Let it be written in the book of remembrance, let it be carved on the tablets of history, these are the lions who refused to dance to the tune of darkness:
1. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP, Kogi Central) – The iron lady who fears neither the heat of the day nor the chill of the night
2. Enyinnaya Abaribe (ADC, Abia South) – A voice that has refused to be silenced by the roar of lions
3. Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) – Who knows that a lie may travel far, but truth will catch up with it
4. Aminu Tambuwal (PDP, Sokoto South) – Once the Speaker, now the conscience
5. Ireti Kingibe (ADC, FCT) – She who carries the burden of the nation’s heart
6. Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa West) – The serpent that refuses to shed its skin of integrity
7. Onawo Ogwoshi (ADC, Nasarawa South) – Standing when others sit
8. Tony Nwoye (ADC, Anambra North) – Not the same Tony the marketplace once knew
9. Victor Umeh (ADC, Anambra Central) – The warrior who knows that he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day
10. Ibrahim Dankwambo (PDP, Gombe Central) – The accountant who knows the cost of a stolen mandate
11. Austin Akobundu (PDP, Abia Central) – He who remembers that the sun that shines today will set
12. Khalid Mustapha (PDP, Kaduna North) – A voice from the North that refuses to be bought
13. Sikayo Yaro (PDP, Gombe South) – Small in name, mighty in principle
14. Emmanuel Nwachukwu (APGA, Anambra South) – The sole APGA warrior in the lion’s den
15. Peter Jiya (PDP, Niger South) – He who knows that when one finger touches oil, it stains the others
Fifteen voices. Fifteen consciences. But where were the others? When the hyenas gathered to vote against the sunlight, where were the shepherds?
THE QUESTION THAT REFUSES TO DIE!
Who is afraid of free and fair elections in Nigeria? When a man repeatedly refuses to light his lamp, ask yourself: Does he fear the darkness, or does he plan to move about unseen? When a woman insists on cooking with her eyes closed, ask yourself: Does she truly believe she can season the soup, or does she not want you to see what she is putting in the pot? The ruling APC party has shown its hand. They have danced naked at the village square and now point at others, shouting, “See the madman!” They have, it seems, resolved to disenfranchise Nigerians—not by keeping them from the polling booths, but by ensuring that when they cast their votes, those votes become as water poured into the sand.
THE VOICE OF PETER AKAH: A PROPHET IN THE WILDERNESS! At this point, it is up to Nigerians to either unite and end the APC reign of terror over Nigeria, or the APC will be the end of a democratic Nigeria as we know it.” When Peter Akah, known to many as “Peter for Nigeria,” sat before the cameras on Channels Television, his voice carried the weight of a people who have been betrayed too many times. His words were not merely spoken; they were hewn from the rock of frustration. “Nigeria has become an open crime scene, and what we call government in Nigeria is literally organised criminality. Every institution that is supposed to serve the welfare of the Nigerian people has become weaponised against them.” When the hunter becomes the leopard, who will protect the goats? When the shepherd becomes the wolf, who will safeguard the flock? This is the tragedy of our nation: the very institutions built to protect democracy have become the instruments of its destruction.
“Most unfortunately, the National Assembly, which should be the hallmark of democracy, has become an extension of the presidency, a captured assembly. So today, if President Tinubu asks the Senate and the House leadership to jump up, the question will be, ‘How high?” The elders say, “When the masquerade dances well, everyone praises it. But when it dances only to the drummer hired by one man, the village knows it has lost its masquerade.” Our National Assembly has become a masquerade dancing only to the tune of Aso Rock. “A ruling party that claims to own more than thirty State Governors, have every institution, the judiciary, the police, township boys, city girls, and everybody, is afraid of one simple clause: mandatory real-time electronic transmission of results.” If the chameleon boasts that it fears no colour, why does it tremble when placed on the royal stool? If the ruling party truly believes in its mandate, why does it shake at the thought of transparent results? “INEC itself has proven from their feasibility studies that they have the capacity to do it. So let us not be ambiguous or unambiguous about this. This is a script being played out by the Senate President, Akpabio, written from the presidential villa.”
THE TEAR GAS AND THE TRUTH!
“We were at the gate demanding the implementation of electronic transmission of results, and before you know it, tear gas canisters were released on peaceful protesters. The canisters were shot directly at peaceful protesters. More than twenty or thirty canisters were picked up. This was shot at protesters who ran up to Eagle Square, as far as the Federal Secretariat, even at passersby who were just passing through the road, who were not part of the protest.” When did peaceful protest become a crime worthy of chemical warfare? When did the right to demand transparency become an offence punishable by tear gas? The government that fears its own people is a government that knows its own guilt. As the Yoruba say, “Afraid of the night, afraid of the day, the thief is afraid of everything.” “Who is afraid of free and fair elections in Nigeria? What exactly is the ruling party afraid of?”
THE BILLION NAIRA QUESTION!
“INEC has received two hundred billion naira, claiming it wants to use electronic technology. What kind of technology is INEC trying to adopt and procure with two hundred billion? What happened to the technology that was procured by Mahmood Yakubu with over three hundred billion in 2023? Are BIVAS machines like diapers or Pampers that are used and then disposed of?” The Ibibio say, “The goat that eats yams in someone’s farm does not know that one day it will meet the owner on a narrow bridge.” INEC has eaten the yams of our treasury—over eight hundred and seventy billion naira over the years—and now, on the narrow bridge of electoral transparency, we meet them face to face. “There is something and a lot that the ruling party is not telling us. The budget that was approved by INEC, if not clearly explained to Nigerians, will only aid and sustain electoral malpractices. And that is why, as it is today, it must become a national mobilisation against this legitimising of an electoral act that will guarantee rigging.”
