After Ekiti Election, Group Begs Trump To Save Nigeria’s Democracy

A Non-Governmental Organization, the Leadership and Accountability Initiative has petitioned United States (US) President Donald Trump over the just concluded Ekiti state election.

The group, in the petition handed over to an official of the United States Embassy who did not disclose his name, said Trump should save Nigeria’s democracy from a total collapse.

The group which converged at the Embassy in Abuja, carried placards expressing their grievances.

In the letter addressed to Trump, the group decried the supervising of the snatching of ballot boxes by uniformed officers and the alleged assault on Ekiti governor, Ayodele Fayose.

According to Daily Sun, the letter titled ‘Saving Nigeria’s Democracy from Total Collapse’, contained grievances against the Nigerian government and the violation of citizens’ rights.

The Head of Mission, Leadership and Accountability Initiative, Nwazuruahu Shield, said “We are worried that if nothing is said or done and urgently too, there might not be Nigeria after 2019 elections.

“We are worried that the world is keeping quiet while we get killed everyday. There is a cleansing in Benue and nobody is speaking. We are worried that the world is looking at us. It is looking at us! This is supposed to be a democracy. Is it until we become Somalia before the world would intervene?” Nwazuruahu asked.

“We are here, we are appealing. US is a different entity on its own and we are a different country of our own. But we know that there is what is called international community concern where there are little, little threats that can threaten peace and security anywhere in the world.

“We have highlighted many of the grievances that we have; many things that have been done by this government that are against the constitution. Everything done here, we have pictures, we have examples, we have date and time.

“We have articulated the failings of this government and what we are doing today is that tomorrow, if anything happens, the world will not say we kept quiet.

“This is not how democracy is run. We saw what happened in Ekiti two days ago (Saturday). That is not democracy. How can men on uniform be supervising the snatching of ballot boxes? You cannot take the only power that the citizens have which is the power of the PVC. You cannot assault a sitting governor. We are still in a democracy,” he said.

Part of the issues in the letter include the raiding of Akwa Ibom Governor’s Lodge in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State; the incarceration of late Gordon Obuah, former Chief Security Officer to former President Goodluck Jonathan by the Department of State Services (DSS) and the raiding of the Abuja home of ex-Governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa.

Others were the detention of former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki and Leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Sheik Ibrahim El Zakzaky; supervision of a systemic ethnic cleansing of Christian minorities in northern Nigeria by terrorist herdsmen in Southern Kaduna, Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Adamawa States.

The group also listed the Boko Haram continuous threat to the Nigerian people and the Nigerian government’s placing of a total media blackout on the activities; the beating, teargas and public dehumanisation of the Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, amongst others.