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. 

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.

Imo’s IberibeExit; Unlike Brexit By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Imo is a state in the South East of Nigeria.

In the traffic parlance, Imo is known as the heartland of the East. The State has consistently produced the highest percentage of students enlisting for both the Secondary school certificate qualifying examinations and the University's matriculation examinations known as JAMB. In the last decade, Imo state students have performed as some of the finest brains in the last qualifying examinations. The State is one of those whose mainstay is virtually the educational sector to an extent that it has a state owned university that can boast of attracting students from as far as Ghana; Bemin Republic and Sokoto state just as it houses the most highly rated tertiary institutions such as the Federal Polytechnics; the Federal University of Technology and one of the finest colleges of education that is degree awarding and with first class affiliation with one of Nigeria's best rated University of Nigeria. Imo has some of the highest numbers of female lawyers just as it can be stated without any fear of empirical contradictions that there is no village in all of Imo State without an academic professor. The state was in the times of military dictatorship known as the state with the highest percentage of public petition writers to an extent that those who govern the state were usually mindful of the public and private conducts. But the people of the state have lost the motivation for petition writing thereby emboldening politicians to turn the state to a state of poverty and gross underdevelopment.

Imo state in terms of politics has been lucky and unlucky at the same time.

Imo state is very lucky to have produced a governor who has entered the pantheons of political history as the best in terms of infrastructure and human capital development known as Dee Sam Onunaka Mbakwe. It was Mbakwe that started the building from scratch of the now prestigious Sam Mbakwe Cargo airport. It was Mbakwe that replicated the aggressive agroallied industry that marked Imo state out then as the food basket of Nigeria. It was Mbakwe that introduced policy frameworks for massive rural infrastructural advancements and encouraged community self-reliant economy. Imo people will not forget Samuel Mbakwe in a hurry. He has a special peide of place in Imo state history.

In Igbo cosmology, the appellation ‘Dee’ or Uncle in English just like its relatively connected term known as ‘Mazi’ is a title that only revered elders are entitled to by virtue of their accomplishments that are beneficial existentially and empirically to the greatest number of people. In Arondizuogu, someone whose father is alive can't bear the title of Mazi but will only be called NwaMazi. This is grounded in the African value system of respect for elders.

In the same vein, you can’t be identified as ‘Dee’ or Mazi in the real sense of it if you are not a worshipper of the ‘goddess’ of truth.

What do I mean by being worshipper of the goddess of truth? This precisely has no relationship or nexus with idol worship but simply implies that you must be somebody who is honest in bad and good times.

In that context as aforementioned, the man Dee Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe is today recognized nationally as the best governor to have come from the East just like the wise men from the East recorded in the Christian Holy Bible. He remains the benchmark and reference point when discussing good governance standards.

He was a governor in a political platform that did not control the federal government but he was able in the late 70’s to early 80’s to implement aggressive developmental blueprints that saw to the evolution of several projects in the then Imo state which comprised of present day Abia, part of Ebonyi and the entire Imo state as it is now.

Also, Imo state has been unlucky to have churned out in quick succession, a bunch of never-do-wells and opportunistic political predators as governors and legislators since after Sam Mbakwe who took turn to remarkably under develop the state to a sorry state.

The last eight years has however become particularly remarkable in the sense that the state has gone from bad to worse due to crass misgovernance and outright looting of the priceless resources of the state.

Imo state in the last eight years has become a laughing stock in the Nigerian nation to a ridiculous extent that it has become a reference point on how bad governance can increasingly result in a failed state.

Imo state under Rochas Okorocha reached such a low that it has become one of the biggest heavily indebted states in the federation to an extent that it may take Imo state almost half a century to recover from the consequences of governor Rochas’s misgovernance.

“The Debt Management Office (DMO), recently said the domestic debt stock of the country’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) stood at N3.5 trillion as at the first half of 2018 (H1’18).

