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Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup and later led a reluctant Pakistan into aiding the U.S. war in Afghanistan against the Taliban, has died, officials said Sunday. He was 79.
Musharraf, a former special forces commando, became president through the last of a string of military coups that roiled Pakistan since its founding amid the bloody 1947 partition of India. He ruled the nuclear-armed state after his 1999 coup through tensions with India, an atomic proliferation scandal and an Islamic extremist insurgency. He stepped down in 2008 while facing possible impeachment.
Later in life, Musharraf lived in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid criminal charges, despite attempting a political comeback in 2012. But it wasn't to be as his poor health plagued his last years. He maintained a soldier's fatalism after avoiding a violent death that always seemed to be stalking him as Islamic militants twice targeted him for assassination.
"I have confronted death and defied it several times in the past because destiny and fate have always smiled on me," Musharraf once wrote. "I only pray that I have more than the proverbial nine lives of a cat."
Musharraf's family announced in June 2022 that he had been hospitalized for weeks in Dubai while suffering from amyloidosis, an incurable condition that sees proteins build up in the body's organs. They later said he also needed access to the drug daratumumab, which is used to treat multiple myeloma. That bone marrow cancer can cause amyloidosis.
Shazia Siraj, a spokeswoman for the Pakistani Consulate in Dubai, confirmed his death and said diplomats were providing support to his family.
The Pakistani military also offered its condolences as did Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the younger brother of the prime minister Musharraf overthrew in 1999.
"May God give his family the courage to bear this loss," Sharif said.
Pakistan, a nation nearly twice the size of California along the Arabian Sea, is now home to 220 million people. But it would be its border with Afghanistan that would soon draw the U.S.'s attention and dominate Musharraf's life a little under two years after he seized power.
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden launched the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks from Afghanistan, sheltered by the country's Taliban rulers. Musharraf knew what would come next.
"America was sure to react violently, like a wounded bear," he wrote in his autobiography. "If the perpetrator turned out to be al-Qaida, then that wounded bear would come charging straight toward us."
By Sept. 12, then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Musharraf that Pakistan would either be "with us or against us." Musharraf said another American official threatened to bomb Pakistan "back into the Stone Age" if it chose the latter.
Musharraf chose the former. A month later, he stood by then-President George W. Bush at the Waldorf Astoria in New York to declare Pakistan's unwavering support to fight with the United States against "terrorism in all its forms wherever it exists."
Pakistan became a crucial transit point for NATO supplies headed to landlocked Afghanistan. That was the case even though Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency had backed the Taliban after it swept into power in Afghanistan in 1994. Prior to that, the CIA and others funnelled money and arms through the ISI to Islamic fighters battling the 1980s Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan saw Taliban fighters flee over the border back into Pakistan, including bin Laden, whom the U.S. would kill in 2011 at a compound in Abbottabad. They regrouped and the offshoot Pakistani Taliban emerged, beginning a yearslong insurgency in the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The CIA began flying armed Predator drones from Pakistan with Musharraf's blessing, using an airstrip built by the founding president of the United Arab Emirates for falconing in Pakistan's Balochistan province. The program helped beat back the militants but saw over 400 strikes in Pakistan alone kill at least 2,366 people -- including 245 civilians, according to the Washington-based New America Foundation think tank.
Though Pakistan under Musharraf launched these operations, the militants still thrived as billions of American dollars flowed into the nation. That led to suspicion that still plagues the U.S. relationship with Pakistan.
"After 9/11, then President Musharraf made a strategic shift to abandon the Taliban and support the U.S. in the war on terror, but neither side believes the other has lived up to expectations flowing from that decision," a 2009 U.S. cable from then-Ambassador Anne Patterson published by WikiLeaks said, describing what had become the diplomatic equivalent of a loveless marriage.
"The relationship is one of co-dependency we grudgingly admit -- Pakistan knows the U.S. cannot afford to walk away; the U.S. knows Pakistan cannot survive without our support."
But it would be Musharraf's life on the line. Militants tried to assassinate him twice in 2003 by targeting his convoy, first with a bomb planted on a bridge and then with car bombs. That second attack saw Musharraf's vehicle lifted into the air by the blast before touching the ground again. It raced to safety on just its rims, Musharraf pulling a Glock pistol in case he needed to fight his way out.
It wasn't until his wife, Sehba, saw the car covered in gore that the scale of the attack dawned on him.
"She is always calm in the face of danger," he recounted. But then, "she was screaming uncontrollably, hysterically."
Born Aug. 11, 1943, in New Delhi, India, Musharraf was the middle son of a diplomat. His family joined millions of other Muslims in fleeing westward when predominantly Hindu India and Islamic Pakistan split during independence from Britain in 1947. The partition saw hundreds of thousands of people killed in riots and fighting.
Musharraf entered the Pakistani army at age 18 and made his career there as Islamabad fought three wars against India. He'd launch his own attempt at capturing territory in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir in 1999 just before seizing power from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Sharif had ordered Musharraf's dismissal as the army chief flew home from a visit to Sri Lanka and denied his plane landing rights in Pakistan, even as it ran low on fuel. On the ground, the army took control and after he landed Musharraf took charge.
Yet as ruler, Musharraf nearly reached a deal with India on Kashmir, according to U.S. diplomats at the time. He also worked toward a rapprochement with Pakistan's longtime rival.
Another major scandal emerged under his rule when the world discovered that famed Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, long associated with the country's atomic bomb, had been selling centrifuge designs and other secrets to countries including Iran, Libya and North Korea, making tens of millions of dollars. Those designs helped Pyongyang to arm itself with a nuclear weapon, while centrifuges from Khan's designs still spin in Iran amid the collapse of Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.
