No Ndibe, Iwu Must Stay

Daily Sun Opinion
By Melvin Olali
February 19, 2008
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[Tunde meee]

I am almost always embarrassed whenever I read any political comment by Taslim. He happened to be a practicing Muslim (Judged by his past articles) who hs left abandoned a great tenet of his religion and needs someone to buy him back from his point of slavery. Talsim!Taslim!! Taslim!!! How many times have I called you? 3 in case you are demented, Go back to the Holy Quran and hadiths, see what Allah says about justice and hear what the Prophet says about keeping shut, if you have nothing good to say.

Iwu is the most fatal accident that happened to Nigeria. I thought Michael Ani was bad, methink Ovie Whisky was a devil until this fake Prof came Aboard. May God safe our Fatherland from all hawks even if it takes their total destruction plus including their offsprings (appologies Zebrudaya)

[ajis15]

My friend, why are you defending Iwu? Are you waiting till May when the tribunal annuls the presidential election to accept that Okey is right? I mean, look at the number of election results that have been overturned by the tribunals. Is that a pass mark or a question mark on Iwu? Please look for another time and place to attack Okey.

[Profegee]

Birds of the same feather flock together. I am not disappointed a bit by the piece by the upcoming Melvin Olali. He who pays the piper calls the tune, but he can only succesfully call for a tune that he will recognize upon hearing. Taslim Anibaba and "I Love Nigeria" will be excited reading Olali's writeup.

To overlook the poor performance of INEC in the name of the circumstances the surrounded the execution of their assignment, is to praise a biased umpire for ruling in the favour of the "highest bidder". Who caused the problem for INEC? It was very glaring that INEC was dancing to the tune of the presidency, if Iwu's comments before, during and after the elections are to be carefully considered.

I cannot blame these servants and their task-masters, they are all worshipping their bellies.

[Profegee]

[QUOTE=Tunde meee;4294990501] I am almost always embarrassed whenever I read any political comment by Taslim. He happened to be a practicing Muslim (Judged by his past articles) who hs left abandoned a great tenet of his religion and needs someone to buy him back from his point of slavery. Talsim!Taslim!! Taslim!!! How many times have I called you? 3 in case you are demented, Go back to the Holy Quran and hadiths, see what Allah says about justice and hear what the Prophet says about keeping shut, if you have nothing good to say.

[QUOTE]

We should not blame Taslim at all because his godfathers and managers must not see or hear him think independently. The in-flow of political appointments and undeserved favor terminates the moment he and his allies reason sensibly.

[presidency]

God, what crime did Nigeria commit that you have decided to CURSE us with bas tards like this writer??? Why???? Ki lo de????

Why would a human-being that has blood flowing through his veins sit down and write this nonsense to m oronically justify the "do-or-die" election that left hundreds of innocent people dead????

My heart bleeds and I am sad for my country.

Presidency
Shaking his head...

[tanibaba]

@sky blue

You wrote:

Why do some people plant thorns and expect oranges at harvest? Maurice Iwu has already run re-elections of some local governments and it has been marked again with violence and thuggery and rigging.

This is a disaster and goes to confirm that some people are just ignorant. Do you know that there is a body called State INEC in each of the states controlled by the state and not Iwu’s INEC?

Secondly, did anyone check our constitution to confirm the circumstances under which Iwu can be sacked? Is carrying placard on the street one of the ways to sack Iwu?

Let us be serious.

I am looking forward to a discussion of the article and not pontifications about intent, political appointment etc (let us leave blackmail for once and let the ON boys prove to the world for once that they are capable of logical reasoning)

@Tunde Mee
You wrote:

Talsim!Taslim!! Taslim!!! How many times have I called you? 3 in case you are demented, Go back to the Holy Quran and hadiths, see what Allah says about justice and hear what the Prophet says about keeping shut, if you have nothing good to say.

