Anambra 2013: Issues, Trends And Tendencies As INEC Okay 23 Candidates

  


SURPRISE, suspense and recalibration of strategies were the immediate reactions that trailed the release of names of accredited governorship candidates and their running mates for the November 16 gubernatorial election in Anambra State by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) last Tuesday. The surprise element was introduced by the presence of the name of Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu on the list as the standard bearer of troubled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). As happens after a massive inferno, there was nothing in Ukachukwu’s emergence from the ‘ashes’ of the legal fireworks between rival claimants of the PDP flag, Senator Andy Uba and Tony Nwoye, to describe the division, which the two candidates entrenched in the party. Even at that, if the challenge of dual candidates ended in a surprise for PDP, in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), suspense became apparent the following day. INEC had through a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Kayode Idowu, indicated that the Commission published the personal particulars of the candidates as contained in Form CF 001 of candidates nominated by political parties for the gubernatorial election, in line with the provisions of Section 31 (3) of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended. It was evident from the publication that a total of 23 political parties are fielding candidates for the governorship, while only 22 have named their deputy governorship candidates. 

Issues
INEC noted the challenges of selection issues with two political parties namely, the PDP and APGA. Though the electoral body outlined that the “two political parties had issues with the candidates they intend to sponsor before the closure of nominations on September 17, 2013”, its decision on APGA generated immediate furore. INEC had contended that the Federal High Court in Awka, eased the contention over APGA’s nomination by vacating its order directing the commission to accept two governorship candidates from the party, even as it declared that, “for the PDP, the Commission resolved to list Nicholas Chukwuejekwu Ukachukwu as the governorship candidate in accordance with the latest order as delivered by the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, in Suit No. FHC/PH/CS/296/2013 – Nicholas Chukwuejekwu Ukachukwu vs. Dr. Tony Nwoye and three others.” But no sooner had the list been made public than negative reactions began to trail it. Factional Chairman of APGA, Maxi Okwu, picked holes in the INEC explanatory notes, pointing out that the electoral body has continued to demonstrate unhealthy biases in its treatment of issues concerning the party. Speaking to reporters on the development in Awka, Okwu stated: “Two things; INEC said they are complying with the law, let me believe them. I find it hard to believe that they (INEC) are law abiding, but let us go on with that impression for now. In the cases of APGA and PDP, they acknowledged challenges and problems and said they are obeying a court order. My question is, which court orders are they obeying in the case of APGA? It is a poor legal statement. Let them tell us which court order they acted on. In Ukachulwu’s case there was a court order directing INEC to accept him. Let INEC now tell Nigerians similar court order in APGA. There is none! What we have and I can tell you, the position is that they got a ‘jankara’ vacation of court order on Thursday night; we have applied to stay that vacation and given notice of appeal. Ordinarily with that, everybody should maintain status quo, let INEC tell the world what order they obeyed in the APGA instance.” Okwu swore that his group would not relent, stressing that they have already filed papers for a stay of execution of the order granted by the Federal High Court, which paved the way for Obiano’s emergence. He maintained that by the time the appeal for stay of execution and other pending cases in Court are disposed of, “it would be clear to all and sundry that Dr. Chike Obidigbo is the duly nominated governorship candidate of APGA; we are focused and not relenting.”
  While insisting that Obidigbo’s candidacy cannot be wished away, Okwu condemned the surreptitious vacation of the earlier order made by Justice Mohammed T. Salim, where he directed INEC to receive the names of the two APGA governorship candidates, pending the determination of the substantive issues. He said: “Justice is blind; I would not know whether he was pressured or threatened; what he (the High Court Judge) needed to do was hear the case on Monday which is the return date we all agreed to and the parties had been served”.  He said; “Obiano may be there on paper, but heads or tail, Obidigbo remains the APGA candidate.” Comparing the situation in APGA governorship ticket to the swiftness of the Cheetah and the strength of the Lion, Okwu said: “So if anybody wants to waste his time and money he is free to do so; the other side is like the Cheetah that is the fastest animal on earth, but very weak. The Cheetah runs down his prey, (but) before he can eat it, either the Lion or the hyena comes and takes it from it. It now lies on INEC; let that scenario not play out in APGA”.
  Obidigbo, who addressed a press conference on the development, disclosed that he went to court to seek redress for the wrongful exclusion from the primary, explaining that when the reconciliation within the party could not be total, he emerged the governorship candidate on the rival platform led by Maxi Okwu. He declared that the Federal High Court, Awka, after seeing merit in the averment of illegality and unconstitutional basis of the composition of the screening panel, granted APGA leave to submit the names of the two candidates, pending the determination of the substantive issues. Reading from a prepared text, Obidigbo stated: “I have decided to address you this morning on a very sad development in our polity. The promise of credible, free and fair election by President Goodluck Jonathan has gingered in some citizens the desire to take part once again in elections. However, it is regrettable to note that some of the negative practices associated with our electoral system in recent past are still noticeable. Some highly placed political actors still derive pleasure in seeking to influence and undermine the transparent operation of the electoral process.
 “Recall that the illegally constituted three man hatchet panel set up by Victor Umeh refused to clear me to participate in the governorship primary of our party on the dubious and false claim that I did not possess a membership card endorsed by Umeh and voter’s card. This dubious disqualifications, which also affected such personalities like Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Hon. Oseloka Obaze, Barrister Chinedu Idigo among others was a clear warning from Umeh and company to all decent, outstanding and forward looking Igbo to stay away from APGA-their domain of conquest and influence. But we were surprised to hear that barely 48 hours after the honourable court granted the order, enormous pressures were exerted on the Judge, such that he decided to vacate the order ostensibly to please those who wanted to thwart the submission of my name to INEC. However it is gladdening to report that before the said order was vacated; it had been given effect at the INEC headquarters, Abuja. It is outrageous to note that after the adjudication of Justice Ikpeme in the ignoble case of Association of Better Nigeria (ABN), which set the grounds for the eventual annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential election, a Judge of the Federal High Court should sit at odd hours to vacate an order he freely made.”
  Stressing his determination to pursue the matter to a logical end, Obidigbo said he had instructed his lawyers to review the development with a view to bringing it to the attention of the National Judicial Council (NJC).
  And within the fold of PDP, the governorship candidate recognised by the party, Tony Nwoye, said PDP would fight out the unconstitutional attempt to impose a candidate on the party. Speaking through the Director General of his campaign organisation, Prince Okey Ezenwa, Nwoye urged PDP supporters to continue to mobilise in their respective wards to maintain the party’s edge at the grassroots level. He expressed surprise that INEC’s list of eligible candidates to contest the governorship election did not contain the candidate who was elected by PDP at the primaries. “We were made to understand that INEC was merely obeying a court order. To us that is no problem; we are only enjoining our supporters not to be disillusioned. It is not for me to predict what will happen because that lies with INEC,” he said pointing out that as early as 3.00 am that fateful Tuesday, national leaders of PDP were still at INEC headquarters insisting that Nwoye is the party’s candidate. The Director General noted the fact that INEC simply indicate ‘court order’ on the column for PDP as a pointer that the matter was yet to be resolved. He added that despite the existence of multiple litigations in Court over the PDP governorship, the issue would be resolved in their favour very soon.
Ukachukwu upsets the calculations:
IF the candidacy of Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu survives expected attempts at judicial review, there is the possibility that he would alter the existing calculations of how the governorship poll could go. Ukachukwu has been a permanent feature in governorship and senatorial elections in the State. He ran for governorship in 2010 on the platform of Hope Democratic Party (HDP), after the National Working Committee (NWC) of PDP declared former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, as the party’s flag bearer. Ukachukwu’s exit from the PDP alongside Senator Andy Uba, who contested on the Labour Party (LP) platform contributed to the party’s loss of the governorship three years ago. He returned to the PDP and contested the party’s ticket for the Anambra South Senatorial seat against Uba in 2011. A similar scenario to the present divisive battle between Nwoye and Uba played out, such that after the election both Ukachukwu and Uba continued the legal battle to determine who was the authentic candidate of the PDP. It is popularly held in the State that the dual candidacy of Uba and Ukachukwu was responsible for the loss of the Senate seat by the APGA candidate, Chuma Nzeribe. The recapitulation is necessary to show that Ukachukwu would, apart from re-enacting the trend in the senatorial district, upstage every other calculation about the 2013 governorship poll. While his entrance into reckoning leaves Anambra North senatorial zone free to an extent, the PDP candidate would corner votes from Ihiala and Nnewi South local councils. Ukachukwu is in charge of votes from his Osumenyi axis; he would contest for votes in old Aguata with LP candidate, Ifeanyi Ubah and the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA) flag bearer, Godwin Ezeemo. Another tendency to be influenced by Ukachukwu is in Ekwusigo, where PDP chieftain Emeka Offor holds sway. Many people believe that Offor would rather support Ukachukwu than any other candidate. A lot would however depend on where the tentative PDP candidate picks his running mate.
  For Anambra North Senatorial zone, if Nwoye fails to reclaim the PDP ticket, a greater chunk of the votes from the area would be shared by LP, APGA and United Progressives Party (UPP). UPP may become the ultimate beneficiary of the poisoned zoning gambit of incumbent Governor Peter Obi. Some damage could have been done to the traditional bloc votes from Anambra North due to Obi’s poor handling of his zoning format. The unexpected exit of Obi of Onitsha from office as Chairman of Anambra State Council of Traditional Rulers in perceived protest against the insincerity that dogged the promise of power shift to the zone destroyed the cohesion of the people. In most elections in Anambra State, the governorship is not won or lost until votes from the Omambala area are received and collated. It is perhaps based on the discovery of the fact that the bloc vote of Anambra North would help to decide the 2013 governorship that Dr. Obidigbo moderated his utterances, so as not to devalue the votes of the area further. But if the influx of disappointed APGA faithful to LP during the campaign flag off of Ifeanyi Ubah is anything to go by, APGA would need to pursue its reconciliation with vigour and secure assurances.
  Commenting on the nature of APGA decampees at the LP event, a political analyst said: “The unmasking of APGA publicly by the disenchanted leaders rattled and inflated irreparable damage in terms of the psychological deflation. These publicly declared confessions traumatised the pretentious APGA leaders.” 
  Reacting to the surprising inclusion of Ukachukwu in the list of names of eligible governorship candidates and their deputies by INEC, state Chairman of Labour Party, (LP) Mr. Sam Osita Oraegbunam, said the list showcases a straight fight between LP and All Progressives Congress (APC). In a telephone interview with The Guardian, Oraegbunam explained that the decision of INEC to accede to court declarations by fielding Nicholas Ukachukwu and Willie Obiano, for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has merely postponed the evil days for the two embattled parties, stressing that “Anambra voters would definitely avoid those sections of the ballot paper.” Oraegbunam said prevailing circumstances in the election environment and developmental blue print of the LP governorship candidate, Dr. Ifeanyi Patrick Ubah, have provided Anambra people the conviction they need to vote LP during the November 16 election, assuring that the party was poised to reward the voters with good governance and inclusive leadership. Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates of prominent parties, Oraegbunam noted that while there may not be an end in sight for the various litigations dogging the PDP flag bearer, the alleged breaches of APGA constitution in the governorship primary election of Obiano effectively excludes him from contention. “What this means is that Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah will coast home to victory in November 16; and when the votes are collated and counted, we shall get set for the swearing-in ceremony of the LP governorship hopeful on March 17, 2014,” Oraegbunam added pointing out that Senator Ngige’s past glory cannot get him anywhere in the election.
  From Anambra Central Senatorial zone where Dr. Ngige and Peter Obi hail, the fact that deputy governorship candidates of APGA and LP hail from the zone make the situation tight for the parties. The deputy governorship candidates, Dr. Emeka Eze (LP) and Dr. Nkem Okeke, (APGA) may be political featherweights, but the APC candidate would have a lot of explaining to do to convince voters why after eleven years in office as governor, the zone should produce another governor for the next four years. At least in his Anaocha axis where the incumbent is constructing a five-start hotel around Agulu Lake, voters may be well disposed to vote APGA. But Nibo, Nise, Nnokwa and adjourning towns still revere Ngige on account of some access roads he built during his short stint as governor. The point is that, apart from Alor, Ngige would face some battle in Idemmili North and South, especially given the discordant tunes from Senator Annie Okonkwo. Sources said foot soldiers of President Goodluck Jonathan are working very hard to corner the Umuoji Senator back to PDP, with the promise of an important appointment and reserved senate ticket.   
Religion
  TRY as they could, it has not been easy for political actors in the state to rule out the influence of religious denominations in the calculations of who succeeds Peter Obi. In 2010, the balance of the denomination tenor tilted in favour of Obi, who is Catholic. There were subdued suggestions that Governor Obi distanced himself from the consensus candidate of Anambra North, Obidigbo, on account of the fact that Obidigbo is from the Anglican fold. Though even Obidigbo denied such possibility, the growing closeness of the governor to religious organisations buttresses the contention that he wants to fall back on the catholic to return his political godson to office. But prevailing circumstances could defy that narrow stratagem. Among the elite governorship candidates, including Ifeanyi Ubah, Senator Chris Ngige, Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu and Willie Obiano, only Ukachukwu is not Catholic. The implication of this is that the catholic votes would be diffused.   
Campaign funding
  JUST like religious denominations, money plays a great role in determining the flow of votes in Anambra governorship elections. It is a common feature of political discussions that the size of campaign fund goes a long way to tilt the weight of the votes. Many observers say the incumbent governor plans to flood the election environment with much money to ensure that his candidate carries the day. But as could be evidenced from the caliber of candidates running for governor presently, no one candidate could seek to intimidate another with financial muscle. Even the not so rich APC candidate, Ngige, his party has budgeted fabulous amount of money (some say N4 billion) to prosecute the election with a proviso that the cash would not be handed to the candidate. It is therefore doubtful whether government funds would drown Ubah or Ukachukwu in the ensuing contest.
  It is possible that as the days go by, each candidate would be devising tricks and panic measures to destabilise their opponents. For instance, shortly before the list of eligible candidates were released by INEC, a group calling itself ‘We Care for Credible Elections’ released the result of a survey it said it carried out declaring Godwin Ezeemo as the most outstanding of the contenders. But believing the publication to be the handiwork of agents of the PPA candidate, a member of Ifeanyi Ubah Campaign Organisation, Mr. Emmanuel Ibeneme, pooh-poohed the purported survey saying, “the purported survey is a product of hallucination and grand delusion.” While doubting the indices and samples used for the phantom survey, the campaign organisation declared that even as the group is faceless and non-existent, “from every indication, the purported survey is a product of somebody’s imagination conducted in the bedroom of Godwin Ezeemo,” adding that “the presentation of the survey portrayed it as bereft of ideas and deep thinking.” The campaign organisation asserted: “Even in their attempt to brow-beat the public into believing that their preferred candidate is the peoples’ choice, they forgot to use any known parameter as a basis for the survey. The candidate that was projected in the wishy-washy survey is a hard sell, a candidate who is less known in his locality not to talk of Anambra State.”
  The exchange on paper reveals what could be in store as the election date draws nearer. Without sounding alarmist, the preaching against political thuggery has not as yet achieved a hundred percent extermination of the evil. Though Anambra State is not known for brutal election violence, the 2013 governorship may not be totally devoid of physical contests. Of the 23 political parties Okayed for the electoral contest, four could be considered to occupy the front, based on party structure, membership strength and organisational prowess. Two are in the front row, while the remaining 17 do not threaten the electoral environment with a possible earthquake or tremour. It would not be surprising if some of the group ‘C’ parties begin to step down for candidates of the front row political parties in a fortnight. Otherwise, one indubitable possibility about the governorship election is that a clear winner may not emerge at the first ballot.

