POLITICS
June 12 Annulment, Tragic Mistake- Jerry Gana
Prof. Jerry Gana, former Minister of Information and National Orientation, says the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election was a tragic mistake that was not supposed to have happened.
Gana said this when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna on Nigeria’s democracy; the journey so far.
He said that the former military president, retired Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, meant well by organising the election but for some powerful forces made him to annul it to suit their selfish interests.
“It was a tragic mistake, it should not have happened but since it happened may God help us to get out of it,” he said.
The former minister said that the election was a period Nigerians united against evil forces but along the line the people that never meant well for Nigeria had their way.
He averred that democracy was better than any other form of government across the globe.
“Therefore, we must stay with democracy in order to better Nigeria because it delivers freedom, human rights and a good number of other things,” he said.
Gana said that in all Nigerians needed to thank God for keeping the people and the country together especially, from 1999 to 2023 because the nation’s democracy had had many challenges.
“What happened since all these years destroyed other countries when it happened there but we are still living together as a people,” he said.
He said that many institutions such as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and others had been put in place to ensure good governance, fairness, justice and equity.
“It is not yet an uhuru, we are not there yet although a lot of progress have been made.
“Right now the right of people to vote and their votes be counted is there, so our democracy is being refined,” he said.
The former minister said that the country had recorded huge success in its electoral reform from inception to date.
“The recent Electoral Act (reform) is a huge success recorded for democracy in Nigeria.
“Now the elections are free, faire and accountable,” he said.
Gana said that the country’s economy improved to the extent that it became one of the best economies in Africa.
“If our crude oil, solid minerals and agricultural potentials are harnessed well Nigeria will rule the world,” he said.
Gana also said that the communication sector had improved tremendously.
“I remember when we came on board in 1999/2000 we had less than half a million lines of telephone across Nigeria.
“But right now we have about 84 million lines, that means that there is a great revolution in the sector,” he said.
He however, blamed INEC for the current electoral challenges where many election results were being challenged in the court for alleged electoral manipulations.
“Recently, INEC has not been fair to Nigerians in conducting national elections.
“Therefore we have a long way to go in our democracy if we allow this ugly development to continue.
“It is true that we have introduced a lot of modern technology to improve our electoral system but these technologies are not being respected today by INEC.
“To me, it is a major disappointment that INEC was not fair enough to give us the leaders of our choice,” he said.
He expressed optimism that the country would perfect its democracy soon.
“‘After going through the current democratic process, it is my hope that the next one will be better,” he said.
Similarly, Prof. Mohammed Kuta-Yahaya, a former Secretary to Niger Government, described June 12, 1993 presidential election as a moment of political history when Nigerians expressed satisfaction for democracy because they were tired of continuous military dictatorship.
He said that it was unfortunate that the then Supreme Military Council under the leadership of Babangida annulled it for whatever reason.
“Whatever that made the military to annul June 12 presidential election did not go down well with the people of the country because that was when they demonstrated to the whole world that they are one people that believe in democracy.
“This part of why former President Muhammadu Buhari recognised June 12 as democracy day in Nigeria, although the date was changed.
“It was a day Nigerians came out en mass and freely voted for the leader of their choice irrespective of cultural and religious affiliations,” he said.
The former Secretary to the State Government called for caution in the country’s electoral system to end the political event such as June 12 in order to improve the electoral process.
He urged President Bola Tinubu to recruit competent hands into his cabinet to ensure unity, progress and security of the country.
Kuta-Yahaya a lecturer at the University of Ibadan enjoined the country’s leaders to make education their first priority in order to empower the people and make them better persons in the society.
“Quality education will bring about rapid socio-economic advancements because it will make the people self reliant.
“If you make education your first charge, you are going to cause a revolution that will outlive you as a leader to better the people and the country.
“If you don’t educate the people especially, the youth to become good citizens they will turn to terrorise you the leader tommorow.
“As far as I am concerned, education is the bedrock of any meaningful society,” he said.
He advised leaders in the country to re-trace their steps back to the ideals of our founding fathers when Nigerians coexisted peacefully toward national development.
