Text of the address by the National
Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Odigie-Oyegun at the Salvation
Rally of the party on Wednesday the 19th of November 2014 at Eagle’s Square
Abuja.
Why we are here:
We are here today as a practical
demonstration of our lack of confidence in the ability or willingness of
President Goodluck Jonathan to organize a free and fair election come February
2015.
President Goodluck Jonathan is so
desperate to win re-election that it will now appear that there is a secret
understanding that our security forces should turn a blind eye to the Boko
Haram Insurgency so that the insurgents can occupy as much territory as
possible and make elections impossible in these areas, knowing full well these
are APC strongholds.
Otherwise, how does one explain that
local hunters carrying Dane guns and amulets are capable of dislodging the
dreaded Boko Haram while our once proud army, which has distinguished itself in
and out of the country, has failed?
We daily hear idle talks that the
President needs to declare total war on Boko Haram. Pray, what has the Jonathan
government been doing since the moment the state of emergency was declared the
very first time? Or is the President saying that he declared and renewed the
state of emergency several times only to cage the civil populace so that the
insurgents can have a free rein.
Without doubt, the war against Boko
Haram has become a tool for self enrichment and a tool to disenfranchise
Nigerians who are perceived not likely to vote for President Jonathan’s
re-election. Everything points to the fact that President Jonathan’s handling
of the Boko Haram insurgency is aimed at one thing and one thing only:
disenfranchisement of persons who are perceived not to be in support of his
re-election, especially in the North-Eastern part of the country.
Is it not curious that Mubi was
captured without one shot being fired by the insurgents or one single casualty
on the part of Federal troops? As a matter of fact, we have it on good
authority that as soon as President Goodluck Jonathan obtains the green light
from the National Assembly, there will be no elections in the North-Eastern
states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. By this singular act, some five million
Nigerians will be disenfranchised, making Jonathan’s re-election a foregone
conclusion.
There is no limit to the length
Jonathan has not gone in his obsession for re-election, using the kidnapped
Chibok girls as pawns on his political chessboard. On the 17th of October, he
cruelly played on the emotions and sensibilities of all Nigerians, especially
the families, relations and associates of the kidnapped girls, when he asked
his Chief of Defence staff to falsely announce that Boko Haram has agreed to a
ceasefire and that the release of the kidnapped Chibok girls was just a matter
of days. Of course, President Jonathan and his cohorts knew this to be false
but he needed to deceive Nigerians so as to prepare their minds for his
eventual declaration for re-election.
As you must all be aware, the recent
exercise by INEC of collection of Permanent Voters Cards and continuous
registration in 12 states of the Federation was a fiasco. The official
explanation from the Independent National Electoral Commission is to blame it all
on computer error.
But we know this is a lie. The truth of
the matter is that the ICT unit of INEC, which is working hands in gloves with
the Presidential villa, deliberately corrupted the system in order to
disenfranchise voters in APC controlled states. How else do you explain the
fact this same exercise, which had gone fairly well in 24 other states – mostly
PDP states – is now a fiasco in Lagos, Kano Rivers, Niger, Ogun, Katsina,
Kaduna, Zamfara all APC strongholds and with the highest number of registered
voters? In the aforementioned states, millions of voters have been
disenfranchised because the system was deliberately corrupted to wipe out their
names from the voters register. Even those who were able to vote in 2011 could
no longer find their names on the register.
Zero units are now to be found more in
APC-controlled states or strongholds. The PDP, realizing the overwhelming
support and followership which APC enjoys in the above mentioned states, has
deliberately decided to use the ICT department of INEC to rig the 2015 general
elections at source by disenfranchising millions of the opposition party’s
supporters.
President Goodluck Jonathan,
embarrassed by the runaway success of APC-controlled states, has in the last
two years embarked on a wicked scheme to create disaffection among the
electorates in APC-controlled states by not funding the Federation Account
adequately.
While this may appear a general problem affecting all states, he
has secretly and unconstitutionally being funding PDP controlled states. Not
too long ago he dashed all PDP controlled states N2 billion each. Not only does
this affect the letter and spirit of our constitution, it also portrays him as
the President of the PDP and not that of Nigeria.
Although oil has been selling at well
over USD108 against the benchmark of USD78, President Jonathan had been funding
the Federation Account only between 60-70%. What is his official explanation
for this? He claims it is as a result of massive crude oil theft that he has
been unable to fund the Federation Account adequately!
The truth of the matter
is that since the countrywide protest on the subsidy oil cam of 2012 and the
embarrassing revelations by the House of Representatives panel, this government
has now resorted to stealing from source. How can we be losing steadily on
daily basis over months the same quantity, 700,000 barrels of crude? It is this
stealing of crude at source that has made it impossible for the government to
adequately fund the Federation Account, and which has led to poverty and
unemployment.
Is it not baffling that up till today
no serious individual or significant organisation has been apprehended for
stealing 700,000barrels of crude everyday! It is nothing but authority stealing
- apologies to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
Only a few days ago, President
Jonathan’s administration declared austerity measures. Given the difference
between the selling price of our crude in the international market of an
average of 108 dollars and the bench mark price of 78 dollars in the last three
years, the government should today have close to fifty billion dollars
(US$50billion) in Excess Crude Account.
But as a result of corruption and
arbitrary manipulation of the account, today the government has declared that
there is just three billion dollars (US$3 billion) in this account.
Another pointer that President Jonathan
will not allow a free and fair election in 2015 is the reckless use of the
police and the military in past elections in Ekiti and Osun states. The
extensive use of firearms by PDP thugs in Edo state in collusion with the
police to vandalize the Edo State House of Assembly residential quarters, and
the Police humiliating treatment of the Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi,
are a few examples of acts of impunity of this government.
In Edo state the police continue to
disobey the orders of both the High Court and the Court of Appeal. In Ekiti
state the police looked the other way when judges were being beaten and only
two days ago in the same Ekiti under the protection of the police, democratically-elected
principal officers of the state house of assembly were sacked by six out of the
twenty-six elected members.
The Nigeria police has today become the armed wing
of the PDP and they cannot be trusted under President Jonathan to be unbiased
umpire in the February 2015 elections.
Now, let us be clear. What exactly are
we asking for?
- An end to the raging insurgency that is daily killing and maiming our compatriots
- An end to the impunity that permeates the Jonathan Administration
- An end to the massive corruption that has left our compatriots impoverished in the midst of plenty
- An unambiguous effort to ensure that that 2015 elections will be free and fair. What you are seeing here today, which is the first stage of the occupation of Abuja, is just a warning shot.
If we do not see any discernible change
of attitude on the part of the government, then we will move to the next stage
on the list of actions that our party intends to take to stop the rot being
perpetuated by the PDP-led Federal Government.
We are therefore using this opportunity
to alert Nigerians and the international community to what is undoubtedly a set
of carefully-set booby traps on the path to free and fair elections next year.
To Nigerians who are desirous of a
positive change, we say eternal vigilance is the price of freedom, and we call
on them to join us to say NO to impunity, NO to corruption, NO to
scorched-earth politics and NO to do or die politics.
To the international community, we say
it is not just enough to rush to declare any election free and fair on election
day. We say election is a process, hence they must show interest in all the
pre-election events leading up to the election day.
In the end, everyone must work together
to ensure that the will of the people prevails, that no one who is eligible to
vote is disenfranchised, and that every vote must not just be counted, it must
count!
Chief John
Odigie-Oyegun
National Chairman
All Progressives
Congress (APC)
Abuja, Wed. Nov 19th
2014
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