Author of this article: From Leo Sobechi.

Al-Mustapha: Arewa Elders Misled Dokubo

Former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, has said that the activities of some elders in the North were responsible for Asari Dokubo recent unpleasant utterances, saying that Dokubo would soon expose the names of the Northerners that misled him.
    But a northern group north chided him for alleged romance with President Goodluck Jonathan, saying he was released from prison and engaged to dislodge the North from the 2015 general election.
   Speaking during the one million match tagged, “National Unity Alliance,” organised by Al-Mustapha and Dokubo groups in Kaduna yesterday, Al-Mustapha said Dokubo’s utterances about the north was informed by the wrong impression the detractors from the region planted in him.
     According to him, “At the moment, there is a big misconception about Asari Dokubo and the South South but I was privileged to get to the root of the matter when I was freed from the prison. Asari Dokubo and people from the South South talk to me about how to unite with the north and so I went after them and got to the root of the whole issue.
    “Asari Dokubo got married here in the north. His first wife was a Fulani by tribe, the second is shuwa Arab and his children are grand children of the north.
“What I found out in the course of my visitation was that there were some detractors from the north that misled and misguided him.  They are giving him wrong impression about the North. But Asari Dokubo has seen the light of truth; he has pleaded with the north and ready to expose the names of these detractors from the north that are going about giving wrong impression of the north,” Al-Mustapha said.
    According to him, the unity and alliance he was struggling for was borne out of the need to unite and move the nation forward.
   “After my release from detention, I took it upon myself to show appreciation to all those who rallied round me during my trial. It was at that time that youths and groups — both from South South and North —whispered into my ears, the need to unite the youths.
“But the whole thing you see here today has nothing to do with politics; I’m not bothered about power. We have carried this upon ourselves to ensure that unity and peaceful coexistence is achieved. I’m not doing this for the interest of anybody but for the love I have for this country.
     “I’m from Yobe, and 30 out of 100 youths are going to school while the remaining 70 youths are out of school and the funds as well as their rights to go to school is being squandered by somebody. Gone are those days; everything must change now. We must put a stop to that,” Al-Mustapha added.
He however assured that youths in the North would come together “with a representative voice for the region, after which the South South would meet with the North for mutual understanding and agreement that would bring about positive development in the country.
   But the Northern Coalition Movement, the Northern Youth Interactive Forum, the Youth Coalition Movement and the Northern Youth Revival Movement, through a spokesperson, Alhaji Kabiru Salihu Bako, jointly issued a statement on Thursday saying that it would be sad for Al-Mustapha, at 54, to be calling himself a youth and working to cause political disharmony in the national politics ahead 2015.
 The group said the North would soon disown him
   ‘We hereby condemn the so-called ‘Al-Mustapha–Dokubo ‘ Kaduna conference under the auspices of the National United Alliance and call on northern youths to disassociate themselves from any act that is unprogressive to the region,’ he charged.
    He added that Al-Mustapha could not speak on behalf of northern youths, even as the coalition condemned him for organising a rally in Owerri under the aegis of the Northern Youth Thought.

