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The Vice-Presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the last presidential election; Tunde Bakare, has declared that the party has evidence to prove that the People's Democratic Party (PDP) rigged the April 16 election.

Mr Bakare, said this in his Easter sermon at the Latter Rain Assembly, Ikeja, Lagos, where he is the senior pastor. He said the CPC has resolved to go the court to challenge the result that declared President GoodlucK Jonathan of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner, "not because we are bad losers but we are going to prove to the world that the election was fraudulent."

Reacting to NEXT's publication on Sunday which cited his failure to sign a letter presented to him by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to be the reason that collapsed the alliance talk between CPC and ACN, the Pastor who read out the paper to his congregation expressed his delight that the letter is out saying "everything is all out now, it is wonderful for Nigerians to see what truly happened" as he explained that he did not sign the letter because, doing such will amount to perjury.

Incriminating letter

According to Mr Bakare, "the letter that was brought to me was on a blank sheet of paper and not on a paper with CPC letter as published" but he confirmed that the content of the letter was the same. He further explained that the letter was dated 7th of June and addressed to the President of Nigeria with the content claiming that he was the Vice-President.

He then explained to his congregation during the sermon that was aired on a national TV station that "I refused to sign such a letter because of two reasons. One, it is impersonation. I am not the Vice-President and two, doing such is perjury." "I then wrote a letter in return stating that I will not sign the letter because I was not Vice-President at that time and I will not sign what will implicate me tomorrow."

Mr Bakare who has previously been quoted as saying, "to sign the letter is not only illegal but prostitution and whoredom" described the ploy by ACN as "the pervasion of standard and evasion of principles." He likened himself to Esau in the bible saying "they want me to give away my birthright like it doesn't matter to me." "Those who are guilty of perjury in the past want company" he chided.

He further noted that he was willing to sacrifice for the alliance to work but such a request must only come from the leader of his party. He described ACN's proposal as a ‘compromise' which he defined as "an agreement between two people to do what they both know is wrong as against the sacrifice that was needed at the point in time."

"It wasn't the letter that broke the alliance, time will tell and one of these days people will know who their real leaders are." He warned that "it is not over yet, it is just the beginning of a new process."

On the inferno that razed his residence on Friday, the clergy was full of praises for God as he sang a worship song in Yoruba language and he again compared himself to the biblical Job and Jonah stating such tribulations are endorsed by God, who will take him to where he wants to be. He said "the tyranny of the majority might be on but the majority that is wrong will become the minority and the minority that is right will become the majority, it is only a matter of time" he warned.

Peretimi Apeli a youth corps member and a victim of the post election violence that swept across some states northern Nigeria lost everything he had during the crisis but for the faded shirt, a pair of shorts and bathroom slippers that he was wearing.

Frustrated and depressed, Mr Apeli is taking refuge at the orientation camp of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Katsina State. Mr Apeli vividly remembers the events of Monday, April 18, 2011, when he narrowly escaped death in the hands of irate youth in Daura Local Government who had gone on rampage protesting the yet-to-be announced results of the presidential elections.

"It was around 10:30. I was in front of the house trying to cook, selecting beans when a car came that they are coming to our lodge that we should run," said Mr Apeli, a graduate from the Niger Delta University in Bayelsa.

"It was as we were running into the car outside that I saw the mob. I saw death. That we are alive is God because if they had met us in the house, I wouldn‘t be here. We had to drive through bush before we managed to escape to the Daura Police station." The mob completely burned the Dambukar Lodge which the Local Government Education Authority had given to him and seven other corps members. While no life was lost, nothing was salvaged.

At the same time in Zango Local Government, over 20 corps members living at the Central Corpers Lodge had to take refuge at the Nigeria-Niger Republic border.

Chaos unlimited

Within the next 48 hours, the situation worsened across at least seven local governments, notably Funtua, Jibia, Kankara, Faskari, Malumfashi, Dandume and also Katsina, the state capital. Several lives were lost while scores of churches, property, shops and businesses worth hundreds of millions of naira were completely razed.

