HURIWA tasks Religious leaders, FGN on National Policy on Violent Kidnappings: *Presents petitions to Pope Francis; UK parliament;

A leading non-governmental and pro-democracy organization – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has called for a concerted effort and synergy between religious and political leaders of Nigeria to adopt a holistic national policy on violent kidnappings and how to check the astronomic rise in the violent crime.

HURIWA also challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to table the matter of violent kidnappings in the sub-region before a high level consultative parley of the Economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) because the menace is harming industrialization in West Africa and discouraging direct foreign investors from bringing their businesses to the kidnappings prone region.

HURIWA said it has noted with regret that over the past decade the crime of violent criminal abductions/kidnappings of Nigerians for ransom payments have only received lips service and piecemeal cosmetic approach without any major national momentum to criminalize these vicious acts of depravity and enforce capital punishment as the legal sanctions. HURIWA accused the police and other security agencies of colluding to perpetuate the crimes of armed kidnappings going by the likelihood that they may be receiving pay offs from the bandits who have become increasingly daring and sophisticated. HURIWA wondered why the nation has failed to invest substantially in technology as a viable means of waging science based fight against violent kidnappers.

In a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA disclosed that by next week it will present letters demanding global actions to the global office of Amnesty International in London and the British parliament in Westminster.

Besides, HURIWA has resolved to present a petition to the primate of Anglican Church worldwide in the United Kingdom next week and to dispatch a written presentation to the Holy Father Pope Francis in Rome to demand global leaders’ intervention because the crimes of kidnappings have become of the greatest cause of death of religious leaders in Nigeria and the sub-region.

“We call on the leadership of the Catholic Bishops conference of Nigeria (CBCN), the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Council for Islamic Affairs, to meet President Muhammadu Buhari, the council of states and the National Assembly to confront the national security emergency created by the unprecedented rates of armed violent kidnappings in Nigeria.”

HURIWA believes that kidnappers both from within and without have discovered that the Nigerian government tolerates impunity of widespread mass killings by all kinds of freelance armed hoodlums so they have evolved a thriving industry of armed kidnappings for payments aided by some rogue elements in the police and security forces.” It therefore tasked the Federal government to also inaugurate a probe panel made up of internationally acclaimed forensic investors drawn from across the globe to fish out operatives and officers of the police and other security forces who are actively participating in the thriving criminal enterprise of armed kidnappings for monetary settlements.

HURIWA recalled that Killings and kidnapping of priests, the religious and other pastoral workers especially in West Africa, seem to be on the increase just as it noted that the English Africa Service, Vatican News from the Vatican City has now beamed its searchlight on this emerging but sinister criminal gagsterism of armed kidnappings.

HURIWA recalled that the Vatican news channel stated that although it is worth bearing in mind that by far the majority of victims in killings and kidnappings are ordinary innocent persons, crimes targeting religious pastoral workers seem to be on the rise, in Africa.

HURIWA recalled that six days after being kidnapped by unknown gunmen from his parish house, the body of Fr. Clement Rapuluchukwu Ugwu was found Wednesday, this week. He was buried Thursday after Mass at the Holy Ghost Cathedral Church, Ogui Enugu. The Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Callistus Onaga, celebrated the Mass.

Fr. Ugwu was abducted on the night of 13 March from the parish house of St. Mark’s Catholic Church, Obinofia, Ndiuno in Ezeagu LGA of Enugu State. The kidnappers shot him before taking him away with them.

The Guardian - Nigeria quoted Bishop Onaga saying the increasing spate of violent killings in the country was worrying. Both the Bishop and the Diocesan Director of Communications, Fr. Benjamin Achi, called on the state government to live up to its responsibility of protecting lives and property.

Besides, HURIWA recalled that Agenzia Fides reports that Capuchin priest, Fr. Toussaint Zoumaldé, a native of the Central African Republic was killed in Ngaoundéré, Cameroon on his way to Baibokoum in Chad.

According to a statement released by the General Custody of the Capuchins for Chad and the Central African Republic, Fr. Toussaint Zoumaldé had gone to the Diocese of Bouar, in the western part of Central African Republic to conduct some training. In the night between 19 and 20 March, unknown people attacked and killed him in Ngaoundéré (Cameroon) where he had made an overnight stop.

Fr. Toussaint (born in 1971) had worked as the Director of Radio Siriri, in the Diocese of Bouar.

Similarly, HURIWA recalled that In the meantime, the Bishop of Dori, Laurent Dabiré, in the northern part of Burkina Faso had through the media expressed sadness that there is no news concerning the disappearance of Fr. Joël Yougbaré, the parish priest of Djibo.

Recall that last Sunday after celebrating Sunday Mass in Bottogui, Fr. Joël Yougbaré was returning to his parish house along the Djibo-Tongomayel-Nianguel-Sergoussouma-Bottogui road and since then had not been seen. No one knows what became of him. However, the Bishop told Agenzia Fides that the area where the priest disappeared is unsafe due to the presence of jihadist groups.

