How The Global Press Describes Nigerian Elections And Elected President

   How The Global Press Describes Nigerian Elections And Elected President 

Tinubu

The Economist said a “chaotically organized vote and messy count” gave Nigeria a new president. 

The Financial Times said in an editorial comment that Nigerian presidential election was “deeply flawed” and the winner “a wealthy political fixer.” 

The Guardian of U.K. described the winner as “an immensely wealthy veteran powerbroker trailed by corruption allegations which he denies.” 

The New York Times described him as “a divisive figure in Nigerian politics.” 

Robert Rotberg, founding director of the Harvard Kennedy School's programme on intrastate conflict, wrote an opinion for Canada's influential Globe and Mail; its headline: “Bola Tinubu's election is another triumph for Nigeria's corrupt old guard.” 

The Times of London was the most disrespectful. It used this very bad phrase: “a wealthy kleptocratic 'godfather' of politics” to describe the person who will replace very clean Buhari on May 29, 2023. As bad as those characterizations are, they are not as damaging as the Financial Times' revelation that it personally “witnessed armed men remove a presidential ballot box in Surulere, Lagos” on Election Day.

The CNN last Friday played back a part of Bola Tinubu's acceptance speech where he described what he got as “a serious mandate.” A CNN anchor then asked if it “was really a mandate” with less than 10 percent of the registered voters behind it. He must be wondering what kind of people are these? The CNN and that anchor were not the only ones bemused by our electoral culture, our elections and their outcomes. 

One of Germany's largest newspapers, Sueddeutsche Zietung, had unflattering words for the winner; it also queried the legitimacy of a mandate that was spurned by 90 per cent of the voting population. 

Aljazeera ran a special report on how the election was disrupted in Lagos last Saturday. The headline is: 'How violence robs Nigerians of their votes.' 

The Washington Post quoted Matthew Page, associate fellow with Chatham House’s Africa Program, as accusing INEC of making both deliberate and unintentional mistakes: “They raised the hopes about the election and its transparency, and then they dashed them. When the opposition says the process was broken, it’s hard to argue with them.” 

Foreign election observers from the US International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) summed up their opinion of the election as falling “well short of Nigerian citizens’ legitimate and reasonable expectations.” 

I have spent the past five days reading informed commentaries and listening to credible voices. I have not seen, read or heard a single positive review of the election in any credible media in any country of the world. I have been around long enough to conclude that Tinubu's 2023 mandate is rivaled in content, texture and review probably only by Shehu Shagari's Verdict '83 mandate.

Other Newspaper Headlines from around the world

Austria:

A drug baron wins the presidential election in Africa’s biggest economy. 

Poland:

Nigeria chooses a known drug lord as LEADER.

Canada:

"Depression, anxiety, uncertainty be-clouds Nigeria’s political space a drug-kingpin wins the election."

This is stinking!

Published By Family Writers Press International 

The Narrative of Igbo "Landlocked" and Lies tells too Many Times

   The Narrative of Igbo "Landlocked" and Lies tells too Many Times

It’s often said that a lie told so many times, if unchallenged, may – in the course of time and generations – begin to pass for the truth. One of such is the terrible lie and brazen propaganda, institutionally purveyed (against the Igbo) since the end of the Civil War, to the effect that Igboland is landlocked or has no access to the Atlantic Ocean.

Just recently, this vexatious lie became predominant in the wake of the ethnic-baiting of Igbos in Lagos following the dubious 2023 presidential and governorship elections. Igbos, a merchant race, are being taunted again and told to leave Lagos and its seaports and go back to their ‘landlocked’ homeland. In other words, Igbos are being told that they are trapped in Nigeria as if Nigeria is one hellish jail for the Igbo.

The purpose of this essay, therefore, is to rebut this fat lie with some simple historical, geographical and topographical evidence that are in plain view, if you care to dig into the archives or conduct some basic physical explorations of your own. In the same vein, those that mock the Igbo on this account might as well imbibe the truth and pedal back to reason and reality.