"Katsina has always been peaceful. This crisis came as a surprise to all of us. This is the first time in my 17 years in Katsina this type of thing is happening," said Adewale Adediran, the Katsina State chapter chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). In Katsina, the state capital, hoodlums razed the house of the head pastor of the Cherubim and Seraphim church together with the church bus along Dutsin-Ma road at about 11p.m., despite the 9p.m to 7a.m curfew imposed by Katsina state governor, Ibrahim Shema.

The fire also destroyed the apartment of four corps members and another female occupant scheduled to wed next month.

They were left on their own

As security presence was greatly stretched to contain the violence which had erupted across the state, the army's 35 Battalion obtained clearance to open the orientation camp of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the state capital.

The corps members in Daura, numbering over 100, were asked to assemble at the Daura Police station, while the commanding officer of the battalion, Emmanuel Etuka, a lieutenant colonel, made provision for buses to evacuate them to the camp under military cover.

But on the same Monday, the NYSC Katsina State coordinator, Abdul Salisu Taura, visited the corps members at the Police station, refusing them relocating to the orientation camp. By Tuesday, Mr Taura disbursed N1,000 to each corps member to use to fend for themselves, while they slept inside the police station premises in the open air outside.

By Wednesday, the corps members decided they would no longer pay heed to Mr. Taura and instead go to the camp than continue living in the police station. But by this time the military were unable to provide the buses which had initially being offered.

When NEXT asked Mr. Taura why he refused them moving to the camp, he denied giving the directive. And when asked what provision the NYSC had been made to transport the corps members to the camp, he said it was the responsibility of the Army to provide the transportation.

"The army is there. The army is to move them. Like me I am very far away now. It will take me about four hours to get to Daura. Let the army move them," Mr Taura said. He subsequently switched off his phone.

In a desperate effort to leave Daura, the corps members made a written application to the authorities of the Yusuf Bala Usman College of Legal and General Studies, Daura, for a bus to convey them to the NYSC Camp.

The school authorities initially refused on the grounds that they needed to see the security which would accompany the vehicle they would release to the corps members. But when Captain Omotade with several soldiers drafted to ensure the corps members safety presented himself, the school's provost, Husseni Umar, in the presence of the registrar, Mohammed Daura and the director of works, still refused citing several reasons.

"One, it is unlawful for the army or the police to come into the school premises. Two, we cannot guarantee the safety of the people if we release our vehicle. Three, are corpers of a privileged group that they alone need protection? I am the chief security of the college and I will not release it. Even we as a board we have superiors we report to," Mr. Umar said.

When NEXT asked who could be approached to get clearance for the release of the bus, Mr Umar said he would not assist. At an earlier time, the director of works had said only the governor of the state could give the approval.

A good Samaritan At wits end, the corps members resigned to charter seven commercial buses at N2,000 each vehicle. But by the time the vehicles were assembled at the police station, neither the corps members nor the NYSC Zonal Inspector in charge of the zone, Mrs Shittu had the funds needed.

It was eventually a good Samaritan who paid the drivers N14,000 in the presence of Ayo Basowa, the coordinator of the Daura Corps members.

With heavy military escort, about 100 corps members were conveyed to the NYSC camp, where they were received by the heads of the State Security Service, the army and the Police in the state.

Like Mr Apeli, the over 600 corps members evacuated from different locations in the state and presently residing at the NYSC camp feel more secured. Yet the experience of the past week has left them traumatised. They say nothing will make them go back to their places of primary assignment where they are expected to perform their role of presiding officers in the forthcoming Gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections.

"Everybody here is one trouser one shirt. Look at me now. All I have is my shorts and bathroom slippers. I have lost all my credentials and belongings. I saw people who came to kill me. No human being who sees what I saw will go back and conduct election. For N7,000? Never!" said Mr. Apeli as he counts his losses serving his fatherland.

photos: Obinna & ukeoma 
I did not know Obinna directly but we had mutual friends here in London. Until recently Obinna was here in the UK, at his family expense, to pick up a post graduate qualification. Obi, as I will call him for the rest of this write up, like every young man had dreams and hopes and one of such was to go back and complete the mandatory NYSC. As a result he packed his bags, paid his way back to Nigeria to serve his fatherland in Bauchi where he was posted to do his National Youth Service.

