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PCP Writes Buhari, Demands INEC Obeys Court Order
The People’s Coalition Party (PCP) has written to President Muhammadu Buhari, asking him to intervene and restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from deregistering the party and 33 others.
In the letter, signed by the party’s chairman, Chief Don Anthony Harmattan, the party reminded the president of the court judgment, which exempted the party and others from the deregistration process.
Below is the letter in details:
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI
MY ESTEEMED PRESIDENT SIR,
A CALL FOR INEC TO RESPECT COURT ORDER
After several attempts to reach you without success, I am compelled to write you this open letter, hoping no one will sweep it under the carpet without bringing it to your knowledge as was the case in the past.
During my school days when you became the Head of State of Nigeria, you were known as a man who respects rule of law to the extent you swiftly implement the law irrespective of who is involved.
Your excellency Sir, I remember vividly that you went through various political platforms and formations such as the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) a newly formed political party, and now the All Progressives Congress (APC) before your election as President. On one occasion, you even had to wept when you felt that you were robbed of your mandate.
Today, my esteemed president, I can strongly assert that a man of your stature, whose integrity and honour, prompted your overwhelming acceptance by Nigerians, might not be aware that so much has gone wrong in a country you cried for and desired so much to be its president.
Mr President Sir, as the party National Chairman of the Peoples Coalition Party (PCP) which placed third in the 2019 Presidential election, I still don’t understand how the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under Mr. Yakubu Mahmoud, woke on the morning of February 6, 2020 to de-register our party and 74 others even while the case was still in court and with INEC consistently served.
That despite a court decision of February 17 2020, granting the Prayers of 33 Parties in an interlocutory injunction against INEC, that INEC has continued to behave like a cowboy on a killing spree that is above the law, saying it cannot undo that which it has already done. INEC is just one among many institutions of government under your watch that has considered itself a parallel government and above the law.
I wish to remind you, my esteemed President Muhammadu Buhari that it was these acts of lawlessness that prompted your public weeping when you lost the 2011, and I still can’t fathom why you have allowed heads of these parastatals or institutions to continue to act with impunity. I want to believe that all these misconducts are not brought to your knowledge hence this open letter.
Your Excellency Sir, there’s no gainsaying the fact that 100 political parties in Nigeria is even so little. It is on record that Nigeria has not been funding any of these political parties in comparison to efforts made by previous government so what’s the rationale for the deregistration.
That in my lifetime, I have not seen any mother who gave birth to 10 children and decided to kill five of them because she believes they are too much for her upkeep or she loves some and hate the others, even when she does not feed and support them without getting a reprimand from the law.
Multi-party democracy is one that have been enshrined in our constitution. It does not limit the political landscape to a particular number. The enemies of multi-party democracy have contested this fact before and failed. Democracy is a continuous political education, training and enlightenment and not just winning elections alone. Limiting the political landscape is like limiting the spread of schools and colleges. It’s a fact that it is not every school that enters a football competition that wins it. And does that mean the Ministry of Education will just wake up one day and close the schools that did not win in a sports competition?
INEC, under Yakubu Mahmoud has become not just the greatest enemy of our democracy, but also to multi party democracy in Nigeria. How come our country has degenerated so much to the extent that the INEC Chairman has decided to play to the gallery by refusing to obey a Federal court order on the grounds that he cannot undo that which has already been done!
The question remains that If CPC and APC had been de-registered by the Attahiru Jega-led INEC prior to 2015 elections, how could you have been elected president. The child you kill today may become the president of Nigeria tomorrow. Little did anyone know that PCP, a newly born party that was issued registration certificate in August 2018, contested election in February 2019 could come third in the presidential election. Now, the party is de-registered just one year and half later by Yakubu Mahmoud.
My Esteemed President Buhari, our party the Peoples Coalition Party and 33 other political parties have been exempted by a Federal High Court from being de-registered through an order. We need the full protect of your government. It is my hope that your Excellency will call on INEC to respect without further delay the decision of the court. INEC did not create the law but the law created INEC and that law that created INEC must be respected by INEC.
Chief Don Anthony Chukwuma Harmattan
PCP National Chairman
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
The importance of timing cannot be overemphasized. Timing is everything in life. It is critical to one’s success. You can lose your money and get it back in many folds. You can even lose your health and get it back all things being equal, but when you lose time, you can hardly get it back again.
The importance of timing can be seen in crops. Every crop has a season, a good farmer won’t plant maize when it’s time for oranges, nor will he plant pears when it’s the season for mangoes.
Time is very instrumental to the success and failure of anyone. Imagine having a meeting or interview at 9:00am and you arrive at 10:10am, it will take the grace of God to be interviewed. As an employee, apart from one not being able to diligently do his job, one of the fastest ways for an employee to lose his job is by being late to work.
When I was in New York Law School studying Taxation law, I did a course titled, the Problem of Timing. During the semester, I learnt about cash and accrued income. Let me do some academic exercise here. In cash income, just like the name entails, one is paid in cash as soon as the work is completed. It’s just like going to the market to make a purchase. One can either pay directly with cash or with debit or credit card. But Accrued income refers to revenue a company has earned by providing goods or services, but for which payment has not yet been received, one will have to do the work first before getting paid. This is applicable when one works in either a public or private organization where one is paid either weekly, bi-weekly or at the end of the month depending on the stipulated mode of payment.