NAN reports that Gana is a Nigerian scholar, politician and one time senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1983.
Also the Director, the Directorate of Food, Roads and Infrastructure (DFRRI).
He was also, the Director, Mass Mobilisation for Social Justice and Economic Recovery (MAMSER) under the Babangida’s regime.
Gana was the Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources in the Interim National Government of late Ernest Shonekan.
NAN also reports that Kuta is a Nigerian academic, writer and professor of Agricultural and Foresty, University of Ibadan.
He served as Secretary to Niger Government under governor Babangida Aliyu, and was also commissioner for information and agriculture in the state.(NAN)
A Chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Dr Adetokunbo Pearse, says the state chapter of the party will find its bearing after the yet-to-be-fixed state congresses.
Pearse, a former member, Atiku Abubakar 2023 Presidential Campaign Council, disclosed this in an interview on Saturday in Lagos.
The PDP has been faced with some internal crisis among the party leaders and state executives, which led to the poor outing in the 2023 general elections.
Pearse revealed that the state leaders had inaugurated three different committees to help the party find its way ahead of the 2027 general elections.
According to him, the Lagos State PDP is now being run by the three committees to bring members together.
“The PDP congresses will begin soon and this will make the party find its way. The status quo is intact in the PDP.
“The PDP is now running through three committees that were formed about three or four months ago,” he said.
Pearse listed the committees to include the Disciplinary Committee under the leadership of Mr Tai Benedict, the state Deputy Chairman of the party and the Reconciliation Committee under the chairmanship of Alhaji Muritala Ashorobi, a former PDP state chairman.
Pearse added that the Finance Committee had been put under his leadership.
The chieftain said that despite the infighting within the party, the PDP’s structure in the state was still intact across electoral wards and local government areas.
Pearse said that all the 20 PDP local government chairmen and ward leaders were within the party main structure.
Speaking on PDP’s poor performance in the 2023 governorship election, Pearse blamed the development on the party’s national leadership and the gubernatorial candidate, who he said, failed to carry elders along.
“That was an exceptional election in the history of PDP. We have never had it so bad where our governorship candidate scored five per cent and the presidential candidates scored six per cent.
“What happened in the last election was that, going to the primaries, the national leadership made the mistake of handing over the selection of delegates to whom they perceived as the leader of the election at that point in time.
“The national leadership handed over the selection of delegates to the party’s Governorship Candidate, Dr Abdul-Azeez Adediran (Jandor).
“However, Jandor had just come into the PDP. It was about six or seven months when he got the opportunity to select delegates to the primary election of the PDP in Lagos State.
“So the party was in disarray, that was what happened in 2023
“The structure of the party at the ward and the local government areas did not work because the structure had rebelled against imposition. That is what happened,” Pearse recounted. (NAN)
Caretaker Committee Chairman of APC in Rivers, Chief Tony Okocha, says unless Gov. Siminalayi Fubara abides by the law, the political crisis in the state will persist.
Okocha said this at a news conference on Friday in Abuja while reacting to the recent court ruling on the state with regards to the disbursement of local government allocations.
An Abuja Federal High Court had, on Wednesday, retrained the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from further releasing local government allocations from the Federation Account to the state.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, in her ruling, held that the presentation of the 2024 budget by Fubara before a four-member Rivers House of Assembly was an affront to constitutional provisions.
She described Fubara’s receipt and disbursement of monthly allocations since January 2024 as nothing short of a constitutional aberration that must not be allowed.
The judge further held that Fubara’s action in implementing an unlawful budget stood as a gross violation of the 1999 Constitution he swore to protect.
Okocha, in his reaction, said blackmailing President Bola Tinubu and Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), over the court ruling would not solve the political crisis in the state.
He described Fubara as Wike’s political investment who was a mere civil servant before he was lifted from a state of relative political obscurity to political crescendo by the FCT minister.
Okocha further stated that the governor was brought to politics and limelight by Wike.
“Wike is not, in any way, suffocating Fubara as is being alleged.
“Blackmailing President Tinubu and Wike psychologically over the recent court ruling will not help the case in Rivers because the law has to be followed.
