Nasarawa PDP Declares 7-day Protest

Yesterday, protesters demanded that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) examine the outcome of the governorship election in Nasarawa State.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Stakeholders-led demonstrators in Nasarawa State’s Karu local government area demanded the resignation of the state’s resident electoral commissioner immediately.

INEC was accused of bias in the way the gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections were handled by the party leadership in Karu.

With signs reading “#INEC We Say No To Manipulations; #INEC Keep Your Promise; International Communities Save Our Country Our Leaders Are Compromised; Protect Us From Manipulators; We Need Our Nation To Be Cleansed From Injustice And Manipulation; The Will And Rights Of The People Must Be Respected,” protesters also voiced their displeasure with the results.
The group’s leader, Comrade Chindo Allahyayi, announced the start of a seven-day protest at the group’s Karu headquarters and requested the commission to reinstate the people’s mandate.

We are starting a seven-day protest to inform the entire state and country that our candidate has won, he declared. We are thus requesting that INEC reconsider its judgment right now and declare our candidate the winner.

“We are urging people to return to the IReV portal and review all the results from all the voting places in the 13 LGA of Nasarawa State so they can clearly see that David Ombugadu, a candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), won the March 18 governorship in Nasarawa State.

Because it won’t result in a healthy society, we strongly denounced the election rigging, Allahyayi stated.
The Coalition for Ombugadu Campaign’s public relations representative requested the commission to change course and examine its operations.

Protests Rock Nasarawa as Indigenes reject Election results

Lafia, the capital of Nasarawa State, has been rocked by protesters’ blocking of the Total roundabout, which has resulted in gridlock.

According to reports, the demonstrators are unhappy with the results of the state’s recently held gubernatorial election.

The atmosphere in Nasarawa is still tense, and many locals are worried that the violence may develop.

In addition, no fewer than 500 women from 13 local government areas of the state, who were dressed in black clothes, stormed Lafia, the state capital to demand the cancellation of Saturday’s governorship election in the state.

Witnesses clarified that the protest was initiated because INEC had declared a winner of the governorship race despite there being disagreement over the results from the state capital’s Gayam and Ciroma electoral districts.

Stella Oboshi when interviewed stated “The governorship election and that of the House of Assembly were done the same day, the same time and with the same election materials. But the governorship election was announced, and that of the House of Assembly has not been announced up till this moment because it was declared inconclusive.

“If Gayam and Ciroma electoral wards results from Lafia LGA were included in the results that INEC announced for the governorship election but the Assembly elections were inconclusive in the same wards, then INEC should also declare the governorship election inconclusive so that we can start from afresh.”

This is the 3rd day of protests and the Nasarawa State Police Command has are yet to issue a statement as at the time of filing this report.

Annul 2023 Presidential election and constitute Interim government -Protesters Tell Buhari

…Call for immediate arrest of INEC Chairman over electoral fraud

A group of protesters under the auspices of Free Nigeria Movement on Tuesday in Abuja called on President Muhammadu Buhari to annul the February 25 presidential election and constitute an interim government pending the conduct of a fresh election.

The group also called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of Prof Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for allegedly supervising what they described as a fraudulent presidential election.They made the demand during a protest to the INEC headquarters in Abuja.

Convener of group, Moses Ogidi-Paul, who spoke on behalf of the group, expressed their displeasure over the conduct of the February 25 presidential election.

His speech in full: “On the 25th of February, 2023, Nigerians trooped to their polling units with one mission, to cast their ballots and choose their next leaders.

“Our binding lines were unbroken: in ideology, they held us together; in trust, they washed us like water; in truth, they kept us alive. We breathed the full breadth of what being citizens should be in a progressive secular society. So, when the day finally arrived, we had no doubt in our hearts, in the portion that always questions truths, that our votes must count. But nothing could bolster our belief like the assurances by Mr President, Muhammadu Buhari, and INEC chairman, Prof Yakubu Mahmoud.