Musharraf said he suspected Khan but it wasn't until 2003 when then-CIA director George Tenet showed him detailed plans for a Pakistani centrifuge that the scientist had been selling that he realized the severity of what happened.
Khan would confess on state television in 2004 and Musharraf would pardon him, though he'd be confined to house arrest after that.
"For years, A.Q.'s lavish lifestyle and tales of his wealth, properties, corrupt practices and financial magnanimity at state expense were generally all too well known in Islamabad's social and government circles," Musharraf later wrote. "However, these were largely ignored. ... In hindsight that neglect was apparently a serious mistake."
Musharraf's domestic support eventually eroded. He held flawed elections in late 2002 -- only after changing the constitution to give himself sweeping powers to sack the prime minister and parliament. He then reneged on a promise to stand down as army chief by the end of 2004.
Militant anger toward Musharraf increased in 2007 when he ordered a raid against the Red Mosque in downtown Islamabad. It had become a sanctuary for militants opposed to Pakistan's support of the Afghan war. The weeklong operation killed over 100 people.
The incident severely damaged Musharraf's reputation among everyday citizens and earned him the undying hatred of militants who launched a series of punishing attacks following the raid.
Fearing the judiciary would block his continued rule, Musharraf fired the chief justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court. That triggered mass demonstrations.
Under pressure at home and abroad to restore civilian rule, Musharraf stepped down as army chief. Though he won another five-year presidential term, Musharraf faced a major crisis following former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination in December 2007 at a campaign rally as she sought to become prime minister for the third time.
The public suspected Musharraf's hand in the killing, which he denied. A later United Nations report acknowledged the Pakistani Taliban was a main suspect in her slaying but warned that elements of Pakistan's intelligence services may have been involved.
Musharraf resigned as president in August 2008 after ruling coalition officials threatened to have him impeached for imposing emergency rule and firing judges.
"I hope the nation and the people will forgive my mistakes," Musharraf, struggling with his emotions, said in an hourlong televised address.
Afterward, he lived abroad in Dubai and London, attempting a political comeback in 2012. But Pakistan instead arrested the former general and put him under house arrest. He faced treason allegations over the Supreme Court debacle and other charges stemming from the Red Mosque raid and Bhutto's assassination.
The image of Musharraf being treated as a criminal suspect shocked Pakistan, where military generals long have been considered above the law. Pakistan allowed him to leave the country on bail to Dubai in 2016 for medical treatment and he remained there after facing a later-overturned death sentence.
But it suggested Pakistan may be ready to turn a corner in its history of military rule.
"Musharraf's resignation is a sad yet familiar story of hubris, this time in a soldier who never became a good politician," wrote Patterson, the U.S. ambassador, at the time.
"The good news is that the demonstrated strength of institutions that brought Musharraf down -- the media, free elections and civil society -- also provide some hope for Pakistan's future. It was these institutions that ironically became much stronger under his government."
Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana contributed to this report. Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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Credit: ctvnews.ca. You can read the original article here.
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Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup and later led a reluctant Pakistan into aiding the U.S. war in Afghanistan against the Taliban, has died, officials said Sunday. He was 79.
Musharraf, a former special forces commando, became president through the last of a string of military coups that roiled Pakistan since its founding amid the bloody 1947 partition of India. He ruled the nuclear-armed state after his 1999 coup through tensions with India, an atomic proliferation scandal and an Islamic extremist insurgency. He stepped down in 2008 while facing possible impeachment.
Later in life, Musharraf lived in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid criminal charges, despite attempting a political comeback in 2012. But it wasn’t to be as his poor health plagued his last years. He maintained a soldier’s fatalism after avoiding a violent death that always seemed to be stalking him as Islamic militants twice targeted him for assassination.
“I have confronted death and defied it several times in the past because destiny and fate have always smiled on me,” Musharraf once wrote. “I only pray that I have more than the proverbial nine lives of a cat.”
Musharraf’s family announced in June 2022 that he had been hospitalized for weeks in Dubai while suffering from amyloidosis, an incurable condition that sees proteins build up in the body’s organs.
“Going through a difficult stage where recovery is not possible and organs are malfunctioning,” the family said. They later said he also needed access to the drug daratumumab, which is used to treat multiple myeloma. That bone marrow cancer can cause amyloidosis.
Shazia Siraj, a spokeswoman for the Pakistani Consulate in Dubai, confirmed his death and said diplomats were providing support to his family. The Pakistani military also offered its condolences.
“May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to bereaved family,” a military statement said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif similarly offered his condolences in a short statement.
“May God give his family the courage to bear this loss,” Sharif said.
Pakistan, a nation nearly twice the size of California along the Arabian Sea, is now home to 220 million people. But it would be its border with Afghanistan that would soon draw the U.S.?s attention and dominate Musharraf’s life a little under two years after he seized power.
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden launched the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks from Afghanistan, sheltered by the country’s Taliban rulers. Musharraf knew what would come next.
“America was sure to react violently, like a wounded bear,” he wrote in his autobiography. “If the perpetrator turned out to be al-Qaida, then that wounded bear would come charging straight toward us.”
By Sept. 12, then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Musharraf that Pakistan would either be “with us or against us.” Musharraf said another American official threatened to bomb Pakistan ”back into the Stone Age” if it chose the latter.
Musharraf chose the former. A month later, he stood by then-President George W. Bush at the Waldorf Astoria in New York to declare Pakistan’s unwavering support to fight with the United States against “terrorism in all its forms wherever it exists.”
