- Candidates express worry about Chibok girls
- APC alleges compromise of debate organisers
Presidential candidates of various political parties on Sunday took turns to commend the Nigerian Armed Forces on the tremendous improvement in its ongoing campaign against insurgency in the North-east.
This is just as President Goodluck Jonathan, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) disclosed that the Nigerian troops have begun the use of drones to combat the insurgents.
“We have added the use of drones in the fight against insurgency. We even use it in aerial surveillance to monitor the situation in operational areas,” the president said.
Candidates who spoke during the presidential debate organised by the Nigeria Election Debate Group (NESG) lauded the military’s efforts towards ensuring that absolute calms return to the region.
The candidates however expressed worry about the safety and whereabouts of the Chibok girls, as there is no report of their location and wellbeing in recent times.
Presidential candidate of the United Progressives Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie, while speaking on the security situation of the country, stated that since the Nigerian troops had re-captured many territories hitherto controlled by Boko-Haram members, it was worrisome that the whereabouts of the girls has not been discovered.
According to Okorie, the threats of the Boko-Haram leader, Abubakar shekau, to sell the girls into marriage might have been made good.
“I am worried that with all the territories recaptured, the girls are still not in sight, not to talk of being rescued, we may begin to take threats of the sect leader, Shekau very seriously,” he said.
In her submission, candidate of Kowa party, Prof. Oluremi Sonaiya, who also expressed worry about the location and safety of the abducted girls, advised military authorities to protect sources of intelligence report so as to instill confidence in the citizenry to provide vital information.
“Sources of intelligence report must be protected, people should be sure that when they provide vital information to security agencies, their lives would be safe and these information will be acted upon,” she stated.
Meanwhile presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Chief Martin Onovo, has urged Nigerians to consider the integrity of political parties and their candidates before casting their ballots.
Onovo also said the country has suffered so much of bad leadership, and so believes that the country’s misfortune would immediately be reversed with good leadership in place.
“If our votes produce bad leadership, we must accept responsibility for that bad leadership, there is absolutely no justification for us to be where we are, what makes the difference is the integrity of the party and the integrity of the candidate, that is what makes the difference. If we get the right leadership today, our retrogression would immediately be reversed, because we cannot continue like this,” he said.
But in seeking to justify its consistent shunning of presidential debates the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential campaign organisation said it had been vindicated in its stance of not participating in the presidential campaign debates, saying the Nigeria Election Debate Group (NEDG) has been compromised.
A statement signed by the Director of Media and Publicity of the APC campaign, Mallam Garba Shehu, yesterday noted that sordid details coming out of organisers of the debate would have tainted the APC candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, if he had presented himself to the group.
A civil society group with knowledge of the working of the NEDG, Value and Integrity Group alleged at a press conference last Friday that a First Bank account opened for the NEDG had the founder of a private television network as sole signatory, even though he is not listed as one of the directors of the NEDG.
The group also alleged that the leading private television’s network address was used for the documentation of the First Bank account instead of the NEDG’s office address.
According to leaders of the Value and Integrity Group, Sina Odugbemi and Popoola Ajayi, co-ordinator and secretary respectively, “an initial deposit of N1 million was paid into the said First Bank account, and on March 28, 2011, another N20 million belonging to the NEDG was paid into the personal account of the said founder of the leading private television network.
“We at the APC presidential campaign got the eye-opening news of the press conference by the Value and Integrity Group accusing the NEDG, the crux of the allegation being that some members of the NEDG have been monetarily influenced.
“Although the group failed to mention from what source the monies came from, we had taken a position, based on intelligence made available to us that the PDP has compromised the integrity of an unnamed few in the NEDG with huge and ridiculous sums of money.
“And watching President Goodluck Jonathan reading from a prepared script gleefully as he answered questions in the debate confirmed our suspicion that there will be ‘EXPO’.
“Without a fore-knowledge of the question to be asked, how did the president come with prepared answers?
“These two scenarios: The allegation of corrupt inducements in the NEDG and the president reading from a prepared script during the debate validates our reasons for abstaining from the debate.”