The report of 1149 casualties recorded in three general elections in Nigeria by the Independent National Electoral Commission dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Punch reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission has said that it lost no fewer than 9,836 smart card readers in over 42 attacks on its offices and staff in three years.
Also, more than 1,149 persons, including INEC employees and security officers were killed in the three elections held in 2011, 2015 and 2019. Ballot papers, cubicles and other materials were similarly destroyed.
Last Friday, an INEC worker identified as Anthony Nwokorie, was shot dead by gunmen while conducting the continuous voter registration in the Ihitte Uboma Local Government Area of Imo State.
A viral video showed the hoodlums forcing registrants to lie on the ground while destroying registration materials and vowing that elections would not hold in the South-East.
Following the violent assaults on its assets and staff, the electoral body has expressed fears over the 2023 elections, stating that there would be no results at polling units where violent incidents were orchestrated.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, in an interview with The PUNCH on Monday, warned that no return would be made where violence was deliberately precipitated to undermine the electoral process.
The newspaper says that the Presidency on Monday took a swipe at the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, for his continuous criticism of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and his regime, asking him Kukah to consider joining partisan politics and see how far he can go.
The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, made the Presidency’s position known in a statement titled ‘Kukah’s virus of hate.’
Shehu was reacting to Kukah’s Easter sermon on Sunday in which he knocked Buhari’s regime over security challenges, corruption and disunity being witnessed in the country.
Quoting different biblical passages, the presidential spokesman faulted the bishop, saying “from his pulpit, he devoted his Easter message not to Christ’s death and rebirth so Man might be saved – but to damning the government in the most un-Christian terms.”
While accusing Kukah of neglecting Bible’s teachings, Shehu said Easter should be a time for renewal, and for hope and “not a time for religious leaders to play politics, or politicians to play religion.”
The Guardian reports that the 36 states of the federation have warned the Federal Government not to tamper with funds accruing to them and the 774 local councils under the guise of satisfying an alleged $418 million London/Paris Club Loan refund-related judgment debts.
In documents seen, yesterday, the states said they were not parties to any suit on the London/Paris Club refund, and as such were not liable to any person or entity in any judgment debt being relied on by the Federal Government.
Speaking through the body of Attorneys-General of the Federation, the states warned further that should the Federal Government proceed to make any such deduction, it would be acting illegally and in contempt of their appeal challenging the judgment.
They gave the warning in an April 4 letter as part of their response to a November 11, 2021 letter from the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, advertising commencement of the deduction for liquidation of the alleged judgment debts.
The reply of the states was signed by the body of Attorneys-General of the Federation Interim Chairman, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) of Lagos State and Interim Secretary, Dr. Abdulkarim Abubakar Kana of Nasarawa State, as well as the Attorneys-General of Rivers, Abia, Taraba, Benue, and Zamfara States, for and on behalf of all the state Attorneys-General.
The newspaper says that local airlines operators have pushed for severe sanctions against unruly passengers, which may include a ban and fines in extreme cases.
The operators, under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), said they would no longer condone cases of assaults on staff and crew members, public intoxication and verbal abuses by irate passengers.
Globally, coronavirus-induced changes in air travel patterns and flight delays have caused frustrated air travellers to push back violently at airlines with the United States alone accounting for 5,981 cases of unruly passengers. Of the lot, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported 4,290 – nearly 72 per cent – were mask-related incidents.
Nigerian airports have had a fair share of irate passengers attacking officials and destroying facilitation equipment in protest against flight delays and cancellations.
Recently, Max Air was attacked by some passengers at Abuja airport, who destroyed computers and other equipment at the check-in counter.
President of the AON, Abdulmunaf Yunusa, called on the Federal government through the Ministry of Aviation and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to beef up security at the nation’s airports and ensure that the lives of airline staff and their properties are lawfully protected.
The Vanguard reports that the founder and Chancellor, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola, yesterday, called for the postponement of the 2023 general elections and the introduction of a six-month interim government, after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure.
The legal luminary said the preoccupation of the interim government would be to produce a new constitution that would tackle insecurity, economic, political and other excruciating ills bedevilling the nation.
Babalola, who spoke at a press conference in Ado-Ekiti, warned that if the 2023 elections are conducted, it will recycle the same crop of leaders, who will plunge the nation further into bankruptcy, economic depression, and insecurity.
His words: “To save Nigeria from nose-diving into irretrievable bankruptcy and poverty, irreparable economic and political damage brought about by the 1999 constitution and its beneficiaries, a new constitution is imperative before any election.
“I, therefore, strongly advocate that we should postpone the 2023 elections until the Interim Government put in place after the expiration of Buhari’s government has put in place a new truly People’s Constitution.
“I am not in doubt that any election conducted under the 1999 Constitution and under the prevailing economic depression and insecurity will lead to a return of most of the failed leaders who are responsible for the near bankruptcy of Nigeria today.
“No election under this constitution will bring about young men, brilliant and intelligent Nigerians who want to serve without taking money. I suggest that there should be a body at the local, state and federal levels that will screen whoever wants to be elected not the so-called primaries they are doing now.”
On the state of the economy, the legal luminary berated the government for the increase in external debt due to more borrowing and spending with less revenue.
The newspaper says that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has urged the Federal Government to respect the Collective Bargaining Agreements entered into with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other unions in the tertiary institutions in the country.
The NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, made the call in the 2022 Easter message to workers and Nigerians with the theme, “Hope That Never Dies’’, on Monday in Abuja.
According to him, millions of Nigerian university students, especially those attending public citadels of higher learning, are celebrating Easter outside the precincts of their campuses.
“This is not by reason of choice but because our country cut short their hopes.
“The inability of the government to deliver on commitments it reached with our university workers, both academic and non-academic, has ensured that the streak of instability battering and buffeting our tertiary education system remains unresolved.
GIK/APA