A YEAR AFTER RIGGINGS
Since the 2003 gubernatorial and presidential elections, I have been repeatedly denouncing those who claimed to have won when they knew how they emerged as the declared winners. Some of my admirers have advised me to stop crying over split milk and face the future. I have replied some by telling them that our forefathers have all along stopped crying over split milk and faced the future which we, their children, are now living in and complaining every time. I have asked them if the future their forefathers envisaged is pleasing to them, there would be no need to complain.
It is to the glory of higher forces that threw the spanner of discord into the spoke of the PDP members and forced them to start telling the world what actually happened in 2003. Had they not revealed the truth themselves, people like me would not have been absolved. I am once again making my contributions on the current events in my dear country.
ON GBENGA DANIEL OF OGUN STATE
I have been vindicated as one of the few Ogun State gubernatorial candidates in 2003 elections who declined to honor the beneficiary of robbery sworn in as the Ogun State Governor either by congratulating him or referring to him as the Executive Governor of the State. It is my pet view that whoever congratulated him simply congratulated the undemocratic system that produced him. It is therefore a matter of internal joy to me that the wind has begun to blow and we have just begun to view the private part of the chickens that stole the people's mandate throughout the country.
The robbers in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) even celebrated their shamelessness by erecting "Thank You Bill Boards" all over the places. When I refer to Gbenga Daniel as the PDP Governor in all my letters to him, it is because of my unshaken belief that he was installed by the act of brigandage of the PDP, and the public would do themselves a good service by merely referring to him as the PDP Governor.
I would not waste my time on calling for his resignation for various reasons. First, he is morally bankrupt. His financial backgrounds and deeds since he has been in the office is a persuading evidence of this assertion.
If Daniel were to resign today, who will complete the land that is dashing away to those who could give him hard currencies? The public needs to know that Daniel travels today with Certificate of Occupancy in his briefcase, and he signs the land in Ogun State away to the highest bidders. Secondly, Daniel has done so much havoc that departing Ogun State now will be calamitous for him. The man corrupts every segment of our society by buying buses and dashing out the appropriated Naira of Ogun State to organizations to further deepen corruption, complicating good governance for subsequent leaders of the state and thus destroying Nigeria.
Daniel has taken the culture of settlement inculcated in our culture to a disgraceful and astronomical level. One of the several monetarily enticed decampees, Musiliu Obanikoro, said it all. None of them campaigned on the basis of morality to be a pastor or pope. They all lack morality and are all indecorously brash. His father in Aso Rock, the Commander-in-Chief of the Association of Robbers, once said that "Democracy is better than sex" in New York because they are nakedly and audaciously raping the country without regret.
All the checks and balances in the system have been flatly crushed by ensuring that majority of both the State and National legislators are beneficiaries of robberies who are handcuffed and thus could not challenge the excesses of both the state and federal governments. These, they enjoy more than sex according to General Olusegun Obasanjo.
ON THE FEUD BETWEEN CHIEF AUDU OGBEH AND GENERAL OLUSEGUN OBASANJO
Nigerians are yet to hear more as the spirit of MKO Abiola and others unjustifiably assassinated by bullets, killed on hospital beds as a result of lack of drugs and state of the art equipment in our hospitals and those used as sacrificial lambs in various "Ökija shrines" in the country are troubling the office holders and their collaborators. They have just started speaking incoherently like people who have sworn before Ondo Aiyelela ("Ighu iyi" in Igbo land). They would soon start to speak in tongue.
When Audu said that the PDP would rule Nigeria for 60 years, what was it based on? Was it the eyesore records of all the PDP rigged-in officials since 1999 resulting from their ineptitude or cluelessness of the solutions to our political and economic problems? Rigging was his basis! The man, his family, and his friends are enjoying juices that are sweeter than sex. The man spoke out because of the way the country is drifting, and he is afraid that the chance of 60 years of enjoying this looting is dimmed.
Where was Audu, when Harry Marshall, Chief Bola Ige and others were gunned down? Where was Audu when I revealed how Gbenga Daniel rigged the local government elections with government apparatus? The details of the rigging and violations of both the Constitution Gbenga swore to uphold and our electoral laws were published in two Nigerian newspapers, in June and July of 2003.
