- 2023 Presidency as Nigeria’s last chance of getting the country back on the right track or pushing it into intractable complex uncertainties
- There may be far-reaching consequences and social control system breakdown after 2023 presidential poll if presidency of South-East extraction is scuttled or denied
- Elected presidency of the South-East must pluralistically ensure equitable distribution of nineteen top political and security offices among Nigeria’s six geopolitical regions
- Fearing youth uprising/”Boys Oyee”(mob uprising) against South-East political bootlickers and counterfeit Biafra agitators if 2023 presidential poll and South-East presidency project are violently disrupted and denied
- Like in the 2019 presidential poll, the Nigerian Military must be closely monitored and stopped from militarizing and terrorizing the Feb 2023 presidential poll and paving way for a predetermined outcome
- Like in the 2019 Presidential and Jan 2020 Imo Governorship Supreme Court travesties of justice, the Nigerian Judiciary must be closely monitored and stopped from a disgraceful repeat of the 2019 armada of judicial hara-kiri in the post 2023 Presidential Poll litigations. Dark days of ‘Zainab Bulkachuwa at the Court of Appeal and Muhammed Tanko at the Supreme Court must not be repeated in 2023.
- INEC is putting Feb 2023 Presidential Poll in danger by failing to answer sixteen critical questions over permanent voters’ cards, voters’ list, underage, presidential poll date and voters’ protection
- Unmasking most dangerous areas for Igbo voters in Lagos and Northern Nigeria requiring Election Day international monitoring and effective policing and voters’ protection
- Imo and Ebonyi States as most dangerous areas for independent and conscientious voters in the East must be closely monitored
- 4000 mostly Christians killed and 6000 abducted in Kaduna since 2015 under El-Rufai over radical propagation of Muslim-Muslim ticket
- Election Day global searchlight and monitoring a must in twelve major presidential poll rigging Northern States of Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Borno, Bauchi, Yobe, Adamawa and Niger so as to disallow 18m “dead votes” from being injected by INEC into the Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll final results.
Introduction
This Joint Global Media Conference, six days to the all-important Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll is built on the recent Intersociety’s global media conference in Enugu on Christmas Day of 25th Dec 2022 during which, a detailed 27-Page Special Investigative Report, exposing INEC and its 50 major poll rigging plots/other illegalities was unveiled. Recall that the major highlight of the 27-Page Report lies on the fact that Nigeria’s INEC is organizing the country’s Feb 25th 2023 Presidential Poll with whopping 77.7m Nigerian citizens of voting age disenfranchised and discriminatorily excluded from participating and voting in the crucial poll. The worst of it all has to do with the fact that the disenfranchisement was brutally systematic and ethno-religiously targeted and aimed at brutally suppressing the voting population and strength of the voting citizens of non Muslim faith particularly those from the South-East and South-South including their sedentary and pastoralist components.
Presently, there are estimated 20m ineligible identities in the country’s National Register of Voters including eight million Muslim children of underage, two million illegal Muslim migrants, four million fake or fictitious names and six million stolen or diverted or destroyed identities or PVCs. Nigeria’s National Register of Voters is also found to be the dirtiest and most compromised in the world. Intersociety’s 27-Page Special Investigative Report had generally found that millions of citizens of voting age of full blood Nigerian citizenship have been disenfranchised and denied voting right. Found too were unchecked cases of personal data theft and destruction, diversion and impersonation of the registered citizens and citizens-under-registration’s PVCs/personal data supplied to INEC. Also, many of the tens of millions of citizens denied registration and PVCs are non Muslims of South-East and South-South origin including large numbers of citizens of the two regions living outside their regions where they reside or work. These are in addition to a good number of non Eastern Christians and other non Muslims. Northern citizens of Muslim faith including their counterparts living with disabilities were maximally registered and given PVCs that their millions of underage children and illegal migrants were sought after and unlawfully registered in clear breach of Section 12 of the 2022 Electoral Act as amended and issued with PVCs; whereas in the densely populated rainforest Southern and Middle-Belt regions, average of three out of every five were not registered. In the South-South and South-East, three out of every five were not issued with PVCs during PVC distribution.