It’s important to note that before the money is paid either in cash or accrued, one would have earned it. It’s just like one learning g before earning, and one will have to update to upgrade. These are just the practical principles that will work with life.
In the same way, in life there’s a seed time and harvest time. It’s a universal principle of life. Whether as a parent, entrepreneur, student or employee. As a parent, if you don’t train your kids very well, they will grow up to reflect the opposite of what you desire. As an entrepreneur when you invest in your business, you will get the reward in due time. As a student, if you take your studies seriously, your grades will improve, and as an employee, you stand to get promotions and opportunities when you add value to your work. In summary, one will have to put in the work before recognition comes on.
To understand how seedtime and harvest work, imagine where parents tend to like one child more than others just because they see potential in him, or he’s smart, hardworking or even creative. They fail to understand that every child is different and as such their timing can be different. Some kinds take time to develop.
I personally believe there’s something so unique about each individual which God has deposited in everyone of us. It’s just a matter of time for it to manifest. Your timing of manifestation is different from your siblings and colleagues.
Personally, I didn’t mature fast with my contemporaries. Overtime, I have seen much improvement in my personal and professional life. Maybe because I have added value to my work with the assistance of mentors and good friends, or God had to humble my colleagues and mentors . Why do I say this? During my formative years, I had little or nothing to show for it. I was looking at my contemporaries as mentor and seeing my mentors as small gods whose feat is unattainable, but now, the reverse seems to be case as I have developed capacity some of my colleagues are yet to attain, while I have even surpassed the achievement of my some of my mentors in some quarters.
In all these, they are all surprised how it happened. Some are yet to comprehend or articulate the feat. It’s just like watching a film where everyone slept and woke up to see the game and tides have changed. The secret behind it is the seed time and harvest time. I was probably learning the trade while in the wilderness, and when the training season matured and ripe enough to be harvested, I became attractive to almost everyone who loved the seed I was producing.
There are litany of examples of people, who have been in the wilderness during the seed planting season. Let’s take a case study of Joseph in the Bible, his journey to stardom took a little twist. Despite the travails he experienced in the hands of his siblings who sold him, his experience while in the jail, and with Portiphar’s wife, who tried to seduce him; they were all set ups for success. The moral here is Joseph seed time and harvest time was quite different, it wasn’t a smooth journey. Ordinarily, one would have cursed his siblings or his friends who were with him in prison and forgot him after they were released. But at the end of time, everything worked out for his favor. Joseph’s seed days were his dark days while in the wilderness.
Another inspiring story of note was that of Pastor Ibukun Awosika, the former board Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria. She once shared a pathetic story during her formative years of being in business. According to her, she sojourned for about 15 years. She cried because lines were not adding up for her and she wouldn’t do what her contemporaries were doing to get opportunities. At a point in her business, it appeared like she was in a race of own life because everything seemed to be against her, but at the appropriate time, lines began to fall in place for her. Appointments, business opportunities, favours and goodwill began to fall in place for her. Again, she had a fair share of seed time.
An interesting question I would like to ask you is, what’s your seed time? Have you ever been in the wilderness when you appeared to be fixed? It’s unfortunate many people are not willing to pass through the storms or experience seeds and harvest time. Amidst all these, one must do some work before they get opportunities. However, before such opportunities will come up, one will have to plant the seed.
In conclusion, seed time and harvest time is critical in the journey of life. Take a seat and determine what seed you would like to sow and what you’ll like to harvest.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
By Eric Elezuo
The Senate has suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghen for six months over her sexual harassment accusation and other disputes against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The Senate also withdrew her salaries for the period of the suspension, as well as her security details.
The chamber however, soft-pedaled on the salaries and allowances of her aides, who it was argued would not have any source of livelihood within the period.
Globacom is welcoming new customers on its network with the introduction of the e-SIM. The e-SIM activated in any Gloworld shop or Dealer outlet comes with an introductory free 5GB data when the customer buys a data plan of N1,500 or more.
Customers already on other networks can now join the Glo network with e-SIM as an additional SIM. Existing Glo customers can also enjoy this “SIM-less” freedom.
With the e-SIM, customers no longer have to worry about space for a physical SIM on their phones. The e-SIM is a software-based digital chip built directly into smartphones or wearable devices, thus eliminating the need for a physical SIM card for customers.
The use of e-SIM enables customers to have seamless switching between phone numbers without a physical SIM. It is ideal for upwardly mobile people who travel frequently. The e-SIM also guarantees security, as unlike physical SIM, it is harder to remove from devices. It is also eco-friendly and reduces plastic waste.
Globacom’s launch of the e-SIM enables enables it to cater to high-net-worth individuals and enterprise customers, and it also reinforces the company’s commitment to providing seamless and future-ready services to its customers.
A customer seeking to activate the Glo e-SIM needs to check the compatibility of the mobile handset by dialling *#06# on his or her phone. If an EID number reflects on the mobile screen, the device is e-SIM compatible.
“The customer can then proceed to the nearest Gloworld shop or Glo Dealer outlet to migrate to e-SIM. The process takes only a few minutes and the customer can thereafter begin to enjoy the use of an e-SIM”, the Marketing Department disclosed.
