The G8 Rights
Coalition does not support Igbo rights and interests that are
repugnant to equity and fairness. This means that Igbo rights and
interests should stop where those of other Nigerian nationalities begin. While
the name Southeast G8 Rights Coalition remains,
names of its participating groups are not steady. This method allows any group
to opt out any time it chooses. It is also designed to ward off parochial
interests and possible infiltration of the group by criminal politicians and
their agents in Nigeria. The G8 Rights Coalition is
coordinated by the secretariat ofInternational Society for Civil Liberties
& the Rule of Law in Onitsha, Southeast Nigeria.
Anambra
Governorship Poll & Its Campaigns So Far:
Out of 23 participating
political parties in the poll, only four are “primus inter
pares”. They are Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives
Congress (APC), Labour Party (LB) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
The fifth visible party in the race is Peoples Progressive Party (PPA). The
five governorship candidates of the parties under reference are: Mr. Tony Nwoye
PDP, Mr. Chris Ngige APC, Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah LB, Mr. Willie Obiano APGA and Mr.
Godwin Ezemo PPA. By global convention, issue based election
campaigns are precursors of positive social change, decency and tranquility.
Their collective outcome is free, popular and credible poll. Where these are
patently lacking, insecurity and its perception holds sway. The result of this
can lead to violence, low voter turnout and election rigging. Campaigns also
include mounting of bill boards, pasting of posters and playing of jingles
using audio-visual media, public sound system and traditional town criers.
Peaceful
Campaigns:
Labour Party is so far
leading other four main parties in terms of peaceful governorship campaigns. No
strong evidence has been obtained linking it to destruction and defacing of its
opponents’ bill boards and posters including those in its stronghold areas like
Nnewi where its candidate comes from. Our checks in Nnewi areas indicate that
most of the posters and bill boards of its opponents are left
untouched. There are very few isolated cases in the area linked to
the party, but they are not sufficient. The LB’s campaign jingles are also
played on the Anambra Broadcasting Service belonging to the Government of
Anambra State, which includes radio and television. The party has not been
linked to any physical disruption of campaigns of other political parties in any
part of Anambra State or planting of jeering crowds in any rallies or campaigns
organized by other parties.
However, Labour Party is
strongly accused of money and material inducement of members of the public
especially the registered voters. Such material inducements include grading of
some streets in the Ugwuagba area of Obosi in Idemmili North LGA of Anambra
State and free distribution of premium motor spirit or fuel to selected members
of the public. It was also accused of involvement in the purchase of voters’
cards especially in the river line areas of the State where the poverty level
still very high. Each voter’s card is reportedly sold for N5,
000. The party was mentioned as being involved in the
importation of people from outside the State during the continuous voters
exercise that took place two months ago with a view to mass-registering them as
voters.
The All Progressives
Grand Alliance comes second in the rating as in peaceful poll campaigns. But
the party, which is the State ruling party, is accused of using its apparatus
to remove and destroy dozens of the bill boards belonging to the All
Progressives Congress and its governorship candidate, Mr. Chris Ngige. The APC,
on its part, was found to have embarked on indiscriminate and combative erection
of its bill boards including in places not environmentally fit to erect such
bill boards. Other APC’s bill boards are said to have been erected against the
procedures prescribed by the State House of Assembly. For the fact that the
State Government was hash in its handling of the APC’s bill boards’ removal at
the threshold of the campaigns, denies it the status of the “most peaceful
election campaigner” in the Anambra State governorship poll, which has gone to
the Labour Party. There are also pieces of evidence that in some places where
the APC posters and bills are removed, those of APGA and its candidate are
pasted or hung.
The Peoples Democratic
Party comes third in the rating. This is largely because of the candidacy
tussle, which was ended yesterday at the Nigeria’s Apex Court, which reaffirmed
the candidacy of Mr. Tony Nwoye. Now that the Supreme Court of Nigeria has
reaffirmed Mr. Tony Nwoye’s candidacy, our searchlight will be beamed on his
party’s style of campaign in the remaining ten days.