You don’t have to remind me that I am a muslim or lecture me on justice. Justice for who? Blind owls?
Tunde, I am a chartered accountant and I believe in empirical facts and figures. Tabulate the outcomes of the election tribunals, those not challenged at all, those upturned etc and let us see the margin of failure. Until this is done I cannot blindly condemn Iwu. And that is in line with the Quran and Hadith. A very good example here is the request by Islam of four witnesses in case someone is accused of adultery. So bring your facts and figures against Iwu.

@Kakabila

You wrote:

To Ariteni and Tanibaba: If the 2007 elections were perfect, would you be against anyone commending Iwu for such a feat?

No I will not be against anyone commending Prof. Iwu but that does not imply that he should be unjustly criticized especially by those whose benefactors did all they could to make his work difficult.\\ I also doubt if election anywhere in the world is perfect; fair and free are the appropriate words.

@profegee

You wrote:

we should not blame Taslim at all because his godfathers and managers must not see or hear him think independently. The in-flow of political appointments and undeserved favor terminates the moment he and his allies reason sensibly.

For your information I have never held and I am not holding a political position. If I am one day appointed I will announce it here. I am more than qualified to serve this country but I am not looking for, begging for , or writing because of political appointments. I am blessed by God. I have always been a private sector person. My opinions here about this article are as I see it. I do not worship at the altar of anyone and I will not be a slave to any columnist especially when it is clear that the columnist is not an unbiased umpire.




taslim

[aguabata]

from the threads posted 4 are for Iwu and 11 for ndibe. Ndibe has won the round. By the way the writer is from Yenogoa, bayelsa state- 'Goodluck jonathan'- sss people in the village should investigate

[ALORAINIDDEVIL]

Originally Posted by tanibaba

@
So bring your facts and figures against Iwu.
taslim

OK lets Take it state by State:

Abia : before the elections, IWU changed INEC resident commissioners at will (just as OBJ and Ehindero were changing the CP) and before Guber Election Day, it was the third resident commissioner who incidentally hails from Ogun State. Any REC they feel communicated with OUK in any form was removed. Still yet PPA carried the day against all odds because the MASTER STRATEGISTshine eye well well. Rat dey only thief from person wey dey sleep no be person wey dey awake. Before the Senatorial election, the Resident Commissioner who announced PPA winner in the Guber was removed. Reason... He did not play ball after all the money given to him. Onyema Ugochukwu and Ojo Maduekwe even had the guts to beat him up with their thugs at the Abuja airport… The NEXT REC in order not to receive the same treatment given to his predecessor played ball in subsequent elections and in the full glare of the public Aguiyi-Ironsi (Jnr) a minister in the then OBJ’s cabinet , tore the result sheet of Umuahia senatorial district because Adighije was to be declared winner and the REC was instructed to announce Nkechi Nwogu winner. In arochukwu/ohafia and Umuneochi constituency, PPA candidates won the election but INEC announced PDP winners even when the figures stated that PPA WON. Thank God the Tribunal has annulled both Elections and declared PPA candidates winner. in one instance the evidence presented to the tribunal was even the Result INEC used to Declare PDP winner and the tribunal had to tell them that a candidate with 46,000 votes cannot be declared winner when another candidiate scored about 49,000 votes.


Adamawa: Iwu and INEC assumed the Position of Judge and Court and disqualified Ibrahim Bapatel on the Eve of the election. His picture was on the Ballot Paper but IWU announced that he stands disqualified because he was indicted by the EFCC and also in an administrative Panel set up by the FG and even though he scores majority of the votes on election day, those votes won’t count. My God!!… On the Eve of the election????


Delta: INEC also disqualified Peter Okocha for the same reasons as in Adamawa

IMO STATE: state house of assembly elections were held simultaneously with Guber election but IWU and the IMO REC told the whole world that there was wide spread violence and malpractice in IMO Guber election therefore the election was cancelled but the results of HA election which was held the same time with the Guber were announced. Now we can all see his reasons for denying Senator Ararume Victory. His younger brother and daughter now hold key positions in OHAKIM’s govt.