As you might have guessed by now Obi is one of the Youth Corpers, reported glibly by the media, killed in Bauchi in the last few days. I don’t know if it is because it has happened so many times or what, but the media in Nigeria have become very blasé about such killings and no longer view such as worthy of further coverage. Obi was a person, he had a life, he had a family that loved and sacrificed for him. Obi as you can see from his picture was a good looking young man full of life. According to friends, Obi had run to the corpers lodge to seek refuge and was worried enough to contemplate running to the barracks. But before he or any of the other corpers in the lodge could actualize this; death arrived in the form of a CPC murder squad.

The terror Obi and the rest must have felt can only be best imagined. They were forced out and beaten up and not quite done, the baying crowd of CPC fanatics slaughtered them and set their bodies alight. It is not the kind of death you will wish on your enemy. Let no one try and palm this off on the usual suspects; the Almajiris. Yes there must have been street urchins amongst the killer squad but these were CPC and Buhari loyalists who were out to sort out “the opponents” of their leader. It did not matter to them that these young people were on a National service, as far as they were concerned, if they were not one of them, then they must be the enemy.

There are parallels between the killing of Obi et al and what happened in Kenya at the tail end of 2007 when Kenyans went to the polls in a bitterly fought election. The incumbent Mwai Kibaki’s reelection was disputed by the main opposition leader Raila Odinga. In no time Kalenjin militias in the Rift Valley fanned out in a murderous search of Kibaki’s supporters and kinsmen. They burnt down their houses, looted and killed Kikuyus who were seen as Kibaki’s supporters. Kibaki’s Kikuyus soon retaliated and at the end of the sin assembly of violence, over 1,100 Kenyans had been killed.

Just like we have seen in Nigeria before, the Kenyan government sacrificed justice at the altar of political expediency. The Kenyan Government made feeble attempts bring to trail the perpetuators without much success and the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague was forced to step in. Charges have now been filed against 6 politicians, ex head of Police, a radio DJ and Government ministers for inciting the violence

The killing of Obi in Bauchi won’t be the first time people have run amok in the North. Far more people have been killed in Plateau state alone than in Kenya. People are killed at the drop of a hat in the North and Middle Belt and the Government appears helpless. We must now call on the ICC to intervene and try and break this cycle of the mindless slaughter of the innocent people in the North. The facts are all there, just as in Kenya; people were incited and primed to wreak maximum havoc in the event of results not favoring them. Even after the elections we had the likes of Alhaji Buba Galadima of the CPC still going on BBC Hausa service to spew hate.  I have previously written about the climate of hate that surrounded CPC rallies prior to the elections and frankly it is no surprise that violence broke out. What is surprising is that yet again, the security forces were caught flat footed. How could they not have known that CPC supporters were going to embark on an sin assembly of violence?

It is doubtful if President Jonathan has the political spine to bring the murders to book. I suspect the killing of Obi and that of many others in this latest sin assembly of violence will be swept under the carpet by the Government for the sake of political expediency or “national unity”. We need to tell the government that there is no more room under the carpet. The blood of Obi (and others) is calling for justice. It would be most disappointing if appeasement rather that justice is pursued by the government, killers must be brought to book and not rewarded. If the Government feels this is beyond them, they should then allow for the ICC to step in.

Missing Youth Corper, Ukeoma Aik Confirmed Dead!
 Mr. Ukeoma Aik was among the youth corpers killed in Bauchi State during the post-election violence on Sunday night.

As the rampaging youth pursued the woman into the street, men dragged their wives and children inside and locked their doors. The rioters finally caught up with the screaming woman and began to beat her; they tore up her clothes and pushed her to the ground. Then they raised her up again and were dragging her off when a slightly built man in caftan and skull cap approached, shouting at them to stop, his arms flailing. Men looked out from inside their rooms in amazement.

"They said later that they thought I was out of my mind, approaching these boys, all drugged on something, carrying petrol and burning down buildings," said Adamu Bologi.

Mr. Bologi himself had not thought of the consequences of his action. He dragged the woman away from the boys and took her to a nearby mosque, hiding her by a side entrance through which the Ladan usually enters. Of course, he made sure she took off her shoes first.

When he came out, he saw another harassed woman running with two children, stumbling along the road. Her husband is the pastor of a church, the Conqueror's House, around the same area where the Christian Corpers Lodge and a church were burnt last Monday in Minna.

