By TINA TIMOTHY

The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has decried the destructive and disintegrative conspiracy by some ‘Northern Nigerian extremists bent on retaining the presidency and subsequently ‘preparing ground for Nigeria’s total collapse.’

Intersociety, in a press statement in Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria on June 7, 2022, signed by its Board Chair, Emeka Umeagbalasi; Head, Democracy and Good Governance, Chinwe Umeche Esquire; Head, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Obianuju Igboeli Esquire and Head, Campaign and Publicity, Chidmma Udegbunam Esquire, said that ‘the most unfortunate of it all was that these rabble-rousers, though “holding the country to ransom for decades” form less than “1 per cent per cent of the country’s total population”.

The statement reads: “The Northern Nigerian extremists comprising of real and camouflaged elitist radical Islamists and incurable corrupt political players are irreversibly and dangerously bent on retaining the Presidency of Nigeria and conspiring to leave same in the hand of a Northern Muslim/apologist of religious radicalism and political corruption in 2023; thereby preparing ground for the country’s total collapse and disintegrative implosions. In their camp are the country’s clique of “pathological political system viruses”, promoters of state jihadism and sworn enemies of Old Eastern Nigeria.

“This is even when Nigeria has already crossed all the three negative parameters of ‘weakened’, “failed” and “collapsed” country or State. The Northern extremists under reference are almost coasting home towards achieving their target. This is more so when today, it generally appears that “INEC is APC and PDP and APC and PDP are now INEC”; and more so when INEC, itself, has monumentally failed in all indices for measuring modern credible electoral process, including credible, transparent and all-inclusive voters’ registration, dual use of electronic and manual voting and credible and non-discriminatory use of demography and electoral technology devoid of roguery, corruption and bastardization. Another grave minus of the INEC's electoral midwifery is refusal to legislatively and practically allow for independent candidacy.

“These elitist extremists already have their way in the PDP and almost succeeded in APC. The two Parties are presently penetrated and hijacked by the referenced extremists using moles from the South to perfect their malevolent and disintegrative plans. They are also making inroads into other political parties for purpose of using their stashed stolen or siphoned publicly borrowed and generated funds running into billions of naira to create real or imaginary factions and crises so as to weaken and destabilize them and dismantle the planned ‘ballot revolution’ espoused by the aggrieved mass of congregated and aggregated democratic forces and other agents of social change involving tens millions of Nigerian youths, including the unemployed graduates and disenchanted and under-remunerated workers.

“A typical case in point is the bull-like move with readied billions in naira or millions in dollars to destabilize and balkanize the Labour Party, which is one of the progressive mass parties designated by massively angry Nigerian voters for the forthcoming torrential ‘ballot revolution’. The undemocratic and panicky plans are being oiled by the referenced leading Northern political extremists and their hirelings from the South. This is also to the extent that apart from fueling the aggravation of factions along the party’s leadership lines and oiling same to be blown out of context and media proportions, efforts are at top gear by the extremists to force a group within the Party’s leadership to conduct a parallel national convention/presidential primary so as to deeply factionalize the Party and weaken its chances and strengths to be used in trouncing the existing destructive, calamitous and disintegrative status quo ante in the forthcoming 2023 Presidential Election in Nigeria.

“The Northern extremists are also stopping at nothing to use politically sponsored and religiously radicalized groups or youths to create tensions and divisions among natives and non-natives in the North, especially among Muslims and non-Muslims and resident and native ethnic nationalities so as to retain the Northern Muslim Presidency and their policy of ‘born-to-rule and born-to-be ruled’ at all costs.

“Finally, it hereby extremely saddens the heart of Int’l Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law to note the disastrous and disintegrative antics above highlighted, especially the consequences such plots will bring to Nigeria and all classes of its citizens and the world at large.

“This is to the extent that today, they have not only put the country’s economy in perpetual ruins, but also bastardized and messed up its currency, to the extent of technically abandoning same and reverting to crooked and roguish use of dollars. They have also ripped off and milked the country’s revenues, including borrowed funds and crippled the economy to the point of total collapse. This is not to talk of heightened insecurity and other unsafe conditions that have become the common state salutation to the citizenry. It is therefore our strong warning that unless the needful is done in 2023 in Nigeria, otherwise the country will be so troubled that no member of any class, especially members of the elite political, judicial, legislative and security class will be spared by growing aggrieved and disenchanted tens of millions of citizens through insurgent self-help and other anarchical self-vengeance means or methods.”