Also, HURIWA recalled that in mid-February, a Spanish priest and four customs officers were killed in a jihadist attack in eastern Burkina Faso. Similarly, an Italian missionary, Fr. Pierluigi Maccalli, a priest of the Society for African Missions was kidnapped on 17 September 2018 in Tillaberi.

HURIWA recalled that the Islamic advisor to President Muhammadu Buhari Sheikh Ahmad Sulaiman was kidnapped last week in Katsina and a N300 million ransom demands made by the kidnappers to his family made through a call just as the mother in law of the Katsina state governor was kidnapped for two and later released. A reporter with Channels to was kidnapped at the weekend in Abuja and a N50 million ransom demand was slammed on his family.

The current Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Yusuf Tukur Buratai is one of the most widely talked about personalities in contemporary Nigeria going by the frontline and historical role that he plays as a professional soldier. I'm sure if Google as a search engine can come up with the current rating of the most searched item at the moment, the Nigerian Army and the Chief of Army staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai will come tops.

The institution of the Nigerian military is also one of the most beloved by commoners going by the extensive admiration it has garnered for itself in the past as the agency that successfully midwifed and delivered popular rule of the people, by the people and for the people also known universally as democracy. This is why the likes of General Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar(retired) is reputable as one of the few surviving fathers of democracy in Nigeria in the mould of General Olusegun Obasanjo. Understandably, General Abdulsalami is today a keyplayer in the national peace committee charged with the onerous task of ensuring that elections are peaceful.

Indeed, it is for the widespread admiration for the military institution that occasioned the monumental passion with which the job of the military Chiefs are discussed, analyzed and synthesized, with the overwhelming objective of ensuring that the military remains purely as a professional agency made up of professional combatants whose pivotal mandate is to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria.

For every ten persons you interviewed in most streets of Nigeria about what he/she thinks about the military, there is the certainty that virtually 75 percent of your respondents would come up with words of admiration for the military but with very quick caution that the military must be absolutely insulated from playing partisan and divisive politics. 

 It was for this same reason that as soon as the current administration emerged on the political firmament and appointed the crop of military chiefs including the Army Chief, most Nigerians supported the resolve of the military hierarchy to purge from amongst its officer corp, those of the officers suspected of playing to the political gallery during the 2015 general election. The purge led to the early retirement of about 38 military officers.

Although some news media read some political meanings into the massive purge of the military going by the high fatality rate that affected mostly officers from the southern states than the few from the core North, the general view was that if indeed those military officers violated their time tested and time honoured principle of non-interference in politics which goes against their professional calling, there was no sinister motive to be drawn from the sack.

General Buratai being a media savvy military General, was aware that different perspectives have been adduced for his action to purge the military institution of officers adjudged to have violated their professional military code by dabbling into partisan politics in 2015. The Chief of Army staff responded robustly to the groundswell of suspicions of an ethnic agenda in the massive retirement of senior officers. Misperception and misconception persists about that action with a very prominent online medium championing the line of thought that the purge was politically vindictive.

This news medium had brushes with the military because of this line of thought just as the Army chief dragged them to court.

In the perception of the reporters, majority of the 38 officers compulsorily retired by the Nigerian Arm were sent away without recourse to the rules of disengagement in the Nigerian military,” PREMIUM TIMES claimed to have authoritatively reported. 

The army had in June two years ago announced the compulsory retirement of 38 officers on different ranks on the grounds of alleged professional misconduct during the 2015 general elections, as well as involvement in the $2.1 billion arms procurement scandal.

The affected officers include Major-Generals F. O. Alli, E.J. Atewe, I. N. Ijoma, L. C. Ilo, TC Ude, Letam Wiwa, SD Aliyu, M.Y Ibrahim, LC Ilo and O. Ejemai.

Others were Brigadier-Generals D. M. Onoyeiveta, A. S. O. Mormoni Bashir, A.S.H Sa’ad, A. I. Onibasa, D. Abdusalam, L.M. Bello, KA Essien, B. A. Fiboinumama and I. M. Lawson.

Also affected were Cols. M.A. Suleiman, I. O. Ahhachi, P. E. Ekpenyong, T. T. Minimah, O. U. Nwonkwo, and F. D. Kayode, Lt-Cols C. O. Amadi, K. O. Adimogha, T. E. Arigbe, O. A. Baba Ochankpa, D. B. Dazang, O. C. Egemole, Enemchukwu, A. Mohammed, A. S. Mohammed, G. C. Nyekwu, T. O. Oladintoye, C. K. Ukoha and Major A. T. Williams.

In the June 9 letters, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, to the affected officers, their compulsory retirement was hinged on “provisions of Paragraph 09.02c (4) of the Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service for Officers 2012 (Revised)”.

The referenced section – 09.02c (4) – of the Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service for Officers 2012 (Revised), shows the officers were laid off “on disciplinary grounds i.e. serious offence(s)”.

Emphasizing “service exigencies” and that the “military must remain apolitical and professional at all times”, Army spokesperson, Sani Usman, a colonel, on June 10, released a statement, disclosing what could have constituted the “serious offences” which warranted the 38 officers to be compulsorily retired.

“It should be recalled that not too long ago some officers were investigated for being partisan during the 2015 general elections,” the statement said.

