| Urhobo
Historical
Society |
Delta
State
Forum (UK)
One
Delta: United for Freedom,
Democracy, and Justice
67
St. Helena Road London SE16 2QX
07985 587 559
Your Excellency
Dr. Jonathan Goodluck
The
President
Federal
Republic
of Nigeria
Aso
Rock, Abuja
Nigeria
24
Mar. 2011
Dear
Sir,
Our
Yearning for True Democracy in Delta State:
April
2011 Elections
We
wish to respectfully bring to
your notice that our organisation, today,
staged a
peaceful pro-democracy demonstration to the Nigerian High Commission [see
pictures
above], here in London, to demand credible elections in Delta
State of Nigeria, come April, 2011.
As an
organisation
that believes in true democracy and good governance of our State, we
have
become increasingly concerned at the level of violence, rigging, FALSE
DECLARATION OF RESULTS and all manner of malpractices that characterize
our
electoral process, especially in Delta State. In 1999 and again
in 2003,
there was widespread rigging.
In
2007, this act was so well
perfected, that election was thought unnecessary. Consequently, no
election
took place in Delta State. In the whole of Warri, Sapele, Ughelli
and indeed in Asaba, no voting took place
in 2007!
Ballot boxes were openly and shamelessly carted away to the homes of
some PDP
chieftains for a very private voting. This did not stop the corrupt Iwu-led INEC from declaring a result that
brought in Dr.
Emmanuel Uduaghan as the Governor of Delta
State by a
margin of over 1 million votes!
Deltans were
left to wonder where the voting actually took place!
Great Ovedje Ogboru
of DPP, was again left with no choice but
to seek judicial
intervention. It took 31/2Yrs for justice to arrive on Nov. 9th,
2010.
Deltans jubilated all over! This led
to
the Delta State election rerun of Jan. 6th, 2011.
A
careful analysis of the INEC�s
results (www.deltastateforum.org)
calls
to
question, the issue of credibility of INEC, and their ability to
conduct a free and fair elections, that truly represents the wishes of
the
majority of Delta State electorate. A simple analysis of INEC�s
declared
results in the Delta State rerun that returned Dr. Uduaghan
to the State House shows that there were about the same number of
voters in the
three Warri LGAs as we have in IKA SOUTH, ISOKO SOUTH, ISOKO NORTH,
NDOKWA
EAST, NDOKWA WEST, OKPE, OSHIMILI NORTH, OSHIMILI SOUTH, PATANI,
SAPELE, UDU,
UGHELLI SOUTH, UGHELLI NORTH, UKWANI AND UVWIE all put together!
Suddenly, more
people live in the Warri riverine villages
and
hamlets than in Warri, Sapele, Asaba and
Ughelli
metropolitan cities.
As
Professor Itse Sagay
poignantly puts it, �even a blind man can see� through the fraudulent
results
of the rerun.
We
have good reasons to
believe that the current Resident Electoral Commissioner for Delta
State, Dr.
Gabriel Ada, is not an independent umpire
of the
elections in Delta State, and we call on you, once more, to REMOVE him
from
Delta State IMMEDIATELY! We will also like to call on you to probe his
finances
to ensure that he has not been unduly compromised in his position.
As an
organisation
that believes in TRUE DEMOCRACY and GOOD GOVERNANCE, we salute your
courage,
Mr. President, for the removal of Prof. Maurice Iwu
from INEC and for the amount of money you have spent on INEC since you
came
into power. These very actions, among all others,
have
convinced us that you are a serious advocate of true democracy and that
you are
committed to credible elections in Nigeria.
In
order to achieve credible
elections however, we require, first and foremost, credible people at
INEC, and
a credible Police Force. New breeds of Prof. Iwu
are
today emerging in INEC! If the election rerun in Delta State is a
litmus test
for INEC, it is clear that they have failed woefully. We reiterate our
call for
the immediate removal of the REC in Delta State and the need to send a
strong
message to Prof. Attahiru Jega
of INEC and the Inspector General of Police that electoral fraud MUST
be taken
seriously.
In
the past, politicians have been
known to openly snatch ballot boxes under the protection of members of
the
Nigerian Police Force! This is similar to using our Police Force to
escort Bank
robbers!
This
must not be tolerated in this
coming election in April, 2011, or ever again, in Nigeria. This brazen
act of thuggery and electoral fraud should
have no place in
today�s Nigerian electoral processes. Justice must be seen to be served.
We
have noticed a new trend, where
bribe-hungry INEC officials wilfully
change figures
in the collating centres, to favour
their candidates, without due respect to the wishes of the electorate.
We call
on you to ensure that our electoral laws are taken seriously, and that
the
people�s votes are held sacrosanct.
Your
Excellency, Deltans
are simply sick and tired of politicians who prefer to foist themselves
on the
people of Delta State and will go to all lengths to usurp the peoples
will. We
hope you will sincerely identify with our concerns, and do everything
in your
power to ensure that this election is different in Nigeria as a whole, and Delta State in particular.
Signed:
|
Charles
Okobia |
Chairman |
|
Sylvester
Efole |
Gen
Secretary |
|
Godfrey
Udugba |
Ist Vice
Chairman |
|
Dan Ogodo |
2nd
Vice Chairman |
|
Amaechi Nwanei |
3rd
Vice Chairman |
|
Da costa Adowei |
4th
Vice Chairman |
|
Humphrey
Aghoghovbia |
DSF
Nigeria |
|
Choice
Oyibo |
DSF
South Africa |
|
Ochuko Udu |
Publicity
Secretary |
|
Sunny
Idigbe |
Financial
Secretary |
|
Shedrak Onojake |
Asst
Fin Secretary |
|
Caroline
Fatanmi |
Treasurer |
|
Robinson
Egbeighu |
Social
Secretary |
|
Barrister
Origbo |
Legal
Adviser |
|
Joe Efemini |
Legal
Adviser |
|
Fred Emojevwe |
Welfare
Secretary |
|
Stella
Tulloch-Aghoghovbia |
Women
Leader |
|
Becky
Efeotor |
Ass.
Women Leader |
|
Cyril
Salubi |
Coordinator
-
Central |
|
Bayo Olujobi |
Coordinator
-
North |
|
Oxley
Ishiekwene |
Coordinator
-
North |
|
Evi
-Parker |
Coordinator
-
Delta South |
|
Mimi Egbe |
Coordinator
-
Delta South |
|
Jemu Salubi-Orizu |
Political
Liaison
Officer - Central |
|
Henry
Nwanjei |
Political
Liaison
Officer - North |
|
Gideon
Ishiekwene |
DSF
UK Representative |