“Recall that a little over a year ago, President Muhammadu Buhari appended his signature to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2022. The fanfare that greeted that appendment can well claim recognition as one of the most colourful in our recent history due to its unbroken allegiance to the Nigerian spirit. On that day, we were neither Igbo, Hausa nor Yoruba. We were not Efik, Tiv or Urhobo. No, we were not Gbagyi, Kanuri or Ijaw. On that day, we were Nigerians full of the positive energies of our land.

“I hate to announce that today in the heart of some, all this has gone to waste. You may have seen the video of the diasporan who tore his passport. Some other Nigerians have done the same to the fabric of identity because INEC through Prof. Yakubu Mahmoud chose to silence their voice.

“So I ask, “What is the value of democracy if the process that recruits its leaders consistently lacks credibility?” Perhaps, the answer is at the International Conference Center where Prof Yakubu Mahmoud began, sustained and concluded the collation and declaration of a candidate as winner of the presidential election based on falsehood contravening its guidelines and the Electoral Act.

“It is most disturbing that this was done in the full glare of the world. Never has our democracy been so sorely abused by any citizen in either public or private service. Prof. Yakubu Mahmoud has raised a bar of impunity that will cost our country many years of electoral excellence to correct.

“This was not the electronic transmission he promised Nigerians and the world at Chatham House. Prof Yakubu Mahmoud has lied to Nigerians and abused our right of choice.

“We pass a vote of no confidence and call for his immediate sack and prosecution. We cannot afford to continue the culture of performing lawlessness without consequences. We are as strong as our laws and as tall as our institutions. We cannot afford to descend any lower than this.

“We, therefore, call on President Muhammadu Buhari, whose commitment to free and fair elections is engraved in the legacy of the Electoral Act 2022, to initiate processes and procedures that will bring Nigeria under the control of an interim government pending the resolution of all litigations pertaining to the conduct of the February 25 presidential election.

“Our country needs healing. It will be counterproductive to allow a fraudulent process to subsist as fraud will eternally birth fraud. We cannot grow our democracy on falsehood and suspicion.

“The holes in our national fabric must be woven shut. One way is to immediately establish a Truth and Reconciliation Committee in Lagos State and other flashpoints of voter intimidation and violence during the presidential, National Assembly, governorship and State Assembly elections. This will help build trust, confidence and further ethnic cooperation among Nigerians.”

Safety from the Cruel 1999 Constitution is the NINAS Propositions

By Ndidi Uwechue

18 March 2023

Where did government get its powers to kill peaceful End SARS protesters, and non-violent Shi’ite protesters? From the 1999 Constitution.

Where does INEC get its courage to rig elections? From the 1999 Constitution.

Where do politicians and officials get their right to loot public funds in peace and without consequences? From the 1999 Constitution.

Where does government get its powers to seize natural resources belonging to indigenous Ethnic Nations? From the 1999 Constitution.

Where does government get its powers to prevent development, to withhold welfare, to deny basic amenities and infrastructure eg electricity for Nigerians? From the 1999 Constitution.

Where does government get its powers to deny security to citizens and prevent them from arming themselves against armed and dangerous Fulani militia disguised as herdsmen, and their Islamic terrorist associates? From the 1999 Constitution.

We could go on and on listing all the miseries, massacres and existential dangers, and all that has gone wrong in Nigeria in the past 24 years that flow from the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, a known Forgery foisted upon Nigerians, but space does not allow. Nigeria’s notorious corruption levels, state sponsored violence against its people, and always defying development had been either a mystery or wrongly said to be due to “bad leadership” until NINAS (Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination) showed the connection between the 1999 Constitution and Ahmadu Bello’s Declaration of 1960, a sadistic and supremacist Agenda (aka Fulanization):

“The new nation called Nigeria should be an Estate of our great grandfather Uthman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We use the minorities in the North as willing tools and the South as a conquered territory and never allow them to rule over us and never allow them to have control over their future” – Ahmadu Bello’s Declaration

Given what he said, and what Nigerians have been, and still are experiencing, without doubt, it is this Ahmadu Bello’s Declaration brought on by the provisions of the 1999 Constitution that is playing out, causing so much miseries and the insecurity of killings going on especially in the Middle Belt for Fulani land grabbing, and Buhari a Fulani has been accused by local as well as international observers of being complicit with this unstopped genocidal violence, that is also spreading to the South.