“Similarly, the investigation by the Presidential Committee investigating Defence Contracts revealed a lot. Some officers have already been arraigned in court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),” Colonel Usman said.

Although, some of the officers, who were shocked by their sudden retirement, had alleged ethnic cleansing, the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, said the army embarked upon the exercise to remove those “who in one way or the other jeopardized the fight against insurgency and other issues bordering on national security.”

He also said that there was no better time to send the officers away than the time they were retired.

But PREMIUM TIMES investigations revealed that the Army breached its own rule by retiring most of the officers without query or indictment by any panel, thereby raising question of arbitrariness.

However, contrary to the claim by the Army, our investigations showed that only a few of the affected officers were queried, tried and indicted, Premium Times claimed and proceeded to assert that others had their careers abruptly cut short for reasons that smacks of high-level arbitrariness, pettiness, witch-hunting and partisanship by authorities of the Army.

The newspaper reports that while officers cleared by either arms procurement panel or election panel were retired, others who were not questioned at all were also sent away.

Premium Times says its findings revealed that nine officers, holding the rank of Major General, 11 Brigadier Generals, seven Colonels and 11 Lieutenant Colonels, amounting to 38 officers in sum, were laid off.

Highly placed sources in the Army told PREMIUM TIMES that out of the Major Generals, only one – E.D. Atewe (N/7674) faced a panel and was indicted. Mr. Atewe was indicted by the presidential arms probe panel, and he is currently being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Although S.D. Aliyu (N/7711); M.Y. Aliyu (N/8114) GOC 7 Division; Fatai Alli, (N/7914) a former Director of Operations in the Army, also faced presidential arms panel but they were cleared. Yet they were laid off for “serious offence”, our investigations revealed.

Other five Major Generals – L. Wiwa (N/7665), who is late Ken Saro-Wiwa’s brother; I.N. Ijeoma (N/8304); T.C Ude (N/7866); L.C. Ilo (N/8320); O. Ejemau (N/8340) were neither queried nor indicted by any panel.

On June 9, they received letters via emails, directing them to proceed on compulsory retirement.

These soldiers have however challenged their dismissal in courts and I learnt that the Army is ready to comply with the final decisions of the courts.

Fast forward to the ongoing 2019 polls and focus your lenses to the clamour in many quarters regarding some actions taken by some of the armed operatives deployed on internal security operations, what comes to mind immediately is the accusation of undue interference in the election. The Army has begun investigation internally. How far can this internal conflict resolution mechanism go is anybody's guess.

Whereas I am not holding brief for the Chief of Army staff, one thing that is certain is that he has over the many years in the Army put up an attitude of a military officer who is devoted to his duty and absolutely loyal to the civilian constituted authority just as he recently justified the decision to deploy soldiers in aid of civil authority to keep the election safe based on section 217 (1) of the constitution.

Specifically, section 217 (1) provides thus: “There shall be an armed forces for the Federation which shall consist of an army, a navy, an Air Force and such other branches of the armed forces of the Federation as may be established by an Act of the National Assembly.”

What has come out of my intensive researches and observations of his official activities with the binoculars of a journalist is that General Buratai can be equated to the position of a constitutional purist who thinks constitution, dreams constitution and lives constitution. I may be wrong. I may be too optimistic. Who knows?

In my early days as a philosophy student, I became fascinated with the pure theory of law.

The idea of a Pure Theory of Law was propounded by the formidable Austrian jurist and philosopher Hans Kelsen (1881–1973). Kelsen began his long career as a legal theorist at the beginning of the 20th century.

The main challenge for a theory of law, as Kelsen saw it, is to provide an explanation of legality and the normativity of law, without an attempt to reduce jurisprudence, or “legal science”, to other domains.

The law, Kelsen maintained, is basically a scheme of interpretation. Its reality, or objectivity, resides in the sphere of meaning; we attach a legal-normative meaning to certain actions and events in the world.

He goes thus: "Suppose, for example, that a new law is enacted by the California legislature. How is it done? Presumably, some people gather in a hall, debate the issue, eventually raise their hands in response to the question of whether they approve a certain document or not, count the number of people who say “yes”, and then promulgate a string of words, etc. Now, of course, the actions and events described here are not the law. To say that the description is of the enactment of a new law is to interpret these actions and events in a certain way. But then, of course, the question is why certain acts or events have such a legal meaning and others don’t?"

An act or an event he affirmed gains its legal-normative meaning by another legal norm that confers this normative meaning on it. "An act can create or modify the law if it is created in accordance with another, “higher” legal norm that authorizes its creation in that way. And the “higher” legal norm, in turn, is legally valid if and only if it has been created in accord with yet another, “higher” norm that authorizes its enactment in that way. In other words: it is the law in the United States that the California legislature can enact certain types of laws. But what makes this the law? The California Constitution confers this power on the state legislature to enact laws within certain prescribed boundaries of content and jurisdiction. But then what makes the California Constitution legally valid? The answer is that the legal validity of the Constitution of California derives from an authorization granted by the US Constitution. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)."

