…As NASS takes pernicious oath
Every Nigerian with a heart is troubled by the high level of blood-letting going on. The most troubling part of it all is that the killers are never tracked, let alone apprehended. For how long will this continue?
The drama at the National Assembly can be likened to the oath of the Jews “Let the blood be on us and our children.” But there are a “few good men” in the maddening crowd.
Does Nigerians’ blood still matter?
The life of Nigerians is becoming too cheap to attract the needed international attention.
If in one week over 500 people are massacred, life goes on as if all is well, and politicians busy themselves with matters of an election coming up in 2027, then something is dreadfully wrong somewhere.
In the Woro attack recently, it was estimated that about 200 people were killed. About the same number of people were also said to have been massacred in a Taraba community within that period. There were also attacks in a number of other places across the country where dozens were killed but were not officially reported.
If in a space of two to three years over ten thousand (10,000) citizens lost their lives through brutal attack (as was reported), then Nigeria must sit up!
How did we get to a point where bandits and other criminal elements would invade a village, kill everybody in sight and burn indigenes of such a village inside their own houses? Nigerians are experiencing a kind of barbarism that is alien to them. Even during the civil war, soldiers were not going about incinerating people.
What is happening in Nigeria today is simply horrendous.
There have been reports of the federal troop killing many of them. But what Nigerians want is an end to the terrorist madness. These elements must be exposed and openly punished, not the secret way they are being handled which creates doubts in the mind of many Nigerians.
It is unacceptable to continue to entertain murderers under whatever name. The government should be the only entity that wields the greatest power and influence in any society, but it would seem that terrorists are dictating the pace of things here.
The allegation of complicity is still thick in the polity, as many Nigerians are yet to be convinced that the raging insecurity is not being stoked by certain individuals in the corridors of power who are misusing their positions.
We now see terrorists who are so brazen as to occupy communities, impose all manner of taxes on the people, and determine what goes on in such communities.
Many observers have said that the low-grade war going on in Nigeria is about extremist ideology, and about an agenda to create a caliphate out of Nigeria.
For this reason, they believe the best way to go about it is by raining terror to make Nigerians lose confidence in the ability and capacity of the government to protect the people.
That is why, today, we hear the terrorists boast what they are capable of doing. They brag that communities are at their mercies. They say that nobody has the power to deliver any community from their hands. Sadly, they seem to get away with their heinous and murderous activities which bolster their confidence.
Last weekend, a hand-written message circulated in some communities in Kwara State. Although it was a poorly-written English, the message was not lost, and must not be lost, on anybody.
The writer, who called himself, Sanufu, on behalf of a group called Nigeria Terrorists Association (NTA), wrote: “Our motor- we kill, we kidnapping, and we destroying. No town, or place that is scared us to destroyed. We search and gaddering information before we rade. We heard about this town IRA. You people strong and have many powerfull man to face our organization. Be ready for us at any time any date, nothing concern us about your oracle …we left Kiama LG to IRA Insa, Aho and town surrounded.”
This has been the pattern of their attack. They warn before they invade villages; yet, such attacks have never been foiled. What we hear after each attack is “Oh, they even notified the community” but what do the security agencies do with the intelligence that come their way, or they gathered?
Akanbi Kamar Olarewaju, chairman of Oyun Local Government, following the threat as contained in the open letter, last Friday convened an emergency security meeting at the council secretariat in Ilemona.
He addressed security agencies, traditional rulers and key stakeholders at the meeting, saying that the council received reports of a letter purportedly written by unknown individuals, claiming they had relocated from Kaiama Local Government and were planning attacks on the Irra and Aho/Inaja axis.
The local government chairman said that although the council was still working with security agencies to authenticate the source and credibility of the letter, the administration considered it necessary to act proactively in the interest of public safety.
It is hoped that proactive actions would be taken to prevent an imminent bloodletting beyond the security briefing.
That same weekend, reports had it that some indigenes of the mentioned communities began to flee their homes. The reason behind the exodus could be located in the seeming loss of confidence in the relevant agencies to protect the people, given past experiences.
The residents decided to run because of the fear of being caught napping. They knew that the same notice had been served to some communities and they took it for granted only to regret it later.
The attack on Woro community in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State did not happen without prior warning. But the security agencies were not able to save the people. Men, women and children were slaughtered like chicken. As at today, the public has not been told of any arrest in connection with the massacre.
The issue of insecurity in Nigeria is getting out of hand with people suffering in silence. There are some communities today that are paying royalties to bandits and terrorists. There are also some communities that now live at the mercy of terrorists who live among them. These terrorists are well-known by the people in the communities and they live like lords over everybody.
Stories abound how terrorists abduct women in their communities and demand for ransom. The terrorists intimidate, threaten men to submit their wives and daughters to them to avoid attack. In such places, people do not feel the presence of government; they live in perpetual fear.
Nigeria has degenerated into a society where bizarre things are happening to people and nobody cares.