Explaining The Importance Of This Joint Global Media Conference
This Joint Global Media Conference is put together by Intersociety and its partners under the aegis of Eastern Democracy and Human Rights Coalition; relying on unimpeachable research and investigative reports of Intersociety. The core objective of the Media Conference is to highlight eleven critical issues and areas threatening to mar the Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll and bring them to the urgent attention of the political actors in Nigeria and diplomatic chiefs of the 32 key international Democracies including the EU, US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, State of Israel, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Czech, Portugal, Norway, Finland, Austria, Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Australia, the Vatican, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico and Intergovernmental institutions like the United Nations, etc. Intersociety had recently alerted the respected Democratic Leaders of the referenced countries through a special letter dated Friday, 10th Feb 2023; prayerfully urging them to rise to the occasion to prevent Nigeria from being pushed into post 2023 presidential poll intractable complex uncertainties with capacity of being far above their humanitarian intervention and control if erupted. The respected Democratic Leaders were also firmly informed that Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has earned notoriety “in playing ethno-religious cards and made itself a compromised electoral umpire incapable of conducting free, popular, inclusive, non-discriminatory and credible presidential poll in Nigeria on Feb 25, 2023”. As it stands, the Commission is battling with whopping 1,241 court cases in 2023 pre-election process owing to its shambolic preparations, corporate incompetence and partisanship.
Democratic Presidency Of South-East Extraction Denied Since 1957-60
The recent research work by Intersociety had empirically indicated that in the Nigeria’s democratic dispensations since its colonial transition in 1957 and independence in 1960, the South-East had never produced the country’s executive president under presidential system of government or executive prime minister under parliamentary system of government and this had been the case since the country’s independence on 1st Oct 1960; a period of over 62 years. Intersociety’s statistics further showed that Nigeria was centrally and executively governed by Late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Belewa as Prime Minister in parliamentary system of governance, representing the present Bauchi State in North-East Region. Late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Belewa was in office from 1957-1966 while Late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe served as ceremonial/non executive President in 1963-1966 and ‘Governor-General’ in 1960-1963. Intersociety’s findings also showed that in the Presidential Democracy of 1979-1983 and 1999-2023, there had been elected Nigeria’s executive president of South-East extraction. Excluded and not counted in the Intersociety’s empirical findings was military era of 1966-1979 and 1983-1999. This was on account of the fact that military involvement in public governance is an aberration and repugnant to democracy and democratic process anywhere in the world including Nigeria. Intersociety’s findings also revealed that the Region with the highest number of years in democratic presidential seat of power in Nigeria is the North-West Region which occupied the country’s elective/executive presidency from 1979-1983, 2007-2010 and 2015-2023; a total of fifteen years. North-West Region is followed by the North-East Region where Late Sir AbubakarTafawa Belewa came from (Bauchi State) which held the country’s executive prime ministerial seat from the transitional period of 1957-1960 and 1960-1966, a period of nine years. The third Region in Nigeria with longest occupation of the country’s presidential seat of power is the South-West Region which held democratic presidency of Nigeria from 1999-2007; a total of eight years; followed by the South-South Region from 2010-2015; a total of five years.
In the whole, therefore, out of the country’s six geopolitical regions, only South-East and North-Central Regions have never taken a shot at Nigeria’s civilian presidency or its equivalent in parliamentary system since 1957-60. As for the North-Central Region having not occupied the country’s executive democratic presidency or premier since 1957-60, the Region, by presidential executive power convention, was in charge of the country’s military presidency from 1985-1993 and 1998-1999. This solely marks out the South-East Region as the most cheated and only geopolitical region that had never produced Nigeria’s civilian/democratic presidency since 1957-60; a period of over 65 years; thereby marking the Region out as the best qualified to produce the next democratic president of Nigeria in 2023. Therefore, as far as the 2023 Nigeria’s presidency is concerned, those laying claims to it other than the four presidential candidates from the South-East are not only interlopers but also exponents of “born-to-rule” and “born-to-be-ruled”.
South-East Presidency Not Winners Take All: 19 Top Seats Must Be Shared By Six Regions
The 19 key Federation’s seats of power under reference are offices of the President, Vice President, Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker of House of Reps, Deputy Speaker of House of Reps, Chief Justice of Nigeria, President of the Court of Appeal, Attorney General of the Federation, Solicitor General of the Federation, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, Inspector General of Police, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Defense Staff, Chief of Air Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Director General of SSS (DSS) and Director General of the National Intelligence Agency. The distribution of key federal appointive and elective offices using the country’s six geopolitical zoning must also include others numbering more than 1,083 contained in the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, Etc.) (Amendment) Act of 2008.
How To Share 19 Top Federal Public Offices Among The Six Geopolitical Regions In 2023
To ensure geopolitical, ethnic and religious balancing in 2023, the following nineteen top elective and appointive federal offices must be shared among the country’s six geopolitical zones or regions in the following way: South-East Region-President of Nigeria (Christian/non Muslim), North-West-Vice President (Muslim), North-East-Senate President (Muslim), North-Central-Speaker House of Reps (Christian/non Muslim), South-West-Deputy Senate President (Muslim or Christian) and South-South-Deputy Speaker, House of Reps (Christian/non Muslim). From the angle of Security/Service Chiefs: North-East-Chief of Defense Staff (Muslim), North-Central-Chief of Army Staff (Christian/non Muslim), South-East-Inspector General of Police (Christian/non Muslim), South-West-Director General of State Security Services (Muslim), South-South-Chief of Naval Chief (Christian/non Muslim), North-West-Chief of Air Staff (Muslim) and South-East-Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (Christian/non Muslim). From the angle of top judicial officers: South-East-Chief Justice of Nigeria (Christian/non Muslim), North-East-Attorney General of the Federation (Christian/non Muslim), North-Central-President of the Court of Appeal (Muslim), South-West-Chief Judge of the Federal High Court (Muslim), South-South-Solicitor General of the Federation (Christian/non Muslim) and North-West-Chief Judge of the FCT High Court (Muslim).