The PPA comes fourth in
the rating. Its campaigns so far have not breached the universal standards for
election campaigns. It has so far conducted itself in a very civilized manner.
The post of “most
violent and trouble-mongering Anambra governorship poll campaigner” goes to the
All Progressives Congress and its candidate. The party has been strongly
accused of “importation of jeering and booing crowds” into the campaign rallies
organized by its main opponents for the purposes of disrupting them. The party’s
main target is the All Progressives Grand Alliance, which it considers as its
main threat and challenger.
For instance, at the
recent rally of the latter at the Onitsha Main Market, a “booing crowd” was
reportedly planted. Complaints of disruption of church services by the APC have
also been reported in different parts of the State. From Amichi to Mbakwu
Communities; from Onitsha Prisons to the Immaculate Catholic Church in Onitsha;
and from Awka to St. Gregory Catholic Church, Iyiowa in Ogbaru LGA of Anambra
State. By Christian convention, late comers in any church service, are seen as
recipients of “half blessings” and kept outside the church halls until the end
of general sermons.
They are called “bad
church attendants or church goers”. Good church attendants are those who get
seated before the commencement of church services. They receive “full
blessings” from the beginning to end. From our in-depth investigations, it is
not that Mr. Chris Ngige and his supporters deliberately storm church services
and disrupt same, but they have made themselves deliberate late comers, which
disrupt church services anywhere they go by making the seated church attendants
and presiding priests and bishops to be distracted. In such occasions, the
church halls are flooded with brooms and posters while church services are in
progress.
While other political
parties and their candidates attend church services with few aides and sizeable
supporters and get seated usually before the commencement of services, the APC
is in the habit of large recruited crowd movement. Some, if not many members of
the crowd are the “dregs of the society” with common trait of unruly behaviors.
They are used to mount bill boards, paste posters, destroy and deface bill
boards and posters of their main opponents and infiltrate the camps of their
main opponents as “booing and jeering crowd” and false alarmists. The recent
fatal stampede at the Uke Adoration prayer ground that took the lives of 28
people is a clear case in point. The false alarmists had planned to cause the
stampede earlier in the late night of Friday, November 1st, 2013
when a false alarm of sudden snake appearance in the arena was deliberately
raised the planted crowd to cause unquenchable commotion.
Our investigation into
rampant destruction of bill boards and defacing of posters also indicted the APC
and its candidate. This is most likely to be revenge over the State
Government’s ordered dismantling of campaign bill boards deemed environmentally
“ugly”, which substantially affected those of the APC. Apart from interviewing
some residents and traders in the areas where such destroyed bill boards and
defaced posters of the APGA and its candidate are located, our field
investigators sighted some APC supporters yesterday, being 4th of
November, 2013 in Onitsha, Awada, Nkpor and Ogbaru areas. The supporters while
pasting their party and its candidate’s posters engaged in malicious and
reckless defacing and removal of other posters especially those of APGA.
While the supporters of
other parties leave their opponents’ posters untouched and paste theirs in
other blank spaces, the APC supporters, seemingly working on instructions,
remove and deface those of other parties especially APGA before
pasting their own. Our several visits to Nnewi (stronghold of LB), Idemmili
North & South (stronghold of APC), Aguata (stronghold of PPA), Anaocha LGA
and Omambala zone (strongholds of APGA and PDP), showed that most of the bill
boards and posters of the opponents of the domiciled political parties and
their candidates are left untouched except in Idemmili North and South LGAs
where many bill boards and posters of the APGA and its candidate are either
defaced or destroyed. The despicable conduct of the APC, which is strongly
being fingered, has also been imported into Awka with a number of the APGA
posters defaced or destroyed.
