There is anxiety in the air as 84 million Nigerians who have been registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) cast their votes in the presidential and National Assembly polls tomorrow.
The exercise, which is the 6th presidential election since the return of Nigeria to democratic system of government in 1999, is a crucial one given the fact that it is a choice between continuity, which the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is canvassing, and change, as espoused by the major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
It was the reverse four years ago when the PDP was the ruling party.
Although over 73 political parties produced their presidential candidates in the race to the 2019 general elections, many of them have withdrawn from the contest.
Observers believe the presidential election would be mainly between President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the PDP.
What makes the contest between the duo interesting is that unlike the 2015 presidential election which polarised North and South, the 2019 presidential election will be strictly a northern affair as both Buhari and Atiku, who are in their 70s, are northerners and Muslims.
Another interesting angle is that both have Christians and Southerners as running mates.
While Buhari has retained Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who hails from the South-West, Atiku opted for Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, who is from the South-East.
Other presidential candidates who have promised to give both Buhari and Atiku a run for their money are Kingsley Moghalu, ex-Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of Young Progressives Party (YPP); Omoyele Sowore, Publisher of Sahara Reporters of African Action Congress (AAC); Fela Durotoye of Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), and Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, former Publicity Secretary of the PDP, who is running on the platform of the Peoples Trust (PT), the party endorsed by a coalition of Nigeria’s civil society organisations also known as the ‘Third Force’ movement.
Some key issues that will shape the elections, according to analysts, are restructuring, economy, fight against insurgency, war on corruption, foreign relations and, above all, whether Nigerians want a change in government or wants to put their destinies in the hands of the present government for another four years.
Atiku Will Defeat Buhari — Adebanjo
Speaking with Daily Independent on his expectations, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, elder statesman and Afenifere leader, said there was no way President Buhari could win re-election if the election was free, fair and credible.
He, however, predicted that there might be rigging, burning of INEC offices, or deliberate arrest of members of the opposition by the ruling party in a bid to manipulate the election in their favour.
“There can be rigging by attacking INEC office unnecessarily and closing it down to cause confusion. There can be arrest of the members of the opposition.
“There can be rigging directly and constructively by the ruling party to show power. But I am confident that if the election is free and fair, Buhari is gone,” Adebanjo said.
Buhari’s Victory Will Be Landslide — Sagay
However, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), predicted that the election would be peaceful except for some troubles spots in the South-East.
Sagay said he believes members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) were behind the inferno that consumed the office of INEC in Awka, Anambra State.
About 4,695 smart card readers which were to be used for the general elections were consumed in the inferno.
Speaking with Daily Independent, Sagay said: “The elections will be peaceful. There may be some problems in the South-East where IPOB is causing problem.
“My suspicion is that IPOB are the ones who have been burning the card readers. I think they are the ones. They will make some troubles but, otherwise, it will be peaceful nationwide.
“Buhari’s victory will be landslide, huge landslide. He will bury Atiku and that will be the end of him. He will also bury Obasanjo and that will be the last time he will poke out his nose on what doesn’t concern him,” Sagay said.
FG Faults PDP’s PVT
In a related development, the Federal Government has warned the PDP not to throw Nigeria into anarchy out of its desperation to grab power at all cost, saying Nigeria’s unity and survival overrides any party’s ambition.
Briefing newsmen in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Thursday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the ongoing attempt by the PDP to discredit the results of the yet-to-be-held elections is an invitation to anarchy.
He said the latest manifestation of PDP’s avowed determination to discredit the results of the 2019 elections is the statement credited to the opposition party that it lacks confidence in INEC and the party’s decision to set up what it calls the Parallel Voting Tabulation (PVT) system.
“Consistently, the PDP has been attacking the two national institutions that are most pivotal to the elections – the INEC and the police.
“This is part of the party’s strategy to erode confidence in the institutions, preparatory to faulting the outcome of the elections.
“We have also been calling national and international attention to this strategy by the PDP. We warned that the PDP would do everything to scuttle the polls, failing which the opposition party would work to discredit the results.
“The persistent accusation of planned rigging of the polls, which is not evidence-based, the not-so-subtle threat of violence issued by the PDP at its press conference on Wednesday, and the setting up of the PVT are all geared to achieve one objective: discredit the election results,” Alhaji Mohammed said.