ENUGU: INEC materials did not leave the CBN office where it was kept until 3pm in the afternoon of election day. Opposition candidates and their supporters barricaded the CBN entrance because Form EC08 did not arrive from INEC HQ abuja. They insisted that they must see the Originals of the Form ECO8 before they can allow materials to be dispatched to the polling stations. AIT was broadcasting LIVE from the CBN office Enugu that day. Around 2.30pm, FRANK NWEKE jnr and IKE Ekweremadu and came and started making suspicious calls and before you know it soldiers from 82 division arrived and chased the opposition away. INEC officials started to leave the CBN office to their respective polling units. Some officials who were posted to local govt's that is about 3hrs drive from Enugu town did not even bother going still yet IWU and Co announced results for Enugu State and When KEN Nnamani complained he did not Vote, Iwu Cancelled Enugu South LGA (Ken’s LG). Thank God Tribunal has cancelled that Election.

KOGI: Same as Delta and Adamawa, Prince Abubakar Audu was equally disqualified on the eve of the Election paving the way for PDP guy to Win.

Anambra: Iwu and INEC also assumed the Position of Judge and Court and disqualified Ngige and Ukachukwu from contesting for foolish reasons. You can Imagine IWU disqualified Ngige because he deposed his affidavit in US instead of Nigeria. Was that enough reason for INEC to disqualify a candidate cleared by his political Party? Anambra election materials left From Enugu CBN the same time the Enugu materials were distributed so I don’t need to tell you that there was no Voting in 95% of Anambra state yet UBAH was declared winner and PDP won the whole HA. Do I also need to remind you that there was no Vacancy in Anambra, yet IWU went ahead and conducted elections in that state wasting millions of tax payers money.

I think I just commented on six states..I will still tell you about other states provided you can name at least three states where IWU did not go wrong! leave Lagos out of it because Tinubu Just Like ORJI SHINE EYE WELL WELL.

[Skyblue]

@ tanibaba, are you really trying to use the arguement that since Maurice Iwu was not a state official he is not responsible? When companies fail financially who are those held responsible? Is it the workers? No, it is the managing directors. Leadership s obviously not for everyone as Maurice Iwu has shown, because a leader should be able to lead those underneath him. To claim that Maurice Iwu was unaware of what transpired and blame it on the 'circumstances' is nothing short of being mischevious and i know you aren't that naive so let us not insult each other, i mean i definately won't insult anyone on a public forum. With such a catastrophic failure as a leader based on the sham elections why do we think it would be better next time around? What has changed or what is been done different from last year? So why should we expect fair elections from Maurice Iwu this time? People please let us use common sense. If Maurice Iwu is as you claim 'innocent' (let us even try and forget the fact that he is now guilty of perjury) then why hasn't he stepped down to let someone else lead with the light of such failure?

[Skyblue]

@ tanibaba, are you really trying to use the arguement that since Maurice Iwu was not a state official he is not responsible? When companies fail financially who are those held responsible? Is it the workers? No, it is the managing directors. Leadership s obviously not for everyone as Maurice Iwu has shown, because a leader should be able to lead those underneath him. To claim that Maurice Iwu was unaware of what transpired and blame it on the 'circumstances' is nothing short of being mischevious and i know you aren't that naive so let us not insult each other, i mean i definately won't insult anyone on a public forum. With such a catastrophic failure as a leader based on the sham elections why do we think it would be better next time around? What has changed or what is been done different from last year? So why should we expect fair elections from Maurice Iwu this time? People please let us use common sense. If Maurice Iwu is as you claim 'innocent' (let us even try and forget the fact that he is now guilty of perjury) then why hasn't he stepped down to let someone else lead with the light of such failure?