“We stand with and by the court, and not with any strong man’s morality. It is not right for anyone to start proclaiming self-righteousness.
“Wike is innocent in the political crisis in Rivers and should, therefore, not be dragged into it,” Okocha said.
He said the only way to bring peace to the state was for Fubara to follow the law and abide by the court ruling, adding that “the law does not recognise sentiments but facts as presented.
“Wike brought Fubara to where he is today. He lifted him from obscurity to political crescendo. Nobody is suffocating anybody. The fight in Rivers state is between Fubara and Fubara,” he said.
The APC chairman added that the political crisis would have long ended if Fubara had obeyed Tinubu’s intervention in the first place.
According to him, Fubara has been running the state without an approved budget, which is against the law.
He said it was unfortunate that those playing up unnecessary sentiments and backing the governor failed to see the illegality going on under his administration.
The way out of the political crisis, according to him, is for the governor to obey the law of the land, including the law regarding the state budget.
“We use this opportunity to speak against attempts to disparage innocent persons, namely: Nyesom Wike, the FCT minister. In all the cases in court, they are about 32, he is not a party to any of them.
“If the governor had obeyed Justice Omotoso’s judgment; if he had listened to the counsel of President Tinubu; if he had listened to the Court of Appeal recently, all of these would have disappeared,” Okocha stated.
On the recent attempt by some stakeholders and elders in the Niger Delta zone to reconcile the gladiators in Rivers crisis, Okocha said such a move was too late.
He added that there was no point crying over spilt milk, wondering where those elders were when the political crisis started.
“If you ask me, the only other hurdle to escape is the Supreme Court. What are the elders coming to do at this late hour, if they actually would want to come?
“They are the same people who told the governor that he is a know-all and do-all; they encouraged him to believe that his head was bigger than his pillow.
“They told him his powers are elastic and the governor agreed to that,” he said.
Okocha added that most of the elders had disappeared into thin air after lining their pockets while the governor was now on the hot seat.(NAN)
Gov. Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi, on Friday, said he assented to 18 Executive Bills in his one year in office.
Nwifuru made the disclosure in a speech at the 2024/2025 Judiciary Year celebration in Abakaliki.
He said that his administration had so far employed at least 150 judiciary staff.
He also said that the judiciary would remain the last beacon of hope, fairness and justice to all citizens.
The governor expressed the need to uphold the integrity of the Bench “to do justice to all men without fear or favour, affection or ill-will”.
Nwifuru described the theme of the celebration, “Law as an Instrument for Social Engineering” as apt in shaping the society.
“I commend the organisers for echoeing the power of law, which our government wholeheartedly believes is critical to social engineering.
“In the context of the law, it is critical in shaping societal behavior, norms and values.
“As social engineers, legal professionals have the power to advocate for reforms that address the pressing issues of our time, setting the foundation for a society that is equitable and just for all.
“The judicial arm of the
government remains the only and last beacon of hope, fairness and justice to all citizens,” he said.
According to him, the legal profession has a vital role to play in promoting the cause of justice, protecting human rights and upholding professional standards.
“It is for this purpose that the Government of Ebonyi has been quite responsive, supportive and understanding on many issues that affect the judiciary.
“I want to assure you that within the limit of our resources, we shall continue to strive to improve on the welfare of our judges, magistrates and, indeed, the entire workforce of the judiciary,” the governor said.
Earlier, the state Chief Judge (CJ), Justice Elvis Ngene, thanked the governor for his support to the development of the judiciaryand pledged more commitment to qualitative justice delivery system.
Ngene said that 13,919 cases were pending in the High Court at the beginning of last legal year.
“A total of 5,343 cases were filed.
“The cases disposed off stands at 10,250 and the pending cases at the close of the period is 9,012.
“At the Magistrate’s Court, 4,213 cases were pending at the beginning of the period, 2,145 were filed, 2,318 were disposed off and 4,040 were pending at the end of the period under review.
“At the Customary Court of Appeal, 893 cases were pending at the beginning of the last legal year, 71 were filed within the period.
“A total of 86 cases were disposed off and 878 were pending at the end of the period,” the CJ said. (NAN)
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