The figure indicates that the states and FCT increased their debt stock by about N200 billion or 6.0 percent over the N3.3 trillion recorded at the end of December 2017.

According to data released by DMO on its website, Lagos State has the highest debt stock at N517 billion or 17 percent of the total debt stock of states.

The data showed the domestic debt stock of the other states among the top five during the period under review are: Delta (N223 billion), Rivers (N191 billion), Akwa Ibom (N179 billion), and Osun (N136 billion).

The states with five lowest debts are: Anambra (N2.6 billion), Sokoto (N25 billion), Yobe (N27 billion), Kastina (N31 billion), while Ebonyi and Jigawa States have N34 billion each.

The other states are: Abia (N57 billion), Adamawa (N67 billion), Bauchi (N78 billion), Bayelsa (N123 billion), Benue (N93 billion), Borno (N78 billion), cross river (N125 billion), Edo (N69 billion), Ekiti (N118 billion),   Enugu (N61 billion),   Gombe (N42 billion),   Imo (N85 billion),   Kaduna (N76 billion),   Kano (N95 billion),   Kebbi (N54 billion), Kogi (N114 billion, Kwara (N40 billion), Nasarawa (N70 billion), Niger (N40 billion), Ogun (N105 billion), Ondo (N51 billion), Oyo (N88 billion), Plateau (N122 billion), Taraba (N60 billion), Zamfara (N70 billion) and FCT (N94 billion).” As we speak Imo state has surpassed Lagos state.

It is for this poor governance status of the Rochas Okorocha administration that millions of Imo state indigenes resolutely decided to vote out the self-imposed governorship successor and the Son in law od Rochas who incidentally was for over 5 years the defector deputy governor even though he occupied the post of Chief of staff but in real terms he called the shots much better than the deputy governor. He has allegedly amassed so much wealth by virtue of his closeness to the governor who is his father in law. Most people alleged that he has amassed a lot of assets both within and without the State even when in reality he never worked anywhere else since after his youth service. Rochas introduced the term IBERIBERISM to ascribe to those who think he isn't performing optimally but that terms which means foolishness has come to define his eight years stint in office. Imo people say his administration is styled after IBERIBERISM and therefor the voters decided to reject him which in effect marked the end of IBERIBERISM IN Imo state with the landslide victory of Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP against Rochas's Son in law of the Action Alliance party. Imo has therefore made history by resolving to end IBERIBERISM and indeed achieved IBERIBEXIT. Imo state voters have achieved what even the British government and people can't achieve in over three years because the policy of BREXIT is becoming the albatross of the Theresa May's government. 

UK Prime Minister Theresa May had to resort to all kinds of last minites tactics and recently called on British lawmakers to “come together” and vote her Brexit deal through, following months of uncertainty and division.

“I am convinced that the time to define ourselves by how we voted in 2016 must now end” May wrote in a Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper, referring to the country’s referendum on membership of the EU.

“We can only put those old labels aside if we stand together as democrats and patriots, pragmatically making the honourable compromises necessary to heal division and move forward.”

In the article, May argued her deal “honours the result of the referendum, addresses the hopes and fears of all sides, and is the very best deal negotiable with the EU.”

She said its rejection by MPs, who have twice voted it down by a massive margin, had opened up “a range of undesirable alternatives,” including the risk that the UK could crash out of the EU without a deal.

“Voting against no deal does not of itself change the legal reality that, as things stand, a failure to agree a deal ultimately means we leave without one,” the Prime Minister cautioned adding that without an agreement “the way ahead is one of uncertainty and ongoing, perhaps permanent, division.”

One rebel conservative MP, Esther McVey – who resigned from May’s Cabinet in order to vote against the government on Brexit – said yesterday she would now support the PM’s deal.

“Theresa May – the government and parliament – connived to take ‘No deal’ off the table,” McVey told sky’s Sophy Ridge yesterday, meaning that the choice MPs face is now Mays deal or “no Brexit.”