THE SHAME OF THE CHAMBER!
“Why is the Senate President making excuses for INEC? In today’s Nigeria, lawmakers are giving reasons why electronic technology will not work against INEC’s own position. The level of mischief, what a shame! And you could see it play out in the chambers. Lawmakers coming out to chant, ‘APC only, APC only’ because, in the face of all Nigerians and the world, the leadership of the National Assembly is trying to brazenly ensure that they get a law that is going to legitimise electoral malpractice and election rigging.” When the elders gathered to discuss the fate of the village, and some began to chant the name of only one family, the children knew that justice had fled the room. In the hallowed chambers of our National Assembly, lawmakers chanted “APC only” as if they were at a party rally, not a legislative session. What manner of representation is this? “It is a shame, it is a travesty, and Nigerians who mean well for our lives must resist it, because for our lives to count, our votes must count.”
THE PROVISO THAT POISONS THE SOUP
“With that proviso, it is clear that there will be insufficient network, and the basic thing that will happen is that we will then go back to using the form EC8A as the primary source of evidence when election cases finally get to the court.” The lizard that fell from the iroko tree said if it had known, it would have held on tighter. But we know now. We know that the proviso for network insufficiency is the back door through which rigging will enter. As former INEC Commissioner Mike Igini explained to Nigerians, the proviso only serves the interest of persons in government who know that their only hope and guarantee is through election rigging. “INEC has made it clear that as far back as 2019 and 2020, from a technical committee set up between INEC and the NCC, they have implemented electronic transmission of results to as far as ninety-six percent across the country.” Ninety-six percent! The tortoise has shown that it can run, yet it insists on crawling. If INEC has achieved ninety-six percent coverage, why is the four percent being used as an excuse to abandon the entire project? When a man has ninety-six measures of yam flour and one measure of cassava flour, does he throw away the yam flour because the cassava might spoil the soup? “If INEC has received more than eight hundred and seventy billion naira and says it needs two hundred billion for electronic technology, why can INEC not even enter a partnership with Starlink? What will it cost to have technology across the one hundred and seventy-seven thousand polling units?”
THE SHRINE OF RIGGING!
“Instead of lawmakers saying, ‘You have been able to achieve ninety-six percent, what is the other four percent? How can we strengthen it?’ A mischievous parliament will now go back to say, ‘Let us go back to the form EC8A.’ And guess what you will see as the result? Take a look at Obiakpo Local Government. You can see the kind of result and mutilation, because the ground and the shrine of INEC election rigging are in the collation centres.” The Igbo say, “The masquerade that dances in the market square removes its mask in the backyard.” The collation centres are the backyard where our votes are unmasked and murdered. The form EC8A is the knife with which they are slaughtered. And now, they want to return to that form as the primary source of evidence. “INEC, in its own wisdom, said to reduce human interference, let what comes from the polling unit be transmitted in real time, at that point, to a central server where everybody has access to. So that between there and whatever later transpires, the results that everybody has counter-signed, the presiding officer has also stamped on, becomes the evidence that will be admissible.” This was INEC’s own position. This was Mahmood Yakubu’s own paper. And now, they seek to abandon it. When the crocodile changes its mind about crossing the river, ask yourself: Did it see a hunter on the other bank? “Because Nigeria, as it is today, there are strong men who have the power to envisage and to usurp whatever happens within the system. People can go as governors with personal security to the collation centres and twist the entire process.”
THE INSANITY OF REPETITION!
“If you have done a certain thing for a long time, and it has ended in more and more unfortunate incidents, repeating the same thing and expecting a different result, would that not be insanity?” Albert Einstein asked this question. Nigeria lives this question. We have used the form EC8A for decades. We have seen results mutilated, figures inflated, and mandates stolen. And now, they want to return to that same form as the primary evidence. “We must understand the peculiarities of our elections, and that is why the Senate and the National Assembly must be insisting that to bring transparency and accountability, so that this process is seen to be more transparent. What do we do to ensure that it is verified by Nigerians and seen to know that there is transparency? Anything other than that is a bad and surreptitious attempt to steal the mandate of the people.”
THE WAY FORWARD: A NATIONAL MOBILIZATION
Peter Akah’s final words ring in our ears like the town crier’s gong at dawn: “It must become a national mobilisation against this legitimising of an electoral act that will guarantee rigging. Nigerians who mean well for our lives must resist it, because for our lives to count, our votes must count.” The Hausa say, “Dadi ban dadi, gishiri ne”, “Whether it is sweet or not, it is salt.” The truth may not be sweet, but it is the salt that preserves the nation. And the truth is this: we are at a crossroads. One path leads to transparent elections and a democracy that works. The other leads to the legitimisation of rigging and the death of our republic. The fifteen senators who voted for mandatory real-time electronic transmission have shown us the way. They have lit their lamps in the darkness. Now, it is up to us, the Nigerian people, to ensure that their light is not extinguished. For when the people rise, even the leopard changes its spots. When the village unites, even the strongest masquerade must dance to the tune of truth. May we not be like the chicken that sees the hawk circling but continues to scratch the ground for worms. May we look up. May we unite. May our votes count, so that our lives may count.
For posterity’s sake, let this be recorded!
This piece is dedicated to the fifteen senators mentioned above who stood for transparency, to Peter Akah for speaking truth to power, and to every Nigerian who refuses to surrender their birthright of free and fair elections on the altar of political banditry.
NzeIkayMedia ✍️
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