Pakistan became a crucial transit point for NATO supplies headed to landlocked Afghanistan. That was the case even though Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency had backed the Taliban after it swept into power in Afghanistan in 1994. Prior to that, the CIA and others funneled money and arms through the ISI to Islamic fighters battling the 1980s Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan saw Taliban fighters flee over the border back into Pakistan, including bin Laden, whom the U.S. would kill in 2011 at a compound in Abbottabad. They regrouped and the offshoot Pakistani Taliban emerged, beginning a yearslong insurgency in the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The CIA began flying armed Predator drones from Pakistan with Musharraf’s blessing, using an airstrip built by the founding president of the United Arab Emirates for falconing in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The program helped beat back the militants but saw over 400 strikes in Pakistan alone kill at least 2,366 people– including 245 civilians, according to the Washington-based New America Foundation think tank.
Though Pakistan under Musharraf launched these operations, the militants still thrived as billions of American dollars flowed into the nation. That led to suspicion that still plagues the U.S. relationship with Pakistan.
“After 9/11, then President Musharraf made a strategic shift to abandon the Taliban and support the U.S. in the war on terror, but neither side believes the other has lived up to expectations flowing from that decision,” a 2009 U.S. cable from then-Ambassador Anne Patterson published by WikiLeaks said, describing what had become the diplomatic equivalent of a loveless marriage.
“The relationship is one of co-dependency we grudgingly admit– Pakistan knows the U.S. cannot afford to walk away; the U.S. knows Pakistan cannot survive without our support.”
But it would be Musharraf’s life on the line. Militants tried to assassinate him twice in 2003 by targeting his convoy, first with a bomb planted on a bridge and then with car bombs. That second attack saw Musharraf’s vehicle lifted into the air by the blast before touching the ground again. It raced to safety on just its rims, Musharraf pulling a Glock pistol in case he needed to fight his way out.
It wasn’t until his wife, Sehba, saw the car covered in gore that the scale of the attack dawned on him.
“She is always calm in the face of danger,” he recounted. But then, “she was screaming uncontrollably, hysterically.”
Born Aug. 11, 1943, in New Delhi, India, Musharraf was the middle son of a diplomat. His family joined millions of other Muslims in fleeing westward when predominantly Hindu India and Islamic Pakistan split during independence from Britain in 1947. The partition saw hundreds of thousands of people killed in riots and fighting.
Musharraf entered the Pakistani army at age 18 and made his career there as Islamabad fought three wars against India. He’d launch his own attempt at seizing territory in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir in 1999 just before seizing power from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Sharif had ordered Musharraf’s dismissal as the army chief flew home from a visit to Sri Lanka and denied his plane landing rights in Pakistan, even as it ran low on fuel. On the ground, the army seized control and after he landed Musharraf took charge.
Yet as ruler, Musharraf nearly reached a deal with India on Kashmir, according to U.S. diplomats at the time. He also worked toward a rapprochement with Pakistan’s longtime rival.
Another major scandal emerged under his rule when the world discovered that famed Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, long associated with the country’s atomic bomb, had been selling centrifuge designs and other secrets to countries including Iran, Libya and North Korea, making tens of millions of dollars. Those designs helped Pyongyang to arm itself with a nuclear weapon, while centrifuges from Khan’s designs still spin in Iran amid the collapse of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Musharraf said he suspected Khan but it wasn’t until 2003 when then-CIA director George Tenet showed him detailed plans for a Pakistani centrifuge that the scientist had been selling that he realized the severity of what happened.
Khan would confess on state television in 2004 and Musharraf would pardon him, though he’d be confined to house arrest after that.
“For years, A.Q.’s lavish lifestyle and tales of his wealth, properties, corrupt practices and financial magnanimity at state expense were generally all too well known in Islamabad’s social and government circles,” Musharraf later wrote. “However, these were largely ignored. … In hindsight that neglect was apparently a serious mistake.”
Musharraf’s domestic support eventually eroded. He held flawed elections in late 2002 _ only after changing the constitution to give himself sweeping powers to sack the prime minister and parliament. He then reneged on a promise to stand down as army chief by the end of 2004.
Militant anger toward Musharraf increased in 2007 when he ordered a raid against the Red Mosque in downtown Islamabad. It had become a sanctuary for militants opposed to Pakistan’s support of the Afghan war. The weeklong operation killed over 100 people.
The incident severely damaged Musharraf’s reputation among everyday citizens and earned him the undying hatred of militants who launched a series of punishing attacks following the raid.
Fearing the judiciary would block his continued rule, Musharraf fired the chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court. That triggered mass demonstrations.
Under pressure at home and abroad to restore civilian rule, Musharraf stepped down as army chief. Though he won another five-year presidential term, Musharraf faced a major crisis following former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in December 2007 at a campaign rally as she sought to become prime minister for the third time.
The public suspected Musharraf’s hand in the killing, which he denied. A later United Nations report acknowledged the Pakistani Taliban was a main suspect in her slaying but warned that elements of Pakistan’s intelligence services may have been involved.
Musharraf resigned as president in August 2008 after ruling coalition officials threatened to have him impeached for imposing emergency rule and firing judges.
“I hope the nation and the people will forgive my mistakes,” Musharraf, struggling with his emotions, said in an hourlong televised address.
Afterward, he lived abroad in Dubai and London, attempting a political comeback in 2012. But Pakistan instead arrested the former general and put him under house arrest. He faced treason allegations over the Supreme Court debacle and other charges stemming from the Red Mosque raid and Bhutto’s assassination.
The image of Musharraf being treated as a criminal suspect shocked Pakistan, where military generals long have been considered above the law. Pakistan allowed him to leave the country on bail to Dubai in 2016 for medical treatment and he remained there after facing a later-overturned death sentence.
But it suggested Pakistan may be ready to turn a corner in its history of military rule.
“Musharraf’s resignation is a sad yet familiar story of hubris, this time in a soldier who never became a good politician,” wrote Patterson, the U.S. ambassador, at the time.
“The good news is that the demonstrated strength of institutions that brought Musharraf down –the media, free elections and civil society– also provide some hope for Pakistan’s future. It was these institutions that ironically became much stronger under his government.”
