Northern Extremists, Radical Islamists Are Preparing To Ground Nigeria For North To Retain Presidency, Group Alleges

The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, otherwise known as Intersociety, a civic organisation, has accused extremists in the northern region of conspiring to ensure a Northerner wins the 2023 presidential election. 

The union made this known in a statement jointly signed by its stakeholder on Sunday.

The statement reads: “The Northern Nigerian extremists comprising 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 the 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 voter registration, dual use of electronic and manual voting and credible and non-discriminatory use of demography and electoral technology devoid of roguery, corruption and bastardisation. 

“Another grave minus of the INEC’s electoral midwifery is a refusal to legislatively and practically allow for independent candidacy.

“These elitist extremists already have their way in the PDP and almost succeded 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 hirings from the South. 

“This is also to the extent that apart from fuelling 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 factionalise 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 residents 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. 

“This is also after the country’s outgoing Presidency has been in the hand of a Northern Muslim for the outgoing eight years. Among the Northern Muslim elitist radicals’ sponsored politico-religious mayhems are the rising cases of physical and property violence against defenceless Christians, especially those of Igbo Ethnic Nationality resident in Northern Nigeria. 

“Scores of them have been lynched or burned alive or openly and secretly killed in recent months by recruited or organized Islamic zealots; with billions of naira worth of properties belonging to them including means of livelihood and dwelling properties burned to ashes or destroyed. 

“The Northern elitist political and religious extremists have also been remotely responsible for mobilizing and sponsoring their youths or groups to issue ultimatums on Southern politicians especially leading Presidential Candidates, ‘banning’ them from campaigning on Northern soil ahead of the forthcoming 2023 Presidential Poll. 

“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. The most unfortunate of it all is that the plotters of such slavish, disintegrative, disastrous and calamitous plans are not up to 1% of the country’s total population and yet they have been holding the country to ransom for decades. 

“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.”

The statement was signed for Int’l Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law by Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chair; Chinwe Umeche Esquire, Head, Democracy and Good Governance; Obianuju Igboeli Esquire, Head, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law; and Chidmma Udegbunam Esquire, Head, Campaign and Publicity.