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REVEALED! How PDP Goons Planned To Kidnap Jega During Collation

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<b>As Muhammadu Buhari closed in on Nigeria's presidency, an aide to election commission chairman Attahiru Jega sent a text message to an independent voting monitor, warning of an imminent threat to the electoral process.</b><br />
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The aide had unearthed a plot by supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan to disrupt the public announcement of the national election results and kidnap Jega in a bid to wreck the count, according to pro-democracy advocates and a Nigeria-based diplomat.<br />
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Central to the plan, they said, were Jega's security detail and Godsday Orubebe, a former cabinet minister from Jonathan's Niger Delta, an area whose leaders feared a change of power would mean an end to the perks it enjoyed under Jonathan's presidency.<br />
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Orubebe's role was to cause a disturbance at the headquarters of the commission as cover for the abduction of Jega. Orubebe did not respond to requests for comment on the details of the plot.<br />
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The commission, called INEC, also declined to comment and turned down requests for an interview with Jega, whom <b>Reuters</b> was unable to reach independently. <i>Reuters</i> found no evidence to suggest that Jonathan, who conceded defeat in the election, was involved. His spokesman and his party, the PDP, did not respond to requests for comment.<br />
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While the plot would likely not have changed the result, it could have unleashed fury among Buhari supporters in the north, where 800 people were killed in rioting after his last election defeat in 2011.<br />
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But the plot's failure enabled Africa's most populous country to complete its first credible vote since independence in 1960.<br />
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<b>"NIGERIA ON TRIAL"</b><br />
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The plot to derail the election in its closing moments was pieced together by <i>Reuters</i> from the text message, events on the ground and interviews with democracy advocates and diplomats in the capital, Abuja.<br />
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When he sent the SMS, the election official, whom the sources declined to name for his own protection, hoped the outside world would hear of the plot, the text of the message made clear.<br />
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"Fellow countrymen, Nigeria on Trial," read the SMS sent on the morning of March 31 to Clement Nwankwo, head of the Situation Room, an Abuja-based coalition of human rights groups and democracy advocates monitoring the polls. <i>Reuters</i> later saw the SMS.<br />
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"Plans are on storm [sic] the podium at the ICC Collation Centre and disrupt the process," it continued, the official dropping words and letters in his haste.<br />
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"Nobody is sue [sic] what will happen. Please share this as widely as possible."<br />
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At that moment, INEC chairman Jega was about to preside over the announcement of results.<br />
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<b>TALLY COUNT</b><br />
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Since the end of army rule in 1999, all four previous votes had been marred by violence and ballot-rigging.<br />
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The 2015 poll was different in two crucial aspects.<br />
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It was a genuine race, pitting Jonathan, saddled with an ailing economy and an Islamist insurgency, against a former general promising to get tough on corruption and the Boko Haram insurgents.<br />
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Voters had also been given biometric ID cards linked to their photographs and fingerprints, making it hard to inflate voter numbers significantly.<br />
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As tallies from around the country showed Buhari on course for a win, unidentified PDP hard-liners started to panic, seeking ways of manipulating the count, Nwankwo and the diplomat said, citing political contacts in the Delta and Abuja.<br />
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Realizing they could not engineer an outright win, PDP agents set about doctoring the tally at collation centers in pro-Jonathan areas to ensure Buhari failed to meet a requirement for 25 percent support in two thirds of states, Nwankwo said, citing reports from election monitors on the ground.<br />
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A <i>Reuters</i> reporter witnessed and photographed one tally list in Port-Harcourt with suspiciously similar totals for registered voters at polling stations: 500, 500, 500, 500, 500, 500, 500, 500, 450. In another tally center in the city, 17,594 valid votes were recorded out of a registered voter population of 11,757, the <i>Reuters</i> reporter said.<br />
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Foreign election observers also noted the peculiarities - and contacted diplomats in Abuja who called in international intervention.<br />
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his British counterpart Philip Hammond - in Switzerland for talks on Iran - issued a tough statement saying vote counting "may be subject to deliberate political interference".<br />
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<b>"CREATE A FRACAS"</b><br />
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But as Buhari's lead grew, some PDP supporters from the Delta, including Orubebe, decided on a final gamble: to create a disturbance in the main INEC hall and have thugs snatch Jega from the stage, according to Nwankwo and the Abuja-based diplomat.<br />
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What the group planned to do after the abduction is unclear, the diplomat and Nwankwo said, but the confusion could have triggered nationwide violence.<br />
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"It was a desperate thing, mostly by a group of people from the Niger Delta who were in the room," Nwankwo said, describing events that unfolded publicly in the minutes after he received the SMS.<br />
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When Jega opened proceedings on the morning of March 31, Orubebe, the former Niger Delta minister, grabbed a microphone and launched into an 11-minute tirade accusing Jega of bias.<br />
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"Mr. Chairman, we have lost confidence in you," he shouted, pushing away officials trying to make him surrender the microphone. "You are being very, very selective. You are partial," he continued, surrounded by three or four supporters. "You are tribalistic. We cannot take it."<br />
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Nigerians watched, aghast, on live television.<br />
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Meanwhile, Jega's security detail was approached by unidentified individuals telling them to stand down, according to Nwankwo and the diplomat.<br />
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But the bodyguards refused.<br />
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"Some of the guards who had been guarding Jega for years demanded a written order," Nwankwo said. "But it didn't exist."<br />
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Jega then rebuked Orubebe: "Let us not disrupt a process that has ended peacefully," he said as Orubebe slumped in his chair.<br />
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"Mr. Orubebe, you are a former minister of the Federal Republic. You are a statesman in your own right. You should be careful about what you say or about what allegations you make," he said.<br />
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Later, Orubebe congratulated Buhari on Twitter, expressing his "apologies to fellow Nigerians".<br />
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<b>Credit: Reuters</b><br />
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REVEALED! How PDP Goons Planned To Kidnap Jega During Collation