Mr Bologi looked around him. There was no one else apart from the rioters in the street.

"It was suddenly like midnight," he said. "The whole place was so quiet, not even a child could be heard, although it was just about 2pm. The world seemed empty and these boys were in charge."

He saw smoke from a burning church behind the crying woman on the opposite street; he saw some other miscreants approach; and he saw that soon she would run into them. Mr Bologi ran towards her and took one of the children. He tried to lead her to his house, but she was inconsolable.

"She kept screaming about her husband, saying, ‘They are too many. They are beating him, please help him before they kill him.' She finally agreed to follow me home after I promised to go for the pastor afterward."

After he took her home, where another victim he took there earlier was already settled, watching a movie, he went back to check on the pastor but the place was unapproachable. The boys were breaking windows, destroying the building and stealing church equipment. How to approach such a scene?

Mr Bologi said the pastor fought valiantly; there was blood on his hands where he kept blocking the blows from the cutlass wielded by one of the boys as the rest hit him with hockey sticks. The whole place was full of smoke.

"I was alone," said Mr Bologi. "There was no way I could handle those boys. I had no stick, no knife, nothing."

Suddenly, someone pointed at him, asking where the woman was and some in the gang began to spread around to look for her.

"So I went back to look after my family and the woman. But when she saw me she started screaming about her husband again, asking me if he was dead already, begging me to help him. So I got out again."

But by the time he went back, the pastor was no longer there. The boys were still screaming, still stealing, still vandalising but there was nothing he could do. He went past the church searching for the pastor. The streets were deserted save for the urchins, and he was about to return home when he saw a man walking through some kind of haze.

"He had obviously been looking for his family," said Mr Bologi. "When I approached him, he stood there with bandaged hands, still defiant. ‘Are you the pastor of the burnt church?' I asked. He said, ‘So what if I am?' So I told him his family was in my home and that I could take him to them."

But that took a while because Mr Bologi couldn't just walk the bleeding pastor to his home - they would be seen. So they devised a way to get to the house by indirection, going sideways, like a crab's walk.

"When the woman saw her husband, I have never seen such joy," he said.

There was a police barracks near the place, perhaps 300 metres away. Mr Bologi told the pastor that soon the boys would come to look for him there and he won't be able to stop them, alone. He had to get them to the barracks; the pastor's family, and the woman he had ensconced in the mosque. On the way, they heard sirens, a vehicle filled with policemen approached and the motley crew of victims and their surrogate looked up in hope, but the policemen were on their way to the governor's residence nearby.

When Mr Bologi returned from the barracks, he saw that the boys have all gathered by his house.

"I thought, ‘well, this is it.' The only thing standing between me and harm was my long dress," he said.

They were not after him, however.

"There is a building opposite where I stay and the whole people there are Ibos. The boys were attacking the place. They were breaking the windows, television, everything," he said.

The example to follow

Earlier on, the people had met Mr Bologi to seek permission to move into his compound, but there were too many of them.

"I suggested they all move to the police barracks and I followed them there to scout the road. They had to wait at the junction while I checked if the boys were around," he said.

When he saw that their rooms were under attack, Mr Bologi again pleaded with the boys to move on, that there was no one there. They ignored him. By this time, his brave efforts and constant imprecations had brought four other men from their homes and they helped in urging the boys to desist.

"That was when this man came running out of his room and they caught him. They began to beat him up but we went closer. We were shouting, ‘don't kill him, don't kill him.' They said they would kill him unless he said, ‘Laila la'ilallah.'

"The man tried, but he couldn't say the words. I told them this was unIslamic and they got more angry, accusing me of conniving with unbelievers, threatening me.

"It was during this back and forth that one of those wielding a machete went behind and hit the man on the neck, leaving a wide gash as the man crumbled to the floor..."

At this point in his narration, Mr Bologi's voice crumbled, and he couldn't go on. His eyes misted over.

"It is not right," he said. "It is not right to do that to another human being, and no religion I know permits such a thing. No religion says that for no reason you can machete an innocent man."

I asked Mr Bologi what happened after this.

"I started crying," he said.