Federal Panel Of Enquiry For Constitutionalizing Regional Distribution Of Federal Offices
For purposes of permanent prohibition and abolition of ‘winners take all’ and “born-to-rule” and “born-to-be-ruled” characterization of Nigeria’s key federal office appointments involving ethno-religious domination and control of the military, the policing, the defense, the paramilitary, the spy policing and the justice establishments and their headships by one ethno-religious grouping; there shall be an establishment of ‘a Special Panel of Enquiry Into Federal Office Appointments’ by the next Government of Nigeria to thoroughly look into and dispassionately review all the appointments made by the outgoing Federal Government into the country’s more than 1,083 top federal public offices captured in the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, Etc.) (Amendment) Act of 2008 and over 2,600 top police ranks and 2000 commissioned officers in the military (army, navy and air force) and their equivalents in the service agencies and paramilitaries.
This is to ensure geopolitical and ethno-religious balancing and promotion of national cohesion, peaceful coexistence and national integration; totality of which is in accordance with Sections 153, 15 (5), 14 (3), 10, 42, 217 (3), 219 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, in addition to adhering to the provisions of the Federal Character Act of 2004. The ‘Special Panel of Enquiry on Federal Office Appointments’ will also give life to pluralistic composition of Nigeria and its multi ethnic and religious setting by forensically reviewing all the appointments made into federal bodies listed under Section 153 of the 1999 Constitution so as to ensure that they were made in tandem with the spirit and letters of Sections 15 (5) (impeccability of character), 10 (adoption of no state religion), 14 (3) (balanced allocation of federal office appointments), 217 (3)(balanced composition of the officer corps and other ranks of the armed forces of the Federation, 219 (explained in details by the Federal Character Act of the Federation 2004) and 42 (freedom from discrimination or disabilities); and the Federal Character Act of 2004.
The membership of the ‘Special Federal Panel of Enquiry on Appointments’ shall be made up of 50 members including one person from each of the country’s 36 States and the FCT and representatives of major interest groups. The Panel shall have power of independence and non executive interference and shall identify all the appointments made in gross breach of the country’s Constitution and the country’s pluralistic ethnic and religious compositions. All key federal appointments found to have been made in contrary to the above referenced constitutional provisions and the country’s multi ethnic and religious grouping shall be reversed and have their appointees thrown out or terminated.
Fearing Uprising/”Boys Oyee” Against Bootlickers And Counterfeit Biafra Agitators In The East
Recent investigation by Intersociety conducted at the grassroots across the South-East States of Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Imo, Anambra and Igbo parts of Cross River, Rivers and Delta States has shown that anger is speedily rising among the youth and middle class populations against Counterfeit Biafra Agitators and Political Bootlickers working against collective security, safety and politico-cultural emancipation of the Igbo Nation; chronicled in the “2023 Presidency of South-East Extraction Project”. This is to the extent that the collective anger, if not quenched in no distant time, may snowball into youth uprising/”Boys Oyee” (mob uprising) against the aggressors which may further degenerate into devastating and intractable counter communal violent conflict; thereby turning the Region into intra-regional intractable violent conflict zone. The nefarious activities of the political bootlickers and the counterfeit Biafra Agitators in the South-East have reached a maddening proportion.
Five Categories Of Counterfeit Biafra Agitators
By classification, “the Counterfeit Biafra Agitators” have been investigated by Intersociety and found to be a mixture of compromised/‘Government hijacked Biafra Agitators’ drawn from remnants of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) led by Nnamdi Kanu. Also called “autopilots”, they are the Mainstream Counterfeit Biafra Agitators, politically backed by political authorities in Ebonyi and Imo. Membership into the above originally started with recruits from Ebonyi State such as ‘Ezza and Izzi communal warlords’; recruited and quartered across various bushes and forests in Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Anambra and Abia. They were joined recently by some expelled and defected loyalists of the IPOB. They are very visible and violently influential in different parts of Ebonyi and Enugu States. In Imo and Anambra, they have laid siege on following areas: Orlu, Orsu, Oru West, Oru East, Oguta; and lately on Ideato North and Ideato South; all in Imo State; and Ihiala, Nnewi South, Aguata, Orumba South and Orumba North, all in Anambra State. Their main operational base is Orsu in Imo State from where they wreck havocs.
