The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has expressed concern over the “deafening silence” from South East leaders over the violence in the region. Offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have been set ablaze, with some electoral officials killed, while security operatives have also lost their lives to attacks in the region. The outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been blamed for the attacks, but the group has denied responsibility. In a statement on Tuesday, NEF’s Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, called on relevant authorities to identify and deal with any group planning to disrupt the 2023 general elections. NEF noted that some groups in the South East had threatened to truncate the exercise, which it said had resorted to attacks on government buildings and killings, including killing of policemen in the region. Although he did not mention any particular group, he said any attempt to interfere with the rights of Nigerians to participate in the election would be an assault on the sovereignty of the country. Baba-Ahmed, therefore, called on South East leaders and politicians to condemn the threats so that a peaceful poll would be conducted. “Northern Elders Forum has noted a serious rise in the pitch of groups that threaten the conduct of the elections, particularly from violent groups in South Eastern States. “The deafening silence from leaders, elders and politicians from the region and other parts of Nigeria over these dangerous threats is also deeply disturbing. “These threats are being followed by actual attacks on government buildings and killings, including killing of policemen in the region. Without a robust challenge of these dangerous trends, those behind these lawless acts are likely to assume that they will succeed. “It has been the consistent position of the Forum and other patriotic groups that the 2023 elections must hold throughout the length and breadth of Nigeria. “Any attempt to interfere in the rights of Nigerians to participate in the election of their leaders is a serious assault on the sovereignty of Nigeria and an act that must be resisted. “Nigerians want a credible election and a peaceful transition to the next administration, and no group should be allowed to plunge the nation into deeper crises by tolerating threats to the elections and peace in the country. “A threat to the elections is a threat to the democratic system, and the very foundations on which the nation rests.If it succeeds, this threat will signal the start of other crises the country may not recover from. “The Forum calls on the administration of President Buhari to assert its legitimate authority on any lawless group in any part of the country and ensure that voters are not prevented or threatened. “Leaders must openly condemn these outrageous threats and assure citizens who want to vote that they can do so. Politicians who want to lead us must step out and condemn these threats. “For the avoidance of doubt, these threats from groups in the South East are cowardly and childish. Nonetheless, those behind them should know that they will be resisted,” he said.

  The Department of State Services (DSS) has asked political parties to apply restraint in their utterances prior to and after the general election. The secret police issued the caution in a statement by Peter Afunanya, its spokesperson, on Tuesday. The warning comes hours after Femi Fani-Kayode, a former minister and director of new media in the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council, was questioned over a tweet he made. In the tweet, Fani-Kayode alleged Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), met with some army generals.   In the statement on Tuesday, Afunanya said political parties and their media managers must avoid comments that could lead to violence. “Political parties and their media managers are advised to apply restraint in their utterances and public communication engagements prior to and after the general elections,” he said. “This is to avoid heating up the polity and evoking tendencies that could lead to violent reactions as well as undermine peace and order.”   The spokesperson also said Fani-Kayode has been asked to return for further questioning on his claim. “The DSS hereby informs the public that it invited Chief Femi Fani-Kayode to its National Headquarters, Abuja on 13th February, 2023. The invitation was in respect of an investigation of some of his allegations and insinuations relating to issues relevant to national security,” he said. “Chief Fani-Kayode faced a panel which interviewed him on the subject matter. “Afterwards, the service granted him administrative bail and directed that he make routine returns to the Office with effect from Wednesday, 15th February, 2023 till otherwise. “The investigation, however, continues.”

  President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, joined the presidential campaign rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo state. Speaking at the rally, Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate, said if elected, he will address insecurity and advance Buhari’s legacies, including in the areas of infrastructure and agriculture. “You know the president with honesty, integrity and dependability. We will continue with his incorruptible and straightforward attributes,” Tinubu added. “We will strengthen and promote peace and unity in the state and confront violence and man inhumanity to fellow man, as that is the only way growth and development can be achieved.” Prior to the rally, the president was honoured by the state traditional council with the chieftaincy title of ‘Nwanne Di Na Mba’ (a brother in diaspora). In a statement by Femi Adesina, the presidential spokesperson, Buhari appreciated the council for the honour and assured them that he will continue to demonstrate his love for the south-east. “I thank you so much for this honour that I will continue to remember for the rest of my life. Thank you for getting all the senior citizens to receive us,” he said. “We have experienced difficult times as a country and discovered that it is better to carry on together.” Speaking at the rally, Buhari expressed confidence in Tinubu’s abilities to lead the country.

  The Zamfara Government has ordered all Non-Governmental Organisations to leave the state over what it described as “illegal activities” by these establishments. “It is further noted that the majority of these illegal NGOs have not registered with the state in line with the laid down rules and regulations of government. Some of them have also been found to be engaging in activities fueling insecurity in the state and its neighbourhood,” the state’s Commissioner for Security and Home Affairs Mamman Tsafe said in a statement Tuesday. “Henceforth, the government orders all NGOs in the state to pack their belongings and leave the state immediately. Ministries and Departments of government have been ordered to stop any further relationships with any NGO, as punitive measures will be taken against any MDAs found having any relationships with such NGOs. “Security agencies in the state are by this announcement directed to be vigilante to the NGOs. Security agencies are hereby directed to investigate and prosecute any NGOs operating in the state without due clearance from designated authorities. Results of such prosecutions are to be forwarded to this Ministry for records please.”