No wonder then that Lieutenant General Buratai always refers to the constitution for all his official actions.

Expectations are high that the constitution should also guide him as the probe panel determines the allegations of political interferences by soldiers especially in Rivers State and appropriate legal penalties meted out to offenders. Let there be no sacredcows please.

*Emmanuel Onwubiko is head of Human rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) and blogs @ www.thenigerianinsidernews.com; www.emmanuelonwubiko.com; www.huriwanigeria.com; www.huriwa.blogspot.com. 

KANO RERUN WAS A SPECTACLE OF FRAUD; VIOLENCE- SAYS HURIWA

The prominent Non-Governmental organisation- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has upbraided the acting Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu for dereliction of duty tantamount to criminal negligence which must not go unpunished for permitting armed thugs of political parties to unleash violence during Saturday's March 23rd 2019 governorship re-run poll in parts of Kano state.

HURIWA specifically condemned the fraudulent claims of a peaceful re-run election made to the media disgracefully by the Deputy inspector General of Police Mr. Michael Anthony Ogbizi that contrary to widespread and extensively reported evidential proofs showing widespread reign of bloody violence meted out to supporters of the opposition Peoples Democratic party (PDP) by armed thugs recruited by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in many parts of Kano state. "This deputy Inspector General of police represents every negative indices that the notoriously compromised policing institution is frequently rebuked from all across the civilised World for operating in a format that is antithetical to constitutional democracy and respect for the principle of rule of law. He should cover his face in shame if he has a conscience for denying the obvious". 

HURIWA stated that it has always known that there was no valid, cogent and verifiable reasons for the Independent National Electoral Commission to have selectively declared inconclusive, governoship polls that the opposition Peoples Democratic party were at the verge of emerging victorious even when the same electoral umpire was the first to have always declare the results of elections in places like Kwara and Ekiti states just to spite and intimidate the likes of Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki and erstwhile Ekiti state governor Ayodele Peter Fayose both of whom are some of the most trenchant critics of President Muhammadu Buhari's style of leadership. 

HURIWA wondered how the hierarchy of the Nigerian Police force deliberately allowed armed thugs of All Progressives Congress made up mostly of notorious drug addicts to wage internecine war against the members; officials and supporters of the opposition political party- Peoples Democratic party (PDP) to an extent that even journalists were not spared. "To now watch the DIG tell some wicked lies denying the correct reports of violence in Kano state during the re-run election is therefore very insulting and is nothing short of an unambiguous evidence that the police officials from the top are criminal collaborators with some criminal elements in Kano to undermine and thwart the democratic will of the good people of Kano state. Both INEC and the Police are hereby condemned for these atrocious criminal plots to destroy democracy in Kano and Nigeria through the cocktails of cooked up figures been bandied as outcomes of the badly managed polls". 

HURIWA recalled that the media reports that thousands of weapon carrying hoodlums, majority of whom were wearing the All Progressives Congress, APC, agent’s tag took over the show in Gama ward of Nasarawa Local Government area during the governorship election rerun in Kano.

HURIWA recalled that their members on ground claimed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s supporters were forced into hiding as APC took control of everything even as HURIWA learnt from media reporters that when the reporters visited the flashpoints in Kano  at around 3:30pm they observed massive exodus of those supporting PDP out of the area and a resident, Ya’u Alhaji, told reporters that the hoodlums that took over the streets were brought in to intimidate residents.

HURIWA stated thus: “Aside our members who were on ground who raised alarm, even the foreign amd local media reported some of those voters interviewed as stating that the armed political thugs are not from their area but that they were only here to cause mayhem."

"Residents of Gama disclosed that they have seen a lot of strange faces in the area right from the time of early morning prayer and those ‘strangers’ later took over the streets of Gama brandishing weapons and unleashing terror.It is not possible to identify yourself as PDP member here, not to talk of Agent. You can’t hang any PDP tag here,” a Gama resident stated.It was earlier reported that some journalists were harassed as some of them escaped lynching by the hooligans."

HURIWA has therefore asked INEC to annul the manipulated and violently obtained results of the Kano re-run election and to proceed to announce the already collated results prior to the so called re-run poll and declare a winner since the places for the re-run election do not constitute a good enough reason for voiding the previously collated and announced results. 

HURIWA PRAISES TRIBUNAL ON OSUN GUBER

A prominent Non-Governmental organization – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has applauded the Osun state governorship election petition Tribunal for restoring faith in the judiciary as the last hope of the common man by returning the candidate of the opposition political party- Peoples Democratic Party Senator Ademola Adeleke as winner of the September 27^th  poll.

HURIWA stated that the current administration has carried out systematic attacks against the judiciary using all sorts of backhand tactics and illegally deploying the Department of state services (DSS); and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and lately the Code of Conduct Tribunal presided over by the allegedly compromised Chairman who illegally granted an ex parte order that unconstitutionally unseated the Chief justice of Nigeria Justice Walter Onnoghen all in attempts to cow the judges and get them to always give choreographed verdicts in favour of the party in power at the center. The Rights group said the judgment by the Election Tribunal is reassuringly bold and is in compliance with rule of law.