Where was Audu, when Bode George, the shameless soldier who looted the treasury of Ondo State when he served as its' military governor, was harassing Chief Olusegun Osoba and Bola Ahmed Tinubu and boasting of illegality committed in Southwest? As revealed by General Olusegun Obasanjo, he was busy accumulating wealth and planning to ensure that his children are planted into the system for 60 years while the masses of our people wallow in abject poverty. This was why, General Obasanjo said if his wish for coup is granted he would not "go out penniless."
General Obasanjo revealed that despite the disgraceful records of former Governor Mbadinuju of Anambra, Audu unscrupulously requested that he should work with him "to give {Mbadinuju} a soft landing and {they} agreed to make him an Ambassador after the election and (they also) agreed to which Mission abroad." If a governor committed a crime by not paying salaries, which were appropriated, and destroyed the lives of many school children by preventing them from taking the WASCE, what would he do as an Ambassador?
Why should Audu, if he is honest, and wants to discourage corruption in our society, lobby for such a rogue to be given a soft landing by making him an Ambassador? Who should be given a hard landing into the frozen Red Sea or beach during earthquake other than Mbadinuju to deter a neophyte like Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State? So, it is too late for Audu to distance himself and play holier than thou. The man lacks rectitude in my humble view, and any earthquake that is coming to rock all of them should not spare him. He chaired the Party that led Nigeria to where it is today. Like a leopard that does not change its spot, Audu even congratulated his President after the judgment of the Tribunal recently, and despite his profound knowledge of disgraceful riggings. This man is not about remedying illegality, he is about entrenching it. So where is the honor among the rouges?
I am neither amused nor shocked by the unrefined contents of General Olusegun Obasanjo's letter. The revelation is not out of his volition. The spirit of Nigeria is fighting against all of them. Obasanjo knew that the date of the election says it all 4-19 (April 19). This was considered by the evil genius among them before they scheduled the elections.
How could some people expect Obasanjo to hand over Uba and Ngige to Police when the date of the elections indicated that the elections were predetermined? Which Police are they going to handover Uba to? Is it the Police under corrupt Tafa Balogun who is part and parcel of the riggings? How would they expect Obasanjo to invite the Police when he himself was a beneficiary of the robbery in all the states that he was declared the winner, including Anambra and my State, Ogun?
Because Obasanjo knew his instructions to Abel Guobadia and the rest resident electoral commissioners, nothing in Obasanjo's letter wonders how Uba could have rigged without the collusion of his staff in INEC. Because they are planning to repeat the same thing again in 2007, no serious diagnosis is done of our electoral process to ensure that election would be free and fair.
Obasanjo's letter mirrors lack of institution of government in Nigeria. How could a seasoned Command in Chief make such a misguided statement without regard to the case in Court if his brain is not in the whirlwind or some spiritual forces are not toying with his mind? How could anyone expect Ngige to resign when Obasanjo has already exonerated him in his letter and the morally lame Obasanjo himself is not resigning despite the revelations?
Obasanjo mentioned in his letter that "Chris Uba went further to say to Ngige" "you don't know in detail how it was done", referring to the rigging. This has let Ngige off the hook and his defense would be that his elections might have been rigged but the burden of proof is on Uba who did it without his knowledge. He had already denied telling Obasanjo that he did not win the election, but he did not refute the fact he did not know how Uba rigged the election as mentioned in Obasanjo's letter to Ogbeh.
DR. ABEL GUOBADIA AND OTHER RESIDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSIONERS SHOULD BE PROSECUTED
The silence of Dr. Guobadia is not surprising to me because right now, he should be under cardiac arrest by his conscience, if he has any. Should he not have called for the investigation of both Electoral Commissioners of Ogun and Anambra? Should he not have called for an investigation of how it all happened with a view to preventing a repeat in the future? The Ogun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ekpeyong Nsa, was pictured behind General Olusegun Obasanjo on April 19, 2003, the day of looting of peoples votes. Most newspapers carried it. All the television channels carried it. Abel Guobadia saw it and did not see it fit to wonder about his presence behind Obasanjo when he was not one of his bodyguards, and when he was supposed to be busy concerning himself with smooth running of the conduct of the election.
Instead of Guobadia burying his head in sand and in shame, he is still shamelessly lobbying to be returned as the head of INEC. What a recidivist? All well meaning Nigerians should rise up to prevent him from conducting 2007 elections by any means necessary if we don't want our lives to continue to be destroyed.
