Why CPC lost Niger State – Party chair

Umar Shuaibu has been the Chairman, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Niger State since December 2010. In this interview, he reveals his experiences on the conduct of the recently concluded April elections in the state.

How would you describe the conduct of the presidential election in Niger State?

From the onset, it was very difficult to establish a level playing ground in Niger State because prior to the election, the state governor publicly promised to deliver 100% of the state’s votes to President Jonathan. Prior to the commencement of the elections, many members of opposition parties who are known to have the capacity to protect their votes were arrested on concocted charges. However, despite such intimidations, money inducements and violence in many places, people staunchly stood their ground and protected most of the votes, such that the CPC came up with better results than the ruling PDP in both the National Assembly and Presidential elections. The CPC would have even done better in the absence of these harassments.

How about the gubernatorial election?

In the gubernatorial election, the rigging was extraordinary going by the brigandage approach the government adopted. There are many documentary evidence that the election was nothing but a deceit, charade and an exercise that was replete with intimidation, violence, multiple voting and vote buying. In the manner portrayed, this government could not be said to be elected at all.

In your opinion, what do you think was responsible for the Suleja bombings before and during the elections?

Two bomb episodes occurred in Suleja. The first was on the 3rd of March 2011, the day General Buhari came to Niger State for the North Central Zone campaign take-off. However, the bombing took place not at the venue of the CPC campaign which was in Minna, but the venue of the PDP senatorial campaign in Suleja. Earlier, we notified the police of the visit within the stipulated time, only for them to attempt to stop the CPC presidential campaign in favour of the PDP senatorial rally in Suleja the notification of which was made later than ours. After series of meetings with the Police Commissioner, the police didn’t see reason to stop us. General Buhari’s convoy entered and left Suleja much earlier, even before the PDP campaign started. It was while the PDP campaign was about ending that the bomb exploded at the PDP venue in Suleja, by then General Buhari’s convoy was already in Bida after it stopped over in Lapai and Agaie.

It was only due to mischief that the PDP linked the bomb blast to Buhari’s visit to the extent of arresting the CPC House of Assembly candidate Abubakar Lado and many others for more than two months without single evidence against them. The magistrate court that claimed not to have jurisdiction to hear the case of homicide slammed on Lado and the others was the same court that granted them bail only after the election. Even while in detention, the CPC candidate actually won but was rigged out by the PDP. We have many evidence to present in court.

The second bomb blast took place on 8th April, a day to the National Assembly elections. Anybody that has a hand in it must be one afraid of the election taking place, not the CPC that has been agitating for change. The bomb took place only minutes after a meeting with political party agents called by INEC in which the PDP was conspicuously absent. Sincere investigation by any government that values people’s lives would certainly question and subject the PDP leadership to detention to establish why the blast on 3rd of March occurred at the venue of their campaign. Secondly, to determine the reasons for their absence from INEC office when they were supposed to be there before the second blast on 8th April. Unfortunately, due to government’s ineptitude or possible culpability of the PDP or both, there is not any commission of inquiry or any serious investigation to address the two bombings in Suleja.

In specific terms, would you say that the elections in Niger State were rigged by the incumbent PDP government?

There were riggings and intimidations in the National Assembly and the Presidential elections because they were characterized by inducements, violence and escalation of results in favour of the PDP and reductions for the CPC in many parts of the state. However, while in some constituencies the riggings were successful and we lost, in others it was not, as such we won, we have many examples. The outcome of the NASS and Presidential elections are those that set the prelude to what happened at the gubernatorial. Not only for the fact that the CPC defeated the son and daughter of a former governor and that of a former minister who were at the same time retired generals, the CPC also defeated a serving Senator who was a retired DIG of Police, at the same time chairman Senate Committee on Security and Intelligence.

All of these defeated candidates are of the PDP. The ensuing scenario is that of typical class struggle, where you have former presidents, retired generals, former ministers and former state governors with the present governor and all of his commissioners and permanent secretaries, local government chairmen, traditional rulers and all high ranking civil servants in the state that are super strong and powerful on one side, while the most prominent opposition party has a chairman and gubernatorial candidate whom virtually nobody knows, and without even a single former commissioner. These are coupled with the fact that one of the former presidents from the state nurses presidential ambition under the PDP, and would definitely be disadvantaged in the event that any other party than the PDP wins the governorship in his state. From the ongoing, even without being told one should know that the last thing this powerful class would allow is further victory by the opposition. If we connect the class structure in the state to the outcome of the first two elections prior to the gubernatorial, and the usual conservative nature of the state since the NPN era, there was no time in the past that the destruction of these high class citizens became imminent than now. Thus the coveted governorship seat must be secured at all costs. Therefore in its desperation to get re-elected at all costs, despite its near zero performance in comparison to the huge resources embezzled, the government employed all manners of rigging, including the use of wrong ballot papers for the elections. While mischievously imposing a curfew in the state and using security agencies against its citizens.

Was there any intimidation of CPC agents at the polling booths?

In many parts of the state, more than a week prior to the gubernatorial election, people whose crime is nothing but being opposition party members, identified as those to guard and protect their votes and make sure it counts were targeted at their homes, their doors broken in the midnight, arrested and thoroughly beaten. Some were released only after the elections, and many are still in detention. During the elections in many places there were instances where voters were practically chased out of the polling units and the charade elections completed by the stuffing of ballot boxes since around 11 o’clock before the expiration time for accreditation.

How would you describe the conduct of INEC during the elections in Niger?

The INEC has all along been mischievous as far as the election in Niger State in concerned. The biggest mischief was forcing us to use the re-run ballot papers for the gubernatorial election, even when we rejected it. We earlier alerted them to correct any such problems and all these are on record. We also told them that we suspected the PDP to have gotten access to the ballot papers long before the election, which was proved during the election because many of the PDP supporters were actually caught with the ballots trying to stuff them into the boxes. We were told by INEC that each 300 voters are going to be provided with a ballot box but that did not happen, so where are the left overs? We were told that INEC had discovered multiple registrations and that Niger State has the highest of such cases in the country.

We expected the perpetrators to be fished out during the voting, but multiple voters had a field day. There were strong allegations that a PDP stalwart from Niger State is among the contractors that supplied sensitive materials to INEC, which is a total violation of the principle of fair play. And we asked the question: How did PDP members get access to materials solely in custody of the INEC? It is clear that sharp practices were carried out to favour PDP during the elections and our complaints fell on deaf ears.

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