HURIWA recalled that the Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal had earlier declared Ademola Adeleke of the PDP as the winner of the controversial state election just as the tribunal also declared the September 27 rerun election in the state illegal.

HURIWA recalled that the three-man panel of the Tribunal gave the judgment on Friday following the petition filed by the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ademola Adeleka against the All Progressives Congress, APC and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.

Besides, HURIWA recalled that the Tribunal also ruled that PDP and Adeleke proved that it was the state Returning Officer who cancelled the results in 7 Polling Units, adding that the petitioners also proved that the Returning Officer has no power to cancel election results of a polling unit.

The Tribunal also deducted 2,029 votes from APC scores and 1,246 votes from PDP votes in 17 polling units where there was noncompliance.

HURIWA recalled that delivering the judgment, the panel had a split decision. While two members (majority judgment) ruled in favour of PDP and Ademola; the chairman, Justice Ibrahim Sirajo (minority judgment), ruled in favour of APC and Oyetola.

HURIWA which reacted to the news of the development said the verdict was not just for the opposition political party but was a celebration of the virtues of transparency, accountability and courage just as the group expressed optimism that the judgment will in a very significant way redress the massive injustice meted out to the electorate in Osun state by the corrupt Independent National Electoral Commission  just as the Rights group demanded that the INEC collation officials who thwarted the will of the people be prosecuted for treason.

HURIWA recalled that section 285 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution stated thus: “There shall be established for the Federation one or more election tribunals to be known as the National Assembly Election Tribunals which shall, to the exclusion of any or tribunal, have original jurisdiction to hear and determine petitions as to whether –  (a) any person has been validly elected as a member of the National Assembly; (b) the term of office of any person under this Constitution has ceased; (c) the seat of a member of the Senate or a member of the House of Representatives has vacant; and (d) a question or petition brought before the election tribunal has been properly or improperly brought."

HURIWA has therefore asked that the rightful winner of the Osun state governorship poll as declared by the Tribunal be sworn in immediately and the impostor be dethroned to halt further perpetuation of illegality since he is occupying the office of governor of Osun state fraudulently.

NSCDC Officer’s death: HURIWA calls for total overhaul of policing

A call has gone to Federal Government; the National Assembly and Stakeholders in the organized civil society community to ensure that the groundswell of professional indiscipline in the police force is holistically addressed just as the Rights group has advocated prosecution for murder of all police operatives found to have committed extra-legal killings of Nigerians in conflict with the law.

Making the call is the prominent non-governmental and pro-democracy group – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) which specifically condemned the alleged killing by police operatives of a senior officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps Mr. Ogah Jumbo during an altercation in Nyanya, near Abuja over alleged traffic offence by the late Mr. Jumbo.

The Rights group specifically affirmed that the police operatives who were responsible for this gruesome murder must be arrested and prosecuted for murder. Besides, HURIWA regretted that cases of professional indiscipline has become worrisome within the police force even as the practices of extralegal killings of suspects in Police custodies have become a menace threatening the corporate image of Nigeria which has attracted condemnation from world leaders including the United States of America. HURIWA stated that the poor human rights scorecard of Nigeria under the current dispensation as recorded by the United States of America goes to show that the state of professional indiscipline of the security forces and especially the operatives and officers of the Nigerian police force has reached an unprecedented global dimension requiring surgical overhaul of the modus operandi of the policing institution in the Country. HURIWA said the climate of impunity and lawlessness that pervade the nation's security forces and especially the police force are capable of destroying constitutional democracy and imperil the respect to the fundamental rights of Nigerians as provided for by the legal frameworks and the groundnorm.

In a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA said the Nigeria police force has reached a stage whereby Nigerian state must reform and purge it of all traces and entrenched criminal tendencies of impunity or there would be widespread violence targeting operatives of the policing institution from Nigerians who have suffered cocktails of intimidations, harassments, killings and arbitrary arrests by the police. HURIWA asserted that the police has almost constituted itself into an institution whose leadership are above the law just as the Rights expressed regret that the Nigeria Police force as currently administered lacks transparency and accountability.

HURIWA stated thus: “Only few hours back, the United States Department of State released what it termed evidence of impunity in the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Nigerian government. The State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, in its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2018, said that Nigeria under Buhari, had made little progress in efforts to limit corruption in its public service.”

HURIWA recalled that: "The US Congress makes it mandatory for the executive to produce a report on the state of human rights worldwide every year. The report added that “Although the law provides criminal penalties for conviction of official corruption, the government did not implement the law effectively, and officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.

HURIWA backed the USA in unambiguously stating the verifiable allegations that “There were several reports the government or its agents committed arbitrary and unlawful killings. The national police, army, and other security services used lethal and excessive force to disperse protesters and apprehend criminals and suspects and committed other extrajudicial killings."

HURIWA Stated that it is factual that: “Authorities generally did not hold police, military, or other security force personnel accountable for the use of excessive or deadly force or for the deaths of persons in custody. State and federal panels of inquiry investigating suspicious deaths generally did not make their findings public."