[Ochi Dabari]

Hear, hear!!! Nigeria is marching on. We notice that, Ariteni. That was how Nigeria marched on for 8 years under that Kleptomaniac (Obasanjo). Yar'Adua has just commanded that 100 MW of power should be generated; Obasanjo did more than that and embezzled $10b for the purpose, what Okey called the most expensive darkness in the world. Down the line, Yar'Adua is going to better this by squandering $20b and we will have more darkness. That's how a country moves forward Nigerians overseas don't hate anyone just b/c they live overseas. Note that many Nigerians overseas had some of the best jobs in the country before they left, so there is nothing to envy back there. Nigerians overseas only feel sad that their country cannot be like other normal countries, including far smaller countries in Africa like Lesotho and Swaziland.

As to your assertion that Soyinka thinks Yar'Adua is a good man, Soyinka does not represent the Nigerian electorate. If Yar'Adua was good, his good works would have spoken for him; there would have been no need to rig him through the primaries and the main elections. Some of you profit from the confusion at home, so you are against any argument for improvement. Perhaps you are involved in sale of generators or importation of petroleum products refined from heavy crude in Saudi Arabia. Why can't our refineries work? Why can't there be power supply, adequate to make generators only truly standby? No country runs its industries on generators, and it is why Nigerian industries are not functional, with all the attendant unemployment. Yet, you think the country is marching forward.

ochi

Originally Posted by ariteni

...
But you know what, Nigeria is marching on inspite of iconoclasts like Okey who want us to be going in circles just because they reside overseas. Prof Soyinka and others have said that President Yar'adua is a good man for the job. But Okey and his friends are going into "prayer and fasting" to get rid of the good man even though Professor Okey's mentor His Excellency Rt Dr Orji Uzor Kalu has relented and is now working hard for President Yar'adua through PPA party. It is only a matter of time for them too, to fall in. If the elections are repeated today, it would not result in victory for Atiku, Utomi or Kalu. The Presidency has been zoned just like we zoned it to Yoruba in 1999 to pacify them for Abiola's murder. So for argument's sake, let the tribunal void it so we can repeat the election just to convince the skeptics like Okey Ndibe and to have a "well organised" free and fair election but same outcome.

Some people are going to develop hypertension if they fail to remove him "Anambra style" and Professor Iwu serves his full Constitutional Term but they really don't mind Yar'Adua as President. That is what really matters. I hope Okey's would favour Uwais Electoral Reform Committee with his brilliant ideas about electoral matters in order to "move Nigeria forward"!

[Free Publius]

@Tunde Mee
You wrote:

You don’t have to remind me that I am a muslim or lecture me on justice. Justice for who? Blind owls?
Tunde, I am a chartered accountant and I believe in empirical facts and figures. Tabulate the outcomes of the election tribunals, those not challenged at all, those upturned etc and let us see the margin of failure. Until this is done I cannot blindly condemn Iwu. And that is in line with the Quran and Hadith. A very good example here is the request by Islam of four witnesses in case someone is accused of adultery. So bring your facts and figures against Iwu.


Taslim,

Please do not further pervert the Islam religion by using it as a tool to justify such a flawed, unholy argument. Neither the Quran nor the Hadith requires that you bring three or four eyewitnesses to support an allegation of stealing, which is what Iwu has done here.

A reasonable believer in God's word would not seek four eyewitnesses to Iwu's evil deeds to confirm the man's ungodly motivation. For God's sake, ballots that were supposedly counted in various parts in Nigeria are still in South Africa!!! Are you people for real?

It is irredeemably pointless to attempt to conitue debating those who wish to defend Iwu's performance in the elections. My only prayer is that, for each of the Iwu defenders, may God bless you with an Iwu in your personal lives who would inflict upon you the type of lasting blessing or harm the man has wrought upon Nigeria (Amen).