Therefore, Imo state people should be praised for making a decision to end IBERIBERISM and for following through with this resolution. It is hoped that the incoming government of Emeka Ihedioha will never take Imo state back to the era of IBERIBERISM which has crippled development in Imo state which has potentials for becoming a pivotal state for rapid technological advances and innovation in Africa. Imo state shall never return to the Years of the ROCHAS'S LOCUSTS.

*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.

The Martyrs of Rivers Polls By Emmanuel Onwubiko

The word martyr connotes a religious Icon who attains the lofty height by virtue of the person’s insistence on sticking to the truth as revealed by his/her religion and by so doing pays the supreme price.

A Martyr as defined by www.biblestudytools.com is very simple and straightforward thus: “someone who bears witness of the truth, and suffers death in the cause of Christ” Acts 22:20; Revelation 2:13; 17:6). Six hundred or so years after organized Christianity emerged, Islamic religion came on board. Islam also recognizes the place of martyrs.

However, our intervention today is not theological nor is it an essay about those Iconic figures in the organized religions of Christianity and Islam going by the fact that all religions recognize the place of a Martyr in their historical contexts.

But we are talking of some Nigerians who were gruesomely killed during the just conducted general elections in all parts of Nigeria with very specific focus on Rivers state which is the epicenter of the election related killings.

Rivers is also an interesting area of focus because of two heavy weights belonging to the two heavyweight politics parties of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC). 

These figures have large amount of political followerships that cut across the political space known as Rivers state just as these are the former and current governors of Rivers in the persons of Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and the respected learned gentleman known as Nyesom Wike.

The 2019 elections in Rivers State were anything but peaceful especially because of the contending forces who wrestled for the control of the politics of Rivers state even as the unclear role of the armed security forces has become a pivotal thematic area of interesting national and global conversations.

In this instance, those who were killed were not necessarily limited to politicians but even from amongst soldiers, some fine soldiers suffered casualties of these violent episodes that characterized the exercise to an extent that the electoral commission has openly indicted the Army of disrupting the governorship poll in Rivers state.

However, of utmost interest is the violent and criminal conspiracy of the police operatives under the notorious appendage of FSARS which is an offshoot of the widely rejected special Armed Robbery Squad of the Nigerian Police Force which was recently abolished following widespread outcry about their misconducts. Remember that SARS were accused of harbouring mostly hardened armed robbers.

Already, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has called on the Acting Inspector General of Police, Abubakar Adamu, to institute a probe into the alleged involvement of the Commander of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in the state, Akin Fakorede, and operatives of the squad, in the killing and harassment of agents of the party during the suspended governorship and state House of Assembly elections in the state. This writer offered two nights of nightmares after watching the verified video of how an agent of the Rivers State governor was felled and killed gruesomely by these policemen.

This is coming as the party has commended the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, for instituting a panel to probe the alleged invasion of polling units and collation centres by soldiers in the state and the plot to assassinate the state Governor, Nyesom Wike.

The state Chairman of PDP, Felix Obuah, while addressing journalists in Port Harcourt, said one of the victims of the alleged attack by SARS operatives, Dr. Ferry Gberegbe, has died while several others who were critically wounded are battling for their lives in hospitals.

Obuah said: “We also commend the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Yusuf Tukur Buratai for inaugurating the Major General TA Gagariga-led committee to probe the allegations of misconduct, including the assassination attempt on our Governor, His Excellency Nyesom Ezenwo Wike by soldiers during the 2019 general election.

“We wish to assure the Chief of Army Staff that the PDP will appear, present and prove before the committee with facts and evidence of the atrocities committed by his soldiers against the electoral process and the people of Rivers State before, during and after the 2019 general election.

“In the same vein, we wish to call on the Acting Inspector General of Police, Mr. Abubakar Mohammed Adamu to institute a similar panel to probe the brazen involvement of the Rivers State Commander of F-SARS, Mr. Akin Fakorode and his gang of police operatives in the organized invasion of polling units, collation centres, abduction of electoral officers and the shooting and killing of innocent persons during the general election at Khana, Gokana, Ikwerre, Eleme, Tai, Oyigbo and Ogu/Bolo LGAs of the State.