"It was all too much. I saw the blow and for a second, the collar-bones were all white and then the blood started gushing. I became so weak."

When he rallied, Mr Bologi had attempted to push the man into the Mosque but the boys stopped him. So he dragged the man to his house.

"There was all this blood and my wife wasn't finding it funny. She said, "What are you doing? You bring some and you take them out and you go and bring others?"

So why did Mr Bologi, a young librarian at the state newspaper house, Newsline, a man without any obvious physical strength stand up to over 30 vicious young men, holding clubs and machetes?

"I kept remembering the prophet, Mohammed," he said. "He urged us to live our lives in such a way that other people would come to admire our way of life and become Muslims themselves. Is anyone going to become a Muslim with the kind of violence shown by those boys?"

And why did the rioters not learn the same lesson?

"They are mostly boys, you know, without families, without the kind of home training we got. Many of them are twelve, fourteen and fifteen-year-olds."

Afterward, Mr Bologi and some other neighbours, mostly Muslims, joined hands to put out the fires in the churches and to take all the injured to the hospital. Mr. Bologi still looked exhausted the day after.

"I kept thinking of the prophet," he said. "One day some men came to kill him and failed. As they fled, the prophet noticed that they were going in the direction of his more militant supporters, Saidi na Ali and such. So, he told them not to go that way, to avoid the route because they might get themselves killed. He helped them make good their escape. That is my example. That should be our example as Muslims."

The refusal of Tunde Bakare, the vice presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), to sign a postdated letter of resignation, has been largely blamed for the collapse of the alliance talks between the CPC and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). NEXT has obtained an exclusive copy of the contentious letter. Had Mr Bakare signed the letter, dated June 7, 2011, the clergyman would have been under compulsion to step down as vice president after eight days in the post if his party had won the last presidential election.

In an arrangement that would have made Mr Bakare the briefest occupier of the vice presidential office in Nigeria's history, a nominee of the ACN would have succeeded the clergyman, in line with the terms of the alliance agreement.

But while the presidential candidate of the CPC, Muhammadu Buhari, and other chieftains of his party were satisfied with the letter, according to a source close to the talks, Mr Bakare refused to sign the letter despite entreaties from Mr Buhari, other party chiefs, and the ACN delegation to the talks. Some unnamed northern elders were also said to have "begged" Mr Bakare to sign the letter in the interest of the nation and democracy.

The one-page message, written under the letterhead of the CPC, was entitled ‘Resignation from Office as the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria', and addressed to the "President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria," whom the party believed would be Mr Buhari, its presidential candidate.

The letter read, "I have to this end appreciated the need for me to promote the desired national interest which by my principles override any other individual interest to make a supreme sacrifice of resigning my position as the Vice President of Nigeria to allow for the accommodation of the broader alliance that I strongly believe is required to move our country forward."

Bakare writes his own letter

But the CPC vice presidential candidate spurned the letter, preferring to write a different one which the ACN delegation believed would have given him room to renege on the terms of the alliance deal. The other signed letter written by Mr Bakare, also exclusively obtained by NEXT, was dated April 13, 2011 and addressed to Mr Buhari.

In it, Mr Bakare told his principal that "if at any time during the course of our joint efforts to move our country forward to the promised land, you consider it necessary for me to step down as the Vice President, please feel free at your sole and absolute discretion to accept this unilateral offer of resignation from me to that effect."

The source stated that the ACN refused this letter.

"They said it did not demonstrate enough willingness by Mr Bakare to vacate office," the source said. "They said the letter leaves everything to the discretion of Mr Buhari and wondered why Pastor Bakare simply refused to resign."

CPC responds

When our reporter contacted Mr Bakare by phone, he said, "I can't attend to any information, any news now. I have too much I'm trying to sort out. Thank you."

Contacted on Friday, Rotimi Fashakin, spokesperson for the CPC, refused to confirm or deny the existence and contents of the letter(s). In a telephone interview, Mr Fashakin stated that "the (refusal of Mr Bakare to sign the letter) was the reason given by the ACN for the breakdown of the negotiation."

He explained that there was still enough room to negotiate over the writing of a letter when the ACN suddenly called off the alliance.