He said while it was standard practice for political parties to have their own monitoring system during elections, what the PDP intends to achieve through the PVT is to set up a pseudo electoral commission that will announce its own concocted results and throw the nation into crisis.
The minister, however, warned the PDP of very dire consequences, should it proceed to usurp the role of INEC.
“INEC is the only body statutorily imbued with the power to collate and announce the results of national elections. The penalties for any individual or organisation that usurps these functions are clearly spelt out. It is, therefore, necessary to remind the PDP not to sabotage the 2019 general elections on the altar of desperation,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed said it is particularly instructive that the PDP’s threat was issued on the same day its presidential candidate joined the candidates of other political parties to sign the second peace accord.
“The threat of fire and brimstone issued by the PDP, for no reason at all, is incongruent with the stated position of its presidential candidate that his ambition is not worth the life of any Nigerian.
“Attacks on the institutions charged with organising and securing the elections constitute a recipe for anarchy, while anarchy spares no one’s life!’’ Mohammed said.
The minister called on the security agencies to ensure that no one precipitated chaos before, during, and after the elections, and urged Nigerians to come out in large numbers to peacefully exercise their franchise.
IGP Orders Restriction Of Vehicular Movement
The Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has ordered restriction of vehicular movement from 6a.m to 6p.m tomorrow.
In a statement by Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Frank Mba, the IGP said the order was made in furtherance of the overall interest of public order, public wellbeing and safety, and national security as it relates to the general elections billed for tomorrow.
The IGP said the restriction would assist the security agencies in effectively policing the electoral process, thereby preventing hoodlums and criminally-minded elements from hijacking and disrupting the electoral process.
He urged the citizens to troop out en-masse tomorrow to exercise their franchise without any fear or apprehension as the police and other security agencies had already put in place adequate security measures to ensure a safe, secure, and conducive environment for a peaceful and credible election.
The IGP expressed regrets over the inconveniences the restriction would cause the citizens, but warned that the force would deal decisively with any individual(s) or group(s) that would want to test their common will in their resolve to ensure a peaceful election.
He, therefore, enjoined the citizens to steer clear of vote buying, vote selling, hate speeches, circulation of fake news, snatching of ballot boxes, and other act(s) capable of truncating the people’s will.
He noted that the force would not hesitate to bring to bear the full weight of the law on anyone who engaged in any crime during the period.
Meanwhile, barely 72 hours to the presidential election, the Kano police command Wednesday night arrested two male suspects in possession of 14 sacks of fake ballot papers.
Briefing reporters at the Bompai Police Headquarters, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Haruna Abdullahi, explained that the two suspects were picked within the Kano metropolis by men on patrol.
He disclosed that preliminary investigation revealed that the fake ballot papers were on transit to Jigawa State.
DSP Haruna said the contents were “specimen meant to enlighten voters”, adding that the suspects were being detained to unravel how they came about them in Kano.
DSP Haruna said: “What we seized in Kano was indeed 14 sacks of specimen of ballot papers, and we are detaining the two suspects behind the seizure for further investigation.”
Displaying the specimen after choosing randomly from the seized sacks before reporters, Haruna said: “You can see specimen clearly written in vertical lines to assuage your curiosity that what we have here is not genuine ballot papers.”
The PPRO stated that the Commissioner of Police, Wakil Muhammad, had since directed the CID to carry out comprehensive investigation to ascertain reasons behind the movement of the specimen ballot papers.
INEC Using PVCs Of 1m Dead Voters For Election, PDP Alleges
Prince Uche Secondus, National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), disclosed on Thursday that the names of over one million dead voters were still in Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) register.
Specifically, the PDP boss said the party has evidence that over 1,050,051 dead voters would vote in this election.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja at a press conference, Secondus said that there had been a coordinated approach to register foreigners as voters, mainly from Niger and Cameroon, “that is why INEC has established so many polling units along the border with Cameroon and Niger”.
He said, “It is clear that INEC did not, in fact, do a cleanup of the register of voters before it published it.
“In previous INEC administrations this eventuality was mitigated by administrative arrangements wherein a voter did accreditation in the morning and voted in the afternoon – so, if a voter wanted to vote twice, say at A and B, they would have to go to A and get accredited, then go to B and also get accredited, and then go back to A to vote and then go to B to vote – an onerous regimen that prevented cultivating.
