Politics

Gen. Abdulsalami’s Peace C’ttee Reveals How It Was Pressured To Ask INEC To Cancel 2023 Presidential Elections

Published

1 year ago

August 17, 2024

The National Peace Committee NPC on Friday revealed details of some behind-the-scenes maneuvers by partisans and other unnamed elements during the 2023 Presidential Election, disclosing how it came under immense pressure to get the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to either halt collation of the results or cancel the election.

The committee led by a former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar disclosed this on Friday in Abuja when it presented to the public its 106-page report of the 2023 General Elections titled, “Nigeria’s Pursuit of Electoral Compliance: National Peace Committee NPC 2023 General Elections Report”.

Before presenting the report to the public, the committee had earlier met with the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and other management staff of the commission where it was briefed on the electoral umpire’s preparation for the forthcoming Governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.

Other members of the committee are Okoh Ebitu Ukiwe (Vice Chairman); Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah (Convener); Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III; John Cardinal Onaiyekan; business icons, Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola; Vanguard Newspapers Publisher, Sam Amuka Pemu; Ameze Guobadia; Idayat Hassan; Dame Priscilla Kuye; Gen. Martin Luther Agwai; Mahmud Yayale Ahmed; Channels TV owner, John Momoh; Roseline Ukeje; and, Fr. Atta Barkindo, its Head of Secretariat.

Part of the report reads; “As the election day progressed, criticisms and counter criticisms became abundant. The NPC was already being faced with a flurry of phone calls and the need to call INEC to order. The Peace Committee was flooded with requests for intervention. Both the Chairman of the Committee, General Abdulsalami A. Abubakar, the Convener, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah and the Head of NPC Secretariat, Fr. Atta Barkindo, were inundated with calls, requests, and petitions demanding the intervention of the NPC.

“Some of the requests wanted the NPC to prevail on INEC to stop collating election results because there were gross violations and lack of compliance with the electoral act. Others demanded that the tenets of the Peace Accord signed were not adhered to and therefore the Committee should call for cancellation of the election entirely.

“The most significant call was related to the 25% threshold for Abuja as the Federal Capital Territory. Some of the analysts who reached out to the committee asked that the final election result should not be announced because the resumptive president-elect did not score the required 25% as stated in the electoral act. If anything, there should be a runoff.

“For example, the Centre for Reform and Public Advocacy described the silence of National Peace Committee (NPC) as deafening in spite of the avalanche of election petitions and likely far-reaching outcomes that could follow the decisions.

“The Centre stated that the NPC led by General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd) had prior to the 2023 elections engaged political leaders on the need for a peaceful and credible election. However, what was missing was a post- election formal statement of the NPC on the outcome of the election and the sort of intervention needed to prevent widespread violence.

“The biggest bone of contention was the significance of the 25% threshold for the FCT, the vacuum created by pre-election legal interpretation that was not given by INEC.

“Within the general context of the mandate of the Peace Committee, there were requests that demanded the Committee to go beyond its mandate and to interfere in an electoral process that only agencies empowered by law can do so.
“The interventions provided by the NPC is purely and squarely moral, particularly in a context that trust deficit is widespread, the culture of impunity and lack of compliance with laws. The mandate is founded on the need to promote peace, prevent widespread violence and encourage parties and candidates to uphold the rule of law.

“The NPC has no mandate to arrest violators of process or interfere with the constitutional duties of INEC. It is set up to provide moral intervention, defined by mediation and moral persuasion to ensure that there is peace. It is also expected to, on behalf of public interest, speak truth to power when things are going terribly wrong.

“After the presidential elections, the NPC has continued with its engagements with political parties, youth and women led groups, persons with disabilities, the security agencies, traditional rulers and religious leaders, including the Independent State-based Peace Architectures”.

“Most people are not aware that the NPC provides only a moral intervention, and it has no constitutional duty to arrest, punish or prosecute any citizen for any wrongdoing. Rather, the Committee has the moral obligation to encourage, persuade and appeal to political actors, community leaders and other stakeholders on the importance of peace. This limited awareness has forced some Nigerians to question the significance of engaging with the NPC if only what the committee brings to the table is moral persuasion. This is a challenge for the work of the Committee” report added.
VANGUARD

Politics

JUST IN: Tinubu Holds Closed-door Meeting With Rivers, Ebonyi Govs

Published

40 seconds ago

December 8, 2025

Editor

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday held separate closed-door meetings with Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Ebonyi State Governor Francis Nwifuru at the State House, Abuja.

The engagements came amid heightened political tension in Rivers State and renewed speculation over Governor Fubara’s future within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Fubara arrived at the Presidential Villa at about 5:01 p.m. and was received by the Presidential Protocol Liaison Officer before being escorted to the President’s office.

He departed at about 5:45 p.m., but details of the meeting remained undisclosed as of press time.

Shortly before his arrival, Governor Nwifuru had been ushered in for a separate audience with the President. The purpose of his visit was also not revealed.

Nwifuru , a former Speaker of the Ebonyi House of Assembly and now an All Progressives Congress (APC) governor, has in recent months held several engagements with the Presidency, largely centred on infrastructure development and security coordination in the South-East.

Tinubu’s meeting with Fubara follows Friday’s defection of 17 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, loyal to the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, and led by Speaker Martin Amaewhule, from the PDP to the APC.