Suffice it to say that it is a profound tragedy that entire generations of the immediate post-Civil War Igbos never bordered to check but seemingly swallowed this brazen institutional falsehood, line, hook and sinker. They never reckoned that it is aimed at frustrating the merchant spirit of the Igbo. A few older Igbos that knew it to be false just didn’t care anymore, having been weighed down by the debacle of the Civil War fought by their generation.

What also unwittingly enabled this lie to persist to this day is that most people don’t take physical Geography (or even adventure) that serious anymore, otherwise they would have easily discovered that Abia, Imo and Anambra States have varying short-distance paths to the Atlantic through Imo, Azumiri, Niger and Urashi Rivers. Igbani island, a diaspora Igbo enclave, corrupted to Bonny by the British, is unarguable.

It’s not really rocket science, as you can easily confirm this if you know how to read Google Earth or you conquer your fear of swamp snakes and walk through these areas on foot. If you try, you will discover that there are many hardly explored waterways and slithering tributaries, including the remote reaches of Oguta Lake and Urashi rivers (at Oseakwa, Anambra State) that meandered through Igbo-delta wetlands to the Southeastern beginnings of the Atlantic waterfront or beachhead.

These rivers have varying lengths of short navigational paths to the Atlantic and in some cases, are far shorter, nautically (and even on footpath) than the Portharcourt, Calabar and Ibaka seaports are to their sides of the Atlantic. Many of these pathways, including particularly the ones from the outer reaches of Imo and Azumiri Rivers terminate at the Atlantic at no more than 15 to 30 Nautical miles to the beachhead. To put it in lay language, one nautical mile equals 1.8 kilometers. So, all you need is some old-fashioned dredging that the colonialists did without a whimper generations ago. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

Thus, the contiguity of Southeast (not even the greater Igboland) to the Atlantic is nautically less in distance than the Atlantic is to the dredged seaports in Calabar, Onne, Ibaka, Lagos and Portharcourt. If you discount the territories unfairly excised from Igboland during State creations and the damnable boundary adjustments that followed, it will be far less. During his tenure as Governor of Imo State, Dr Ikedi Ohakim singularly did so much to spotlight this matter in a bid to galvanize the Federal authorities to build a seaport that abuts core Igboland. For avoidance of doubt, seaports are in the Exclusive Legislative List of the Constitution and therefore outside the legislative reach of the States.

To be sure, Ikwerre land or Igweocha which bears the greater portions of the Portharcourt seaport was dredged up to 50 miles to the Atlantic front through the Bonny River. Onne seaport was dredged up to 60 miles to the Atlantic and Calabar seaport was partially dredged some 45 nautical miles to the Atlantic. Ibaka seaport is about 30 nautical miles to the Atlantic and the Lagos seaports dredged up to about 50 nautical miles to the Atlantic. This is not to say that some dredging was not easier or harder than the other.

Compare all these to Obuaku in Abia State, which is only 25 nautical miles to the Atlantic from the confluence of Imo and Azumiri Rivers, of which Azumiri, on its separate merits, lies not more than 30 nautical miles to the Atlantic beachfront. The less obvious one is the little-known Oseakwa (Urashi) in Ihiala, Anambra State which is mere 18 nautical miles to the Atlantic, all with its 65 feet of natural depth, arguably incomparable to no other River in Nigeria.

Additionally, what is geopolitically known as Igboland today is far smaller than what it was and constitutionally supposed to be. As far back as 1856, William Balfour Baikie – one of the earliest and credible Geographers of ancient Nigeria, had this to say: “Igbo homeland, extends east and west, from the Old Kalabar river to the banks of the Kwora, Niger River, and possesses also some territory at Aboh, an Igbo clan, to the west-ward of the latter stream. On the north it borders on Igara, Igala and A’kpoto, and it is separated from the sea only by petty tribes, all of which trace their origin to this great race”. If you’re in doubt, google it.