The second category of Counterfeit Biafra Agitators are a motley of armed groups camouflaging as “Biafra Freedom Fighters” including subversive security operatives drawn from intelligence and special squad establishments; remotely funded by the National Government and its loyalist Sub-National Governments in the South-East. The third category of Counterfeit Biafra Agitators are assembled armed Islamic extremists in the South-East drawn from young non Eastern Muslims born and bred in the Region especially those born 20 years ago and above. They are part of the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen/other Jihadists/Government Unknown Gunmen’ imported into the Region by the National Government as part of its State Jihadism project. Their operational bestialities and bloodletting bear same attributes with the Jihadist Fulani Pastoralists and other imported Jihadists. The fourth and fifth categories of Counterfeit/Fake Biafra Agitators are Sub-National Government raised and funded ‘killer militias’ (i.e. killer Ebubeagu militias) and ‘political death squads’ with strong roots in Ebonyi and Imo. These five categories of Counterfeit Biafra Agitators are fake agitators using “free Nnamdi Kanu and give us Biafra” as a decoy to gain undue public favor and divert the attention of the local and international publics.
Nefarious Activities Of Counterfeit Biafra Agitators And Political Bootlickers In The East
“No Election in Biafraland” has been politically hijacked and commercialized by desperate political actors in the East. It has also become an election rigging strategy dating back to Anambra State in 2017 and 2021 during the State Governorship Polls. “No Election in Biafraland” is executed through widespread violence including killings, abductions, disappearances and property violence. The enforcers are secretly armed and funded by sub-national Governments and their leading politicians to heighten violence or threat of same so as to scare away millions of independent voters and have a field day to rig the poll and manipulate the results. It is perpetrated in such a way that “the greater number of voters scared away, the brighter their chances to rig or manipulate the poll”. “No Election in Biafraland” is also presently being funded from outside the South-East by some presidential candidates so as to stifle the expected high voter turnout in the East during the Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll. The political bootlickers in the South-East are also engaging in sundry sabotages including shrinking of civic space against political opposition activism such as sponsorship of political killings, maiming, abductions, disappearances and burning or destruction of homes and other properties of the opposition political actors with Ebonyi and Imo States as the worst hit.
Nigerian Military Must Be Closely Monitored And Stopped From Terrorizing 2023 Presidential Voters
The Nigerian Military establishment, presently lopsided and dominated at command structure by senior officers of Northern Muslim extraction especially officers posted to the South-East and the South-South geopolitical regions, has been identified as one of the state actor anti democratic forces or institutions threatening the popularity and credibility of the Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll. Therefore, as it was the case in the 2019 presidential poll military security partisanship, the Nigerian Military must locally and internationally be closely monitored and stopped from militarizing and terrorizing the Feb 2023 presidential poll to pave way for a predetermined outcome of the crucial poll for a predetermined candidate. Apart from our recently gathered intelligence to the effect that ‘the Military has been presidentially briefed and given matching orders to replicate the 2019 presidential poll security infamy’, the recent lopsided and pro Northern Muslim postings in the Nigerian Army and other branches of the Military in the East is a clear confirmation of the fact that the Military is at it again and bent on conspiratorially rigging the presidential poll.
The recent Nigerian Army postings, as a clear case in point, were done in total disregard to Section 217 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended which clearly states as follows: “the composition of the officer corps and other ranks of the Armed Forces of the Federation shall reflect the federal character (geopolitical balancing) of Nigeria”. The postings were also done in grave violation of Section 219 of the Constitution and its principles of indigenous involvement or participation by members of the country’s ethnic nationalities in the activities of the armed forces including senior and junior officers’ promotions and postings. Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended was also observed in gross breach. According to Section 14 (3): “the composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character (geopolitical balancing) of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few States or a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or any of its agencies”. The military postings also violated constitutional Section 10 which forbids adoption of any religion especially Islam as a state religion and Section 42 which forbids discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, religion, class, gender, etc.
Democratic Forces Must Checkmate The Post 2023 Presidential Poll Tribunal Justices
Judiciary has also been identified by this Coalition as one of the democratic institutions in Nigeria speedily or rapidly transforming into anti democratic institutions. The unmonitored Nigerian Judiciary runs the high risk of upturning the sacred electoral wishes of majority of the Nigerian voters in the Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll and push citizens of the country into unquenchable street revolution and its concomitant calamitous consequences. As it was the case in 2019 Presidential Poll and Jan 2020 Imo Governorship Supreme Court travesties of justice, the Nigerian Judiciary per post 2023 Presidential Poll Tribunal (Appeal Court) and (Supreme Court) Justices must be closely monitored during the post 2023 Presidential Poll litigations to avoid replication of the dark days of ‘Zainab Bulkachuwa at the Court of Appeal and Muhammed Tanko at the Supreme Court in the post 2019 Presidential Poll judicial proceedings and verdicts.