Free Publius

[overdryv]

Why waste time arguing with someone like Tanibaba who is clearly a conflicted personalty. His statement that state resident electoral commissioners are innocent has given him away as totally ignorant or deliberately mischievous. I have followed his opinions on this forum and he has never disappointed me. His last two articles which centred on begging made a very funny reading and I didnt bother to comment because it'd serve no good. He would never accept that begging was introduced into Nigeria by islam. In pre-islamic Nigeria, there were no known cases of begging. People who were disabled were catered for by their relatives.
His latest stance on Iwu tallies with the concept of justice in islam. Was it not the late islamic jihadist Sheik Gumi who said that when a government official steals money, no one should probe him until he comes forward to confess? For someone to open his mouth or is it hitting his keyboard to say that SECs are innocent is simply disgusting. All SECs before they assumed their positions were clearly briefed by Iwu on how to rig the election for PDP. Those that towed a different line like the case of Abia either did so because they got a better bargain from the sitting governor or their conscience pricked them to do the right thing. The real problem with people like Tanibaba is that he refused to accept that Iwu was contracted in the first place to do a dirty job. Even if we have any doubts, the fact that he was recommended by a known criminal like Andy Uba is enough to erase such. But I guess Tanibaba has other ideas. For someone who just escaped being killed by armed robbers to come and insult our sensitivities is rather unfortunate. This particular incident is normally enough to open peoples eyes but surely not for Taslim. Sorry, I forgot everything in islam happens according to Allah's wish. Maybe Allah has willed that it is not yet time for him to be with his 72 wide eyed virgins.

[dem]

Originally Posted by tanibaba

.....I am a chartered accountant and I believe in empirical facts and figures. Tabulate the outcomes of the election tribunals, those not challenged at all, those upturned etc and let us see the margin of failure. Until this is done I cannot blindly condemn Iwu.

taslim

Ẹgba mi o! What is this? What kind of staccato and incoherent nonsense is this man serving up here? Do some people set about to be mischievous in the face of overwhelming evidence to be noticed; or this person is for real? I’m almost apoplectic with disbelief that any Nigerian born before April 2007 could write this without a gun pointing at his head.

Was it not in this same Nigeria that somebody supervised an election that was judged credible enough some 15 years ago? 14 years later we actually did worse with a demented and severely compromised kleptomaniac Iwu and someone thinks this is alright? You believe in empirical facts and figures?

So despite what is happening at the Electoral Tribunals – from the State Houses of Assembly right up to the Presidential election – this man is asking about margin of error? WHO IS THIS PERSON??

[dem]

Originally Posted by ariteni

Melvin, Excellent piece! Objective analysis of the elections and comments on Professor Okey Ndibe. My point of disagreement is on the "sub-judice" part. Okey Ndibe and his cheer boys have been begging the Presidential Tribunal to void the Presidential election. They should be free to! Sonala, too begged them in his recent article. The reality is that, Nigerian courts do not accede but are guided by different considerations.

If the elections are sustained, the "beggars" will condemn the Tribunal "well, well". Their scape-goat Prof Iwu would have escaped! (and would now collect his own National Honour denied him because of current litigation) In Ndibe's context, Yar'adua is a nice man "drafted" for the job by "evil" Obasanjo using Iwu to perfect the job. (Igbo-man is always an easy target but "minorities" get away with murder in Nigeria so, forget the fact that 2003 and 1999 elections under the same constitution were also disputed.) The beggars guarantee to Nigerians that once Iwu is removed, free and fair elections would occur in Nigeria. (remember, they said corruption would vanish once third term is killed and - of course- Obasanjo did nothing for Nigeria but Okonjo Iweala, Dora Akunyili, Nasir ElRufai Nuhu Ribadu Soludo and Atiku did a lot.)