“In the new continuous voting regime, this administrative support measure has been disposed of specifically to facilitate multiple voting by a huge number of APC voters.
“The voter register contains the data of dead voters. Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for dead voters were printed and distributed nationwide.
“Fellow citizens, government data show that the gross death rate in Nigeria is 12.5 per 1000 lives. We have evidence that over 1,050,051 dead voters will vote in this election.
“The decision that dead voters will cast ballots has been taken by INEC and the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The idea of ghost voters is consistent with the nature of this virtual President.”
Secondus has also disclosed an alleged manipulation of security agencies, adding that “multiple intelligence sources available to us in PDP, show that All Progressives Congress (APC) in conjunction with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) through their ICT situation room, has concluded plans to manipulate the outcome of Saturday’s election.”
Explaining the areas where plans have been concluded to manipulate Saturday’s election, the PDP boss said: “By deliberately corrupting the INEC voter register to induce voter’s suppression in PDP’s stronghold operations areas with the aim of disenfranchising at least four voters through corrupting of their four names on the voters register.
“The strategy is to create artificial problems wherein at least four registered voters can be disfranchised in PDP stronghold areas.
“The target is to adequately limit the estimated members of PDP who would want to vote in their areas.
“There is deliberate ploy to disrupt Internet services and jam cell tower coverage ostensibly to prevent Nigerians from covering the elections via social media.
“There is also confirmed intelligence showing that critical PDP players in this election are to be earmarked, arrested and quarantined to a particular location to give way for the elections to be rigged.
“The other intelligence available to the party also shows that some uniforms of para-military and military operatives, particularly the army and police, have been produced in large numbers for use by civilians during the voting period.
“To send faulty card reader machine to certain identified PDP strongholds and record a deliberate slow screening of voters to frustrate and discourage them.
“They have packaged large sums of foreign currency to induce voters and security and INEC operatives.
“We also have on good authority that all the electoral frauds via the ICT which the APC has mapped out are being coordinated by a highly placed government official (body-bag) with the help of some foreigners inside an apartment in the Government House and other locations in Kaduna State.”
Secondus noted how President Buhari’s administration is determined to subvert the impartiality of the nation’s security agencies.
The PDP boss said that despite resources being deployed to set up an electronic system to announce results, it has been ruled out by INEC, adding, “mainly because the president himself has refused to sign the law that would have made this possible”.
He added: “The plan is to announce results in the way it was done recently in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the winner was declared the loser and the loser was declared the winner.”
Secondus warned that stealing this election was stealing the future of the youths of Nigeria and stealing the future of this country, adding that it would subvert the promise of the country.
The national chairman demanded that the government respect the will of the people, adding that “INEC call an immediate meeting of the political parties participating in the presidential election to appoint representatives drawn from the parties that will oversee their work”.
He continued: “That the peace committee prevail on the Federal Government and various agencies involved to go the right way of free and fair elections.
“That INEC clean up their voters register and retain for accreditation and voting during the elections only credible voter registers.
“That the various security agencies remain unbiased, fair and transparent on any matter concerning this election and also for them to stop unwarranted harassment and intimidation of opposition.
“The oversight team shall ensure that INEC identifies and deletes all ghost voters from the register and publish the unique serial numbers of all cards and computers being used to verify voters in all polling units in the country.
“The list should be availed to the parties, media houses, and observers.
“The oversight body should report to the nation within 24 hours, to foster confidence in an already compromised process.
“Election Observer Missions should immediately release a preliminary report based on their assessment of the pre-election situation and publish a verdict.
“That the security agencies foil the planned use of foreign voters from Niger and Cameroon.”
Speaking on the letter written by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation to the Chairman of INEC seeking the postponement of election in Zamfara State, Secondus said the AGF’s letter was part of APC’s design to arm-twist INEC and the judiciary to take illegal action in their favour.
“What the AGF is seeking is not backed by law. The AGF is an interested party in this matter and has no moral right to advice INEC.
“The inability of APC to field candidates due to self-inflicted crisis when other parties did within the stipulated period for the election is not covered by section 38 & 39 of the Electoral Act 2010 which the AGF is relying on for his dubious advice.
“I, therefore, call on INEC to follow the dictates of the law and continue in its plan to achieve a credible election,” he said. (Daily Independent)
