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| Mr. Umana Okon Umana |
By Tony Akowe
President-elect Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday
that Nigerian leaders should practice what they preach. He said his government
will rather kill corruption than allow it to kill Nigeria. He spoke when he
received a delegation of All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders from Akwa Ibom
State.
It was led by the governorship candidate Obong
Umana Okon Umana, who alleged massive inflation of results of elections in the
state.
Gen. Buhari said Nigeria’s major problem is
neither ethnic nor religious but corruption which has remained endemic and
entrenched.
He recalled that in 2007, it was his fellow
Muslims and fellow Fulani, who Justices of the Supreme Court, upheld the
election of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, while those that said the
election was flawed were not Fulani.
He expressed confidence in the judicial system,
saying: “I’m glad that you have gone to court too because you believe in the
system as the right place to fight for your right and the right of the people
you represent. I have gone to court three times and reached at the Supreme
Court.
“Not because I believe the system has changed,
but this time around, in your own case, you were still denied even with the use
of PVCs and the card readers.
“That means they will never stop lying because
the essence of the system itself is to protect the interests of the parties and
the candidates whether it is the local government elections, house of assembly,
governorship, house of representatives, senate etc.
“There is the need to go to the constituency,
educate them, beg for their support and understanding, let them know the real
essence according to law and to choose who they want to choose. Otherwise, we
are wasting our time. I stand for that and that is why I chose to go to court,
ending up at the Supreme Court.
“I didn’t go to court because I could afford it
financially or physically, but people who believe in stabilising the system
helped me along the line.
“Now the records are very clear, anybody who
wants to study the political development of Nigeria cannot do that without
getting the Supreme Court’s judgment of those years, 2003, 2007 and 2011.
“If you could recall in 2007, the Supreme Court
was split into two. A six-man panel of justices was divided. Six justices led
by Justice Oguntade, a Christian, a Yoruba man, Justice Aloma Mukthar and
another Justice from Delta State said the election of 2007 was null and void
because it was not conducted according to the law.
“But former Chief Justice Dahiru Musdapher, a
Fulani from Jigawa and another Justice from Taraba, also a Fulani said the
election was not flawless but all the same, the PDP won and then the Chief
Justice, a Muslim and a Nupe Man cancelled the votes with them so it was four
against three. The point I want to make here is that the problem of Nigeria is
not ethnic or religious. It is corruption.
“This is what we are fighting and that is why corruption is number three in my
campaign. The first one is security, the north east, the Delta area where
people are kidnapped and ransom are being demanded which people cannot afford.
“The second one is unemployment, sixty per cent
of Nigerians are youths, most of them, whether they went to school or not are
unemployed and that is dangerous. So we have to get the issue of the economy
right to make sure the jobs are made available and we should try to kill
corruption before corruption kills Nigeria.
“Let us practice what we preach as well, because
corruption is fast becoming a culture and to try to control people is not an
easy task but it must be done.”
Umana said the hope of the people of the state
for a free and fair election was frustrated by the state government, leading to
loss of lives.
Umana said: “The desire of our people for change
was a natural outpouring of their disappointment with and neglect by the
PDP-controlled Federal Government for 16 years, during which there was no
federal presence in the state. Even the much-talked about East-West Road could
not be completed in those long years.
“During the campaigns, the people also complained
of gross under-representation in federal appointments, even in the oil
industry, where the state leads in crude oil and gas production.
“While mentioning some of the developmental
challenges facing our state, we would like to request that the Ibaka Deep
Seaport should be treated as a priority project and completed by your
administration to help ease the problem of unemployment facing youths in the
state and the country at large.
“The people had hoped that there would be free
and fair elections in Akwa Ibom State for them to vote and bring in APC
government at both the state and federal levels, so that the lot of the people
of the state would change for the better.
“However, it is a matter for regret and a point
of great frustration that our votes for you in Akwa Ibom State were not allowed
to count during the presidential election because of massive vote fraud and
wanton violence.
“We would like to report that the gubernatorial
and house of assembly elections held in the state on 11 April 2015 witnessed
even worse degrees of electoral fraud and violence, leading to many deaths and
injuries.
“All the violence and electoral malpractices were
perpetrated by a private army set up and funded by the state governor, Chief
Godswill Akpabio.”
Source: The Nation newspaper
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