But with that infamous post-War abandoned property policy and the egregious institutional injustices in the subsequent boundary adjustments, coupled with the widespread anti-Igbo gerrymandering, Igbos physically (and even psychologically) lost geopolitical hold of the delta lands that had vested in their ancestors for generations. It was such natural contiguity of Igboland to the Atlantic that enabled Igbo ancestors to behold the Atlantic Ocean and, in wonderment, they named it Oshimiri – The Great Sea or the Infinite Sea.

The post-Civil War psychological beat-down and gang-up against the Igbo got so bad and institutionalized to the extent that some of the descendants of these Igbo ancestors (nearest to the Atlantic and now geopolitically lying outside Southeast) are no longer sure whether they are Igbo or not. This is how the notion of Igboland being landlocked quickly gained traction and became a weapon used to mock Ndigbo and down their merchant spirit.

The most brazen injustice was in 1976 when the Justice Nasir Boundary Adjustment Commission made a deliberate business of carving out some core Igboland territories into some neighboring States of the South-South. But they didn’t quite make an absolute success of it. They (luckily for the Igbo) missed the southernmost Southeast lands that possess rivers and tributaries that meandered through slices of Igboid or Igbo-speaking South-South territories and terminated at the Atlantic.

For avoidance of doubt, there’s particularly the Obuaku confluence in Ukwa West (Abia State) that flows through greater Ikot Abasi in Akwa Ibom State (which has slices of Igbo communities) before expanding out and washing into the near-reaches of the Atlantic. You can also reckon with the River Niger which remotely washed into the Atlantic through a vast network of hardly explored delta creeks and mangrove swamps that abut the Bight of Biafra, now officially corrupted to Bight of Bonny (that is: Igbani), after the Civil War. To be sure, Igbani or Bonny is Igbo, whether you deny it or not.

On a side note and in conclusion, it is pertinent to make it crystal clear that the persistent taunts, mockery and ‘ntoor’ that Ndigbo are hopelessly trapped in Nigeria because their native land is landlocked (Buhari called it a ‘dot’), coupled with the misguided refusal to build a seaport into core Igboland are some of the major factors that have justifiably agitated the average Igbo to the point of seeking an alternative to Nigeria.

Ejimakor, a Lawyer writes from Alaigbo

The Alleged Move To Dissolve Nnamdi Kanu's Legal Team, A Lie From The Pit Of Hell---Lawyer

 The Alleged Move To Dissolve Nnamdi Kanu's Legal Team, A Lie From The Pit Of Hell---Lawyer 

Family Writers Press International has obtained a Facebook update made on10th March 2023 by Barrister Maxwell Opara, Esq and one of the Senior Counsel for Nnamdi Kanu, the report about Kanu's decision to overhaul his legal team is a lie. Barrister Opara called the news "fake and most senseless news being circulated by mischief makers", and adviced the public to ignore it. 

Recall that a day earlier, 9th March 2023, Vanguard news made a publication, alleging to have learnt that Nnamdi Kanu has decided to overhaul his legal team and constitute a new one. According to Vanguard, Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra(IPOB) held a meeting with one of his lawyers, Aloy Ejimakor, and instructed him to ask the team of lawyers to return his case file to him without further delay.

But, reading from Barrister Opara's Facebook post, the lawyer clearly stated that he(Barrister Opara) personally visited Nnamdi Kanu the same 9th of March. Opara confessed that he spent over an hour with Nnamdi Kanu and the IPOB leader never said anything of such or expressed any displeasure with his legal team. Opara said he remembers telling Nnamdi Kanu that Prof Mike Ozekhome(chief counsel to the IPOB leader) could not come physically because he was a little in the weather after his appearance at the Presidential Election Tribunal at the Court of Appeal, Abuja. The Barrister said that Nnamdi Kanu screamed and told him to go straight from that DSS office to see Prof Mike on his(Kanu's) behalf and to know how the Prof was doing; said Prof Mike Ozekhome, SAN should be advised to have more rest because he still needs the learned Chief to accomplish the good work he has already started doing for him since he took over his defence.

