The hope of the South East region producing the next president in 2023 could be thwarted as the insecurity caused by the activities of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the paramilitary wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a pro-Biafra separatist movement, continues in the region.
Security sources who spoke with LEADERSHIP said the gruesome activities in ESN camps are enormous and there is urgent need to tackle this menace.
Just last week, gunmen suspected to be members of ESN killed eight traders in Abia market at New Cattle market in Omuma-Uzo in Ukwa West local government area of Abia State.
Abia State commissioner for information, Eze Chikamnayo, who confirmed the incident, said gunmen attacked traders at the cattle market on February 15, at about 11:35pm.
The commissioner said the government responded swiftly by mobilising security agencies to the scene to secure the lives and property of the traders and fish out the assailants.
Speaking on attacks like this, the source said this is unsettling the security apparatuses in the country and causing tensions in other regions.
The source, however, said there are already plans underground to ensure that the South East does not produce the next president as there are fears of escalation of ESN activities if someone from the region becomes president.
To salvage the situation, the source said leaders from the region must come out and condemn the alleged criminal activities of ESN and IPOB.
Former Senate president and secretary to the government of the federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, is one of the prominent persons from the southeast contesting the presidency in 2023. Our source claimed that he may have fallen out with his major supporter, the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, but Anyim is still going on with his ambition.
Though there are some cases of alleged corruption against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Anyim is still a prominent voice in southeast hoping to be president come 2023.
The Coalition of Northern Groups in Nigeria (CNG) and the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) have condemned the gruesome murder of the traders.
CNG spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said the state government must act quickly to bring the culprits to book even as he warned that the North would no longer tolerate unwarranted attacks on its people living as minorities in the South East or any other part of the country.
“We have studied the unfolding events carefully and with considerable restraint and maturity to the point of condoning and accommodating several unreasonable and unacceptable actions that have been perpetrated against northerners in the South East in particular.
“The recent attack in Abia has taken matters to a point whereby silence has become complicity and inaction is no longer an option in the face of unprovoked evictions, attacks and killings of northerners in various parts of the South East,” he said.
On his part, the national president of the AYCF, Yerima Shettima, said the group was deeply concerned about the killing of the traders doing their legitimate businesses.
While condemning the attack, he welcomed the prompt response of security agencies and urged the state government to pursue its promise to bring the killers to book, in the spirit of national unity and stability.
He said: “The AYCF will be closely following the efforts of the Abia State government to fulfill its promise of providing compensation for the families and survivors of the attack. We pray this should be the last bad news we would hear about innocent northern traders, from not just Abia but the entire South East, in the spirit of national unity and stability.”
Meanwhile, the Imo State governor, Hope Uzodinma, had commended security agencies for arresting about 30 suspected kidnappers who he described as ‘cannibals.
Ongoing insecurity in the S/E Not Enough To Deny It Presidency, Says Ohanaeze
However, the apex Igbo social-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo yesterday insisted that the current insecurity in the South East was not enough to deny the zone the presidency in 2023.
Spokesman of Ohanaeze, Alex Ogbonnia disclosed this in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP in Enugu.
Ogbonnia insisted that what was happening in the Northern part of Nigeria before Nigerians decided to concede the presidency to President Muhammadu Buhari cannot be compared with what is happening in the South East now.
He further pointed out that by the time Nigerians conceded presidency to the South West, they were in agitation over the issue of the late Abiola’s presidency and that the presidency was yielded to them as part of ways to compensate them over the issue.
Ogbonnia further stated that there was serious youth restiveness in the South South when Nigerians conceded the vice president to the zone.
He therefore insisted that over 99 percent of people of the South East are agitating for president of South East extraction, adding the less than one percent making negative impact cannot nullify the interest of the majority
Tasks Ahead Of 2023 Elections Challenging – INEC
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has described the task ahead of 2023 and other off-cycle elections in the country as challenging.
This is even as the nation’s electoral body noted that it will continue to raise the bar of credible elections in Nigeria. INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said this during a meeting to welcome six new national commissioners and to swear in a resident electoral commissioner in Abuja yesterday.
He, however, urged them to quickly settle in and familiarise themselves with the rules, procedures, and responsibilities of their offices.
Yakubu also urged them to uphold the tenets of integrity, rule of law, and service to the nation in the discharge of their duties.
“Our success in this arduous task draws largely from our integrity as election managers. We must be strict in the application of the law, firm in handling the public trust bestowed on us, and fair in our dealings with political parties, candidates and other stakeholders and all Nigerians,” he told the new members of the election management body.
Shortly after administering the oath of office on the new national commissioner, Olaniyi Babalola Ijalaye, a legal practitioner from Ondo State, the INEC chairman deployed him to Ogun State as the new resident electoral commissioner (REC).
He said, “The current REC for Ogun State, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, is redeployed to Lagos State where a vacuum was created with the appointment of Mr Sam Olumekun, the immediate past REC of the state as one of the new national commissioners.”
The other newly sworn-in members of the Commission are Mrs May Agbamuche-Mbu, Malam Mohammed Haruna, Mr Kenneth Nnamdi Ukeagu, Prof. Rhoda Gumus, and Maj. Gen. Modibbo Abubakar Alkalu (retd.)
Yakubu noted that four of them were not new to the Commission.
He said “Agbamuche-Mbu, a lawyer, and Malam Mohammed Haruna, a journalist, have been re-appointed to serve for a second term.
“Olumekun, a retired civil servant, has served for two terms as Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in many states, including Lagos, while Mr Kenneth Nnamdi Ukeagu has been a career staff of the Commission, rising to the rank of director.
“The other two national commissioners are Gumus, a professor of Engineering, and Alkali, a retired major general of the Nigerian Army.”
The INEC boss said that the newly appointed and reappointed officials bring to the Commission their cumulative experiences in diverse fields that will no doubt strengthen the work of the Commission for the reform of the electoral process and the conduct of free, fair, and credible elections.
With the current appointment, he said the Commission now has the full complement of 12 national commissioners.
“In discharging our enormous responsibilities, we must abide by our oaths of office. We must continue to defend the choice made by Nigerians at the polls by protecting the sanctity of the vote without which the value of democratic election is diminished,” he added.
Electoral Bill Will Be Signed In Days, Not Weeks – Adesina
Meanwhile, the special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media, Femi Adesina, has stated that the President will assent to the electoral Bill in a matter of days.
Adesina stated this at the 21st Century Chronicle Roundtable with the theme “Going for Broke: Fighting Insecurity in Nigeria.”
He cautioned politicians against heating up the polity and pointe out that people had commenced campaigns against the laid-down rules, even as he remarked that election in Nigeria is a natural tension generator.
He called for sanctions on those breaching the law by campaigning.
“Campaign had already started against the laid-down rules; it started as early as the second term of the president began. Today it is now worse as people are crisscrossing the country. I think those jumping the gun should be penalized.
“It is very important we should follow the rules; when INEC says we should start campaigns we should. It pays nobody to generate tension. Like I said, the electoral bill would be signed in a matter of hours. It could be days but certainly not weeks.
The 2023 election would show if we are improving or have not learnt anything,” he added. (Leadership NG)