Author of this article: From Saxone Akhaine (Abuja), Abba Anwar (Kano) and Bashir Bello (Kaduna)

SANDRA DURU AND IMO DEPUTY GOV, MY VIEW

By Bro. Obinna Akuwudike

I came across an article on News Bearer Newspaper dated 30th August, 2013 where a group claiming to be Imo Conscience tried to throw more light on the High Chief Sandra Duru versus Prince Eze Madumere homosexuality issue and even though I have never really followed their case, I was drawn by the accusations made against this woman and that prompted me in my usual manner to look closer into the matter and find out the facts for myself.

I was particularly interested by the way this group described this woman which portrayed her as some sort of ‘Superwoman’ who cannot be touched even by the country’s security outfits and this pricked my curiosity even more and made me wonder whether this woman was really all they said she was.

After several digging around, I am yet to find out why this woman should be referred as an ex-convict as the group had claimed as there seem not to exist, any evidence of this woman ever being tried in any Nigerian court let alone sentence for even one day in prison. This discovery made me wonder, which court sentenced this woman for a crime? On which date was this sentencing held and where? What is the name of the judge that sentenced her and more so, on what charges was she sentenced? I am still finding difficulties locating all these information so it would be safe to ask those who claim that this woman is indeed an ex-convict to present the facts along with their accusations.

Even more intriguing was the accusation by this group that this woman Sandra Duru blackmailed a former Head of State and this really made me laugh at such rather lame accusation because I cannot imagine anybody daring to blackmail any Head of State of Nigeria, civilian or military, serving or not and still be alive to tell the story and this made me wonder who this Agu Nwanyi is. Who is this woman who is accused of blackmailing a former Inspector General of Police of Nigeria and still walks about free? It is either she is some sort of ‘wonder-woman’ or the accusations are bogus all concocted to discredit her and the accusations she made against the Deputy Governor of Imo State Prince Eze Madumere.

I also looked into the claim that she was not legitimately married to Uche Rajis, her ex-husband, and found out that the marriage was even honored and blessed by a God-fearing traditional ruler of Osu-Ama, HRM Eze Dr. Charles Obinna Onuoha so I keep wondering, why all these childish lies when the truth is very glaring for all to see? The woman, I learnt, had even dared her ex-husband Uche Rajis to take a DNA test to determine the paternity of her children who this group claimed did not belong to Uche Rajis.

I further investigated about the accusation of bogus titles and found that the woman in question High Chief Sandra Duru was indeed honored with several titles by her people and contrary to the impression created that she was not welcome with her people, I found that in the contrary, her people actually held her in high regard as a woman who would not let anybody trample over her. These made me desire to meet this woman and hear her side of the story.

After some digging around, I was opportuned to contact this woman and listen to her side of the story, since the Deputy Governor did not seem forthcoming with what really happened. She recounted to me a story which as a Christian, I found very appalling and disgusted by and despite the doubt in me as to the authenticity and credibility of this story, I couldn’t help but wonder, why hasn’t this woman been arrested by the police if truly she is lying against the Deputy Governor and her former husband Uche Rajis? Why hasn’t the Deputy Governor held a press conference or somehow or the other to defend himself against these accusations against him rather decided to stay silent and play childish third party media hide-and-seek such as the one done on his behalf by the so-called group Imo Conscience? What gives this woman the boldness to dare the Deputy Governor of Imo State as well as her ex-husband to take her to court and disprove her? What makes her different from any other Nigerian that the Deputy Governor cannot get the police to arrest her for blackmail rather he secretly gets a phantom group to try to discredit this woman in the media?

These actions have gone a long way to lend more credence to her accusations that really, something sinister happened between her ex-husband Uche Rajis and the Deputy Governor of Imo State Prince Eze Madumere.

Chief Sandra Duru listed out all her functional companies and past and recent activities, audited accounts, functional corporate head office. It will shock you that Sanchhy Nigeria Limited has branches in 16 African countries and Pre-Adult Affairs Organisation a UN recognised NGO has been actively involved in building potentials and providing qualitative care for young people and women in Nigeria for over fourteen years now.

It may also interest you to know that Sandra Duru was in-charge of Owelle Rochas Okorocha's Security, Surveillance and Media during the 2011 election in Imo state, she said she is coming up with a detailed documentary on the pre and post election and other similar projects she is working on.

The Sandra Duru that I met is neither a pyscho, nor a blackmailer! Rather, the Sandra Duru that I met is very brilliant, organised, smart, very creative, courageous, articulated and ready to make a positive change at all cost! Sandra Duru is always busy with one project or the other and always ready and cannot be taken unawares. She is indeed a blessing to Nigeria if properly researched and understood! She is not a blackmailer but a fearless fighter of injustice. I challenge Uche Rajis and the Deputy Governor of Imo state to take SANDRA DURU to court and prove the whole world who have believed her story wrong or better-still seek for peace, turn a new leaf and allow GOD ALMIGHTY's intervention.

 You can google Chief Sandra Duru, visit her, contact her on facebook, even call her on phone, she is accessible, her doors are always open, she is a public figure with a style. Get closer, investigate her and appreciate God more, Sandra Duru is a genius and a Nigerian, African to be reckoned with.