Credit: globalnews.ca. You can read the original article here.
FILE - Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Nov. 10, 2001, at the United Nations headquarters in New York. An official said Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan military ruler who backed US war in Afghanistan after 9/11, has died.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pervez Musharraf, who was Pakistan's military ruler for nearly a decade, has died in Dubai after a long illness. The 79-year-old old four-star general was a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terror, and a controversial figure at home.
Pakistan's military immediately issued a statement of condolences, as did many politicians, who remained steadfastly loyal to Musharraf despite his rise to power in a military coup in October 1999, when he overthrew an elected prime minister, Nawaz Sharif.
Musharraf's time in power was shaped by the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath. The attacks were masterminded by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, who the Taliban were sheltering in Afghanistan, a country that shares a long border with Pakistan.
"America was sure to react violently, like a wounded bear," he wrote in his autobiography. "If the perpetrator turned out to be al-Qaida, then that wounded bear would come charging straight toward us."
The following day, the then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Musharraf that Pakistan would either be "with us or against us" while Musharraf alleged that another American official, whom he did not name, threatened to bomb Pakistan "back into the Stone Age" if it chose the latter, according to the Associated Press.
Musharraf joined the American War on Terror that was initiated after 9/11.
For a brief period, America and Pakistan became very closely aligned, says Omar Waraich who covered the final years of Musharraf's rule for Time Magazine. At the time, "there was a very good relationship that actually worked very well between the two intelligence agencies. They picked up lots and lots of Al Qaida leaders and they picked up lots of other people who ended up in Guantanamo Bay."
FILE - Then U.S. President Bush, right, shakes hands with then Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at a news conference at New York's Waldorf - Astoria Hotel, on Nov. 10, 2001.
Pakistan was used as transit for NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. And Musharraf tolerated attacks launched by U.S. forces against suspected militants in Pakistan's rugged border areas.
That didn't stop him from playing what some in Washington called a double game, says Madiha Afzal, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, "cooperating with the US on counter terrorism, while allowing the Taliban to have sanctuary in Pakistan."
She says Pakistan led by Musharraf essentially hedged its bets – looking to a future where the US would depart the region. Pakistan was also hoping that friendly relations with the Taliban would provide it with a buffer against its neighbor and rival, India. Even so, Musharraf also tried to make peace with India, nearly reaching a deal over the disputed territory of Kashmir, the AP reported.
In an interview with NPR in 2015, Musharraf tried to explain Pakistan's thinking on the Taliban: that it wanted to counter India's influence in Afghanistan. "Obviously, Pakistan starts looking for elements who would support Pakistan, who would play our game."
The Taliban swept to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, and Afzal says that was partly a result of Musharraf's policies. "The fact that the Taliban had sanctuary in Pakistan... Musharraf was the one who began that policy."
That has left another legacy: the deep mistrust that exists between Washington and Islamabad until today as a result of that so-called "double game."
Musharraf also grappled with another scandal under his rule, when it was revealed that a famed Pakistani nuclear scientist, A.Q. Khan, was selling centrifuge designs and other secrets to countries including Iran, Libya and North Korea. Those designs helped Pyongyang to arm itself with a nuclear weapon, while centrifuges from Khan's designs still spin in Iran.
Musharraf also became a controversial figure at home. His troubles came to a head in 2007. Pakistan was grappling with growing extremism, including a local offshoot of the Taliban seizing power of the scenic Swat Valley, about six hours drive from the capital, Islamabad. Militants then seized control of a radical mosque in the heart of the capital – just a short distance from Pakistan's notoriously powerful military intelligence wing, known as the ISI.
He was accused of complicity in the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto. And the trigger for his downfall was when he sacked chief justice Pakistan's Supreme Court. That ultimately fermented a movement for the restoration of democracy.
Amid nation-wide protests, Musharraf "doubled down," Waraich recalls. "He imposed an emergency. And he banned journalists. He arrested opposition politicians."
Finally, in 2008, Musharraf stepped down. He was later charged with treason for imposing emergency rule, and fled Pakistan in 2016, spending his final years in exile. He tried a comeback in 2012, which failed. While in exile, his former political party announced he was diagnosed with a rare disease, amyloidosis.
Pervez Musharraf was born in New Delhi, India, in 1943, the son of a diplomat. He fled with other Muslims to the new state of Pakistan during after partition in 1947. He joined the army at 18 and made a career there during Pakistan's three wars with India. Just before taking office in 1999, Musharraf made his own attempt to seize part of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Despite the upheaval surrounding Musharraf's years in power, he has his defenders. The economy grew during his leadership, while the country was seen as strategically important. Musharraf, a former special forces commando, was the last military dictator to rule Pakistan.
But the military remains Pakatan's most powerful institution, and critics say its generals still hold enormous sway over civilian governments – although it is now thinly veiled.
Credit: npr.org. You can read the original article here.
Souvenir: 1971 Toyota Hilux pickup, historically known as Hi-Lux.
The Toyota Hilux, historically known as the Hi-Lux, was first launched on the Japanese market in 1968 and a year later on American shores. It is known for its reliability and performance, thanks to its off-road driving and towing capabilities.
While the Hilux pickup continued to be sold in other parts of the world, including NigeriaToyota has since introduced the Tacoma to replace the Hilux in North America since 1995.
Going back to the 1970s, when the popular pickup was still available in the North American market, Toyota US shared photos of a 1971 Hilux model on its Instagram page with the caption:
“The 70s called. They want their truck back. #OTC 1971 Hilux #LetsGoPlaces.”
The eighth generation of the Toyota Hilux nameplate debuted in 2016 and is sold in 74 countries, including Nigeria, courtesy of Toyota. South Africa Engines (SIZE) Exports, where 76,500 were produced in 2017.