Read Barrister Maxwell's report bellow:

"I just finished my matter at the FCT High Court, Gwagwalada,Abuja. I opened my WhatsApp only for me to see one stupid trending post captioned “Kanu sacked Senior lawyer over poor representation”. Unfortunately, the confused and obviously paid hatchet writer did not mention the name of the particular senior lawyer allegedly sacked, since virtually all the lawyers in the legal team prosecuting Kanu's release from illegal detention by the Federal Government(who are ably led by our own erudite and renowned Prof.Mike Ozekhome, San, CON, OFR, Ph.D), are senior lawyers."

"But to put the record straight, the entire story is a complete fabrication and a lie from the pit of hell. It was concocted and deposited by 4th columnists who want to reap where they did not sow. For the avoidance of doubt, I personally visited Mazi NNAMDI Kanu only yesterday ( Thursday, 9th March, 2023 ) at the DSS headquarters where he is being detained. I spent over an hour with him till past 4pm. I had told him Prof Mike Ozekhome could not come physically because he was a little in the weather after his appearance at the Presidential Election Tribunal at the Court of Appea,Abuja. MNK screamed and told me to go straight from the DSS office to see him on his behalf and to know how he was doing. He said we should advise Prof Mike Ozekhome,SAN, to have more rest because he still needs the learned Chief to accomplish the good work he has already started doing for him since he took over his defence. He made it clear that the learned Silk is a "game changer" who positively changed the entire narrative of his case as soon as he took over his defence, getting all the 15 courts charge quashed both at the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal, Abuja."

"Let me use this medium to inform the general public to ignore the most senseless post being circulated by mischief makers whose primary aim is get Prof Mike Ozekhome angry and abandon Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to his fate by withdrawing from his case and defence. I know what we went through before Prof Ozekhome accepted this brief to lead us in this matter. It is his involvement that resulted in quashing all the charges against MNK at the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal. Those who ran away and shunned MNK in his hours of travails are suddenly out to hijack the brief towards final success and take credit for a job they never did. And they include very  senior lawyers known to us, but who are being used by one or two persons close to MNK." 

"We shall soon expose them to the world if they do not retrace their evil  steps. Meanwhile, I have been able to speak with Prof Mike Ozekhome, SAN and delivered to him the goodwill message of his client, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. MNK told me to inform Ozekhome that he so much cherishes the Prof for his hardwork, trust, honesty, dedication and uncommon legal representation. He greatly appreciates all that Prof Mike Ozekhome has done and is still doing for him so far. He believes that God sent the courageous and cerebral Prof to deliver him from the hands of the Federal Government. We thank God Chief has since recovered and now taking some well deserved rest in line with the Doctor’s advice. He has promised to visit MNK by Monday, 13th March, 2023, as he has always done."

"He will do this with Sir, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, another  senior Counsel in the unshakeable formidable legal team" 

Family Writers Press International, reporting

The Nigerian Election Aftermath And The Need For International Community To Oblige And Embrace Calls For Referendum In Nigeria Now

 The Nigerian Election Aftermath And The Need For International Community To Oblige And Embrace Calls For Referendum In Nigeria Now

The Nigerian Election Aftermath And The Need For International Community To Oblige And Embrace Calls For Referendum In Nigeria Now

As many may have deduced from the historic occurrence of events, Nigeria as an entity is simply an impractical legacy of British colonialism that has managed to evade implosion since its creation. Thanks to the gumptious effort of the colonial mother(Britain) to protect her enterprise for the continuous sustenance of her economic development and advancement at the detriment of the entrapped Indigenous nations in Nigeria.

Nevertheless, the anaemia-infested entity has always failed to respond positively to stimuli. Nigeria have continuously grown from worse to worst and never aided any progress or contributed reasonably for its citizens in any sphere of human development, irrespective of how blessed it is with both human and mineral resources.

The recently concluded presidential election that took place on the 25th of February 2023 has further exposed the insanity called Nigeria and the stark hypocrisy of those who manipulates it from afar namely; the British, the Americans and the collective west, all in a desperate bid to secure their economic interests and geopolitical influence, either by hook or by crook.