Looking at the matter in dispute – Homosexuality, I for one see it as the greatest sin against God and against man. Homosexuality is the sin that would signal the end of creation and the second coming of Christ Jesus as even in the Bible, God showed his total dislike of that sin by destroying the city of Sodom and Gomorrah which the Bible lets us know is the only city God destroyed. That singular act by God alone should tell us that of every other sin, God hates sodomy most of all. Even our culture forbids a man sleeping with his fellow man and despite the pressure put on Nigeria by foreign powers, Nigeria has shown herself to be a Godly country to resisting any move to legalize homosexuality in the country as such, homosexuality is deemed as a crime in Nigeria. Why then will a Nigerian leader be accused of such grievous sin and yet keep quiet rather than defend himself? Is he hiding something or is there some form of truth in what this woman is saying that is giving a Deputy Governor cold feet?

With all the gossip flying around town about homosexuality in Douglas House as well as the planned legalization of Abortion in Imo State, one no longer knows what to believe and since those who should be telling us the truth as they want us to see it, are keeping quiet about it, I believe it is our right to believe that something happened between the Deputy Governor Prince Eze Madumere and the ex-husband of Sandra Duru, Uche Rajis and since this woman, High Chief Sandra Duru appears untouchable by the police as claimed by this group, it is safe to assume that probably, she has some form of evidence to back up her claim and this is giving the Deputy Governor goose-pimples as he seem incapable of addressing this issue once and for all and let us know who is lying and who is telling us the truth in the matter.

For a man who I have seen regularly on the pages of Anglican Voice, it is rather disappointing to say the least hearing this sort of accusations against his person and his silence and third party media attacks at the person of Sandra Duru makes it even clear to a blind man that there is something he does not want us to know.

My concern is for my people of Imo State. Imo is a Godly state. We are a people loved by God but recent happenings have started to separate the people of Imo State from the love of God we used to enjoy and that is why there seems to be a lot of suffering and hardship in Imo State today. Clearly, God is angry with us and it may not be for our sins but if we remember, even in the Bible, God can visit a people with hardship for the sins of their leaders. Are we suffering for what we know nothing about? Is God angry with us over the secret Abortion bill? Is he visiting us with hardship because of the accusations and gossips of homosexuality – the worst sin in His sight – among our leaders? Is Imo State drifting into the next Sodom and Gomorrah having been the first Nigerian state to even dream of secretly signing a law legalizing abortion? A secret bill legalizing homosexuality may not be very far off.

The people of Imo State desire the truth on this matter as we desire the truth on many other matters which the government seem not be care to give us the answers to those questions. For our good as a state, for our salvation from God’s wrath, I urge everyone involved to come forward and let us hear the truth over this matter. Sandra Duru has said her part, the ball is now in the court of the Deputy Governor Prince Eze Madumere and Uche Rajis to come out and defend themselves rather than running the immature third party media smear campaign being run against this woman by the group called Imo Conscience. Ka Chineke mezie okwu.

Bro. Obinna Akuwudike

HOMOSEXUAL ALLIGATION: NMMR IMO STATE REACTS

NATIONAL MOVEMENT FOR MORAL REBIRTH IMO STATE CHAPTER REACTS TO THE IMO DEPUTY GOVERNOR’S HOMOSEXUAL ALLIGATION

Our attention has been drawn to a surreptitious publication at the front page of News Bearer Magazine of September 30^th, volume 15 No. 17 by individuals with cultic affiliations masquerading under a faceless organization “Imo conscience” wherein an illustrious daughter of Imo State, High Chief Sandra Duru and her innocent children were subjected to attack an account of the paternity of the children and marriage to Mr. Uche Rajis, erstwhile T.C. Chairman Njaba L.G.A.

While we would not have been joining issues with this cultic group of individuals and their paymaster whose public image has nosedived since the news of his alleged homosexual activities became public, hugely because of his inability to defend himself with facts rather than waging a media war with a decent woman of Chief Sandra’s status, we feel obliged, and for sake of setting the records straight, as a “Movement for Moral Rebirth”, to express our concern.

FOR THE RECORDS

·        High Chief Sandra Duru has continuously told the Deputy Governor and indeed the public that she has facts to prove her allegation of homosexual affairs between him (Prince Eze Madumere) and Mr. Uche Rajis, any day, any time.

·        It is also a proven fact that Chief Sandra Duru was legally married to Mr. Rajis a former Transition Council Chairman of Njaba LGA of Imo State.

·        Their marriage was blessed with two children, a girl and a boy. She has also told whoever cares, including her ex husband Uche Rajis that she is ready for a DNA test to ascertain the paternity of the children. This is without prejudice to the fact that under Nigerian law, no child born of a Nigerian parent can be called illegitimate.

From the forgoing, therefore, we wish to inform the Public that the threat and intimidation against Chief Sandra Duru is an abuse to our norms and cultural values, as we are not known to homosexualism. This is a sign of danger looming in the state.

We once again urge the Deputy Governor Prince Eze Madumere in his own interest as a high ranking Public official who is said to be a knight of the Church to either defend himself of these atrocious and uncustomary acts with facts or render public apology to high Chief Sandra Duru or remain quiet forever. It is also noteworthy that Mr. Uche Rajis who is AWOL from his family responsibilities and obligations to his children has deliberately kept quiet over the homosexuality scandal.