As Muhammadu Buhari closed in on Nigeria's presidency, an aide to election commission chairman Attahiru Jega sent a text message t...

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Kashamu Buruji: Man Indicted In US For Drug Deal Elected Senator In Nigeria | AP

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<b>A man indicted in America for allegedly smuggling heroin, in a court case that was the basis for the TV hit <i>Orange Is The New Black</i>, has been elected a senator in Nigeria.</b><br />
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Buruji Kashamu was little known before he returned home in 2003 from Britain, despite a U.S. extradition order, to become a major financier of President Goodluck Jonathan's party.<br />
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Election results posted late Wednesday identify Kashamu as a senator-elect in southwest Ogun state. Opponents are challenging his victory in court, saying ballots were rigged.<br />
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Kashamu, 56, hung up the phone twice when the <b>AP</b> called for comment about the drug case on Thursday. Kashamu has said he is "a clean businessman" and that the 1998 indictment by a grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois for conspiracy to import and distribute heroin in the United States is a case of mistaken identity. He has said Chicago prosecutors really want the dead brother he closely resembles.<br />
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A British court refused a U.S. extradition request in 2003 over uncertainty about Kashamu's identity. Chicago Judge Richard Posner thought otherwise when he refused a motion to dismiss Kashamu's case last year.<br />
<br />
A dozen people were long ago tried and jailed in the case, including American Piper Kerman, whose memoir about her jail time became the Netflix hit <b><i>Orange Is The New Black</i></b>. Kerman's book never identified Kashamu by name, but there is a West African drug kingpin whom she calls <i>'Alhaji,'</i> meaning one who has completed the haj or pilgrimage to Mecca.<br />
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A Nigerian federal court last year ordered Kashamu's extradition, an order upheld by an appeals court. But Nigeria's government has not extradited him.<br />
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That failure caused Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president, to warn that "drug barons ... will buy candidates, parties and eventually buy power or be in power themselves."<br />
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Jonathan's perceived protection of Kashamu was a factor that led Obasanjo to defect from the ruling party before recent elections to the opposition that won most votes in Ogun, the home state of Kashamu and Obasanjo.<br />
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Kashamu is suing Obasanjo for libel for stating that Kashamu is a fugitive from U.S. justice. He had won a court order halting publication of Obasanjo's autobiography but a judge this week rescinded it, saying Kashamu had misled the court. Obasanjo's lawyer argued that the truth cannot be libel.<br />
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President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, a former military dictator who had people jailed for littering in the 1980s, has promised to fight corruption. That has many politicians fearful in a country where corruption is endemic.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://saharareporters.com/2015/04/16/kashamu-buruji-man-indicted-us-drug-deal-elected-senator-nigeria-ap">SaharaReporters</a></b><br />
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Six Countries Reject Alison-Madueke Asylum Request