Toyota Hilux comes in a variety of styles and sizes. Due to the high level of durability and reliability of the powerful truck during the conflict between Chad and Libya, the war was dubbed the "Toyota War".
Credit:
Credit: https://nnn.ng/throwback-1971-toyota-hilux/
Nigerians in the diaspora remitted more than $20 billion in 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari said in Washington on Friday.
The president made the comment at a presidential public meeting he held with Nigerians in the diaspora in Washington on Friday following the end of his participation in the US-Africa Leaders Summit.
Garba Shehu, one of the president's press aides, quoted the president congratulating Nigerians in the diaspora in a statement issued Saturday in Abuja.
“It is my understanding that in 2021, our remittances to diaspora households through official channels amounted to $20 billion, which is four times the value of our Foreign Direct Investment.
“In addition, many of our diaspora compatriots are actively investing in our health, agriculture, education, information and communication technology, housing and real estate, transportation, oil and gas, and other services.
“I must say this is highly commendable and in our own collective enlightened interest as only Nigerians both at home and abroad can develop Nigeria.
“I am personally proud of all of you,” Shehu was quoted as saying by the president.
He said that the President also expressed his satisfaction with the conduct of Nigerians who continued to excel in their chosen fields in the United States of America.
It added that Mr. Buhari assured Nigerians residing abroad that the Nigerian government would continue to have their back in whatever situation they found themselves in.
Buhari said he had given his approval for the evacuation of Nigerians in danger in Libya, South Africa, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and India.
He added that it was one of the reasons behind the establishment of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) to facilitate interactions with "ambassadors".
The president urged Nigerians living abroad to continue to be good ambassadors and to live in peace with each other and with their hosts, as "there can be no progress in disunity."
Chairman Buhari welcomed the fact that the "ambassadors" were giving back to Nigeria as expected of them, and urged them to do more.
“It is gratifying for me to note that many Nigerians in the US have continued to excel in their careers, which has led to some people of Nigerian origin being appointed to President Joe Biden's cabinet.
READ ALSO: Katsina Kidnappings: How the Shepherds Saved My Son — Father“Similarly, many have been elected or appointed to various responsible and competitive positions in the United States of America.
“I congratulate those who have brought honor and pride to our country.
“I thank you and congratulate you on your respective successes.
“I also urge them to show the highest sense of responsibility to continue to be benchmarks of excellence while serving this country,” Shehu quoted Buhari as saying.
Buhari told the gathering that it would be the last time he would address her at a town hall meeting in Washington as president.
He assured Nigerians that the electoral process leading to the election of a new administration was going well.
“As you all know, the processes for our national elections in 2023 have continued to move smoothly and in accordance with the laws of our country.
“I have repeatedly assured my personal commitment and the commitment of our administration to ensure that the processes continue to be transparent, credible, free and fair.
“This will lead to smooth elections and a transition to the next government.
“This is the only way we can strengthen democracy in Nigeria.
“It is the only way to set the right example for the rest of Africa and hopefully stop the resort to unconstitutional changes of governments in our sub-region and the rest of the African continent,” he said.
In his remarks, NiDCOM President Abike Dabiri-Erewa noted that President Buhari's first diaspora meeting was held in Washington and praised the president for his continued support of NiDCOM.
He also praised the president for always being ready to meet Nigerians whenever he traveled outside of Nigeria.
Attendees at the town hall meeting were Nigerians and politicians of Nigerian descent, especially those voted in and appointed to various offices after the last US election.
Others were accomplished doctors; athletes, men and women, and those in the education, aviation, as well as media and entertainment sectors.
The highlight of the occasion was the congratulations of President Buhari on his 80th birthday and the unveiling of a portrait to mark the occasion by the Nigerian Ambassador to the US, Uzoma Emenike.
(YAYA)
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The Independent National Electoral Commission has expressed a divergent view with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on the impact of the attacks on the electoral body’s offices and facilities in different parts of the country and how this will impact on it.
While the President said the electoral body had no excuse not to conduct credible, free and fair elections despite the attacks as the funds it requested had been made available to it, INEC noted that its funds were overstretched by the attacks as it would have to rebuild and replace the destroyed facilities.
Buhari had on Friday assured the United States of America that the attacks on the offices would not stop the conduct of next year’s general elections.
The President spoke in Washington DC during a conversation co-hosted by the United States Institute for Peace, the International Republican Institute, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.
The President attended the US-Africa Leaders Summit held between December 13 and 15, 2022.
In the session monitored by Sunday PUNCH, the President also described Nigerian politics as argumentative and rancorous.
Buhari said in his opening remarks, “Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the stage is now set for Nigeria to conduct another general election in February 2023. I am resolute in my determination to enable the conduct of free, fair and transparent national elections in the first quarter of 2023 whose outcome will be largely accepted by the contestants.
“Since 2015, the conduct of our election continues to steadily improve. From the 2019 general elections, the bye-elections and off-season elections in Edo, Ekiti, Anambra and Osun states were conducted largely in improved content to the satisfaction of contestants and voters. That is what we hope for in 2023. Nigeria and the United States of America share many attributes. Apart from being among the largest democracies in the world, the Nigerian constitutional framework and brand of democracy are patterned along the United States of America. The two countries are the largest economies as well as the most populous in their respective continents.”
Asked if INEC was ready and able to conduct the 2023 general elections to keep the democratic process forward, Buhari replied that the commission was fully prepared for the forthcoming polls.
He said, “Thank you very much. You asked whether INEC is prepared to conduct the elections next year, I will say they are because I made sure they were given all the resources they asked (for). I don’t want any excuse that they were denied funds by the government.