“As we speak, one of the victims of Akin Fakorode’s assault, Dr. Ferry Gberegbe, a senior lecturer at the Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic has died of gunshot wounds, while Mr. Marvin Lezor Kpea-ue, Raymond Ledogo and several persons are presently battling with life-threatening injuries inflicted on them by Akin Fakorode and his murderous gang.

“We wish to reiterate that Mr. Akin Fakorede has over the years become a recurrent obstacle to the peaceful conduct of general election in Rivers State; and he does so with provocative bravado and criminality.

“It is on record that Mr. Akin Fokorode was copiously indicted by INEC’s investigative panel for direct interference and involvement in the violence and rigging that characterized the December 10, 2016 and August 18, 2018 legislative houses re-run elections in Rivers State.

“Unfortunately and to the consternation of law abiding citizens, because nothing has been done to bring him to justice, Mr. Akin Fakorode continues to revel in his criminally culpable assault against our electoral system and the people of Rivers State and getting away with willful assault, murder and criminal violence as if he is above the law.

“This time around, it is our hope and prayer that Akin Fakorode must not escape justice for his numerous crimes against the electoral system and the people of Rivers State, which can only happen with his arrest, investigation and trial as the law demands. Otherwise, such acts of impunity and disregard for the laws of our country will not stop.”

This writer is therefore calling for an independent inquiry of all these dastardly criminal acts of the men in uniform.

Relatedly, the Nigerian Army said it lost an officer to the election violence in Rivers State, adding that six other persons were shot dead during an ambush of troops by alleged assailants in Abonema, Akuku Toru LGA.

The deaths, which occurred during the presidential and National Assembly elections in the state, have drawn the ire of the state Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, who has vowed to seek justice for those killed.

The United States Consul-General to Nigeria, Mr. John Bray, has, however, called for an end to the violent conflicts in the state.

The army, which denied allegations that it planned to assassinate Wike, accused the governor of offering the GOC 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Jamil Sarham, millions of dollars in bribe, also charged the Chairman of Akuku Toru LGA, Mr. Rowland Sekibo, of masterminding the attack on troops.

An army statement signed by its spokesman, Col. Sagir Musa, said: “The pre-planned attack occurred in between Charles and Bob-Manuel’s compounds in Abonema Town about 1.00 pm on February 23, 2019″

“The attackers barricaded a major road into the town and laid an ambush in the adjoining built-up areas from where they opened fire on our unsuspecting troops when they attempted to remove the barricade.

“The gallant troops fought their way through the siege and in the process killed six of the assailants.  However, we lost a lieutenant and two soldiers were wounded in the encounter.

“Preliminary investigation indicated that one Roland Sekibo, – the Chairman, Akuku Toru LGA, Omodo; the CSO Akuku Toru LGA and Kenneth Kula, currently at large, were the masterminds of the unexpected and unprovoked attack.

“To this end, the Nigerian Army strongly hereby states that perpetrators of this ambush will be made to face the full wrath of the law.”

Meanwhile, the army in another statement, accused Wike of making offers of millions of dollars in bribe to which Sarham rejected, maintaining that his assassination claim was unsubstantiated.

It said: “Some of his rancorous claims were that the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 6 Division, Maj. Gen. Jamil Sarham, purportedly sent troops to cordon off his residence prior to the rescheduled general elections on February 15, 2019.

“The governor further went on to allege an assassination attempt on his life, which he claimed was orchestrated by the GOC 6 Division.

“The Nigerian Army is appalled that a governor who should epitomize leadership and good example in all senses could descend so low to employ smear campaign against the person of a GOC whose only responsibility amongst other things is about the safety and security of lives and property in his area of responsibility.”

