare not set foot abroad because of the cases of money laundering hanging on their necks. Mr. James Ibori (aka the DON) was a two-term governor of oil rich Delta state. He is currently in a Jail house in UK on account of the ruling of a judge, pending the completion of the trial. Meanwhile his kith and kin (wife, mistress and attorney) have all been given various prison terms on account of their conviction on the same money laundering charges. Mr. Joshua Dariye, another PDP stalwart and two-term governor of Plateau state is not comfortable with the idea of travelling abroad, not even for a holiday. He had to scurry back to Nigeria the last time he did because of the commencement of his trial for money laundering charges. Ex-Governor SP Alameisiegha was on his 2nd term in
office as governor of Bayelsa state when he had to cross-dress to avoid the prying eyes of British security men after reportedly jumping bail. He gave the initial mentoring in politics to Nigeria’s current president having appointed him as his deputy.

It was therefore a welcome development when an untainted and eminent Nigerian, Gen.(retd) Muhammadu Buhari offered himself for service of the fatherland at the highest level of political governance. With much gusto never rivaled by any living or dead Nigerian leader, he had declared: ““I have fought drift and purposelessness. I have fought indolence and in this nation the betrayal of trusts. I have fought corruption and indiscipline. I have fought the Nigerian civil war and struggled for the unity of this country in many other ways. I have had the fortune and priviledge of managing national resources in various capacities---- as a military commander, as a state governor, as a minister, as head of the petroleum trust fund, and as the Head of state of this great country. And in all that I have been and done, I have never touched a kobo of public funds. I say this without pride and with all sense of responsibility and humility; but I challenge anyone in the race for the leadership of this country then and now to dare make the same claim.”

Nigerians, at home and abroad, who are desirous of the needed change at the Nation’s leadership left their primordial sentiments to join the actualization of the dream of this enviable Nigerian for the betterment of our Native land.For the first time in 12 years, Nigerians cast away their apathy and heeded the admonition of their leaders that this time, the vote cast would count. In Kaduna, a young woman put to bed and in a few hours later, begged to be carried to her polling station to cast her vote. In Kano,  another woman defied the contractions of child birth and headed for her polling station instead of the hospital , thereafter giving birth while waiting to cast her vote.

In Abuja, it rained heavily. In Kafanchan, Kano, Maiduguri, kaura namoda, Lagos, Iyin ekiti, calabar, aro chukwu etc, the sun was blazing hot. The people, in unison, defied these vagaries of weather to show their determination in making the necessary change in the polity.

The Presidential election of April 16, 2011 would only rivaled in electoral
infamy by the shambolic one conducted by Prof. Iwu in  2007. Whilst many
observers had been hoodwinked by the peaceful and transparent conduct in polling units in urban cities; the story was not the same in the hinterlands and in the collation centers. The results churned out from most collation centers (be it ward, local or state) represented well-executed electoral heist often perpetrated  through the instrumentality of the brute force of the ubiquitous military men on rampage for the PDP-led administration.

The spontaneous reaction of the people, especially in the Northern part, was to ventilate their angst against their people that worked in consonance with the absolute powers that robbed them. Had this type of incendiary protest taken place before? Of course, in the old Ondo state in 1983 when the NPN-led Federal Government wanted to replace the progressive government of the Late Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin through bare-faced inflation of electoral result in their favour. Within hours after the announcement, the entire state was a war zone. After the dust settled, notable citizens of the state (who were perceived as enemies of progress) were gruesomely visited with raw anger. It was crystal clear that this was a spontaneous reaction by a people whose will had been
crudely subverted, so nobody looked in the direction of the leadership of the opposition parties. But in this particular case, GMB and leaders of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) had been severally accused of fuelling the protest.

In the same vein, the fact of the attack on emirs and notable traditional
rulers in the areas concerned effectively removes the sail on the argument that the protest was based on religious sentiment! The security forces have exploited the situation to launch serious assaults on the opposition in-order to justify the on-going killings and maiming of opposition candidates and supporters. It is antithetical to rationality to sue for peace and at the same time employ excessive force on defenseless citizens in
their homes. Homes are being raided by soldiers and Police to kill and maim perceived supporters of opposition political parties. That is uacceptable! It is actually the government that is preparing the groundswell for conflagration in the North through the undue militarization of the area.

Dateline: Friday 22nd April, 2011 at Jabi motor park, Abuja.
Three truck loads of Anti-riot policemen crudely punctuated the serenity at the park and severely beat up any human being on sight. The reason for this unmitigated bestiality is still unknown!

While writing this article, I received the following message : “The security
situation in Bauchi state particularly Azare is horrible. The Army consisting of 300 officers and men have laid siege picking people from a list they got. Army came with tankers and Armoured personnel carriers. They have taken over the police station in town where the police area commander is rendered useless. They strip people naked beat them up breaking their limbs etc. It is the politics of the PDP.”

Still on Bauchi, while all the human rights violation go  unabated; the deputy governor(Babayo Bello Garba Gamawa) was reported to have met all the INEC local government areas (LGA) officers at Zarandah hotel Bauchi at around 12 midnight on Friday. All of them were given N5Million each. In addition, all Polling Units in Bauchi have been budgeted 500,000 naira to buy over other officers and voters. All these are happening ahead of the governorship election in Bauchi.

These are facts known to the people that there is large scale and entrenched plot to subvert their God-given and constitutionally-approved right to change a leadership that had ceased to serve their interest, peacefully.

The level of human right violation in Gombe state police headquarters is
alarming. Detainees have been kept standing for two days, some with broken legs. They have been denied food and water since their detention on Saturday the 16th of April, 2011. Meanwhile, many of these have been arrested on mere suspicion and our laws are still based on the presumed innocence of an accused until a court of law proves otherwise.

In all these, it is the Nigerian nation that bleeds!But why these acts of terrorism by the security forces? hy terrorize the people ahead of the governorship elections on April 26th, 2011? Is it to prepare the ambience for the massive rigging for the incumbent PDP governors?  I believe the impending governorship elections shall show clearly the cleavages in our fractured society. In Lagos, though Babatunde Fashola of the ACN is immensely popular among the citizens but he seems to be making frenetic moves about his re-election. Why? PDP has concluded plans to deploy the same shenanigans to rig the governorship polls in Lagos and explain
it as ‘band-wagon effect’. Also in Imo state, Rochas Okorocha has the
preponderance of the people on his side. But unfortunately, the election in the state had been decided before the day.

In all these, it is the nation that bleeds! But the nation’s president has reportedly drawn parallel between this spate of unrests and the events leading to the 1966 military putsch and the civil war. As people with good sense of history, we must never allow a replication in our time. This is why it behooves all of us across the geo-ethnic, political and religious divides to commit ourselves to true nation building. Creating siege-suzerainty over a part of the federation will only exacerbate the situation!

Without any grand delusion, the support for GMB cuts across the length and breadth of the Nigerian nation, especially in the Northern part. That solidarity and unflinching support shall be evinced by the people in the governorship and state assembly elections on Tuesday the 26th April, 2011. That is why the governments of the day should not use the instrumentality of incumbency to distort the people’s clear choices on this day.

We must never, at any time, waver in our resolve to continue in our quest for a society that is predicated on equity and social justice. It is then that we can truly be at peace with ourselves.

God bless Nigeria.

Rotimi Fashakin. (Engr.)
National Publicity Secretary, CPC.