“Though some of their offices in one or two geo-political zones have been attacked, all the same, INEC has not complained. Exactly, they cannot complain that they were denied resources to make sure that their infrastructure is firmly in place.”
On whether the attacks on INEC offices could impede the election process, the President said it would not in any way, stating, “It will not. I think there were two incidents. Don’t forget that we have six geo-political zones. If two offices in one geo-political zone were affected, I think the security is good. The results of the elections in Anambra, Osun and Ekiti, through them, Nigerians have appreciated that this administration is defending them to choose their political parties. This is the fundamental thing about democracy. Let people have a choice. I think Nigerians are realising that.
“Politics in our country is generally an argumentative and rancorous business. These characteristics do not necessarily diminish the very way of democracy. Governance is a product of rancorous debate to ensure the bidding of the majority of the people or representatives. More importantly, such an outcome represents the will of the people and not only of the leadership. Our political journey over the last years has pretty much been guided by these attributes of democracy. This process does not endear itself to speedy decisions.
“The characteristic trade-offs in democracy necessarily makes governance an extremely slow process. I am sure that you are familiar with the reference to me as ‘Baba Go Slow’. My compatriots would rather prefer that every day new policy decisions or actions are reeled out by the government in a military administration. But we are in a democracy and a converted democrat like me must listen and or be guided by the majority of opinions and most importantly, must learn to understand the knock-on effects of actions before they are undertaken.”
However, INEC has called on the Federal Government to intensify efforts at protecting its facilities and property nationwide to ensure hitch-free polls.
The commission also lamented that from 2019 till date, it had recorded a total of 50 attacks in 15 states of the federation.
Speaking exclusively to Sunday PUNCH, the National Commissioner, Voter Education and Publicity, INEC, Festus Okoye, said the commission would go the whole hog to deliver credible polls next year.
Quoting the commission’s Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, while making a presentation before the House of Representatives last week, Okoye said the attacks were worrisome and unfortunate.
Okoye stated, “In four years (2019 to 2022), the commission has suffered 50 attacks in 15 states of the federation. These are malicious attacks and do not include damages to facilities as a result of fire accidents, natural disasters such as flooding or rain windstorms, the snatching and destruction of materials during elections, theft and attacks on election duty officials.
“However, the commission is deeply concerned about the most recent attacks. This is so not only because they are increasingly happening closer to the 2023 general elections, but some of them seem to be rather coordinated. So far, there have been eight attacks in 2022 in Enugu, Ogun, Osun, Ebonyi and Imo states. Two of the attacks happened in Abeokuta. It appears that these attacks are coordinated and ostensibly targeted at disrupting the forthcoming general elections.”
On the impact of the attacks on the preparations for the polls, he said, “The facilities that are destroyed, especially offices, will take time to rebuild. In the alternative, the commission must rent suitable accommodation. Second, several materials lost in the attacks have to be replaced. In some of the recent attacks, Permanent Voter Cards in the offices were destroyed.
“The commission will have to reprint them in time for collection by their owners, who must be given the opportunity to vote in the coming elections. Further, the commission and security agencies must have to increase security around the facilities. This may be very challenging for security agencies that are already over-stretched trying to protect the public and other national assets.
“These attacks on election facilities are certainly additional problems they can do without. Above all, these attacks mean that the commission will have to rebuild facilities and replace destroyed materials.”
Another area of concern, according to Okoye, is funding given the low value of the naira.
“Our funds are already overstretched by inflation, exchange rate and other additional incidental responsibilities. In fact, in five states, the commission’s facilities were attacked twice, in some cases when they were still under construction as was the case in the Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State or within a few days after staff members moved to the reconstructed renovated facilities as in the case of the Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State,” he added.
Should the attacks continue at the current pace, Okoye warned that the commission “may find it increasingly difficult to recover in time for the elections.”
Buhari on corruption
Buhari noted that his administration’s efforts on corruption continued to yield results as relevant agencies soldiered on by making impressive recoveries and securing convictions of those sabotaging the country’s efforts at sustaining development and growth.
“The major cash recoveries will be deployed in a transparent way to fund the infrastructure debts,” he promised.
The President also noted that global terrorism, banditry and trans-national crimes continued to pose enormous challenges not only to Nigeria, but to global peace and security.
“These acts have become perennial threats to sustaining economic development and growth, which ought to be the dividends of democracy,” he added.
He further said that Nigeria and other regional bodies in Africa and the rest of the world were working assiduously to deal with the existential threats to the existence of humanity.
He stated that Nigeria had continued to engage bilaterally and multilaterally to comprehensively win the war against Boko Haram and related terror groups, and overcome evidence of banditry and kidnapping.
The President said, “Recall that when I assumed power, Boko Haram held about two-thirds of Borno State, half of Yobe State and a couple of local government areas in Adamawa State. Today, this is no longer the case. As a country and sub-region, we continue to be negatively impacted by the events in Libya, the Central Africa Republic, the Sahel and the war in Ukraine. Our region is awash with small and light weapons that continue to freely circulate as well as cope with the influx of foreign fighters.”
According to him, the country’s armed forces and those of its partners in the multinational joint task force consisting of Chad, Niger and Cameroon continue to demonstrate great bravery while paying the ultimate price in securing the region’s collective freedom.
He added, “Despite the difficult times we face, we continue to spend scarce and dwindling resources to ensure that we have a well-resourced military force to tackle the tasks. Ideally, these are resources that could be spent on education, or healthcare and other social services. But without peace, we have learnt the hard way that our children cannot go to school or seek good healthcare.
“We are nonetheless winning the war and making significant progress in dealing with the threats to Nigeria and the sub-region’s safety and survival. This steady progress is in spite of the negative reports of the international media as well as the nonchalant actions and attitudes of some of our friends and allies to sufficiently appreciate our efforts in the fight against terrorism. Rather, they focus on negativity which the travel advisories have become.”
