If you are not ashamed over the sad complicity of the nation’s security agencies in the desperate attempt of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig the December 10, 2016 rerun elections, I am.
When it emerged online on the websites of leading Nigerian Newspapers on Tuesday night (February 21, 2017) that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Panel had indicted security agencies of gross electoral fraud and crime against the Rivers people, I was pleasantly surprised.
Pleasantly surprised because we still have responsible gentlemen, who will never be intimidated by police guns and administrative threats.
After the initial surprise, I waited for several hours to see if the report would be celebrated on the pro-APC television house domiciled in Lagos or whether our ‘I beg you sir’ national television would mention this landmark report.
Expectedly, none of them had the courage to broadcast this credible report. Recall that they made the Inspector of General of Police (IGP) Kangaroo Panel report headlines for days. The Kangaroo Report favoured their paymasters.
The Administrative Inquiry into the December 10, 2016 Rivers State Rerun Elections report prepared by the INEC Panel with Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu, INEC National Commissioner as chairman has exposed the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris for who he is: A threat to Nigeria’s democracy.
Rivers rerun elections of December 10, 2016 will serve as Ibrahim Idris’s waterloo. If he thinks his illegal actions would be swept under the carpet because of his ‘motor park’ technique of raising false alarm, then he is sadly mistaken.
I have consistently called for Ibrahim Idris to be brought to justice because Nigeria cannot afford another Rivers rerun where security agencies are deployed to kill, maim and steal the mandate of the people on behalf of the ruling APC.
The country needs to shore up the integrity of the Police and other security agencies as regards their roles in the conduct of elections.
Ibrahim Idris has fallen short of all acceptable standards. He should be eased out and duly prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to other security chiefs dreaming of using the nation’s security infrastructure to rig polls for the ruling party.
From the reports published in several national dailies, the IGP Kangaroo Panel is yet to send its fraudulent report to INEC.
One can safely guess that they are still doctoring that cooked document with more fictional allegations being framed for propaganda purposes.
Aside the sensational cooked snippets of the report released by the IGP Kangaroo Panel, nothing has been made public for Nigerians to assess the methodology used by the panel to arrive at its predetermined position.
The entire fraudulent exercise is shrouded in secrecy and under-the-table actions for the purpose of diverting attention from the innocent Rivers blood spilled by the police and other security agencies during the Rivers rerun of December 10, 2016.
The pointed indictment of security agencies for the fraud and violence during the legislative rerun elections by the INEC Panel confirms what has been in the public domain before, during and after the elections.
All through this sad period, the police as the lead security agency, played unlawful part in the fraud. It is necessary that I quote a section of the INEC Report.
“But, the most mindboggling were cases of hostage-taking, hijack of materials and physical attacks on INEC officials perpetrated by security operatives. Of singular note was a certain policeman named Akin Fakorede, who ostensibly is a commander of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), in Rivers.
“Fakorede first tried to lure INEC staff to travel with him from Port Harcourt to Emohua LGA, under the pretext of enabling them to collate results. “But, for the intervention of National Commissioners, we suspect that he would have put our staff in harm’s way.
When he failed in his initial bid, he stalked the INEC officials to the collation centre in Port Harcourt and physically assaulted Dr. C. Odekpe and Mrs. Mary Tunkayo. In fact, Dr. Odekpe ended up with a gash on his head and both spent days at the Air Force hospital in Port Harcourt.”
The IGP Kangaroo Panel exonerated Fakorede who was caught on video attempting to rig the December 10, 2016 rerun elections.
Unconfirmed report claims Fakorede has been promoted just like the IGP facilitated the promotion of his propaganda merchant, Mr. Don Awunah.
All the SARS Personnel that worked with Fakorede were also promoted. How can security agents metamorphose into kidnappers and killers, simply because they were instructed to deliver the APC?
Why would a constituted security authority assume the position of political thugs just because they want to protect the political interest of a minister who failed as governor in Rivers State?
Why on earth would the security agencies agree to lose their integrity be-cause of billions of Naira released from an interventionist agency for them to rig elections?
But the most heartrending question would be: Why would the Federal Government allow itself to become the source of political violence against a federating unit? Beyond the fact that Governor Nyesom Wike, a defender of Nigeria’s democracy, has been vindicated, is the urgent need to reform the security agencies and the electoral process.
As presently structured, the electoral system has been kidnapped, its processes held hostage and democracy relentlessly and repeatedly raped. The ongoing wave of defections at the national level is the fallout of loss of confidence in the electoral process.
Feeble hearted politicians have seen the penchant of the system to rig for the ruling party, hence they want to be accommodated in the rigging agenda backed by the police and other security agencies.
Nigerians fought for democracy. They struggled to send the military back to the barracks.
The military never wanted to go. Therefore, Nigerians must rise up to defend her democracy.
These anti-democratic elements and their associates in the civil society, media and other arms of government will continue to deploy propaganda, falsehood, violence, deaths and bribery to defend a rejected a political party. Nigerians must stand up to resist them.
I shudder when I imagine what would have happened if Governor Wike did not sensitise the Rivers people to resist these criminals in uniforms.
Despite the resolute stand of the people, these security agencies succeeded in manipulating elections in one senatorial district where results were written in the home of a senator.
The APC controls the tools of online and traditional propaganda. They can change any narrative with the injection of huge resources.
But the issue at stake has gone beyond the proven APC “cock and bull” propaganda machine.
The issue at stake is about the integrity of our security agencies. It is about the survival of our democracy. It is about the lives of innocent Rivers people wasted by security operatives simply because they were instructed to rig for APC.
It is about bringing to justice IGP Ibrahim Idris and his foot soldier, Akin Fakorede. It is about Nigeria. IGP Ibrahim Idris has compromised his office.
He has failed Nigeria. Putting up a bold face won’t change the reality. Since it is unlikely that the IGP would willingly resign, he should be dismissed and laid down procedures followed to try him.
• Nwakaudu is the Chief Press Secretary to Rivers State Governor
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