"The negotiation period was supposed to be a process. If somebody does not meet your requirement, it is not enough to call off the negotiations.

"It will be correct to say that they were just looking for the flimsiest of excuses to align with the PDP," Mr Fashakin said.

Northern leaders mediate collapsed talks

After the conclusion of the National Assembly polls, the ACN and the CPC continued discussions on the possibility of an alliance before the presidential elections. The talks, according to a source, were held in two locations: the Lagos House in Asokoro, Abuja, and another location in Wuse 2 area of Abuja. The two parties had, months before the general election, also held several alliance talks without reaching any conclusion. The results of the National Assembly elections, however, showed that unless both parties worked together, their chances of upstaging the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) during the presidential polls were slim. The PDP had already garnered more than half of the National Assembly seats declared. The 11-hour alliance meeting commenced on the evening of Monday, April 11, and was reportedly facilitated by top northern leaders.

"General Babangida (former head of state), General Abdulsalam Abubakar (former head of state), and General (Aliyu) Gusau (former national security adviser) were among the northern leaders that brokered the meeting, and they were all there during the negotiations," another source close to the talks told NEXT.

After two days of negotiations, however, the alliance failed and both parties on Wednesday, April 13, announced to the world that each of them was presenting its own candidates for the election.

Accusations and counter accusations

The ACN and the CPC have accused each other of causing the collapse of the alliance talks. ACN chieftains led by its national chairman, Bisi Akande, were the first to address the press on the collapse of the talks. Mr Akande, in a press conference on April 13 at the party secretariat in the Wuse area of Abuja, told the world that the ACN did not cause the collapse of the talks. The party's national secretary, Lawan Shuaib, also said, that same day, that the refusal of the CPC to honour its side of the agreement on the resignation of Mr Bakare caused the failure of the alliance. Later, the ACN national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, joined the fray. He said in a statement that "we bent over backwards every inch of the way, especially in the three days of intense negotiations before the election. We risked everything: our candidate agreed to step down in the national interest, at the risk of the damage that will be done to his candidacy if the alliance fails, and that was exactly what happened."

Mr Mohammed added that "all we demanded from the CPC during the last days of intense negotiation, when we kept all our national leaders in Abuja for three straight days, was to allow us to produce the vice president after the election, and it became too much for them. Simply put, these people wanted us to amputate our two hands for them, while they could not even afford to lose a finger!"

Mr Buhari, the CPC presidential candidate, stated his own version of events when he told journalists prior to the elections that "the talks...ran into difficulties when the ACN insisted that the only condition for agreement was that they must produce the vice president. By the electoral laws, this was virtually impossible before this election."

Mr Buhari further stated that "we suggested that they should let us jointly go into the elections and jointly form the government after our victory. But our friends were not ready to take us on our honour and went to the media."

If the alliance had worked, the ACN and CPC would have presented one presidential candidate to challenge the incumbent and eventual winner of the elections, President Goodluck Jonathan.

The United States has congratulated President Goodluck Jonathan for winning Saturday’s presidential election, saying the election represents “a positive new beginning for Nigeria”.

President Obama

A statement issued late on Tuesday by U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton wished Jonathan well “in meeting the many challenges facing Nigeria” and in providing good governance.

“On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I applaud the people of Nigeria for their enthusiastic and orderly participation in the April 16th presidential election.

“This historic event marks a dramatic shift from decades of failed elections and a substantial improvement over the 2007 presidential election,” she said.

The U.S. also commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), its Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega, government agencies and civil society for their strong collaboration and dedication to democracy.

“They provided a real opportunity for the Nigerian people “to select their most senior leaders and will position Nigeria to build its democracy through strong governance, transparent institutions, and economic development,” Clinton said in the statement.

The U.S. government, however, noted that while the presidential election was a success for the people of Nigeria, “it was far from perfect,” and urged INEC to transparently review and take appropriate and transparent actions on all allegations of election malpractice.

It nevertheless added that “the United States condemns the acts of violence related to elections and we call upon all candidates, political parties, and supporters to respect the results of the election and channel any grievances or challenges peacefully through established administrative organs for legal redress.

“The international community will closely watch the upcoming gubernatorial elections and we call on all Nigerian stakeholders to support a credible and peaceful electoral process”.