PDP, APGA speak
Meanwhile, opposition parties have called on the President to go beyond verbal commitment to free, transparent polls to actions capable of engendering confidence in the electoral process.
The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said, “There must be sincere commitment and renewed determination in the democratic space. And this goes beyond lip service or mere rhetoric. Express and fiat instructions backed by exemplary sanctions must be demonstrated by the APC-led government and particularly President Buhari.”
On his part, the Director, Strategic Communications of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Chief Dele Momodu, maintained that “everything must be done to protect the sanctity of INEC. Security is key.”
Joining the conversation, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Chief Victor Oye, called on all Nigerians to join hands with the commission to ensure hitch-free elections.
He also called on the Federal Government to consider recruiting local security agencies to complement the police, army and other relevant security bodies.
Oye stated, “There should be concerted efforts on the part of all Nigerians to protect our national assets. Destroying these assets will remain counterproductive as public funds will be ploughed back to get them back to life. Giving INEC all the money they need is one thing, providing adequate security for INEC property, staff and facilities is another.
“APGA expects to work with security agencies to devise a more functional and effective strategy to deal with the recurring issue of burning INEC assets. It will not be a bad idea to recruit vigilance groups to man these assets.”
Groups reply IG
Representatives of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra and the Yoruba Nation agitators have warned the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, to stop blaming them for attacks on the facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The IG had on Friday said self-determination agitators in the South-West and the South-East were responsible for the attacks on INEC offices in different parts of the country.
Baba, who was represented by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Department of Operations, Dandaura Mustapha, stated this when he appeared before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating attacks on INEC assets across the country.
He had said, “We now come to the immediate attacks on INEC facilities. Of recent, the ones that took place in Osun and Ogun, then last week in Ebonyi, Imo and Enugu; it is a well-known fact that in the South-East geopolitical zone, we have issues of secessionists – the IPOB and ESN.
“These groups are bent on stopping elections from taking place in the South-East. They have been attacking our personnel; they have been retrieving arms from members of the security agencies, not only the police, but the military and other paramilitary organisations that are there. They have been doing it, especially now that the embargo on campaigns has been lifted.
“In the South-West, we equally have the pro-Yoruba secessionists that are equally bent on seceding and not allowing the elections to take place in their areas, hence the attack on INEC in Osun and Ogun of recent. Those ones are also sponsored by politicians and other stakeholders.”
Reacting, one of the legal advisers to the Yoruba Nation agitators, Mr Olasupo Ojo, said the IG should go and fish out people responsible for the attacks and stop blaming members of the self-determination group.
This is as he said the group was opposed to violence in its agitation and would not deviate from that.
“Our struggle is non-violent; so, we deny such allegations totally,” Ojo said.
He urged the IG to stop “jumping into conclusion from his office and move to the field and conduct his own investigation.”
Ojo stated, “He (IG) should move out of his seat and go to the field to conduct investigations. He should stop depending on hearsay or beer parlour rumours. He should go and do his work thoroughly.
“He cannot label us anarchists. Yoruba Nation agitators are not anarchists. We are civilised and educated. We are pursuing our agitation legitimately and lawfully in accordance with the norms of international laws.
“We are not criminals; we don’t engage in any crime. They should go and look for whoever is burning their offices.
“They should screen all their politician friends, including fellow officers of the Nigeria Police Force. They should screen themselves first.”
He also noted that members of the group were not interested in the elections or their outcome, adding that the Yoruba Nation agitators had filed a lawsuit stopping the conduct of the polls.
The lawyer stated, “We won’t fight our people. We cannot fight out fellow Yoruba. We have a few who are contesting for various positions; they are still our brothers.
“After all, those offices were built with our money. We are not going to destroy what belongs to us. By the time the Yoruba Nation comes alive, we are going to be using those facilities for our governance. If we burn them now; what are we going to use then?”
Similarly, the representative of the Ilana Omo Oodua, Maxwell Adeleye, said a stance would be taken by the group today (Sunday) and communicated to members of the public.
“We will meet and issue a stance tomorrow (Sunday) please and not today (Saturday),” he simply said.
Also reacting, the counsel for IPOB, Mr Ifeanyi Ejiofor, said the group had before now denied involvement in attacks on INEC facilities and should not be blamed for them.
“IPOB has denied these allegations before now. The IG should go and look for the people burning these facilities and bring them to justice,” he said.
Arrest attackers – Ohanaeze
The spokesperson for the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, urged the IG to go after the attackers and stop “blaming the Igbo and IPOB.”
He said, “Insecurity in the South-East cannot be blamed on the Igbo or on IPOB. This is what they call ‘blaming the victim’.
“When they orchestrated the Igbo out of the 15 security architecture in the country, we were not bothered about it. Now, they cannot prevail against insecurity. They have failed woefully. The security system appears to have collapsed and now they are blaming Igbo and IPOB for it. This is unfair.
“An efficient security system is supposed to nip all this in the bud and curtail it. If they said it is IPOB or the Igbo; let them arrest the persons responsible and deal with them within the ambit of the law.”
He, however, admitted that there were agitations and youth restiveness in the region “but this is as a result of how our people feel in respect to the government’s marginalisation and alienation.”
Ogbonnia stated, “It is convenient to say the people responsible for these attacks are ‘unknown gunmen’ because IPOB has often denied it. The onus lies on the security agents to establish the people doing this. If it is IPOB, let them display them as IPOB and let us know the identities of these masked men.
“It is simply because of the inability of the security officers to get the people arrested that they are conveniently saying it is IPOB. It is not true. They have said countless times that it is not their handiwork.”
No postponement – INEC
The Independent National Electoral Commission has ruled out a possible postponement of the 2023 general elections as it has the required resources for the smooth conduct of the polls.