  The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike says the G5 or Integrity Group within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not running out of steam, adding that the group will act out its plan in the February 25, 2023 presidential election. He spoke on Tuesday during the party’s governorship campaign in the Ahoada East Local Government Area of the state. “They said G5 is dead. What is their problem? Why are they concerned?” Wike queried as he addressed PDP supporters decked up in party paraphernalia. The G5 is made up of five aggrieved governors of the PDP in southern Nigeria including Wike, Samuel Ortom (Benue), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu). The five governor have been consistent in their demand that Iyorchia Ayu step down as PDP national chairman as a precondition for them to support the presidential ambition of the party’s flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar. Of late, the five governors known to embark on foreign trips together and solidarity campaigns in their states have not been seen together in public. The development fueled speculations that their alliance is of no effect any more. However, Wike on Tuesday said the G5 will act on the D-day come next week. “They don’t know there is a time to talk and there is a time to take action in politics. The action is on February 25. They can’t know our plans even if they push us. The more you look, the less you see,” he said. “None of the vultures can withstand me and talk. Nobody can sell Rivers State for a pot of porridge.” On the cancellation of the presidential rally of Atiku in Rivers, the governor said the PDP at the centre has never loved the state in the first place. Wike said, “When they said they cancelled the rally, it is a lie; they don’t want to tell us that they can’t mobilise. In any case, PDP hasn’t told us that they love Rivers State. “We had a problem here; heavy flood that occupied our houses. Did anybody whether the PDP (presidential) candidate or any leadership of the party, did they come to sympathise with us? But they went to Bayelsa, went to Delta. They showed us they don’t love us. No problem but our destiny is in our hands. Nobody can force us to anything.” The former minister said the excuse of insecurity tendered by Atiku’s team for the cancellation of the rally is not tenable. Wike argued that the presidential candidates of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso both campaign in Rivers and they were not attacked. “Peter Obi came, I gave him vehicles, he campaigned and left, nothing happened to him. Kwankwaso came here, I gave him vehicles, he campaigned and nothing happened to him. APC has applied and I have given them stadium; if them want vehicles from me, I will give them. But your party (PDP) said there is insecurity in Rivers,” he said.

  The African Union Commission announced Tuesday that it will be sending a 90-strong observer mission to Nigeria for this month’s elections. Africa’s most populous country goes to the polls on February 25, but has been plunged into crisis in the runup to the vote with dire shortages of cash and fuel. The African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) is being headed by former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, who helped broker a deal to end two years of war in northern Ethiopia and is mediating in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The AU said the objectives of the mission were to provide an “accurate and impartial assessment” of the electoral process, offer recommendations for any improvement in future polls and to demonstrate AU support “towards consolidation of democracy, peace, stability and development in Nigeria”. Nearly 100 million people will vote to chose the successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, who steps down after two terms as Nigeria struggles with widespread insecurity and economic malaise.

  The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) says President Muhammadu Buhari is unwilling to rein in the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele so that old and new N200, N500 and N1,000 notes would co-exist for the next six months to alleviate the suffering of the masses. The group also said the naira redesign policy of the CBN and its attendant cash crunch demarkets the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming February 25 and March 11, 2023 general elections. NEF Spokesman, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed stated this on Tuesday on The 2023 Verdict, Channels Television’s special election programme. He said the President should not have allowed this kind of “fiasco” to come into play in the last days of his eight-year administration and on the “eve of an election when you are actually campaigning to have your own party voted for’. “This money thing is a major demarketing thing for the APC,” Baba-Ahmed said. “If the worst enemy of APC had design strategy for them to lose this election, he couldn’t have chosen a better fiasco around the reprinting of the naira.” According to him, the informal sector of the economy has been destroyed in the last few weeks because there is no liquid cash. The NEF spokesman said, “There is a lot of anger and to see a situation where the President rather appears unwilling or incapable of reining in Emefiele and say, ‘Listen, perhaps we can allow the old naira and the new naira co-exist for the next six months’. “President Buhari apparently doesn’t listen to anybody. Emefiele says I will do what I should do because the President has got my back. And Nigerians are saying we know the governor of the CBN is not who is doing all these; it is the President. “If the President doesn’t want all this suffering and considers the other options, the governor of the CBN won’t get away with these things he is getting away with.” Following the outcry by many Nigerians, the CBN had extended the deadline for the swap of old N200, N500 and N1,000 from January 31 to February 10 but the Supreme Court held that the Federal Government, the CBN, commercial banks must not continue with the deadline pending the determination of a notice in respect of the issue on February 15. Already, at least more than seven APC states have sued the Federal Government.   However, the governor of the apex bank on Tuesday insisted that the February 10 deadline for the validity of old notes stands. Already, banks and filling stations as well as other commercial ventures have started rejecting old notes effective February 10.