Note:Bishop Tunde bakareis not Pastor Tunde bakare of CPC VP...they are not the same persons. Please take note. Also note that what Bishop Tunde said is the real fact...cant you see the number of xtians being killed and churches burnt,

Lecturers, students, others killed in Kaduna

The violence that broke out in Kaduna metropolis and Zaria on Monday has spread to Kafanchan and Zonkwa in the southern part of the state. 

 

On Tuesday in Samaru, Hayin Dogo area of Zaria near the Basawa Army Barracks, eyewitnesses alleged that soldiers killed about 10 persons suspected to have killed some lecturers and students at the Kaduna State Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic, Zaria on Monday. 
Christians in Zaria were said to have complained of being trapped in the violence and unable to run for safety due to the curfew imposed by the state government to curtail the violence. 
They also complained of lack of access to food and water. 
Many residents of the state capital were caught unawares by the violence and left without money and foodstuffs at home while those who have the cash also found it difficult to buy foodstuffs as markets in the state remained closed. 
Reacting to the orgy of violence and killings, the Federal Government on Tuesday deployed about 200 additional riot policemen in Kaduna to quell the violence in the state. 
Trucks conveying hundreds of anti- riot policemen were seen at the Presidential Lounge of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, at about 4.30pm on Tuesday. 
The policemen, who were initially scheduled to take a special flight to Kaduna, later went through the Nigeria Air Force hanger, where they boarded two Hercules C130 military aircraft expected to convey them to Kaduna. 
In Sabo area, a suburb of Kaduna, traders who attempted to sell their wares in front of the market were chased away by security agents to prevent further looting of the shops by criminals. 
Chairman of the state chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Bishop Tunde Bakare, told our correspondent on the phone that more than 10 churches were set ablaze in Zaria while several people were killed by the rioters in the town. 
Bakare listed most of the churches burnt in the town to include those in the Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic quarters as well as those located within the Samaru and Kongo campus of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. 
The PFN boss added that in spite of the 24-hour curfew imposed by the state government, the hoodlums armed with knives, sticks, bows and arrows moved about, especially around 10.00 pm and 2.00am from house to house attacking people and burning their homes. 
He claimed that apparently because the security agents were not given orders to shoot, the hoodlums ignored them, adding that the most challenging period for the residents was during the night when the rioters normally regrouped to unleash terror. 
Bakare said that it was unfortunate that the security operatives found it difficult to contain the hoodlums. 
He said, "When the police chased them, they will regroup later. The security agents have done well, but it appears they have not been given decisive instructions to deal with them." 
"The boys were engaging the police; their time for attack is in the night between 11:00pm and 2:00 am. They will be chanting Sai Buhari. Because of the curfew our people find it difficult to run to safe zones. The curfew is already taking its toll on the people as they have no food nor water and they cannot go out to get these basic needs. 
"Why is the church being asked to pay for this matter which is a political issue? Why are Christians being killed because of an issue which is purely political? Why are Christians being made a scapegoat over a political matter? 
"Right now we are under siege and our churches are being burnt and our people are being killed. We called on government to take adequate steps to halt this massacre of Christians" Bakare said 
In Kafanchan and Zonkwa in the southern part of the state, heavy fighting broke out between Christians and Muslims at about 8pm on Monday night. The fighting did not subside until about noon on Tuesday with some of the residents alleging that those involved in the fight may have been brought into the area from elsewhere. 
"I saw the body of a man beheaded after he was killed by these men. They are using grenade launchers, and the guns they are firing are not mere AK47s", a resident who pleaded anonymity said. 
It was gathered that the Police in Kafanchan could not contain the situation as youths from surrounding villages teamed up and entered the town around midnight to take on the alleged CPC armed men. 
The youths reportedly used bows and arrows, cutlasses and sticks to slow the advances of the attackers in some areas but many churches and homes of Christians were complete razed. 
Our correspondent gathered that in Kagoro, Afana, Kurdan and Garage a detachment of Special Task Force unit from Jos moved into the towns to restore order. 
Eye witnesses in Zonkwa said that Fajumali Hotel was set ablaze by the rioters, resulting in a reprisal attack and burning of the houses of suspected CPC supporters. Unspecified number of mosques were also razed in the Christian-dominated town. 
The Emir of Jema'a, Alhaji Isa Muhammadu told the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that even though there were security agents in the area, they were so overwhelmed and could not do much to restore order to the town. 
The Emir lamented that the security personnel were incapacitated, adding that those unleashing terror were so much that even if they were blocked from one end of the town, they would regroup and start attacking from the other end.

 the election due irregularities in 22 states of the federation including  Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo; Abia, Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi states.