INEC’s Head of Operations in Gombe State, Aminu Isah, made this disclosure during the discussion segment of an engagement with youth focused groups in the North-East with the theme; ‘Making your votes count…consolidating democracy’, which was held in Gombe on Saturday.
The engagement was part of the commission’s drive to sensitise youths, especially corps members, as well as religious and civil society groups.
Isah said unlike previously, INEC had received the needed resources that would make the electoral process smooth.
“The 2023 elections will be the best to be conducted; INEC has got all its funds ahead of the elections. There will not be any possible postponement of the 2023 elections, unlike 2019,” he stated.
On Permanent Voter Card collection, he said it had commenced in earnest adding, “All the states have received the last tranche of the printed PVCs for those that have registered.”
The Gombe State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ibrahim Umar, who represented the National Commissioner in charge of Taraba, Gombe and Adamawa states, Dr Baba Bila, said the commission had received non-sensitive materials and some sensitive materials, including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines, in readiness of the elections.
Bila stated that the youth population constituted over 50 per cent in the country, stressing that their involvement in the polls was important.
He said, “INEC is fully prepared to conduct free, fair, timely and all inclusive elections come 2023. The Head of Operations has already told you that we have already received most of the non-sensitive materials and among sensitive materials we have received full complement of the BVAS. By the grace of God, we are not going to have any hitches.”
Osun’s 5,306 BVAS
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Osun State, Dr Mutiu Agboke, on Saturday said the commission had received a total of 5,306 BVAS machines for use during the 2023 elections.
Agboke, who spoke during an awareness campaign in Osogbo, which was organised in collaboration with the Power of PVC Ride, a non-governmental organisation, to create awareness for the collection of Permanent Voter Cards in the state, also said the commission had commenced the training of its employees ahead of the polls.
“We have received 5,306 BVAS and we are ready; we are charging and configuring them, and training our staff members and partnering stakeholders, and we have always been engaging our stakeholders,” he stated.
Adegoke called on residents of the state to collect their PVCs to enable them participate in the elections.
Credit: https://punchng.com/buhari-inec-differ-on-election-funding-commission-blames-forex-inflation/
The UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya has concluded its fifth investigative mission to the country, an extended field visit to Tripoli which took place from 20 October to 21 November.
The mission was the FFM’s first to Libya since the Human Rights Council extended its mandate from July 2022 to March 2023.
During the mission, investigators met with and interviewed witnesses, civil society organizations and women human rights defenders.
They also conducted field investigations and met with Libyan authorities.
FFM Libya reiterated its request to access to prisons and detention centers to investigate alleged violations.
However, the FFM has not been given such access to date.
FFM Libya has also not received permission from local authorities to visit the city of Sebha, despite repeated requests.
FFM Libya is grateful to the Libyan Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Libyan Permanent Mission to the UN, and to UNSMIL for facilitating its access to Tripoli.
FFM Libya will continue its work in Libya, and will report to the Human Rights Council at its session in March 2023.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamed Dbeibah on Tuesday expressed his government's willingness to hold general elections in the country, calling for local and international pressure to complete laws regulating elections.
Dbeibah made his remarks during a conference organized by the National Election Commission in the capital Tripoli under the theme "Together we achieve elections."
"The government and the (Elections) Commission are logistically and technically ready to hold elections," Dbeibah said, condemning any "movement to question their readiness to hold elections."
He stressed the need for "local and international pressure to develop strong election-related laws to meet the demands of the Libyans," including holding elections, ending transition stages and moving towards a political settlement acceptable to the Libyans. Libyan people. .
"The current political bodies cannot represent the will of the Libyan people. Unfortunately, everything those bodies seek is aimed at spreading by making parallel political paths that the Libyan people reject," Dbeibah said.
Libya was unable to hold general elections in December 2021 as scheduled, due to disagreements over electoral laws between Libyan parties.
Libya is currently torn between a government appointed by the House of Representatives (parliament) in March and the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, which only agrees to hand over power to an elected government.
Since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, Libya has been struggling to make a democratic transition amid escalating violence and political division. ■
- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday urged increased vigilance and tightened security around borders, drawing attention to the rising number of guns, ammunition and other weapons in the Lake Chad basin.
Speaking at the 16th Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) Heads of State and Government Summit in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, Buhari, who is also the chairman of the heads of state and government summit, said that the threat from terrorists in the region had been relatively controlled, while the influx of weapons poses new challenges.
"Despite the successes recorded by the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) troops and the various ongoing national operations in the region, terrorist threats still lurk in the region," Buhari said. "A substantial proportion of the arms and ammunition purchased to run the war in Libya continue to find their way into the Lake Chad region and other parts of the Sahel."
"This illegal movement of arms into the region has increased the proliferation of small arms and light weapons that continues to threaten our collective peace and security in the region. There is therefore an urgent need for expedited collaborative action by our enforcement agencies. border security and other security services to stop the circulation of all illegal weapons in the region," Buhari said.
The MNJTF, which is the military corps for LCBC member states, has been praised for several operations that have brought measurable stability to the Lake Chad basin, according to Buhari. ■
- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday that a total of 20,842 have been rescued and returned to Libya so far in 2022.
The rescued migrants include 19,075 men, 1,089 women and 678 children, the IOM said.
In addition, 514 migrants were killed and another 865 went missing off the Libyan coast en route to the Central Mediterranean, the IOM added.
In 2021, a total of 32,425 illegal immigrants were rescued and returned to Libya.
Libya has been suffering from insecurity and chaos since the fall of late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, making the North African country a preferred departure point for illegal migrants wanting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores.
Rescued migrants end up inside overcrowded reception centers in Libya, despite repeated international calls to close those centers. ■