It must be recalled that it was the ‘Judicial Infamies’ associated with the 2019 Presidential Poll and the Jan 2020 Imo Governorship that forced the Leadership of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) to blacklist all the serving Justices of the Court of Appeal and those of the Supreme Court including de-recognizing them as “Their Lordships” and “Honorable Justices” which remains in force till date. The Coalition is therefore keenly watching the proceedings of the 2022 Osun State Governorship poll tribunal (Adeleke v Oyetola) and having watched and read with utter dismay the recent Supreme Court’s pre-election judgment in Lawan v Machina involving Yobe North APC Senatorial Dispute, we are deeply fearful that the country’s Supreme Court has not repented and therefore must closely be monitored in the 2023 post Presidential Poll judicial proceedings. We are also drawing the attention of the 32 international Democracies recently petitioned, to take diplomatic and democratic notice of the roles of the serving Justices of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court especially those designated for the 2023 post Presidential Poll litigations. The deviants among them must internationally be included in the international visa ban and other sanctions by the named 32 international Democratic countries.
Sixteen Critical Questions INEC Failed To Answer Over PVC, Voters’ List, Underage, Etc
There are sixteen critical questions begging for public answers by INEC, out of which thirteen were captured in Intersociety’s detailed open letter to Nigeria’s INEC Chairman (Prof Mahmood Yakubu), dated Monday, 6th Feb 2023. The letter followed the Commission’s recent distribution of the Permanent Voters’ Cards across the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory between 12th Dec 2022 and 5th Feb 2023, during which the exercise was fraught with discrimination and vindictiveness; to the extent that two out of every five sedentary and pastoralist Easterners and Northern Christians registered as voters did not receive their PVCs as against four out of every five in the South-West and five out of every five among Northern Muslims including those living with disabilities. During the 2021/2022 Continuous Voters’ Registration (CVR), three out of every five sedentary and pastoralist Easterners were denied registration in Nigeria or any part thereof.
The sixteen critical questions which INEC failed to answer till date are failure to disclose: State by State breakdown of the PVCs distributed across the country between 12th Dec 2022 and 5th Feb 2023, number of PVCs distributed from the 20m uncollected PVCs since 2019, number of distributed PVCs from the newly printed 4m PVCs for registered citizens who newly transferred their PVCs, number of uncollected PVCs from 2019 and those of 2022 after the deadline of 5th Feb 2023, ethno-religious and gender identities and percentages of the distributed PVCs as at 5th Feb 2023, number of distributed PVCs belonging to the registered children of underage and illegal migrants across the 36 States and the FCT especially in Kano, Kastina, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi, Jigawa, Zamfara, Bauchi, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa and Niger State; status of the estimated eight million children of underage and two million illegal migrants presently stocked and legitimized by the Commission in the National Register of Voters, fate of estimated four million fake names compiled from booklets of passport photographs, posters of dead persons and fake names and images from outside the country presently stocked in the National Register of Voters, number of registered voters in Nigeria without PVCs ahead of the Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll, number of registered voters with PVCs in Nigeria ahead of the Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll and their State by State breakdown, status of the estimated 10m compromised PVCs and their VINs ahead of the Feb 2023 Presidential Poll, status of the estimated six million stolen or diverted PVCs or more that disappeared from INEC custody ahead of the Feb 2023 Presidential Poll.
Others are: INEC’s failure to publicly disclose concrete measures being put in place to ensure that the deployment of IReV, BVAS and PVC technologies and BVAS/PVC-powered accreditation processes and procedures is done across board in the 36 States and the FCT during the Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll without discriminatory recourse to dual policies of sticking to or insisting on their deployment and use in the South and substantially collapsing same for manual voting/thumb-printing in restricted and unrestricted Northern places especially in the notorious presidential poll rigging States of Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara in North-West; Borno, Bauchi, Yobe and Adamawa in North-East; and Niger State in North-Central; as it was the case in the 2015 and 2019 presidential polls. The rest are INEC’s failure to publicly disclose the number and locations of “flying polling units” or polling booths not reflected in the existing 176,846 polling units in Nigeria, such as those created in the IDP camps and other locations only known to Nigeria’s INEC (for purpose of forestalling the use of such “flying or hidden polling booths” to massively manipulate the Feb 2023 Presidential Poll in Nigeria or any part thereof), INEC failure to give firm public assurances that postponement of Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll is totally ruled out and will never be allowed, failure of INEC to publicly explain concrete measures geared towards ensuring maximum security and protection of all citizens with PVCs anywhere in Nigeria irrespective of their ethnicity, religion, place of birth and class in order to allow for massive turnout and freely voting of candidates of their choice without violence or threats of same and fear.