  The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) says there is no reason to doubt the credibility and capacity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct free, fair, and credible elections on February 25 and March 11. “At this stage, we believe in INEC, we believe in what they have done,” NEF Spokesman, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed said Tuesday on The 2023 Verdict, a Channels Television’s special election programme. He also said those against the planned deployment of the Bimodal Voter Registration Systems (BVAS) for the elections should make their reservations known with sufficient proof if they have any at all. Baba-Ahmed said, “We have not found any basis for doubting the credibility or the competence of INEC to conduct an election. “In the North, we haven’t seen any evidence that they will compromise, partisan or support anybody. “There have been massive improvements in their processes and I believe in the leadership of INEC. I believe given the chance, they will deliver a very credible election.” There have been reports of late that politicians who are against the BVAS attempt to use the court of law to stop INEC from deploying BVAS and INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in next year’s elections but the electoral body has consistently restated its commitment and determination to deploy the system for the 2023 general elections. BVAS is stipulated in the Electoral Act 2022 and it is a technological system that allows the accreditation of voters through biometrics capturing, uploading of results amongst others. It has been described by many as an upgrade of the smartcard reader used in the last general elections which achieved some results in the country’s electoral process.

  President Muhammadu Buhari has called on the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to lift its blanket visa ban on Nigerians. The President canvassed this position on Tuesday during a telephone conversation with the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who doubles as the Emir of Abu Dhabi. Buhari had earlier called Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to condole with him on the death of his mother-in-law, Sheikha Maryam Al Falasi, during which important issues of mutual concern between the two countries came up. According to a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Buhari requested that his UAE counterpart review the blanket visa ban imposed on Nigerians intending to travel to the UAE. The President recalled that mutually beneficial excellent relations have subsisted between the two nations over many years, symbolised by robust economic interactions and regular consultations on matters of common interest, including engagements at the highest political levels. ADVERTISEMENT He noted that recent irritants in bilateral relations generated by consular issues relating to the behaviour of some Nigerians in the UAE are being ironed out, noting that no country including Nigeria will condone criminalities and illegal behaviours. Buhari therefore expressed the readiness of the Government of Nigeria to apply necessary sanctions through appropriate judicial process against anyone identified to have committed criminal acts in the UAE. He requested that the issue be allowed to be handled by the relevant security/intelligence agencies of the two countries and to come up with lasting solutions to the problems associated with criminalities and illegalities. The statement added that Buhari also requested a resumption of the suspended operations of Emirates Airline in the country. Recall that Emirates Airline had suspended its operations in Nigeria in 2022 in the wake of its inability to repatriate funds trapped in Nigeria. President Buhari assured the UAE leader that the issue of the Emirates funds was receiving appropriate attention alongside those of other foreign airlines operating in Nigeria, adding that the Central Bank of Nigeria had been directed to increase foreign exchange allocation to the airline.

  The Nigeria Police have declared one Rachael Iyonmana, a Nigerian lady living abroad, wanted over offences bordering on alleged defamation of character and cybercrimes. The Public Relations of the Edo Police Command, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, made this known to newsmen in Benin. Nwabuzor said the lady was declared wanted due to her failure to appear at the command for questioning over a petition by the chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Edo. The police spokesperson said the NUJ chairman reported that he woke up on Jan. 10 to an obscene publication about him, which was authored by the suspect and shared on social networking sites. In the publication, he said the suspect maligned the personality of the complainant, alleging that he was a kidnapper, wooing women around and siphoning their hard-earned money. “It appears the lady stays abroad; living outside the shore of Nigeria. As we know that the world is a global village where everybody can communicate from one angle of the world to the other. “She blackmails the complainant that he is a kidnapper, that he goes about wooing ladies and siphoning their bank accounts; their hard-earned money. “That amount to offences bordering on Defamation of Character, cyberbullying, Cyberstalking, False Information and Obscene publication,” said Nwabuzor. Cyberstalking contravenes Section 4 (1b) of the Cybercrime Act punishable with three years or an N7 million fine or both; while Cyberbully contravenes Section 24 (2b) of the same Act punishable with 10 years or an N25 million fine. Obscene publication on the other hand is a punishable offence under Section 233D of the Criminal Code with a jail term not exceeding three years or a fine not exceeding N400. The police PRO noted that one would have expected the lady if she had any issue with the NUJ chairman to lodge a complaint before the state Commissioner of Police, Zone 5 Police Headquarters or Inspector-General of Police. “She cannot be a judge in her own case by trying to malign the character of this personality mentioned. “When the complainant came up with his petition, the CP approved it for investigation. The woman has been reached via phone to appear before the Edo Police command for questioning and we are yet to get her response,” he said. The police spokesman urged members of the public with useful information about the whereabouts of the suspect to report at any police station or the office of the state Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of investigation.   He said the command had already secured a warrant of arrest in respect of the lady from a High Court in Benin.