COMR. MATHEW OPARAH         MR. KENNETH OKONKWO

       State Cordinator                         State Secretary

         08034243185                                  08136062262

Fani-Kayode on ‘Deportation’: Enough Is Enough By Dipo Salimonu

The story has been told often enough and is now old: A response from Chief Orji Uzor Kalu to the recent forced removal of some Nigerians from one part of their country to another vexed and caused Chief Femi Fani Kayode to write a series of essays, one of which he termed, 'The Bitter Truth about the Igbos'.
That the response was from his 'friend and brother' and was merely to aver that Lagos belonged to no one would appear to warrant nothing more than a private telephone call between the two men. Instead we got a tribal fire-fight after Fani Kayode's essays squared 'the Yorubas' off against 'the Igbos'.
I am reluctant to enter a conversation uninvited especially one I feel has exceeded certain boundaries of propriety. But I simply cannot remain silent at this treatment meted out to what FK repeatedly as 'the Igbos. With that term, oft repeated in his essay he has taken millions of his compatriots and mine, millions of people from every imaginable walk of life, wherever in the world they may live, or whatever relationship or association they may have with the statements and assumptions made in the essay, irrespective of whatever else may define them as human beings, and collecting them together as a unit, tongue-lashed them, as though with a 'koboko.'
Estimates are that there are now 171 million Nigerians. About a fifth of these are Igbo. Thus, Fani Kayode's essay and its 'the Igbos' can have as its ambition no less than to encompass the entire 30 million or so of them alive in Nigeria and across the world. And with the historical ambit described therein he seems to have included their forebears also. This is a violation, of stupendous and unacceptable proportions, of the uniqueness and individuality of each human being and the dignity inherent thereof. That dignity, the according of which to each, is the first law of humanity, after only which justice now becomes relevant or necessary.
I will seek to speak here more about ideas than about people or events. Not for Eleanor Roosevelt's maxim 'Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.' I have read and heard great minds hold forth and I am quite comfortable with the realization that I am not one. Rather, it is because I have innumerable times in my life arrived at and held firm conclusions about people and events that I subsequently found out were wrong or severely limited. Anyone can read a history book, or write one, even, and I want to be careful with things about which I do not have perfect or complete knowledge. As the Christian mystic Meister Eckhart once said, 'the hand that will write the true thing must first learn to erase'.
But first to some points from the essay: If even they were substantiated, comments made by one man representing Enugu at some council or the other in 1945 cannot be held as evidence that a 'they' (the Igbos') were 'the ones that FIRST (emphasis his) introduced tribalism into southern politics'. The verbal lathe that turns a 'they' out of the actions of one man is a dehumanizing one and deserves to be abandoned. It robs the humanity of every Igbo person other than the supposed speaker of those words to pay for the convenience of a point.
And in the same vein, the 'Igbo people' never carried out a failed coup, as is asserted in the essay, referring to the first coup of January, 1966. The coup plotters were not delegated to do so by the wider community. And an 'Igbo Coup' as Fani Kayode refers, would have required millions of more participants' names than the 25 names listed in the essay.
There are many more generalizations and scapegoating in the essay but my purpose here is not to debate Fani Kayode's essay. It is simply to condemn the widespread practice of taking a community of Nigerians and excoriating or insulting them as a group for actions which they are not to a person culpable of. Or the practice in which behaviour or traits of one sort or another are ascribed to entire communities or groups. That it is convenient to do so does not make it right.
All societies are unique but I submit that the nature and degree of diversity and plurality that exists in our Nigerian society is without precedent or equal: Nigeria is the biggest society in the world and in the history of mankind that has an equal number of Moslems and Christians. Papua New Guinea 's 830 languages make that country arguably the most diverse on earth, but they are spoken by just 7 million people. India , with its teeming cultural diversity and its more than 1 billion people speak 438 languages. Nigerians, with our 515 languages spoken by 171 million citizens easily ranks our society the highest in the world on a plurality- diversity matrix. No country in the world with more people speaks as many languages.
With this complexity and diversity come a great requirement of care and reasonableness in the way we talk to, relate with and refer to one another, especially in public spaces. A care and discipline greater even than practised in other countries. Rather than being a reason for strife, our diversity is a greater imperative to work harder to stay aligned. Along with wisdom, we have to acquire and evince not only the unity with which to manage our diversity, but the maturity also.
We feel we know one another's history and have seen each other in our houses and kitchens. We have learned to sneer at one another because we have peered into each other's backyards and bedrooms. Familiarity breeds contempt, after all.
But need it be so? That the truth is said to be bitter does not mean everything bitter is the truth. The recklessness with which many of our commentators and leaders speak about and act towards other Nigerians is irresponsible and has been at the heart of our issues as a nation. The most important lesson we can learn from history is how to prevent it from becoming destiny. Our history tells us that it is easier to destroy bridges than to build them. But that it costs inestimably more to wage war than to sustain peace.
The New Testament's 'Parable of the Faithful Servant' cautions that to whom much is given, much is required. And the Quran's Surah al-Hujurat says 'O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other)'. I believe there lies the great challenge of our society, and the greatest contribution that we can make to the world, in showing all how the most diverse country on this continent of diversity can live together in amity.
I am drawn back to Fani Kayode's essay in which I read these words with dismay: 'It does not come so easily to those who never had any history at all and who never even had monarchs or structured, properly-organised hierachial societies that placed value on tradition and culture'. This is a most painful statement. How can it reasonably be said that the Igbos (or any group of people in this world) are without a history or that their society do not place value on tradition and culture.
'The Fulanis are uneducated and the Hausas are violent'. 'The Yorubas cannot be trusted or are loud'. 'The Igbos love money and are crude'. We take individual human traits and tar entire groups and communities amongst us with them. Yet, many American leaders use principles such as 'decency', justice' and 'hard work' in their rhetoric, appropriating universal values and presenting them as 'American' to unite and inspire their society. It is wrong to ascribe traits or behaviours to a group that the speaker must know are not individually held by all in that group. That is prejudice and the evidence against it is stark and unassailable. Even children do not automatically take on characteristics of their parents. 'The acorn does not fall far from the oak', the old chestnut holds, but it falls.