A Case In Point Of Anti Igbo CVR And PVC Posture In Lagos
Intersociety had since June 2021 carefully followed Nigeria’s INEC and forensically monitored and documented its patterns of Continuous Voters’ Registration and Distribution of the Permanent Voters’ Cards across the country’s 36 States and the FCT. INEC was found to have brazenly applied sundry discriminatory methods to ensure that the National Register of Voters is padded to hype the voting population of the North against the South on ethnic and religious grounds. INEC also deliberately created several hitches and bottlenecks for purpose of massive disenfranchisement of voting age citizens on the grounds of their faith and ethnicity; mainly, if not mostly targeting Christians particularly the Easterners. This is to the extent that many, if not most of the Southern Christian citizens of voting age who willingly availed themselves to be registered were frustrated and never registered, to the extent that three out of every five were not registered and two out of every five registered Eastern voters were denied PVC. INEC also magisterially went ahead in 2022 to flimsily destroy shocking 18.2m of the 27.7m mainly, if not mostly Southerners that stressfully got registered. INEC repeated the dastardly act during the recent PVC Distribution exercise by making sure that large numbers of the sedentary and pastoralist Southern Christians and a good number of Northern Christians denied PVCs since 2019 and 2022 were frustrated and denied PVCs.
Such act of depravity and ethnic profiling recently came to the fore in Lagos State where the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (Olusegun Agbaje) stopped at nothing at ensuring that large numbers of South-East and other Easterners resident in the State were denied registration during the 2022 CVR exercise and PVCs during the Dec 12, 2022 and 5th Feb 2023 PVC Distribution exercise. The partisan Lagos REC was also caught on tape (Channels TV) calling Ndigbo or South-Easterners “immigrants who migrated to Lagos to escape insecurity in the South-East and engaged in double voter registrations”. Intersociety finds the dastardly act of the partisan Lagos REC as nothing short of ‘ethnic profiling and hatred and incitement to genocide or ethnic cleansing against Igbo people resident in Lagos’. The partisan Lagos REC must therefore be closely monitored and penciled down by the 32 International Democracies petitioned, for international blacklisting including visa ban.
Most Dangerous Areas In The North And South-West For Eastern Voters
This Coalition has identified the most dangerous areas in the North and South-West Nigeria where the lives, liberties and properties of Eastern voters will be at high risk in the Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll unless concrete urgent steps are taken including sufficient mount pressure on Nigerian Government and its ruling Party’s key political actors to strictly abide by the rules and ensure round-the-clock security and protection for all voters regardless of their ethnicity, religion, place of birth or work or class.Intersociety reports have recalled that in 2015 and 2019, organized group violence was unleashed on Igbo citizens’ resident in Lagos by loyalists of the leading political actors in the Government of Lagos State for voting for candidates of their choice. In the 2019 Presidential Poll, Igbo properties including homes and market stores as well as polling units in their areas were targeted, attacked and wantonly destroyed. Similar attacks also took place in different Eastern residential parts of the North including Gombe, Kano, FCT, Kaduna, Jos, Jalingo, etc. Among most dangerous areas for Igbo and other Eastern resident voters in Lagos State are Oshodi-Isolo, Mafoluku-Oke Afa, Ijora Badia, Amukoko, Alaba, Surulere, Orile, Itire, Ijesha, Cele, Okota, Ajugunle, Olodi Apapa, Coconut, Ojokoro-Ijaye, Agbara, Ojo, Okoko, Satellite Town, FESTAC, Mushin, Ojuelegba, etc. They are areas prone to organized group violent attacks on Election and post Election Days against Ndigbo and other Easterners resident in the State. Most dangerous areas in the North for Igbo and other Eastern resident voters are Igbo and Eastern residential areas of FCT, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau (Jos), Taraba (Jalingo), Adamawa (Yola and Mubi), Gombe, Borno (Maiduguri), Sokoto and Zamfara (Gusua), etc.
Imo And Ebonyi As Most Dangerous Areas For Independent Voters In The East
The South-East States of Imo and Ebonyi are the most dangerous areas for independent and conscientious voters in the East to cast their votes in the Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll. Such independent and conscientious voters are likely to run high risk of being threatened or killed or have their votes destroyed. The two States are presently home to military and police siege and non state actor ‘Unknown Gunmen’ and ‘Government Unknown Gunmen’ as well as killer militias and political death squads. The sitting Governments in the two States have also earned notoriety in shrinking civic space against political opposition activism and tolerance and have severally been fingered in sponsored political violence including killings, property violence and other forms of political terrorism. In less than two months, for instance, the residence of the PDP House of Reps Candidate for Ideato Federal Constituency in Imo State, Barr Ugochinyere Ikenga Imo, have been attacked leading to loss of four lives and burning of dozens of campaign vehicles and dwelling houses, etc. Scores of political activists have also been killed in recent months in the two States with the sitting Governments of the two States being strongly fingered. The recent PVC distribution exercise in the two States was nothing to write home about. Hundreds of thousands of registered voters were unable to pick their PVCs-during which the role of INEC was nothing to write home about. We are deeply fearful that the results of the Feb 2023 Presidential Poll will be far from reflecting the true wishes of the conscientious electorates of the two States unless sufficient local and international pressures are mounted on the two Governments and the national Government in Nigeria including threatening them with visa ban and other international sanctions.
