Mr Nura Ilyasu, the man who climbed a telecommunications mast in Abuja on Wednesday to protest the re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari, has said that he did that to protest the economic hardship in the country. Ilyasu who finally came down from the mast on Thursday at 11:25am voluntarily, after security operatives acceded to
Mr Nura Ilyasu, the man who climbed a telecommunications mast in Abuja on Wednesday to protest the re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari, has said that he did that to protest the economic hardship in the country.
Ilyasu who finally came down from the mast on Thursday at 11:25am voluntarily, after security operatives acceded to his request that he must address the press upon his descent said he did that “to protest peacefully”..
“What we are going through in this country is not from God. Some microscopic-view individuals hijacked all that God endowed Nigeria with for decent life, and we can’t continue like this. I climbed up for seven days hunger strike to protest the incompetence and cluelessness, to protest presidential impunity and general docility displayed by the masses. We can’t continue like this,” he said.
According to Ilyasu, he climbed the mast to protest the economic hardship in the country, just as he stated that President Muhammadu Buhari does not deserve another four years in office.
Security agents had made entreaties to him since Wednesday when he mounted the mast, but their efforts proved abortive, as he had vowed not to descend until President Muhammadu Buhari resigns from the office.
However, this morning, they were able to communicate with him via his mobile telephone, and they appealed to him. He later told them that he would come down on the condition that he must speak to the press. He said: “My name is Nura Ilyasu. I am 28 years old. What I did is within the purview of the law. My human right is to protest peacefully and I never threatened my life or any other person”.
“Other competent candidates are there; even Saraki, Atiku, Kwankwaso, Tambuwal, Dankwambo and others. At least one of these [men] will make a good President”.
“I don’t believe General Buhari deserves another four-year term in Nigeria because the pervasive hunger and poverty in Nigeria is inexplicable. I don’t have mental disorder as being insinuated by some people.”
When asked how he felt now that he had come down from the mast, Ilyasu said he was full of life and mentally stable.
He said he came down because some lawyers spoke to him while he was on the mast. He was later taken away by security operatives.
Ilyasu climbed a mast with the approval number AB0099 belonging to Airtel Nigeria, located few metres away from the Presidential Villa, Abuja and Lungi Army Barracks, on Wednesday.
In spite of calls by some for him to step down on account of “ill health, poor performance and rising cases of insecurity”, President Buhari on Tuesday returned his nomination form to stand for elections under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC). A shadowy group, Nigerian Consolidation Ambassadors network (NCAN) had last week purchased his expression of interest form for N45 million which many say has circumscribed Mr Buhari’s avowed anti-corruption campaign. Apart from this whooping sum for the presidential aspirants within the ruling APC, the party has also pegged the sum of N22.5m for governorship forms.
“It is now clear that political office in the country is for sale to the highest bidder”, argues human rights activist, Mr Femi Aborishade.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the use of a shadowy group as a front to purchase the N45 million All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential nomination form for President Muhammadu Buhari as a worn-out stunt, smacking of fraud and worsening the already battered image of the President.
The party said President Buhari can no longer play the pro-poor gimmick which his followers have always presented to Nigerians.
Already, our people are daily confronted by the flaunting of affluence and material wealth by the President and those around him, while betraying and abandoning millions of poor Nigerians who, unfortunately, put their trust in him in 2015.
Nigerians are aware that the very expensive personal effects, including posh jewelries daily paraded by his close relatives betrayed the gimmick of using an unregistered group, pieced together to execute another failed pro-poor stunt to sway Nigerians.
Moreover, the PDP urges the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to note that the purchase of the N45 million form by the group directly violates section 91 (9) of the Electoral Act which provides that “no individual or other entity shall donate more than One million naira (N1,000,000) to any candidate.”
Even some members of the APC are riled by the development. A presidential aspirant in the APC, SKC Ogbonnia says “The President ought to reject the form.. If he accepts the form, it contravenes Section 91 (9) of Nigeria’s electoral law (as amended): ‘No individual or other entity shall donate more than one million naira to any candidate’.”
Ogbonnia said he had written a letter to THE apc Chairman, Mr Adams Oshiomhole to complain about the exorbitant nomination fees but did not get a response from him.
“In a recent letter to chairman Adams Oshiomhole, I enumerated the consequences of exorbitant nomination fees, especially coming from a progressive party,” it read.
“As at the time of this statement, I am yet to receive a reply. Since the deadline is Monday, September 10th, 2018, I am committed to paying for my form, but it is only fair that President Buhari does not break the law to pay for his.
“I expect our great party to ensure a level playing ground throughout the primaries.”
But the Nigerian Consolidation Ambassadors Network NCAN, the group which last Wednesday purchased the Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms for President Muhammadu Buhari said on Friday that it has not contravened any law in deciding to buy the form for the President.
The group formally presented the form to the President by Monday, September 10 which is the initial date for the closing of sales of nomination forms that was later extended to Tuesday.
Speaking with newsmen on the controversy surrounding the purchase of the form, National Coordinator of the Group, Barrister Sunusi Musa who also denied link between the group and Kogi state Governor, Yahaya Bello, stressing that the group has been planning to purchase the nomination form since it was set up in August 2017.
He also said that the reference of the Electoral Act does to individual or group contribution to campaign fund is restricted to candidates contesting elections and not aspirants, referring to a Supreme Court decision on who is a candidate for an election and who is an aspirant.
He said by the provisions of the law, the President is not qualified to be referred to as an aspirant yet till he gets the nod of the party to participate in the primaries after submitting his nomination form and scaling through the screening process, with the party presenting him with a certificate of clearance.
While denying link with Governor Yahaya Bello, Musa said “Let me say that as a person, I have never met Gov. Yahaya Bello. I do not know him personally and vice versa.”
“Of course, it is possible for him to have known some members of our group in his state but NCAN as an association formed since August 2017 has never made any effort to meet with Gov. Yahaya Bello or any other governor to solicit for financial support. Probably, some people think that by the apparent closeness of Gov. Bello to President Buhari, the governor might have procured the form.”
“Again, because some of the founding and prominent members of this group are from Kogi state, that might have informed such insinuation but I want to say that as at now, not a single government official has contributed a kobo to our purse. Certainly, no”, he explained.