Last week marked the 50th year anniversary of Martin Luther King's 'I have a Dream' speech, the title of which is taken from a simple sentence of enduring profundity: 'I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character'. Half a century on, his country has made great strides in that regard not even at all by electing Barack Obama, but by promulgating and enshrining the Civil Rights Act, and vigorously dispensing censure to those who violate it in either spirit or letter.
Fifty years on in our experience as an independent nation, human beings are still tarred and feathered for no other reason than 'crimes' of ethnicity and provenance. The stereotypes with which we straitjacket one another have an insidious effect on our society and the way in which we communicate with another.
There is little point listening to another when all that is needed to know about them is to know that they are Idoma, Bini or Igala or from Kafanchan or Modakeke.
Overly negative images conjured up and reinforced easily produce stereotypes which become tinder for hatred and violence. At a Kukah Centre Roundtable in July, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah spoke about how genocide and explosions of violence are preceded by a shift in nomenclature.
About how Hitler described the Jews as 'vermin' and in Rwanda, the Tutsis were called 'cockroaches', just as the Ogoni Four were described as 'vultures'. According to him, once these perceptions are internalized and the violence begins, you are not killing human beings, but vermin, cockroaches and vultures. The Kukah Centre, his new initiative, has resolved to take on the issue of hate speech in our society and this could not be more topical.
I am a Yoruba man and a Nigerian. The former denotes my tribe and the latter my country. Both are important to me. The Yoruba language is my most treasured possession however my citizenship of Nigeria is of more primacy to me than my being Yoruba. That I cannot renounce being Yoruba but can my Nigerian citizenship mean to me that the latter requires more of a commitment from me. Just as couples enter into marriages that acquire more immediacy to them than the families into which they were born, we come together as a nation so that we can be and achieve more than we otherwise would. I have not given up my 'kin' but simply expanded the notion of that word and the ambit it describes to a tribe called Nigeria .
Still, Yoruba and Nigerian confer personal identities, not definitions. I am a human being and my mind is mine and it defines me. It is not a Yoruba mind, nor a Nigerian mind, and my ambition, my desires and my abilities and actions are neither Yoruba nor Nigerian- they are Dipo Salimonu's. I am the aggregate of my experiences and the unique formative factors which have influenced me beyond my ability to know or define. Factors which no one alive or dead could ever replicate and which make me unique.
I have two siblings and though we lived together and grew up in the same house we are completely different people. Different so that I cannot imagine one word or trait that could successfully describe all three of us. Yet, in our society today we seem easily to find behaviours and traits to describe all in groups comprising thousands or millions of human beings. And to easily hold these stereotypes and prejudices to be sacrosanct even as we are confronted every day by the logic that they cannot be true and evidence that they are not true, We don't see or register this evidence, sadly, not because we are blind, but because our eyes are closed. And it as wrong to tar a 'tribe' as it is to laud one. I chuckle at how many people delight in accepting positive stereotypes, while rejecting any negative ones, as though the sweet alone, and never the bitter, can be true. All blanket 'tribal', 'religious or 'regional' identities are flimsy and porous ones, and display intellectual laziness.
I have long marvelled at the preciseness with which mathematicians apply the term 'at least one'. It applies to situations where existence can be established but it is not known how to determine the total number of solutions. There is an enlightening joke about it in 'Men of Mathematics' the E.T Bell classic. The story goes that there are three men on a train leaving England for Scotland . One, an economist, another, a logician and the third is a mathematician. As they cross the border into Scotland they see a brown cow in a field standing parallel to the train and the window that is their vantage point. Says the economist, 'Look, the cows in Scotland are brown.' The logician replies, 'No. There are cows in Scotland of which at least one is brown.' Then, the mathematician: 'No. There is at least one cow in Scotland , of which one side appears to be brown.'
To me the promise and beauty of Nigeria is best illustrated by a simple point. The aforementioned Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah is the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, and an Ikulu from Southern Kaduna . Yet this man has done more for me and been a better friend to me than virtually every Yoruba alive. He is a mentor, an older brother and a friend and one I have done little to deserve. And I see him do the same to countless others from across the country.
This is a gift Nigeria has given to me, personally, a gift enhanced by the promise that amongst more of its citizens lie the potential for relationships as enriching. And my gratitude to Nigeria in return is the decision that I have made to extend to all its citizens the ties that would seem to bind me only to other Yoruba. Not out of magnanimity but because I have learned that in times of need the man that comes and proves that he is your 'brother' has done little, but that the one who proves that he is your 'friend' has done a lot. Birth certificates proffered do not provide succour. But solidarity does.
Walt Rostow's book, 'Five Stages of Economic Growth' contains an interesting idea having little to do with economics. He says that when a child is born, the cot is its entire universe but within months it ventures out of it and the room becomes its universe. And then the house, the street, and then the neigbourhood in steady progression. Gradually, with time and new experiences its idea of the world expands but that this process stops in different people at different times. In my view there is a psychological curb in many of us that stops the expansion of our world at those that speak our language and eat our food and know our taboos and our ways. It is a natural phenomenon but that a thing is natural does not mean it is right.
I believe that we can achieve a modern and prosperous society only when we participate in the economic and political affairs of our country as individuals and not as tribal blocs or Efiks, Junkun, Yoruba or Hausas. Citizens, not tribes, are the unit of Democracy. Apart from being a lie and unsustainable (no tribe in Nigeria is a monolithic) to assume we think, act and die as one, eliminating tribal activism removes the inbuilt inequities which members of the more populous tribes enjoy at the expense of members of smaller ones. And it would reduce drastically the noise and effectiveness of our ethnic merchants and entrepreneurs.
To be termed a 'leader' in Nigeria today, I need little qualification other than to be able to tell 'my people' that it is our 'turn' and that we have been 'marginalised'. We see and hear voices such as these in the newspapers and on television every day and little wonder that they push no actual ideas outside of resenting some other tribe or community or strident ethnic chauvinism.
Enough is enough. There can be no more asinine pastime today than debate over members of which tribe were the first or are the most to go to school. Men and women achieve deeds of distinctions because of the application of their minds and determination, not because they are of this or that tribe. And claiming the efforts of individuals as 'tribal glory' is drawing a false solace. Soyinka's Nobel Prize is his, and evidence of his talent, not that of 'the Yoruba's' or mine, just as Dangote's wealth is his, and evidence of his industry, not that of the Fulanis.