Muslim-Muslim Ticket: 4000 Mostly Christians Killed And 6000 Abducted In Kaduna Under El-Rufai
Radical propagation of ‘Muslim-Muslim Gubernatorial Ticket’ in Kaduna State under Nasiru el-Rufai, from where it was catapulted to Nigeria’s 2023 presidential seat of power campaign by the central ruling party, APC, has been responsible for not less than 4000 mostly Christian deaths and abduction of over 6000 others since the emergence of Nasiru El-Rufai as Governor of Kaduna State on 29th May 2015. The two figures are on yearly average of 500 deaths and 750 abductions. Hundreds were also disappeared from the scenes of their abduction without traces till date. The above statistics and records are according to investigative findings by Intersociety on Kaduna State since 2015. Kaduna State in the North-West Region has had a long history of ethno-religious disharmonies between local Muslims and local Christians/other non Muslims; and between native Muslims and non native Christians. The State also has a long history of ‘charter of equity’ in governance of the State whereby some key public elective and appointive offices are allocated to native Christians largely found in Southern Kaduna so as to engender politico-religious harmony.
For decades, the position of Deputy Governor and other key positions in the State were reserved for Christians; paving the way for the emergence of Late Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa as the first elected Christian Governor of the State in the 2011 General Elections. This followed his appointment as substantive Governor of the State following the appointment of his boss, Namadi Sambo as Vice President to former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2010 after the death in office of Late President Musa Yar’Adua. Barely a year into his elective governorship, Gov Patrick Yakowa was killed in a helicopter crash in Bayelsa State in 2012 in what pundits strongly believed was the handiwork of radical Islamists. Yakowa had been the Deputy Gov of the State since July 2005 when he was first appointed. Yakowa’s Deputy, Muktar Yero became substantive Governor of Kaduna and was deputized by Ambassador Nuhu Bajoga, a Christian.
The gubernatorial power sharing was retained in 2015 when Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai was first elected with Late Yusuf Barnabas Bala as his deputy. The discontent for a Christian Deputy Governorship of Kaduna State remotely began after the 2015 General Elections and in 2018/2019, Gov El-Rufai and his religiously conservative cohorts had their way and introduced ‘Muslim-Muslim Governorship Ticket’ leading to choice of Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe, his fellow Muslim as his deputy. The plot also ensured that Christians in the State were stripped of all key positions to the extent that Muslims took over as the State Chief Judge and the State Assembly Speaker, etc. Since then, over 150 Christian villages and settlements have been uprooted and thousands of them killed or abducted. The recent TVC interview with Gov El-Rufai where he made derogatory remarks about Christians and their slim chances in the Feb 2023 Presidential Poll is a clear case in point. Like in Kaduna State, Christian settlements and communities are being uprooted in Plateau, Benue, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Taraba, Gombe, Bauchi, Kogi, Niger, Katsina, Nasarawa, etc.
Presentation Of Graphic Tables-1-3
Focus On 77.7m Disenfranchised Voters And Expected Mass Rigging In 12 Northern States
Presented below are graphic tables showing the breakdown of the 77.7m disenfranchised Nigerian citizens of voting age involving unregistered voting citizens of 30m, INEC destroyed registrations of 18.2m, 20m registered voters without PVCs comprising those registered between 2011, 2015 and 2019 and 9.5m new registered voters without PVCs captured between 28th June 2021 and 31st July 2022. The graphic tables also noted that out of Nigeria’s INEC registered voters of 93.5m for Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll, only 44m are estimated to presently have PVCs, out of which more than 10m have compromised their PVCs and VINs; adding that it is 40m genuine PVC holders if the projected new 6m PVCs are added, bringing the total to 40m genuine PVC holders for 2023 Presidential Poll. Captured by the graphic tables are estimated 20m ineligible identities in the National Register of Voters involving eight million Muslim children of underage, two million illegal Muslim migrants and four million fake names from booklets of passport photographs, almanacs, dead persons’ posters and fictitious names and images from outside Nigeria. The 20m ineligible identities in the National Register of Voters also include six million stolen identities or stolen and diverted PVCs.