A few days ago, the government of Katsina State wanted to pay ransom to secure the release of 70 bandits held in prison in order to secure the release of 1,000 indigenes held by terrorists.
The business of terrorism is booming in Nigeria. The fight against terrorism is marred by the ambition to win election and re-election. What we see now is a situation where government is not vocal enough to wield the big stick for the fear that such a hard stance can jeopardise 2027 ambition of some politicians.
It would seem that the Federal Government is beholding the faces of some influential persons in the North in its fight against insurgency. This is so because there are many sympathisers of bandits and Boko Haram insurgents, who have always expressed angst on government’s onslaught against the criminal elements.
Nigerians are daily dying in very high numbers. Nigeria must kill terrorism before the reverse happens. No country survives this way.
NASS and the pernicious oath
After several months and huge financial commitment to Citizens’ Townhall (meetings) in all the six geo-political zones over Constitution amendment and specifically, Electoral Act, in what now appears “a wild goose chase”, the National Assembly has simply told Nigerians, “You can have your say, but we have our way.”
The federal lawmakers have proven once again that they are united in sustaining electoral fraud in Nigeria. All the talk about reforms seems balderdash!
On the Electoral Act amendment, the Senate showed its signs early but was met with a push back from the Nigerian people. It retreated, promising to look at the matter again at an emergency session. Again, it fumbled.
At that point, Nigerians had expected the Red Chamber to be contrite after the initial faus pas that attracted national outcry. But the Senators stuck to their guns in a rather self-exalting manner.
On Tuesday, the worse happened. The Senate appeared to have influenced the House of Representatives into its obvious malfeasance.
Both chambers rejected the real-time electronic upload, which was the major bone of contention throughout the debates. The House of Representatives, which had received applause from Nigerians over their stance in December 2025, stepped back on its noble decision.
The passage of the bill followed the harmonisation of the two versions passed by the Senate and the House by their Conference Committees.
Clause 60, passed by both chambers in respect of electronic transmission of results reads: “The Presiding Officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the IREV portal, and such transmission shall be done after the prescribed Form EC8A has been signed and stamped by the Presiding Officer and/or countersigned by the candidates or Polling agents where available at the Polling Unit.
“If the electronic transmission of the result fails as a result of communication failure and it becomes impossible to transmit the result contained in Form EC8A signed and stamped by the Presiding Officer and countersigned by the candidates or polling agents where available at the polling unit, the Form EC8A shall remain the primary source of collation and declaration of the result.”
After a lot of razzmatazz to create a false impression of serious business, Godswill Akpabio, Senate president, directed the senators to physically indicate their positions on whether the proviso allowing manual transmission of results during network failure should remain.
He said: “Those who are in support of the proviso, stay on the right side.”
After counting, the Senate President announced that, “Those who do not want any proviso are 15 in number, and those who want the proviso are 55 in number and so, the proviso stays.”
Fifteen senators tried to save democracy and wrote their names in gold as they voted for mandatory real-time electronic. But their voices were drowned by those who have sworn the oath to buccaneer democracy in Nigeria.
When Akpabio called for voting, these men and women rose in defence of fatherland:
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP, Kogi Central), Enyinnaya Abaribe (ADC, Abia South), Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central)
Aminu Tambuwal* (PDP, Sokoto South),
Ireti Kingibe* (ADC, FCT), Seriake Dickson* (PDP, Bayelsa West), Onawo Ogwoshi (ADC, Nasarawa South) and Tony Nwoye (ADC, Anambra North).
Others are Victor Umeh (ADC, Anambra Central), Ibrahim Dankwambo (PDP, Gombe Central) Austin Akobundu (PDP, Abia Central), Khalid Mustapha (PDP, Kaduna North), Sikayo Yaro (PDP, Gombe South), Emmanuel Nwachukwu (APGA, Anambra South) and Peter Jiya (PDP, Niger South).
The House of Representatives, which had been commended for being so patriotic enough as to recommend real-time electronic transmission of result and the removal of the discretionary provision that empowered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to have the last say, began to withdraw its earlier decision.
At plenary Tuesday, Francis Waive, chairman of the House committee on rules and business, sowed and evil seed by moving a motion for the House to reverse its decision on the bill which was passed on December 23, 2025.
In what appeared an orchestrated decision to achieve a fait accompli, Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house, put the motion to a voice vote, the “nays” were louder than the “ayes”, but he ruled that the ayes had it.
Although the ruling triggered protests from lawmakers, who began hollering in objection, the speaker moved the house into an executive session.
So, the Abbas-led house on Tuesday decided to toe the Senate line in a shocking and bizarre manner.
These are dangerous developments in Nigeria that must agitate the mind of every right-thinking citizen.
By taking the unpopular decision, it would seem that the National Assembly has taken the pernicious oath that the maddening Jewish crowd embraced, when they said, “let the blood be on us and our children.” (Matthew 27:25).
It is, indeed, perilous time for democracy in Nigeria.
