How military plans to intimidate Tinubu, others

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu

Despite court verdicts against the use of the military in Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections, there are moves to muzzle All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders in Lagos and the Southwest.

It was gathered that the Army may have directed an “operation ground APC leaders in Lagos on elections day”.

It was also learnt that Chief of Army Staff Lt.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah will relocate to Lagos on Saturday.

At the final coordinating conference for the elections last Friday, it was directed that key APC leaders must be prevented by troops from leaving their homes on election day.

According to the plan, armoured tanks are to be deployed in front of the homes of key leaders, including Governor Babatunde Fashola and APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The army, it was learnt, mandated a sector commander in Lagos to take charge of the operation to stop Tinubu from leaving his home on election day. Other officers were also assigned to take charge in the houses of other opposition leaders.

The APC has consistently raised the alarm over the plan by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to witch-hunt its leaders, in addition to either arresting them on the eve of the elections or blocking them in their houses on election day.

The opposition has argued that the ruling party has the capacity to use the military to influence elections as it did with last year’s governorship election in Ekiti State.

The activities of the military in the Ekiti elections have come under focus since the release of an audio on the plot to rig the poll, with Brig-Gen. Aliyu Momoh taking instructions from Minister of Police Affairs Jelili Adesiyan, former Minister of State for Defence Musiliu Obanik

APC alleges PDP plans to re-enact ‘Ekiti rigging strategy

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday raised the  alarm over plans to rig the general elections by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), using what it described as the “Modified Ekiti Rigging Strategy”.

The party urged foreign election observers and the international community to beam a searchlight on the electoral process, stressing that the ruling party cannot be trusted.

APC National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed told reporters in Lagos that PDP chieftains are working round the clock to manipulate the elections because the ruling party is not popular.

He said: “It is no longer news that a Captain in the Nigerian Army, Sagir Koli, has exposed how the administration used the military to rig the governorship election in Ekiti on June 21st 2014. According to Capt. Sagir, soldiers were put at the behest of designated PDP officials at each of the 16 local governments to work with the officials to rig the elections.

“Once the PDP officials pointed out any APC leader in a particular local government, such leader was either arrested and detained or simply hounded into hiding. APC leaders who were arrested also had the funds in their possession, including money to pay party agents and for other logistics, confiscated as they were detained till well after the election.

“We have additional information to give you on what has now become Ekitigate. Contrary to the general belief, it was not just the military that was involved. It was the entire gamut of the nation’s security agencies; the police, the State Security Service (SSS) and the Civil Defence. They were all constituted into a task force that was deployed to each local government and placed under the command of the PDP.

EFCC clears Soludo of N750m contract scam

Soludo

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde yesterday said former Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) Governor Charles Soludo has been cleared of complicity in the N750m Polymer scandal. Nothing was found against him, he declared.

He also assured Nigerians that the EFCC will remain neutral throughout the elections.

Lamorde, however, denied knowledge of any watch-list by the anti-graft commission, as being speculated

He advised Nigerians to be cautious of the modus operandi of fraudsters in order not to fall victim of their antics.

Lamorde, who made the clarification while presenting “Red Alert on Scam”, a special publication of the EFCC, in his office, said: “We invited Charles Soludo in respect of the printing of currency notes. From the investigation conducted, we did not find anything Soludo was involved in.

“Our partners from the United Kingdom (UK) wanted certain information. So, Soludo has been exonerated.”

Reacting to his clearance, Prof. Soludo was quoted by online medium Premium Times as saying: “I am impressed by the professionalism of the Commission, especially in making the result of its investigation public. In early November last year (2014), I wrote to the Commission, demanding for the outcome of the investigation, and it replied, stating that its investigation did not establish any culpability on my part. I simply put the letter in my file.

“Well, I always knew that there was nothing to it as far as I was concerned, and I did not know anything about the said allegations. What impresses me is that the Chairman and the Commission have displayed professional integrity by making its findings public, especially in the light of the negative publicity that attended my invitation and interview at the Commission in January 2013. I left office six years ago, and I believe that this is good for Nigeria.”

On alleged watch-list foisted on the agency by the Presidency, Lamorde said there was no such document.

He expressed worries over the circulation of a fake letter purportedly from the office of the Chief of Staff to the President directing the Commission to investigate some political figures.

He said the list was unfounded and unfortunate.

He said the agency had made up its mind to remain neutral during the electioneering to avoid being accused of bias.

He said: “They said there is an order to arrest the leadership of the party. We do not want to get involved in any political discussion.

“We have tried to remain neutral since the campaigns started. Let us do the last lap peacefully.

“I like to sound a note of warning here that the Commission will no longer tolerate people dropping its name to further their political ends. The EFCC is not a political body and will not allow itself to be dragged into political fray by desperate politicians”, Lamorde warned.

“The EFCC does not need the prompting of anybody to open investigation against anyone that has violated the law. But it does the nation no good when politicians seek to use the name of the Commission to further their political objectives”.

The EFCC boss said the prosecution of politicians with cases in court will continue after the poll.

He said: “Corruption has become an issue in this political campaign. We cannot stop people from talking. The irony of it is that, some of them talking about corruption are standing trial. They are busy playing to the gallery. It is unfortunate. They do not see themselves first.

“Some of them have no business taking about corruption. They are corruption personified. We want to remind them that they still have their day in court.

“If the media had been covering these cases in court, these politicians would not have been talking? The criminal justice administration of the country has to be looked at. You cannot fast track criminal cases in court.”

He asked Nigerians and government agencies to beware of increasing activities of fraudsters including employment racketeers.

He said: “Many agencies of government are targeted by syndicates of fraudsters who send out false notices of recruitment and go ahead to demand fees from unsuspecting members of the public to process their applications.

“Another dimension to the scam is for the fraudsters to create a website, purporting to be a portal for employment processing.

“Such would include a phone number, which the job seeker is told to call. As soon as the job-seekers call, the