Right now Nigerians, but young people especially, are disappointed and distressed that although they were urged to get their voter’s cards and to vote, elections have been massively and openly rigged, and have also been marred by violence. It is the 1999 Constitution that allows and empowers INEC to carry out the anarchy of rigging, and of selecting their choice as winner of elections. Nigerians have seen that their vote does NOT count, it is their ACT OF GOING TO VOTE that counts, to create the false impression that “elections” took place. It is the central control of all elections (state, local government area and wards) by INEC that ensures that no matter what Nigerians want, they will not get it because INEC will decide the outcomes. INEC (plus all the supporting services for elections) is itself controlled by the Fulani-dominated government of Buhari, empowered by the 1999 Constitution. The same is true for elections tribunals.

Nigerians are in a situation where as long as the 1999 Constitution is in operation, not only will there not be any change that favours them since the goal of that 1999 Forgery is to bring about Fulanization, but as that Document is already in use to dispossess them of their natural resources, it would also dispossess them of their ancestral lands.

There is a non-violent way to get out of this dangerous predicament. There are two roads: One road is paved by the illegitimate 1999 Constitution and its provisions empower Fulanization to bring about Ahmadu Bello’s Declaration that Nigeria will be turned into the “estate” of the immigrant settler Fulani.

The other road is paved by the NINAS Propositions based on United Nations instruments (eg UNDRIP) and International Law instruments. Since the 1999 Constitution is a fraud, a forgery, it has been Repudiated and a Constitutional Force Majeure declared (on 16 December 2020). That means that on this road, the 1999 Constitution is DEAD, so the provisions of that Forgery have no authority and thus no power on this road. There is no anarchy here (anarchy, fraud and treachery belong to the other road) because UN and International Law instruments are applied. On this road, the illicit government of Nigeria has NO AUTHORITY to harass or harm Nigerians who want change, want safety from being killed by Fulani invaders and Islamic terrorists, want democracy, and want to do the right thing the right way.

In conclusion, staying on the 1999 Constitution road means agreeing to be in a Union of disaster and death, being the road that turns Nigeria into the “estate” of Fulani. Those on it are authors of their own destruction since they consent to going to elections where their votes will not count because the sole purpose of the elections journey is 29 May swearing in ceremony when the life of the 1999 Constitution is renewed by taking the Oath of Office.

On the other hand, being on the NINAS Propositions road of Sovereignty and inalienable human right of Self-Determination means a non-violent ORDERLY PROCESS of being organized, guided by UN instruments and International Law to Renegotiate the failed Union according to what “we the peoples” want, determined by Referendums by indigenous Ethnic Nations, and other democratic and globally accepted processes. 

Ndidi Uwechue is a British citizen with Igbo heritage from the Lower Niger Bloc. She is a retired Metropolitan (London) Police Officer, she is a signatory to the Constitutional Force Majeure, and she writes from Abuja.

INEC Awards processing of election materials to APC’s Aisha Binani’s printing press – Defend action

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has defended the choice of Binani Printing Press Limited, purportedly owned by Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for governor of Adamawa State, to print sensitive election materials.

The commission stated Tuesday that Binani Printing Press Ltd was one of the security printing businesses that sought to print security papers for the commission. The commission noted that all of its procurement activities go through transparent competitive bidding.

She is stated to be the owner of Binani Printing Press Ltd in the report.

In a statement released by the commission yesterday in Abuja and signed by the national commissioner and chairman of the information and voter education Committee, Festus Okoye, it was stated that the commission uses open competitive bidding for all of its procurements and that one of the security printing firms that applied to print security documents for the commission was Binani Printing Press Limited.

Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed, popularly known as Binani, is a senator from Nigeria serving as the All Progressives Congress’s (9th Assembly) representative for the Adamawa Central senatorial district.

Okoye stated that the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) was satisfied that the company is a qualified printer with the necessary technical ability, security consciousness, and skill in printing security papers after reviewing the company’s facilities and performing due diligence there.

He clarified, however, that Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed was not mentioned as one of Binani Printing Press Limited’s directors.

In order to support Nigerian printers and boost the country’s economy, the commission chose to print all the security documents for the 2023 General Election there, he stated.

Aduda seeks judicial review, alleging the FCT senatorial election to be inconclusive

Just three weeks after the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Senatorial District’s 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections, which resulted in Ireti Kingibe being elected as the district’s senator-elect, Kingibe’s closest rival, incumbent Senator Philip Tanimu Aduda, has vowed to challenge the results of the election at the Election Petitions Tribunal.

This comes at the back of the fact that the result of the FCT senatorial election was announced while collations at the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) were still pending, as well as with complete disregard to results cancelled in other polling units across the 62 wards of the six Area Councils, Senator Aduda, who is the Minority Leader of the 9th Senate, said to journalists at the National Assembly Complex on Thursday.

“The election, as guided by the extant laws used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is supposed to have been declared inconclusive.

“Pointedly in substantial numbers of the polling units, there were over-voting which led to cancellation of results that supposed to have been revisited by INEC through rescheduled election but from nowhere, we heard that results were declared.

“We are going to challenge it,” Aduda said.

Senator Aduda commented on his capacity and service delivery to FCT residents over the years as a lawmaker. “Within my 12 years in the Senate and eight years in the House of Representatives, a lot of development-driven projects have been facilitated by me across the 62 Wards and six Area Councils, many of which are still ongoing,” he said.

“If the winner of the election had the potential, Google would have shown her what I had done, so I think she is the one who lacks it.

You’ll be able to see that I brought a protest to this location. I had to discuss the redesign of the Naira and other measures pertaining to vital national concerns on the Senate floor.

“We have roads worth over N1 billion we are building in Kubwa, another worth over N1 billion in Nyanya, and we have the ones we are doing in Bwari. If I don’t have the capacity and can’t represent the people, I don’t think I can bring those projects to the various communities or Area Councils,” he said. I’m not referring to Gwagwalada, Kwali, or Kuje; all I’m referring to is this area’s metropolitan core and its surroundings.

“Apart from the very significant Laws I sponsored and the National Assembly like the Federal College of Education Zuba bill that has been there for over 17 years without graduation until we passed that Bill.”

He continued by saying that he implemented infrastructure in a number of areas, including the provision of classrooms, Primary Healthcare Centers, portable water, rural electrification, the construction of roads throughout the Area Councils in the FCT, Small & Medium Scale Empowerment Programs, and the provision of student bursaries to more than 3,000 beneficiaries drawn from the sixty-62 electoral wards of the six Area Councils.

Crisis in Nasarawa Labour Party after party collapses structure for PDP Candidate Ombugadu – new faction emerges, tries to back APC

In past weeks, the Nasarawa State Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate, Joseph Ewuga, recently stepped down from the race to support his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, David Emmanuel Ombugadu.

Middle Belt Times gathered that Ewuga decided to step down in the interest of the growth of the state and the ‘popularity, general acceptance and track record of Ombugadu’.

However addressing journalists yesterday in Lafia, Rev. Angba Solomon Kuje, the LP’s candidate for the House of Representatives for Akwanga/Nasarawa Eggon/Wamba Federal Constituency in the just concluded National Assembly election, said the the party favoured Governor Sule instead and was quoted as saying the decision of the party to support Governor Sule was arrived at after a series of meetings and consultations.

He said the move by Mr. Ewuga to align with the PDP’s governorship candidate, was a personal one and not a collective party decision.

According to him, the party learnt about Ewuga’s move through the media.