The fraudulent selection they called election; which was marred with unimaginable electoral malpractices, ballot snatching, Political thuggery and ethnic profiling-- where indigenes of a certain tribe in the surpossed same country, were not allowed to exercise their voting rights in another region because of their ethnic background. This has further reduced the rythm of "strength in diversity", often chanted by the incumbent British High commissioner, Mrs. Catriona Liang as nothing but a total hoax to deceive the gullible and unfortunate Indigenous people in Nigeria.

Credible evidences of irregularities and conspiracy by the Independent national electoral commission(INEC), and the ruling oligarchs in Nigeria to rob the people of their mandate and install an Internationally recognized drug baron -- Bola Tinubu as president, did not deter Western countries from hurriedly sending congratulatory messages with some of them; like the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak already pledging support and swift partnership and others. Some of the delegates from the African Union have also been seen endorsing the election as free and fair.

 

With this level of internal and external conspiracy by individuals, institutions and states against the people in Nigeria, aim at prolonging the contraption for their economic benefits, the only option for escaping this rat-race of neo-colonial manipulations is a United Nation supervised referendum for Nigeria populace.

This has been the argument of the Mazi Nnamdi Kanu led Indigenous people of Biafra(IPOB). Unfortunately, it is being erroneously dubbed a secessionist mantra, leading to unprecedented persecution of both parties up until this moment.

But, every abstract thought will arrive at the conclusion that the problem with/of Nigeria is its indefinite state of existence. And the only means to solve the incoherent differences amongst the populace is a referendum to decide if they want to continue as Nigerians or would like to go their separate ways to develop according to their definite value systems and contribute to both regional and international evolution.

So, the United Nations general assembly should embrace this genuine call to duty. Conduct a referendum in Nigeria to at least initiate the process of retribution to victims of centuries long imperialism, especially to the people of Biafra who have suffered immeasurably from what that can be called a global conspiracy to exterminate her from existence.

Written By Sabinus Gab 

Edited by Enenienwite Ikechukwu

For Family Writers Press International

Created By The British, Watered By Her Ignorant Nationals, Nigeria Is A Monstrous Society That Eats Her Citizens' Democratic Freedom

 Created By The British, Watered By Her Ignorant Nationals, Nigeria Is A Monstrous Society That Eats Her Citizens' Democratic Freedom 

Aided by the citizens of Nigeria is the political cliche of Religious and ethnic bigotry. The political antagonists who use religious and ethnic bigotry among themselves gave the Cabals in the Nigerian government the willing tool used for selective terror and political thuggery. This political thuggery has robbed the citizens who were deceived to believe that their Permanent Voters Card(PVC) had the power to salvage a state of terror, driven by the same political class who have killed her citizens openly because they protested against the Nigerian Police Brutality in lekki toll gate of Lagos State, on the 20th of October 2020, and the massacre of innocent civilians in Obigbo, Rivers State, by  Nyesom Wike, Governor of the State.

The Instigation of the Nigerian security angecies by the Nigerian citizens against unarmed civilians of particular section of 'same country' because they asked for the civil right of a Referendum, was a niche which Nigerians never knew it equates breeding a monstrous society.

When IPOB protested the abnormality of the Nigerian State, they did it for every one, irrespective of your tribe and affiliation. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu went as fast as pledging to quit the Biafran agitation if the economic strangulation of the Biafrans were turned around, which included building of our airports to international standards, opening our seaports, constant electricity and a rail road system.

These things were the honest demand of Mazi IPOB Leader. As a result, believers in the need for a sane society decided to protest, demanding for a Referendum which is a civil right, to enable them have a society where they can build that which they crave for. But, they were met with police and military brutality, and genocide, supported by the Nigerian citizens. In that show of support to genocide and brutality the Nigerian citizens created a ravaging monster to quench the freedom of Speech, Expression and Association.