The Rights group further supported the United States of America for stating the obvious when the US state department in the current global human rights reports averred as followed on Nigeria: “In August 2017 the acting president convened a civilian-led presidential investigative panel to review compliance of the armed forces with human rights obligations and rules of engagement, and the panel submitted its findings in February. As of November, no portions of the report had been made public. As of September there were no reports of the federal government further investigating or holding individuals accountable for the 2015 killing and subsequent mass burial of members of the Shia group, Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), and other civilians by Nigerian Army (NA) forces in Zaria, Kaduna State.’"

HURIWA also recalled that the USA's report disclosed that the 2016 nonbinding report of the Kaduna State government’s judicial commission, which found that the Nigerian Army (NA) used “excessive and disproportionate” force during the 2015 altercations in which 348 members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) and one soldier died.

HURIWA has therefore asked the Federal government to immediately arrest and prosecute the police men who gruesomely murdered Mr. Ogah Jumbo of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps just as the Rights group calls for forensic audits of all detention facilities to identify security forces involved in extra judicial killings. HURIWA said that time is of the essence and that time is running out for Nigeria to embark on holistic reformation and overhaul of the Nigeria Police force which stinks of bribery; corruption and lawlessness.

Guber Supplementary: Don’t destroy democracy – HURIWA tells courts; INEC:

Worried about the incessant and sinister abuses of exparte injunctions by judges to undermine the decisions of the Independent National Electoral Commission to proceed with collation of governorship election results in Rivers, Adamawa and Bauchi, the judiciary has been cautioned to check these abuses.

Making the appeal is the leading pro-democracy and non-governmental organization – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) which also asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to scrutinize the financial transactions of the judges who recently gave exparte orders against INEC to see if they were financially induced.

HURIWA said under section 285 of the Nigerian Constitution, the regular courts lacks jurisdiction to entertain post-election litigation even as only the election Tribunal has the constitutional powers to determine any disputes arising from an election that has already been conducted.

Specifically section 285 (1) and (2) states thus: “There shall be established for the Federation one or more election tribunals to be known as the National Assembly Election Tribunals which shall, to the exclusion of any or tribunal, have original jurisdiction to hear and determine petitions as to whether – (a) any person has been validly elected as a member of the National Assembly; (b) the term of office of any person under this Constitution has ceased; (c) the seat of a member of the Senate or a member of the House of Representatives has vacant; and (d) a question or petition brought before the election tribunal has been properly or improperly brought.

(2) There shall be established in each State of the Federation one or more election tribunals to be known as the Governorship and Legislative Houses Election Tribunals which shall, to the exclusion of any court or tribunal, have original jurisdiction to hear and determine petitions as to whether any person has been validly elected to the office of Governor or Deputy Governor or as a member of any legislative house."

HURIWA referred the erring judges to the observations of Mahmud Mohammed, justice of the Supreme Court (as he then was) in the case of Ugwu versus Ararume (2007 12 NWLR (PT 1048) 367 at 511 where he stated thus: “The Electoral Act and Political Party Constitutions must be seen as complementing the Constitution in formulating broader rules, regulations and operation mechanisms for both INEC and the political parties for administrative convenience. Where any such enactment, rules or policies comes into conflict with any section of the Constitution... Politics is not anarchy; it is not disorderliness. It must be punctuated by justice, fairness and orderliness.”

HURIWA also condemned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under Yakubu Mahmood for displaying crass partisanship in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC)  by illegally declaring elections in Kano, Sokoto, Bauchi, Adamawa and Rivers where People’s Democratic Party were at the verge of emerging victorious, as either suspended or inconclusive.

HURIWA calls the judges who slammed ex parte orders stopping INEC from concluding the polls in those states ENEMIES OF DEMOCRACY WHO ARE attempting to create spectacular constitutional crisis and to destroy democracy.

HURIWA recalled that a state High Court in Yola had ordered an injunction restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission from conducting a supplementary governorship election in Adamawa State on 23rd March.

Justice Abdulaziz Waziri of State High Court gave the order following a motion ex parte filed by Movement of Restoration for Defence of Democracy, MRPD.

“I hereby made the following orders: The defendant herein the Independent National Electoral Commission is restrained whether by themselves, their agents, servants, representatives, nominees or any other person from proceeding with the supplementary election with respect to Adamawa State Governorship pending the hearing and determination of Motion on notice,” the judge ordered.

INEC had ordered a rerun in six states, including Adamawa State.

In Adamawa State, electoral commission declared the poll inconclusive after collating results from all the 21 local government areas in the state.

The state returning officer, Andrew Haruna, said the margin of votes between the People’s Democratic Party candidate, Ahmadu Fintiri who score higher votes and his All Progressives Congress counterpart, Governor Muhammad Jibrilla, is lesser than total votes voided in about 40 polling units.

Haruna said there are 40,988 votes that were cancelled in 44 polling units across the state. The margin between the two parties was 32,476.

The case was adjourned to 21st of March for hearing of a motion for Interlocutory injunction.

In Rivers the stakes are high By Emmanuel Onwubiko

“The day is done, and the darkness falls from the wings of night, as a feather is wafted downward from an eagle in his flight”; (“The Day is Done,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).