He pointed out that party members had carefully evaluated each candidate from all political parties in the state based on their merits, strengths, and weaknesses with a view to backing only one of them to victory in the conviction that the task of running the state extends far beyond a single person, ethnicity, or religion.

He added that members considered a candidate’s aptitude, capacity, character, experience, temperament, and managerial exposure while deciding which candidate to support.

The ability to maintain the diverse ethnic groups in the state together as one giant family, regardless of religion or cultural background, was crucially examined.

According to him, after careful deliberation, the Labour Party had reached the unassailable conclusion that Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule, the incumbent Governor and member of the All-Progressives Congress (APC), stands taller, bigger, better, and stronger and as such deserves its support in the gubernatorial elections on Saturday.

This is how we feel. This is where we all agree. Come Saturday, this is the way to go,” he stated.

Jang: Elections a referendum on the APC in Plateau State

Governor Simon Lalong’s poor showing in the February 25, 2023 Presidential and National Assembly (NASS) elections, according to former governor of Plateau State Senator Jonah Jang, simply gave the populace the chance to cast a referendum on the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Jang responded to a remark attributed to the state’s information and communication commissioner, where Mangjang was accused of “trying to cover up the poor performance which has led to election loss through such comments.

Senator Jang said in a statement released in Jos by his media consultant, Clinton Odafe Garuba, that the commissioner must recognize that, in contrast to his colleagues, he had etched his name in gold in the hearts of Plateau people and that any attempt by Manjang to disparage a man who has distinguished himself in all of his endeavors would be fruitless.

Jang also stressed that his party’s fear of impending defeat has caused them to latch on to anything at the moment for some face-saving opportunity.

Garuba, the media consultant to Governor Jang advised Mangjang thereafter to express his gratitude to Jang for giving him the chance to succeed in his endeavors before eventually pointing him in the right direction. If he still harbors resentment toward Jang for removing him from his administration, he should take solace in the knowledge that he now lives in a place where mediocrity is seen as a sign of advancement.

He also advised Mangjang to pray to one day emulate previous governor Jang who was contested and won elections and whom the present administration cannot point to achievements which amount to a quarter of those of Governor Jang.

He finally advised him to desist from attempts to gain cheap popularity through shots at Jang

Taraba APC in fresh crisis – suspends gov candidate days to election

With the suspension of the APC’s candidate for governor, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, due to suspected anti-party conduct approximately a week before the election, the problem in the Taraba State chapter has gotten worse.

As a result, the party warned Bwacha that he would “face severe repercussions” if he didn’t “stop the related illegal activities (campaign) and come before the fact-finding committee on March 13, 2023 to answer the allegations filed against him in a petition.”

Yet when asked for comment on the situation, Bwacha responded, “False news. The signatories are not APC ward representatives. Please confirm with the party once more. It was created by primaries losers who were desperate.

The Middle Belt Times on Sunday was able to receive the letter that contained his suspension, which was dated March 8 and signed by all of the APC’s Mararaba, Donga Local Government ward executives.

The choice was made shortly after a contentious ruling by the Federal High Court ordering the independent National Electoral Commission to recognize Bwacha as the APC’s candidate for governor of Taraba State.

Death toll rises to 17 in Southern Kaduna attack

The number of fatalities from last night’s attack on the Ungwan Wakili community in Kaduna State’s Zango Kataf Local Government Area has increased to 17.

Reports counted 14 corpses recovered this morning, aside from the one person killed yesterday and the two people that died in the hospital.

Addressing to reporters, Mr. Francis Sani Zimbo, the council chairman of Zango Kataf Local Government, denounced the brutal assault and reaffirmed that investigations are ongoing to identify the offenders and hold them accountable.

He expressed remorse over the decision to remove all Mobile Police checkpoints from the impacted villages before to last night’s attack.

While protesting, the locals questioned how an attack could endure for almost 40 minutes without a single attacker being shot by security personnel despite the presence of a forward operating base in the communities