Nigerians must note that the Nigerian State has no value system to protect and as acclaimed citizens, it is time for deep reflections as to what kind of citizen you are, and what your rights are. In the wake of this, it is time for everyone to demand what kind of country you wish to have and pass down to your generation. Nigerians must not continue to embrace the same wrong acts in expectation of a different result.

For the Nigerian politicians, it is the case of personal interests and collaboration to which they will use the Nigerian impoverished media to keep the citizens domiciled in abject misinformation, while they aid political criminality. All Nigerians must try to be informed about Nigeria and her antics at instigating religious and ethnic hate in exchange for an impoverished society.

Nigerians must stop the hate and fight their collective oppressors which is the Nigeria itself as a State.

Written by Anioke Chukwunonso

Edited by Ogah C S Maduabuchi

For Family Writers Press International 

Nigeria Failed Democracy And Foreign Observers Preference For Shambolic Election Over High Demand Of Referendum

  Nigeria Failed Democracy And Foreign Observers Preference For Shambolic Election Over High Demand Of Referendum 

So much noise has been made by the Diplomatic Corps and Foreign Observers about the Nigeria election, dubbed Africa’s biggest democracy. Regrettably, not much has improved for decades on how election is conducted after grants upon grants from the European Union(EU) and the United States Agency for International Development(USAID). 

The tribal politics started by the Action Group(AG) of Obafemi Awolowo and the Nigerian National Democratic Party(NNDP) of S.L Akintola devolved from a regional catastrophe to a national disaster. Even with all the investment in Bimodal Voters Accreditation System(BVAS) technology, a simple task of uploading results to the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC)'s server, as mandated by the Electoral Act as amended, has not been obeyed. 

INEC did not obey a simple law of starting the election on time and did not have a good reason for not doing that by law. This election has witnessed ballot box snatching, ballot paper mutilation and destruction, tribal intimidation and disenfranchisement across Nigeria with profound notoriety in Rivers, Lagos, Edo, Kano and Bayelsa states. These election violations or crimes have gone on with law enforcement doing nothing and in most cases aiding and abetting them. This is no election. It is a total sham.

Nigeria is made up of three major Nations yoked as one. Namely Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa. The political tension in Nigeria would cease if Nigerians are allowed to make a political decision of nationhood through a democratic process called referendum.

The question is; why are the Germans, French and English separate countries but the Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa are forced together? Why do the Europeans and United States of America consider outside meddling in their election a national security risk but waist deep in Africa’s elections? Why is the West funding election in Nigeria while a simple referendum will resolve issues effortlessly? Why is referendum good for Scotland and other western countries but not Nigeria?

Since elections are non-beneficial to the indigenous people of Nigeria, why do the Diplomatic Corps community and the Foreign Observers Prefer it over on high demand referendum?

Written by Chibueze Daniel

Edited by Ogah C S Maduabuchi 

For Family Writers Press International

Nigerians Decry Excessive Rigging In The Ongoing 2023 Presidential Election

 

Written by Eluwa Chidiebere Chinazu | Biafra Writers

March 1, 2023

In the just concluded presidential election in Nigeria which started on 25th February, 2023, and lasted till the 28, the Nigerian populace has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) of election rigging.

From the information gathered so far, the ruling party is fingered in conniving with the officials of the INEC in rigging acts. One of the rigging practices being carried out by INEC is the refusal to upload election results to the server.

In the same vein, the people have questioned why upon early arrival of INEC officials there is late arrival of INEC results from the Northern part of the country where the current president of Nigeria, Muhammed Buhari, hails from.

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has also decried INEC rigging moves. According to him, INEC officials refused to upload Lagos and Delta states results to the central server.

Other rigging signs being pointed at includes late arrival of INEC officials, Boko Haram attacking voters and INEC officials in the north, the LP logo missing in some polling units across the country, roads leading to some polling units block, fake members of the Department of State Security(DSS) found in election material warehouse, crashes of vehicles carrying election materials, stolen BVAS, BVAS not tallying with the PVC cards, political thugs disrupting elections in Lagos and in other parts of the country, etc.

Edited by Nelson Ofokar Yagazie

Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah