These just in from a friend…
Senatorial ballot paper. Note serial number.
Presidential ballot paper. Rushed out after Abubakar re-entered the race. Note no serial number.
Archive for the 'Corruption' Category
This morning world oil prices rose 46 cents to to $66.40 a barrel on concerns that elections may be disrupted by violence.
This evening a militant attack rocked government house in Bayelsa State. Outgoing Governor Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck is standing tomorrow as Vice President. All across Nigeria, opposition groups accused the authorities of abuses ahead of tomorrow’s elections, and the Supreme Court deepened confusion by allowing estranged VP Atiku Abubakar to run.
Monitors are spreading out and will be reporting in through Greenlightnigeria in the next few days. Based on last weekend’s experiences, getting reports back in was quick but we are preparing for a lot more trouble (the attack on government house in Bayelsa is, obviously, not a good sign) so it may take longer to get the full picture this weekend.
Don’t forget you can get your instant reaction to events to us, and we can post it instantly, via Evoca.
The general picture across the country seems to be one of confusion for voters, low turn outs in some areas, and the opposition calling foul.
21 are offically reported killed in the Niger Delta but local estimates are higher at around 40, including 7 police officers killed overnight in Port Harcourt on the 13th. There are around 10 other deaths reported throughout the country as of writing.
INEC in Port Harcourt, Rivers State reported a 90.09% result for the governing PDP with an 85% turn out.
The All Nigerian People Party (ANPP) presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), yesterday said the federal government has no excuse not to organize the general elections, which is scheduled to hold in a few days time.
“The present government have received unprecedented amount of money in the last eight years and so there is no excuse for the government not to organise the election”.
Rumours of poll delays, INEC and the Courts can’t decide if Abubakar can run, and neither can the Bar Association… the President is having to deny rigging allegations once more… the SSS are telling politicians to cool it and not rig the elections using thugs and gangs… this might not be democracy. It certainly is democrazy…
Vanguard reports good news and bad news from Delta State today.
First the bad news: State Deputy Chief of Staff, Chief Emmanuel Ejiofor has offered N1 million in cash to any ward that delivers 90 percent vote to the governing PDP party’s governorship candidate, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan.
The good news is the Delta State PDP has disowned him.
According to Vanguard, Delta State PDP Campaign Organization’s Director of Press Relations, Mr. Felix Ofou said:
For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state that Chief Ejiofor though an important member of our party, is not a member of the campaign organization, neither has he participated in any of the rallies that have taken the PDP victory train to all the nooks and crannies of the state.
[…] It is on record that the PDP in Delta state has ran an issue-based campaign and that we intend to win based on the three-point agenda of engendering greater peace and security; human capital development and infrastructural development as widely popularized in our manifesto.
Two cheers are in order. The third can be in May, if Delta State can run a clean election.
‘This Day’s’ Yusuph Olaniyonu has written in defence of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commisssion’s work:
For close to two months now, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and his commission have been under serious onslaught […] EFCC had forwarded to the federal government a list of politicians who; according to its investigations, have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
[…]
If Ribadu and his men are afraid of bringing Obasanjo and his friends or loyalists to justice on issues of corruption, let us leave them to deal with the others knowing that one day he will not be in that office and not all his successors will see Obasanjo and his loyalists as untouchable.
[…]
The present campaign against EFCC is aimed at turning public opinions against its operations by deliberately confusing issues. This campaign will in effect demoralise the operatives and make them the bad men of our society. The general public should beware. Nigerians should not play the game of those who have kept the nation perpetually on its belly since independence.
Human Rights Watch is reporting on attacks on Anyakwee Nsirimovu.
As well as being one of Nigeria’s leading human rights campaigners, Anyakwee is a colleague and part of the same group of activist-friends I’m part of, so this is close to home and very alarming:
The assault and threats against Anyakwee Nsirimovu, a human rights activist who is director of the Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL) in Port Harcourt, were most likely a reprisal for his outspoken criticism of corrupt state and local government officials in Rivers State, Human Rights Watch said.
On March 4, Nsirimovu was attacked in Port Harcourt while driving home from a meeting. Around 8 p.m., a gang of at least six young men armed with knives, clubs and other weapons attempted to stop his car. When Nsirimovu refused to stop, they attacked his car, smashing the rear windshield and causing other damage to the vehicle. Because the youths allowed numerous other vehicles to pass by without interference, it appeared that Nsirimovu was the objective of their assault. Nsirimovu escaped unharmed.
“The assault and death threats against one of Nigeria’s leading human rights campaigners should be investigated immediately,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “These attacks threaten free speech on key issues like governance and corruption during the critical pre-election period.”
[…]
Human Rights Watch believes these threats were in response to Nsirimovu’s outspoken criticism of corruption in the Rivers State government and in the state’s Local Government Councils in recent weeks. On February 12, for example, his organization issued a scathing public criticism of Rivers State legislators who had suddenly abandoned demands that Rivers State Governor Peter Odili account for the use of funds in the state’s US$1.3 billion 2006 budget before submitting the 2007 budget for a vote.
On January 31, Human Rights Watch released a report on the human rights impact of local government corruption in Rivers State entitled “Chop Fine.” Nsirimovu, through IHRHL, has been active in promoting public awareness of the problems documented in the report. All of these actions drew considerable ire from state and local officials. They have responded to Human Rights Watch’s report by claiming that it was false propaganda and that it was allegedly paid for by people the state’s Commissioner for Local Government Affairs described as “faceless enemies of the Rivers State government.”
Nsirimovu said that the assault and threats against him could lead other civil society groups to become wary of speaking out on the myriad human rights and governance issues facing Rivers State.
The International Herald Tribune is reporting that:
Nigeria’s democratic experiment is in danger of collapse because of neglect and corruption, a top U.S. intelligence official said Thursday.
National Intelligence Director John Negroponte made the comment in assessing Nigeria’s ability to transfer power from President Olesegun Obasanjo to an elected successor based on elections set for April.
He testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on potential threats the United States is facing internationally.
The government’s institutional foundations are hollow from decades of neglect and corruption and will continue to make the country susceptible to recurring crises in the coming years,” he said.