The mass defection has significantly altered power dynamics in the state legislature and heightened uncertainty about Fubara’s political trajectory.

lawmakers believed to be aligned with the governor remain in the PDP, and they have yet to resume their seats since the lifting of the state’s emergency rule on September 18.

The Guardian earlier reported that President Tinubu met with six APC governors in a closed-door session at the State House, Abuja.

The purpose of the meeting was not immediately disclosed, and details of its agenda remained unclear at press time.

In attendance were governors Umar Namadi (Jigawa), Monday Okpebholo (Edo), Biodun Oyebanji (Ekiti), Usman Ododo (Kogi,) Aliyu Sokoto (Sokoto) and Dr. Nasir Idris (Kebbi), who arrived at the Presidential Villa separately.
The meeting, held in the President’s office, lasted almost two hours.

Although no Presidency official offered insight into the agenda, the consultations come amid rising security concerns across the country and ongoing political engagements within the ruling party.

The governors declined to speak to journalists after the meeting.

President Tinubu has recently intensified his focus on national security by convening a series of high-level meetings involving key security stakeholders, including the service chiefs of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, as well as intelligence coordinators and senior officials from various security agencies.

This increased engagement comes in response to a worrying upsurge in banditry, kidnappings, and violent crimes that have spread across multiple regions, causing widespread public concern and escalating pressure on the federal government for urgent and effective intervention.

Politics

Ambassadorial Nominees: Ndume Asks Tinubu To Withdraw List

Published

1 day ago

December 7, 2025

Editor

Ahead of the Senate’s screening and confirmation of the ambassadorial nominees sent to the Red Chamber by the Presidency, former Senate Leader Ali Ndume has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to withdraw the list from parliament.

The federal lawmaker declared that the composition of nominees was in clear breach of the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in the Constitution.

Checks revealed that while certain states have three and four nominees, states like Gombe have no representation, while the only nominee from Yobe, Senator Adamu Garba Talba, died last July.

The entire North East state has 7 nominees in the list.

Further checks revealed that the South West geopolitical zone has 15 nominees, while the North West and South East have 13 and 9, respectively.

North Central region has 10 nominees in the list of career and non-career ambassadorial nominees, while South South region has 12 nominees.

The Senate President at plenary on Thursday formally read the list of nominees and referred it to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs for further legislative action.

The Senator representing Borno South in a statement issued on Saturday maintained that the list of nominees was in clear breach of Section 14(3) of the Nigerian Constitution which mandates that the composition and conduct of the federal government must reflect the “federal character of Nigeria” to ensure national unity and loyalty.

The section reads: “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.”

The former Chief Whip of the Senate admonished President Tinubu to avoid taking decision that will fuel ethnic tension and promote distrust in the country, amidst the wrong narrative being promoted by the Western world against his administration.

He said: “My sincere appeal to President Tinubu is to withdraw this list. At this critical time in the life of his administration, he should avoid missteps that could endanger national unity and promote ethnic distrust.

“I know him to be a cosmopolitan leader who is at home with every segment and stakeholders in the country.

“He should withdraw that list and present a fresh set of nominees that will align with the spirit of the Constitution on Federal Character Principle that government’s structure and operations must represent the diverse states and peoples of Nigeria.”

Politics

PDP Issues Certificate Of Expulsion To Wike, Fayose, Anyanwu, Others

Published

5 days ago

December 3, 2025

Editor

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it has issued certificate of expulsion from the party to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and other 10 members earlier expelled from the party.

The party National Chairman, Tanimu Turaki, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen after the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

The other members, according to him, include the embattled National Secretary, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu, the Legal Adviser, Kamarudeen Ajibade, former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose.

They also included Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa, Austin Nwachukwu, Abraham Amah Nnanna, George Turna and Chief Dan Orbih, expelled during the party National convention in Lagos.

Turaki said that the original copies of the certificate had been dispatched to the owners through a courier service to serve as proof that they were expelled from the PDP.

“We have taken note of the fact that Nigerian law frowns on dual membership of political parties, and so we have sought to make it easy for them.

“Now that they are no longer members of our party, and now that the National Convention, which is the highest decision-making organ of our party, has expelled them, we have decided to issue them certificates of expulsion.

“So, when they go to register with other political parties in Nigeria, they will show these certificates as proof that they are no longer members of the PDP.

“By that, those parties will not accuse them of trying to belong to more than one political party,” he said.

He called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies, including the Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services, and other government agencies, to take note.

“Very soon, members of the society will be informed via proper disclaimers that any person henceforth who decides to do business with them, any or all of them, does so at his or her own risk.

“They are no longer members of the PDP. They have been expelled,” he added.

He added that the NWC also reviewed some of the cases filed against the party and lawsuits instituted by the party, particularly the one that related to the “unlawful and illegal” closure of the party’s national Secretariat, the Legacy House, and the Wadata Plaza.

“The brief we received from our lawyers is that we are on sound ground, and that very soon, the law will take its course,” he said.

Turaki said the NWC was prepared to be saddled with the responsibility of performing its functions as the leading opposition party in Nigeria.

“We are going to provide a credible alternative to Nigerians. We are going to provide credible leadership to Nigerians by the special grace of God from 2027,” he said.