Other than a national conversation about who was the first to read medicine or about who owns what percentage of Lagos maybe we should discuss instead the fact that that we are the country in the world with the highest number of children out of school. According to UNESCO findings, we have 20 per cent of the world's total of 57 million, and twice as many as Pakistan , the country with the second highest number.
I also suggest we debate more innovative ways in which to manage diversity than by the rotation of positions and offices between zones and tribes as though playing a game of musical chairs. There are good and understandable reasons for the practice but maybe we ought to discuss whether these outweigh the benefits of a meritocracy.
It is not a coincidence that I have taken for this title the name of an organization/movement convened by young Nigerians, including Chude Jideonwo. He and his friends decided that they had enough of the practises and poison that have been fed us as national pap. The public space in the Nigeria they have been bequeathed is one marked and marred by rank suspicion and hostility.
One in which national and inter-communal discourse is conducted largely through invective, vitriol and epithets. Even former Heads of State are not exempted, engaging in public spats or hurling abuse at one another. Headlines in the national newspapers scream daily with personal abuse for the government from opposition politicians. And in a dispiriting cycle, the President's spokespersons reply with further personal insults and abuse. I do not need to cite names, simply read the headlines of tomorrow's newspapers.
And then this war that just will not die: A certain aspect of our history as a nation is that decades ago a war between Nigerians ensued after matters had been decided by leaders at the time. In the lead-up to the war and in its aftermath, many of our leaders said despicable and incendiary things about other communities. It does not mean that they were right then or right forever. The purpose and evidence of progress is the extent to which we exchange former totems and assumptions and practices for more evolved and enduring ones.
Last month's Ethiopian Airlines flight to Enugu was the first international flight to the South East region of Nigeria since the war ended. Reasonable minds can agree or disagree on whether this interlude was part of a continuing war of attrition against those held to be legatees of Biafra for waging a war that was lost, or whether another example of how we are sometimes slow to do the right things. What cannot be gainsaid is that Igbos are a necessary, valued and integral part of our country, as are all communities that constitute it. We are a society of human beings all with each possessing attendant human strengths and frailties and idiosyncrasies. And we are a collection of communities however we define them. Though these communities cannot leave without declaring secession, we are not together to be insulted or scapegoated, or to have our material and existential well- being threatened, either as citizens, families or communities or groups. That is not why we are together as a country.
Chief Fani Kayode, you owe the Igbo people an apology. If we persist in speaking to one another as you did in your essay no power on earth can keep us together as a country. You dragged more into the mud than had caused you offense. In doing that you were as wrong as those you recently wrote have threatened and abused members of your family members over this issue for words you authored, and not they.
At this point as a nation, we need substantive debate about the fundamental and existential issues to our collective well-being and prosperity, conducted with civility, and not words and actions that divide and reduce us. You do not have a measure to determine which has been the most hospitable tribe to whom.
The idea and ideal of Nigeria has best been sustained not by the carrot of crude oil proceeds or the stick of Nigerian Army weaponry but by the countless acts of material and moral kindness extended and reciprocated across our great nation by neighbours, colleagues and strangers.
'The Igbos are the least close, the most distant and the least familiar with our customs and our ways', you wrote. This was the unkindest cut of all. On behalf of all the Igbos who belie these words, Igbos I personally know and have worked with in my life, or that I have as great friends; or those that I know have entered into marriages and/or lifelong and great friendships with Yorubas; or simply the countless that I have heard chatting away comfortably or haltingly in Yoruba, cracking proverbs with ease or demolishing them, or that I have seen resplendent in 'geles', or tossing 'agbada' sleeves over shoulders, I ask that God forgive you for this cruel statement. It is for this alone that I wrote this overlong piece, Chief Fani Kayode. I could not remain silent at them, lest that be consent. There can be no 'least close' and 'more distant' and 'least familiar' communities in any country that deserves to remain as one.
Chief Fani Kayode, the tone and words of your essay were hateful. They constituted hate speech as is defined: hate speech (noun) 'speech that attacks a person or group on the basis of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation'. Your words have spurred attacks not only on yourself and your family, but those you sought to defend. You cannot defend the Yoruba or Lagos . You have neither the equipment nor the authority to do so. And you cannot defend what is not under threat. An apology would not reduce you if even you deserve such, for reducing millions of human beings to epithets of scorn. You cannot know the 'truth' about the Igbo people, simply because it is not given to any one human being to know the 'truth' about millions of other human beings.
One last word: Along with the Yoruba and Nigerian tribes I seek membership of yet another tribe. A tribe of people that seek to see past the limit of concepts such as Yoruba, or Itsekiri and Nigeria or Muslim and Christian and recognize instead that we are all human beings and the children of the One that has no limit. A tribe of people who seek to be inspired and not to denigrated and want to believe that our lives and the society we have formed have a meaning and purpose beyond and far greater than the prerogatives of the wealthy and the grab for power by politicians and their god-children. But not to alienate, this tribe includes certain members of the elite, and politicians also.
It is not a political party or a movement. It does not have a name, or even yet a cause and still less a means. But it has a language, Nigeria 's 516th. It is the language and tolerance and temperance. The language that speaks with restraint and respect for all others.
The language of 'giving the benefit of the doubt' and the mathematician's 'at least one'. A tribe of Nigerians who, as Jideonwo described in an essay earlier this year, evince 'the courage to be reasonable.
This tribe is probably more numerous than any other in Nigeria . The irony is that there are indications that Messrs Fashola and Obi are members. But I do not know either of them and it is not for me to select members. I seek to be a member, not a leader or spokesman. As the Gospel according to Mathew says, 'By their fruits ye shall know them.'
Chief Fani Kayode, more than being directed at you or to take you on, the thrust of this essay is to provide an alternate view-point to matters broached in yours. I do not know you and though you spoke as a bigot this may have been more the quick rush of anger than the slow burn of hatred. But this is not for me to judge. My views are my own and I have expressed them here not to make converts or enemies. It is your fulsome right to disagree with me. If you do I cannot help but find apt the Quran's simple instruction to those that disagree with its message, 'To you be your Way, and to me mine'.

Dipo Salimonu is an Abuja-based Entrepreneur.