Others include Ekiti, Ogun, Osun, Lagos, Sokoto, Kaduna, Jigawa, Gombe, Yobe, Zamfara, Adamawa, Nasarawa states and FCT.

Buhari alleged that the computers used in compiling the votes were programmed to rig the election in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

In a petition submitted by his party to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Buhari further sought an investigation into how a software was installed in the computers with the aim of assisting Jonathan to victory in the election.

President Jonathan, who received his certificate of return with his running mate and current Vice President, Namadi Sambo, between 4.40 and 4.45pm had condemned the recent crisis adding that he was prepared to run an all-inclusive government.

But the petition signed by the CPC’s National Chairman, Prince Tony Momoh, and National Secretary, Engr. Buba Galadima, equally accused the PDP of intimidating voters and that result from the south-south and south-east should be cancelled.

According to the petitioner, "We (CPC) are also disagreeing with results from Sokoto, Adamawa, Plateau, Nasarawa, Benue, Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Jigawa among others.

"All results must be subjected to forensic analysis before it is announced. If it is announced without forensic analysis, we will not accept it."

The petition read further: “Our attention has been drawn by our State collation officers, polling agents, and election supervisors in the states of the South-South and South-East and some other states that the presidential elections held on April 16, 2011 in Nigeria were conducted in substantial non-compliance with the principles of the Electoral Act with the effect that the results handed down were substantially affected by massive irregularities that include the following:

1.Members of the public in the areas mentioned were at most polling stations intimidated and driven away from the polling units with the effect that the ballot papers in ballot boxes were printed and stuffed in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

2.Opposition voters were directly and indirectly kept away from polling units through threats of force, violence and death in consequence of which they were disenfranchised.

3.There was clear absence of accreditation of voters in most of the polling units and the regulated procedure for the conduct of the purported election was as a result violently breached to the advantage of PDP.

4.There is strong suspicion, supported by reasonable grounds, that the Excel computer application installed in the computers of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, across the nation was deliberately designed to short change the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC. This can be attested to by the unfolding situation of Katsina and Kano where the manual calculation of the results reveal that our Party was short changed by hundreds of thousands of votes when the results were manually reviewed.

The party therefore asked the INEC chairman to:

1.Order the respective Chief Electoral Commissioners and such other custodians of all

presidential election documents including statement of results, ballot papers and voters registers which are returned to the Commission by the Returning Officers to produce them to be analysed in line with our allegation on multiple and alien voting by voters not registered at the polling units.

2.Investigate the allegation of manipulation of Excel Application Programme installed in the field computers of INEC deliberately designed to favour PDP and short change CPC.

3. Order for the cancellation of the results handed down from the South_South and South East in the event the investigation revealed the alleged breaches.

4. Order for concurrent manual recalculation of the result across the country alongside the Excel Application calculation.

The petitioner further said: “We, therefore, appeal that you demand the ballot papers and result sheets as collated from these zones and states for scrutiny in the interest of peace, prosperity, free, fair and credible elections. We recall that on Sunday April 17, because of reports we received, we issued a press statement that we would accept only collated results from polling stations."

Observers, who monitored the elections have however called on Buhari to accept what they described as one of the freest and fairest elections the country has ever had.

The entire observers, under a coalition, Project 2011 Swift Count, urged the Buhari and other candidates in the election to accept the results as declared by INEC without problems.
 
Speaking on behalf of the coalition, its First Vice-President, Mr. Dafe Akpedeye,  said the exercise was transparent and credible.
 
According to him, “INEC has conducted the collation of presidential results in a very open manner. Official results by states have immediately been posted on the internet for anyone to see.

"In order to ensure even greater transparency and accountability Project 2011 Swift Count calls upon INEC to also post polling unit level results on  its website."

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