But you know what, Nigeria is marching on inspite of iconoclasts like Okey who want us to be going in circles just because they reside overseas. Prof Soyinka and others have said that President Yar'adua is a good man for the job. But Okey and his friends are going into "prayer and fasting" to get rid of the good man even though Professor Okey's mentor His Excellency Rt Dr Orji Uzor Kalu has relented and is now working hard for President Yar'adua through PPA party. It is only a matter of time for them too, to fall in. If the elections are repeated today, it would not result in victory for Atiku, Utomi or Kalu. The Presidency has been zoned just like we zoned it to Yoruba in 1999 to pacify them for Abiola's murder. So for argument's sake, let the tribunal void it so we can repeat the election just to convince the skeptics like Okey Ndibe and to have a "well organised" free and fair election but same outcome.

Some people are going to develop hypertension if they fail to remove him "Anambra style" and Professor Iwu serves his full Constitutional Term but they really don't mind Yar'Adua as President. That is what really matters. I hope Okey's would favour Uwais Electoral Reform Committee with his brilliant ideas about electoral matters in order to "move Nigeria forward"!

Another sophomoric & disjointed twaddle. Thank God membership of this site is free and open to all comers…

[dem]

Originally Posted by overdryv

That Iwu till now remains the INEC chairman, proves that Yar'adua is a part of the 2007 electoral heist.

@ Overdriv
GBAM!!

Thank you sir. May you live long and prosper in the land of your fathers.

[denker]

WHO IS THIS PERSON??

....chartered accountant general aka taslim of republic of mon-key nation of nigeria.

[ALORAINIDDEVIL]

Originally Posted by Free Publius

My only prayer is that, for each of the Iwu defenders, may God bless you with an Iwu in your personal lives who would inflict upon you the type of lasting blessing or harm the man has wrought upon Nigeria (Amen).
Free Publius

AMENNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!

[jibitoye]

Hello Mr Ariteni,

You have not gotten the main crux of the matter here. Most of the people shouting about last year's elections have hardly any grudges with Mr Yar'adua or that he is not a good man fit to be a President.
People are detesting the process that has raised Mr Yar'adua.
We have to get to a point in our national history where we draw the lines between the sentiments that have held us down as a nation (a la "Moving forward"...in the "national interest" etc) to creating an enabling environment where we learn how to do things honourably. It happened in 1979,1983,1992,1993,1998,2003......2007. When shall we start sanitising our electoral process without resorting to the "let him do it...he is already there" sentiments?

Mr Iwu and his co-travellers have not done the nation any favours with the last elections and they shoud be told so. We should expect some minimum standards from our public servants. One of those is that you should be factual and accept mistakes are made.

We have to create a system where ordinary Nigerians will start believing in their nation. As it is now, no one really cares, there is so much apathy in the system that in fact has led to a rather weak citizenry. Everyone is trying to fend for himself now that you wonder if we really are a nation-state.

[Akunne]

Perhaps, the only credible presidential election ever conducted in Nigeria, in my time, was that which chose MKO Abiola to be president. I did not vote for him, but I could live with the fact that the majority of Nigerians that voted wanted him at the helm. That election was conducted by a real man, a patriot who risked his own life to do the will of the Nigerian electorate. It was acknowledged even by supporters of the losing candidate as transparent. And although it was later annulled, it contributed to the very loud opposition to tyranny that chased the military out of power. Nigeria will be the better for it. How would Maurice Iwu's legacy on the other hand be remembered when the history of elections in Nigeria is eventually written? We will all point to overturned governorships, the senseless killings, the brazen thievery, and yes the national feeling of a certain dirtiness. Even now I feel like a rape victim, just thinking about the manner in which Iwu lied, manipulated and yes, screwed up a sacred process like the choice of national leadership.
Therefore, reading Melvin Olali seemed to me like watching a man castrate himself, slowly, painfully with a very blunt object. In his planet, mental impotence is a mark of honor. Otherwise, how he could see Iwu as nothing but a nasty blot on the landscape of our national development beats me. And to think that Mr. Olali is not entirely illiterate. That's the really worrying part.