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<b>No fewer than six countries have already refused to grant an asylum request by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Business Council for Africa (BCA) said in its just-released monthly report, noting that about US$ 1 trillion is the latest estimated figure of the looting of the Nigerian treasury between 1960 and 2005 alone.</b><br />
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The report, dated March 2015, focused extensively on Nigeria’s general elections. It said the notorious Minister, whose impunity is known to have been closely-protected by President Goodluck Jonathan, will be coming under the microscope for the first time in her ministerial career.<br />
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“Given her reputation, it comes as no surprise to learn that 6 countries have already refused to grant her asylum to live in their countries as she now wishes to leave Nigeria at the earliest possible opportunity,” it said.<br />
<br />
BCA recalled President-elect Muhammadu Buhari lamenting that the rest of the world looks at Nigeria as the home of corruption, one where stealing is not corruption but a way of life, and that his administration will pursue all public offices and individuals who are believed to be guilty of corruption.<br />
<br />
It observed that despite an earlier promise, it is now understood that Buhari’s anti-corruption fishing net will include Ministers currently serving under President Goodluck Jonathan. Alison-Madueke’s departure from Nigeria is likely to be followed by several other PDP elders, party members and supporters as well as some former Government officials, as Buhari’s anti-corruption drive will be far-reaching.<br />
<br />
“It will be very interesting to learn in the coming months exactly how far back in Nigeria’s history his administration will go in the pursuance of those who have robbed Nigeria of US$ 1 trillion, which is the latest estimated figure of theft from the Nigerian treasury between the period 1960-2005. Given that President Jonathan’s administration is considered the most corrupt of any of its predecessors, that figure is going to be considerably magnified, but whether the new President will wish to pursue former Heads of State is a matter of interest and considerable debate to Nigerian observers. It is this subject that is primarily responsible for Buhari’s success in winning the election as well as his campaign promises to eradicate Boko Haram, revive the economy and rebuild Nigeria to make its position as the number one country in Africa.<br />
<br />
While BCA agreed that the March/April 2015 were “the most credible elections in Nigeria’s history”, it said they could not be called the most incorruptible.<br />
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On the contrary, it referred to them as the worst because of the amount of money that the PDP so freely and openly spent on trying to secure the re-election of Mr. Jonathan.<br />
<br />
“The stories and reports from throughout the 36 States of the amount of money distributed by the PDP to elders, rulers, church leaders, unions and youth leaders amongst others in an endeavour to favour the voters towards the PDP has backfired badly,” the report said.<br />
<br />
BCA said that if the 2011 elections were considered bad, the 2015 elections will undoubtedly go down as the most corrupt in Nigeria’s history, certainly since 1999, as the amount of money being distributed as bribes primarily by the PDP so very openly would readily confirm.<br />
<br />
It reported that since November when campaigning began, President Jonathan and General Buhari during their travels made no fewer than 109 promises of what they intend to achieve if given the mandate in the presidential election.<br />
<br />
“President Jonathan’s campaign continued to hinge on his party’s Transformation Agenda and the achievements of his Government in the last 4 years, particularly in the agricultural sector, job creation and the empowerment of women,” the report said. In that regard, it credited Jonathan as having achieved a great deal during his tenure.<br />
<br />
It said it was however Jonathan’s failures – rampant corruption, insecurity, inability to eliminate the Boko Haram insurgency, failure in such sectors as the economy, and power in particular, and the overall feeling that he was ruled rather than led – that have cost him his re-election bid.<br />
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The report also stated that in the 2015 elections, up to 250 Nigerians lost their lives, describing that deplorable record as speaking volumes for the control achieved by the Police at the campaign rallies by the two main candidates.<br />
<br />
It described the cost of the campaigns of the two main parties as “simply staggering”, noting that by the first week of March, Buhari had spent some ₦332.58 billion as compared to the expenditure of President Jonathan which amounted to ₦1.05 trillion.<br />
<br />
“This is without taking into account the cost of other expenses for such items as campaign rallies, where the PDP has spent ₦1.06 billion against Muhammadu Buhari’s APC’s ₦595.08 million, and clearly demonstrates the desperate lengths that the PDP have gone to in order to try and secure the re-election of President Jonathan.”<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>SaharaReporters</b><br />
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Six Countries Reject Alison-Madueke Asylum Request

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