The first stanza of the aforementioned poem by the American Poet Mr. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow perfectly captures what to expect from the bags of tricks of the unimpressive hierarchy of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) tomorrow March 20^th 2019 as regards the suspended Rivers State’s governorship poll in which the untoward activities of some operatives of the Nigerian Army frustrated its completion.

On March 16^th 2019, the Independent National Electoral Commission said it would continue collation of results in Rivers State but further kept everyone in suspended animation by saying only that it will unveil what would be done on March 20th.

Although no dates were immediately assigned for the resumption of electoral process, the commission said it would on March 20 make available a detailed plan on how the exercise would continue in earnest.

Recall that the collation of results and other activities for Rivers State governorship and other state parliamentary elections were suspended on March 10 following widespread report of violence and other forms of intimidation that prevented electoral officers from seamlessly performing their roles. Many lives were lost needless including soldiers and civilians.

The electoral commission said Nigerian soldiers and some armed gangs contributed to the confrontation that culminated in the charged atmosphere that made it difficult for electoral officers to continue with collation at the state INEC headquarters in Port Harcourt, the state capital, prompting the suspension of all electoral processes on March 10. This show of shame predictably was captured by the World media thus bringing global opprobrium on Nigeria. 

The media reviewers were of the considered opinion that the postponement drove a wedge between major political parties and INEC, with the People’s Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress warning against subversion of the people’s will at the ballot box.

The media alluded to the fact that even the APC, which does not have a candidate in the race following a legal dispute, said the PDP was already losing the election to the candidate of AAC, a party many state residents weren’t familiar with until days to the election. The man being propped up by Rotimi Amaechi to all intents and purpose is an unknown quantity whose latter day affiliation with APC was rejected by the national executive council of his party- a party founded by the activist Omowole Sowore who sees APC as one of the debilitating leprous fingers of Nigerian politics. 

This is how INEC saw what happened:

“On the 10th of March 2019, the commission suspended all electoral processes in Rivers State having determined that there was widespread disruption of collation of results of the elections conducted on the 9th day of March 2019.

Subsequently, the commission set up a fact-finding committee to assess the situation and report back within 48 hours."

"The commission met on the 15th day of March 2019 and considered the report of the committee and established the following: That the governorship and state assembly elections took place in most of the polling units and results were announced; That results from 17 local governments out of 23 were available and are in the commission’s custody; That the declaration and returns for 21 state constituencies out of 32 were made prior to the suspension; That collation centres were invaded by some soldiers and armed gangs resulting in the intimidation and unlawful arrest of election officials thereby disrupting the collation process."

INEC then affirmed thus: "Consequent upon the foregoing, the commission: Expresses its displeasure with the role played by some soldiers and armed gangs in Rivers State disrupting the collation process and attempting to subvert the will of the people; Is committed to expeditious completion of the collation process where results of the elections have been announced; Will engage the security agencies at national level and the inter-agency consultative committee at the state level to demand neutrality and professionalism of security personnel in order to secure a peaceful environment for the completion of the elections; Will also engage with key stakeholders in Rivers State with a view to ensuring a smooth and peaceful completion of the process; Will issue detailed timelines and activities for the completion of the election on Wednesday, March 20th, 2019.”

The truth remains that the stakes are so high because Rivers is the most prosperous of the few crude oil producing states in Nigeria and is administered by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which is the leading national opposition party.

Besides, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had defeated the All Progressives Congress in the 2015 governorship poll which resulted in the emergence of the activist minister of education Mr. Nyesom Wike to assume the mantle of governor of Rivers State.

Wike displaced the political godson of the immediate past Governor Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi who is inevitably one of the top most respected leaders and financiers of the All Progressives Congress which went on in 2015 to sweep away the then central government controlled by the PDP.

Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was the Director General of the Muhammadu Buhari’s presidential campaign in both 2014/2015 and again during this just concluded presidential polls.

But more importantly, the current federal administration has special interest in Rivers State going by its pride of place in the economy of the country even as the state is uniquely positioned as one of the most commercially viable sub-entities in the Federation. 

The PDP led administration of Nyesom Wike seems to have tightened its stronghold on the state going by the extensively acknowledged infrastructural milestones achieved in the last four years. Even the Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbanjo called Governor Nyesom Wike Mr. Projects because of the sheer quantum of intensive capital infrastructural projects being implemented by the Rivers State government under the current dispensation.

But the ongoing electoral process in Rivers State has been marred by cocktails of violence occasioned by the unlawful interferences, according to INEC of some armed security forces. 

The Minister of Transportation Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is fingered as having allegedly paraded the streets of Port Harcourt with battalions of armed soldiers on the day of the election but he has denied this allegation.

INEC repeated the indictment of the Army.

Ironically, the Rivers election fiasco has pitted the Army against the Independent National Electoral Commission even as the Army has also got serial bashing from the international community regarding their illegal direct interferences with the collation of the Rivers state’s governorship result.

On another hand, the Rivers election has also opened another battle line between the Army and the Police.

A reading of the reaction of the Army to the indictment made by INEC shows how critical the governorship election in Rivers has become.