APC is strongly accused
further of commissioning some people including women to trace many registered
voters to their residencies and market places, using the recently released
copies of the final voters’ list Such voters are induced to tender
their voters’ cards whereupon the polling unit and other code numbers are
copied in exchange for cash gifts. Others are recruited into certain committees
and made to give up their voters’ cards or their pin numbers and ordinary
passport photographs.
They are said to be paid
“one month salary” of up to N15, 000 and given other cash sums and
indoctrinated on how to recruit others. These categories of people are tagged
“special agents”. This despicable and criminal exercise has been widely
reported especially in Awada, Okpoko and Ogbaru areas of the State. Similar
patterns may have been applied to hoodwink voters in other parts of the State.
This may most likely be a new innovation in election rigging industry, which
may be called “forensic poll rigging software”.
Issue
Based Campaigns:
Most of the
participating political parties in the Anambra Governorship race are far from
engaging in issue based campaigns. Rather than convincing the voters by showing
them the masterful ways they intend to transform the State if elected, most of
the parties and their candidates resort to guerrilla warfare by peddling lies
and falsehoods using the instrument of sectionalized media. Some contestants
are not even aware of the existence of Exclusive, Concurrent and Residual
Legislative Lists of the Federation that divide items of governance
jurisdictions among the three tiers of Federal, States and LGAs. Some have
promised to do things that are purely outside their jurisdiction like building
cargo “international” airport, providing steady power supply, building seaport,
etc. Others have promised “free medical services”, “free secondary
and university education” and “constant increment in workers’ salaries”.
All these lofty promises
are not accompanied with forensic disclosures as per the effective sources of
resources mobilization with which to implement the lofty programs. The silence
of these candidates and their parties, other than APGA, on how monies will
be sourced without mortgaging the future well being of the State by reckless
loan borrowings and over-bloated governance including jumbo security votes,
clearly shows that the low debt records of Anambra State is a gold mine for these
contestants. In other words, their sole hope is returning the State to the
status of “a highly indebted State”. Lagos State presently owes a total debt of
N330Billion locally and internationally. Campaigns deceits such as the
foregoing are called “psychology of politics” or “confusion of many for the
parochial interest of the few”.
Lastly, we have also
observed that Anambra State is being invaded by some strange faces including
social miscreants and recidivists hired by desperate politicians and their parties
from neighboring States of Delta, Imo and Enugu. All these are to step up
criminal activities of various forms and shapes including politically oiled
abductions, real, perceived and false armed robberies and other street criminal
activities like youth militancy and pick-pockets.etc.
Extensive intelligence
information gathering and other preventive policing measures should be put in
place by the present Government of Anambra State and its security agencies to
ward off these precursors of anarchy threatening to mar the popularity and
credibility of the all-important governorship poll. The collective security of
Anambra State of Nigeria must not be compromised and any political party or
candidate found fanning the embers of violence must have its wings clipped
within the law.
From the forgoing,
therefore, the Anambra Governorship Poll campaigns are facing several
challenges, which must be nipped in the bud and disallowed from resulting into
uncontrollable social disorders capable of robbing the crucial poll of popular
participation and credibility. We wish to use this medium to
congratulate the Labour Party for emerging the “most peaceful Anambra
Governorship Poll campaigner” so far. The winner and the runners up like APGA,
PDP and PPA are urged to refuse to be provoked by their opponents
and embrace peaceful campaigns premised on issue based electoral campaign
messages.
For: Southeast Group 8 Rights Coalition:
1. Emeka Umeagbalasi: International
Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law
2. Aloysius Emeka Attah: Civil Liberties
Organization, Anambra State Branch
3. Justus Uche Ijeoma: Society Watch (a
membership project of Intersociety-Nigeria)
4. Peter Onyegiri: Center for Human Rights
& Peace Advocacy
5. Samuel Njoku: Human Rights Club, Anambra
State Branch
6. Alexander Olisa: Forum for Justice,
Equity & Human Rights
7. Anthony Emeka Itanyi: Southeast
Emancipation Network
8. Onyeozielu Ujunwa: Committee Against
Political Crimes in Nigeria
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