According to research report by Intersociety, obtained from The Cable and the DeepDive Intelligence joint report of 8th Dec 2018, in the 2015 Presidential Poll during which 35% of the registered voters or 30m voted, there were 42% fake votes derived from manual and other non PVC sources; most of which were credited to Buhari/APC. In the 2019 Presidential Poll during which 28m voted, there were 40% fake votes, substantial part of which were also credited to Buhari/APC. By the above graphic tables, therefore, 35% of the 40m genuine PVC holders or 14m and 90% of the 20m ineligible identities or 18m criminal figures (dead votes) are likely to determine the final results of the Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll. It is also likely that most of the 18m ‘dead votes’ will be credited to APC or shared by Tinubu/Shetima/APC, Kwankwanso/NNPP and Atiku/PDP especially in Nigeria’s 12 Major Presidential Poll Rigging States of Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara located in the North-West; Borno, Bauchi, Yobe and Adamawa located in the North-East; and Niger located in the North-Central, politically noted as their strongholds. According to Nigeria’s Chief of Defense Staff, Lt Gen Lucky Irabor, “out of the 261 sanctioned borders in Nigeria, 137 are unmanned and largely unprotected by the Nigerian security agencies in Northern Nigeria areas of North-East and North-West involving Borno, Yobe, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina States, etc-bordering neighboring countries such as Niger Republic and Chad among others” and that “there are 364 approved international border points in Nigeria with 261 in the North-East and North-West, out of which 137 are unprotected, porous and largely unmanned by security agencies”. CDS Lucky Irabor stated the above in Lagos on Friday, 30th Sept 2022 while delivering a lecture on “Security, Defense and Development in Nigeria”.
Graphic Table 1
Self Explained: Presidential Election Fraud 2015: 12 Major Presidential Poll Rigging Northern States And Their Total Manual/Fake Votes For Buhari/APC
Graphic Table 1 (b)
Self-Explained: Table Showing: Each Of The 12 Rigging Northern States And Number Of Accredited Voters; Votes From PVC/INEC Card Reader, Number Of Manual/Dead/Fake Votes For Buhari/APC And Total Dead/PVC Votes For Buhari/APC.
Graphic Table 2
Self-Explanatory: Titled: Presidential Election Fraud 2019, How The 12 Major Presidential Poll Rigging Northern States Polled 9.2m Mainly Manual/Fake Votes For Buhari/APC And Total Fake/PVC Votes For Buhari/APC And Those Scored By Atiku/PDP
dGraph/Table 3
Self-Explanatory: Titled: Projected 2023 Nigerian Presidential Election Fraud, Showing The Disenfranchisement Of Whopping 77.7m Nigerians And Projected 14m ‘Living Votes’ Plus 18m ‘Dead Votes’ Equals To 32m As 2023 Total Presidential ‘Results’.
Signed
For; Eastern Democracy and Human Rights Coalition
/s E. Umeagbalasi
Emeka Umeagbalasi, M.Sc.
Board Chair, Intersociety
Convener, Eastern Democracy and Human Rights Coalition
/s A. E. Attah
Aloysius Emeka Attah
Chair, South-East CLO
/s J.C. Chukwuokolo
Prof Jerry Chukwuokolo
Deputy Convener, Eastern Democracy and Human Rights Coalition
/s C. Udegbunam
Chidinma Udegbunam Esquire
Head of Publicity, Eastern Democracy and Human Rights Coalition
/s Z. Offoelue
Comrade Zulu Offoelue
CLO Chair, Enugu State/Member, Eastern Democracy and Human Rights Coalition
/s U. Igboeli
Uju Igboeli Esquire
Principal Officer, Intersociety and Eastern Democracy and Human Rights Coalition
/s I.Nwandu
Ikenwoke Nwandu
Principal Officer, Eastern Democracy and Human Rights Coalition
/s C. Ezekweike
Chekwube Ezekweike Esquire
Principal Officer, Eastern Democracy and Human Rights Coalition
/s A. Okoli
Anayo Okoli
Board Member, Intersociety
Principal Officer, Eastern Democracy and Human Rights Coalition
/s C.N. Bernard
Ndidiamaka Bernard Esquire
Principal Officer, Intersociety and Eastern Democracy and Human Rights Coalition
Contacts:
+23474090052, +2348035090548
info@intersociety-ng.org, intercollegefordemocracy@gmail.com
Link to Intersociety’s 27-Page Special Investigative Report On INEC’s Illegalities Ahead Of Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential Poll Is Here: https://intersociety-ng.org/nigerias-electoral-commission-masterminded-50-rigging-plots-ahead-of-2023-presidential-election-executed-27-during-continuous-voters-registration-and-brazenly-lined-up-23-others-for/ and https://intersociety-ng.org/list-of-55-statistical-references-backing-intersocietys-special-investigative-report-on-illegalities-of-inec/