Following the unprofessional conduct of some military personnel during the March 9, 2019 governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections, especially the invasion of the collation centre in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it did not request for the deployment of soldiers in its collation centres.

“I am not aware that the commission requested for the deployment of soldiers in collation centres,” INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of Voter Education and Publicity Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye, told the media recently. 

He said the commission would, therefore, hold high level meetings with the leadership of security agencies before the conduct of supplementary elections scheduled for Saturday to avoid a repeat of what happened in the earlier elections. That meeting held but the verbal exchanges and acrimonies have not abetted. 

In what is the most disturbing institutional confrontation between three central agencies, the Army issued a clear rebuttal on the indictments by INCE hanging on its neck like the sword of Damocles.

Headquarters 6 Division Nigerian Army (NA) said they have observed with dismay and sense of betrayal in the statement made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) signed by its National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee Festus Okoye Esq. on 15 March 2019. The statement according to INEC was the findings of its Fact-Finding Committee that assessed the situation in Rivers State.

The Army said: "It is however pertinent to note that, representatives of the 6 Division met with the Fact-Finding Committee on Tuesday 12 March 2019 at the INEC Headquarters in Port Harcourt and had honest discussions and made a written submission to aid the Committee in its task. Regrettably, none of the Division’s input from any of the findings of INEC as made public. This clearly indicates lack of trust by an institution that the NA sacrifices so much to assist in the course of performing their role."

According to the Army, the genesis of the suspension of Governorship/State House of Assembly elections process in Rivers State is unrelated to their action. 

Hear the Army: "What INEC failed to mention or even consider is the fact that at about 10:30 pm on Saturday 9th March 2019, troops of 6 Division NA detailed at the outer perimeter of Obio/Akpor Local Government Headquarters Collation Center were brazenly attacked by Governor Wike’s security aides and armed thugs who stormed the collation center with the Governor in a convoy of more than 50 vehicles while collation of results was going on. In the ensuing melee, Captain Adams Salami was shot at close range by the security aides of Governor Wike while Corporal Adeosun Adebayo was matcheted by Governor Wike’s thugs. Both victims are currently receiving treatment at University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) Intensive Care Unit and Military Hospital Port Harcourt respectively with life threatening injuries. Thereafter, election materials were carted away and electoral officials abducted by the Governor’s thugs to an unknown destination. This was made known to the INEC Fact-Finding Committee but INEC does not see it worth condemning or mention in its report."

"Consequently, after due consultations and considerations between 6 Division and the Rivers State Police Command on Sunday the 10th of March 2019, the Rivers State Police Command, on their own, – took the initiative to invite the media to the hospitals where the 2 victims are receiving treatment and thereafter to host a press conference on the matter with the view to dissociate itself from the unprofessional conduct exhibited by their men attached to Wike and tell the public what disciplinary action the command will take or is already taking. However, while the visit to the victims was accomplished and the 2 victims interviewed by the media, the press conference was aborted by the Police after journalists have been assembled."

"Coincidentally, a rescheduled press conference on the matter was also aborted on Thursday the 14th of March 2019. Most disheartening is that while the Rivers State Police Command accepts the involvement of their personnel in the attack at Obio/Akpor LG Headquarters, till date those personnel have not at least been reprimanded."

"To this end, – in the circumstance, – the 6 Division NA as a stakeholder in the 2019 General Elections takes exception to the lopsided and therefore unfair INEC report and is hereby strongly and totally rejected by the NA."

"The Division is equally disappointed with the attitude exhibited by the Nigerian Police in this regard and hereby request the police leadership to commence full scale investigation of those security aides to Governor Wike that attacked troops at the Obio/Akpor LG Headquarters Collation Center and shot at Capt AA Salami with a view to appropriately sanction those found responsible/culpable. Until that is done, Headquarters 6 Division NA will have to review all existing joint activities with the Rivers State Police Command." These statements were made by the Deputy PRO of the Army in Rivers state. 

To be honest, this is not how to run a government at the center. The entire scenarios need to be investigated and operatives found to have obstructed the collation of the results be arrested and prosecuted. INEC in matters of election is the direct supervisory agency. The Army which is lawfully conducting its internal security operations cannot lawfully be directly involved in the actual conduct of the election. To even get into confrontation with the police and INEC says a lot regarding why the Army chief of Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai should transparently ensure that indicted armed operatives are named, shamed, prosecuted and sanctioned appropriately. Nobody is above the law. If the Army has valid proofs of its allegation against anyone then let the law take its full course but in this Rivers debacle the Nigerian Army has been indicted severally. The Army should do inward clean up exercise.

The governor of Rivers state Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike through his commissioner for information Barrister Emma Okah flatly denied the allegations of the Army made against the governor and stated that the Army has entangled itself in a web of unprofessional conducts and therefore is frantically searching for whom to transfer their well-deserved self-inflicted blame on.  

*Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko is the head of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria and blogs @ www.huriwanigeria.com; www.huriwa.blogspot.com; www.emmanuelonwubiko.com; www.thenigerianinsidernews.com.