But responding to the allegations, the Special Assistant to Wike on Electronic Media, Mr. Simeon Nwakaudu, said they were not only false, but a diversionary tactic to exonerate the GOC and his men from the atrocities they committed in the state.

Nwakaudu stressed that by his actions, Sarham showed that he has no respect for human lives, democracy and the rule of law.

He added that the lies are aimed at enabling them to hatch more false allegations to justify their killing of innocent people of the state in the next elections.

“In the coming days, the GOC and other criminal elements will hatch more false allegations to justify their unpatriotic killing of innocent Rivers people for the political advantage of their sponsors,” he said.

The United Kingdom has indicted the Army of violent conducts during the polls.

Meanwhile, the United States Consul-General to Nigeria, Mr. John Bray, has called for an end to violence in the state.

Addressing journalists at the Government House, Port Harcourt after a meeting with Wike, the diplomat decried the violence that greeted the polls in some parts of the state.

 The American envoy told journalists: “I am here as an international observer.  We have been watching elections in Rivers State.

“I am not here to grade elections or anything like that. I am just here to say that there has been enough violence.

 “Enough people have died. I am here today to speak with all the different candidates and party leaders.”

Also addressing journalists later in Port Harcourt, Wike declared that the state government would pursue justice for all those murdered in cold blood by  soldiers of the Nigerian Army, allegedly recruited by the APC to unleash mayhem on PDP members  in Abonema and other towns  during presidential and National Assembly elections.

The governor said all those involved in the cold blooded murder of innocent Rivers people to feather the presidential ambition of their benefactor would not go unpunished.

He particularly berated the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi; the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Jamil Sarham; and the Federal Special Anti-robbery Squad (FSARs) Commander, Mr. Akin Fakorede, for their roles in the murder of Rivers people during the elections.

He said: “Let it be known that those who masterminded the murderous assault on Abonema and other communities in Rivers State last Saturday have bloodstains on their hands, for which they are all answerable before the Almighty God.

 “I wish to assure all and sundry that we shall as a government pursue justice for the families of the victims against the perpetrators of the mayhem, killings and destructions in Abonema, Buguma, Degema and other places no matter how powerful they may seem and how long it may take.”

 Wike called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately direct the army to pull out of Abonema, so that the people can resume their normal lives.

The army has continued the lock down of Abonema Community in Akuku Toru LGA following the death of a soldier and six others in the community.

An ad hoc electoral officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Ms. Ibisiki Amachree, has been reportedly killed by a stray bullet in River State.

The Commission did not elaborate on the incident which it described as “serious fatality in Rivers State,” saying it happened on Saturday during the presidential and National Assembly polls, however.

Another INEC employee was arrested by security agencies over alleged infractions in the presidential and National Assembly elections held on Saturday.

The Commission promised to review the performance of security agencies after the elections and see how to improve on its security architecture.

The chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this during a press briefing held at the National Collation Centre in Abuja.

According to him, voting has either started or has been concluded today (Sunday) in some places in Abia, Bayelsa, Benue, Bayelsa and Gombe states where there had been malfunctioning of smart card readers.

“We are also awaiting reports from Imo, and some parts of Lagos, particularly Okota; and also Osun state and we have lodged a complaint with security agencies.

“We have recorded serious fatality in Rivers State and one of our ad hoc staff (Ms. Ibisiki Amachree) was killed by alleged stray bullet.

“This is not the right time for postmortem. This is not the right time to assess institutions and security agencies. We will review the situations after the elections and see how to improve on our security architecture.”

Few hours back INEC named the Army as being responsible for disrupting the governorship poll in Rivers State. I call on the Army to fish out the armed operatives who committed these atrocities and prosecute them. This is not a conflict between the Army and governor Wike because Wike is law abiding. He recognizes the Army as a professional institution. Also those who killed the Army operatives must be arrested and prosecuted. FSARS operatives who were captured killing the agent in Rivers state should be punished.

*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.