MUD SLINGING IN BRIGADIER GENERAL KUNLE TOGUN'S BOOK ON CHIEF GANI FAWEHINMI, SAN
In a book titled "Dele Giwa" The Unanswered Questions" by Brigadier-General Kunle Togun, he claimed that during the Buhari administration, there were investigations on many of the politicians ousted by Buhari. Special military tribunals were set up to try them. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) kicked against the use of military tribunals to try the politicians. The NBA, therefore, directed that no lawyer should appear for any of the politicians before the military tribunals except in the normal civil courts. "Gani Fawehinmi disobeyed the NBA directives and got sanctioned by the NBA.
In that type of situation, one expected the Buhari administration to show gratitude to Gani by patronising him. Indeed, there was that patronage. However, there was a particular patronage which had to do with New York, United States of America, and which was to attract between half a million and one million U.S. dollars. The patronage was still on when a change of government took place and Babangida came in and stopped it. Gani therefore, saw Babangida as an enemy for dashing his hope of earning some hard currency."
In life, it is not unusual for a drowning person not to look for a company. However, I expect an "intelligence" man to be brilliant in his allegations. Togun who is privy to this lie did not give the details of the patronage in his books. I am duty bound to punch holes in these allegations since those at the helms of affairs in Nigeria cherish people of characters like Togun. It is on record that Babangida inculcated the culture of settlement in our society. When he came in, his first strategy was to buy any one who was buyable, because, like any other military government, he was looking for legitimacy for his government. If this were to be true, knowing IBB the way we know him, IBB would not have cancelled the deal.
IBB was part and parcel of Buhari regime that toppled Shagari. To discredit the same administration, the evil genius set to work by ordering the breaking into Chief Obafemi Awolowo's house in Apapa, Lagos. So, if IBB thwarted such deal planned for Chief Fawehinmi, he would have exploited it to either entice Chief Fawehinmi to his corner or use it to destroy him. Further, IBB himself said in a public interview that Gani is one of the very few Nigerians money cannot buy. I wonder why Togun is engaging in tissues of lies in 2004.
More important issue, which is still relevant today and which stares for attention is the hypocrisy of the NBA. I would agree with the NBA that no lawyer should appear for indicted Nigerians before a Military Tribunal, if it equally sanctioned the Attorney General (AG) under General Buhari who is its' member. The AG was either the prosecutor or appointed the prosecutor and yet NBA was silent about that. How could he allow a prosecutor who is its' member and then sanction a defense counsel? Has NBA spoken out against all its' members who have been colluding with our rulers to met gross injustice on the masses of our people? I do not agree with one-sided position of the NBA. Should we say that anyone who is sick should not be treated because the head of the hospital is a Military man who knows nothing about medicine but he is willing to have a doctor treat a sick person?
The Late Bola Ige was a member of the NBA when on Thursday, December 6, 2001, Obasanjo smuggled a clause into our electoral act in an unholy hour, the NBA did not ask Uncle Bola to resign or sanction him, this is worse than someone representing an indicted person in a Military tribunal. The Attorney General for General Sani Abacha is a member of NBA, despite Abacha's assassination of some NBA's members and unjust imprisonment of its' members, the NBA did not sanction the Attorney General and ordered all lawyers not to appear in Court until justice was met to its members who were fighting for them and their children.
One thing all of us keep ignoring is the fact that the Military are more intelligent in their handling of certain issues than the weak-headed civilians in government. As soon as the Military gets into power, the first order of the day is to suspend the Constitution and install decrees. It is imperative for the public to know that the first page of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria reads, "CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA (PROMULGATION) DECREE 1999 - DECREE NO. 24". This means that the current attorney general who is a member of the NBA is a creation of Decree No. 24.
When the Military takes over power in a coup de tat, the NBA has never in the history of Nigeria called for the Judges not to judge using decrees and lawyers staying away from court until they hand over power. When civilians take over power with their 'agbada", you would hear them still quoting decrees, the NBA never spoke out to advise the civilians that all decrees should be annulled like the Military always does to the Constitution of the land whenever they take over, and then replace any democratic decrees with laws. This hypocrisy needs to stop.
