By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA — Aggrieved members of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) in Edo South Senatorial District have rejected the party’s national reconciliation committee, describing it as a charade that cannot heal the wounds of injustice caused by its leaders.

They said a stolen mandate cannot be reconciled away and stressed that injustice does not become legitimate simply because a committee has been established to manage the anger it created.

A statement issued by Agbonaye Osazee Ofo on behalf of the aggrieved members said the disputed election cannot be wished away. The members contended that the committee’s main objective is to persuade aggrieved members to accept an unfair outcome.

The statement read: “The decision by the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) to constitute a National Reconciliation Committee following its controversial primary elections is, on the surface, presented as an attempt to restore peace, unity, and cohesion within the party. But beneath the carefully chosen language of ‘reconciliation,’ ‘fairness,’ and ‘internal democracy’ lies a much more troubling question:”

Asking who is to be reconciled and on what terms, the statement noted: “A reconciliation committee cannot become a substitute for justice. It cannot be used to paper over disputed primaries, silence legitimate grievances, or compel aggrieved members to accept outcomes they firmly believe were imposed upon them.

“If the underlying disputes arose because members believe their mandates were manipulated, overturned, or denied, then the first responsibility of the NDC leadership should be to establish the truth — not to assemble a committee and expect the victims of the process to simply move on.”

The aggrieved members claimed the committee is not intended to reconcile anyone but to force compliance, saying: “This panel was never assembled to heal wounds; it was deployed to enforce compliance.

“It invites the betrayed to sit at a table set by those accused of betraying them, offering hollow assurances of peace in exchange for surrender.

“That is not reconciliation. That is an attempt to manufacture acceptance.

“You cannot rig the process, produce a disputed outcome, and then establish a committee to persuade those who lost their mandates to accept the result in the name of party unity.”

Ofo, speaking for other members, said: “Unity without justice is not unity. It is forced conformity.”

He urged the NDC leadership to understand that political parties do not become stronger by suppressing legitimate grievances. “They become stronger by confronting wrongdoing honestly and correcting it where necessary,” he said.

Maintaining that peace cannot be built on unresolved injustice, the group said the leadership’s declaration of commitment to “internal democracy, fairness, inclusiveness and party cohesion” raises an obvious question: Where were these principles when the disputed primaries were conducted?

The statement continued: “If fairness truly matters, let the party demonstrate it by reopening the issues that have generated controversy. If democracy matters, let genuine winners retain their mandates. If inclusiveness matters, let aggrieved aspirants and party members be heard without intimidation, manipulation, or predetermined conclusions.

“There can be no meaningful reconciliation where the facts remain contested, and the disputed outcomes are treated as untouchable. True peace cannot take root in the poisoned soil of unpunished injustice.”
A committee cannot legitimize a flawed process

“The appointment of respected personalities to the committee does not, by itself, confer legitimacy on the process that produced the disputes.

“Prof. Pat Utomi, Engr. Buba Galadima and the other members may bring credibility and experience to the assignment, but even the most respected individuals cannot transform an unjust process into a just one simply by sitting on a reconciliation panel.

“The real test is whether the committee has the independence and authority to question the party leadership, examine the primary-election records, hear all sides, overturn illegitimate decisions where necessary, and recommend the restoration of mandates where wrongdoing is established.”

The statement warned that anything less would amount to political theatre and emphasized that the aggrieved are not the problem.

“The NDC should stop treating those who are challenging disputed outcomes as obstacles to party unity. The real threat to party unity is not the member demanding justice.

“The real threat is a system that tells a legitimately aggrieved member: ‘Accept what happened or be accused of destroying the party.’ That is an unacceptable distortion of democratic principles.

“Members have every right to demand transparency. They have every right to question primary-election outcomes. They have every right to insist that their votes and mandates not be casually substituted by political calculations.

“And they should not be expected to surrender those rights merely because the 2027 elections are approaching.”

Reconciliation must begin with truth

“If the NDC genuinely wants reconciliation, then the committee should begin with the facts. Let the disputed primaries be examined. Let the competing claims be heard. Let the evidence be reviewed. Let the rules of the party be applied equally.

“Let anyone who benefited from an illegitimate process be prepared to have that outcome reviewed. And, most importantly, let the committee be free to make recommendations that may be uncomfortable for the party leadership. That is what genuine reconciliation looks like.

Anything short of that is merely an exercise in public relations.”

The aggrieved members said the NDC cannot campaign for democracy while practising the opposite.

“The NDC cannot credibly present itself to Nigerians as a democratic alternative while failing to resolve allegations of internal democratic violations within its own ranks.

“A party that seeks the mandate of Nigerians in 2027 must first demonstrate that it respects the mandates of its own members.

“You cannot preach democracy to the electorate while asking your own members to accept disputed outcomes without a credible remedy.

“You cannot demand public trust while refusing to confront internal mistrust. And you cannot build a credible national alternative on unresolved internal contradictions.”

They said that the talked-about unity would be achieved if the stolen mandates are returned.

According to the statement: “The message to the NDC leadership should therefore be unequivocal: Do not use reconciliation as a mechanism for legitimizing disputed outcomes.

“If the party truly believes in fairness, let it have the courage to dismantle illegitimate outcomes, restore mandates where the evidence demands it, and subject contested matters to genuinely independent arbitration.

“Until that happens, this reconciliation committee risks becoming nothing more than a hollow charade — a desperate attempt to cover a festering wound without treating its cause.”

The statement added that the NDC does not need forced peace.

“It needs justice before reconciliation, truth before unity, and democracy before electoral expediency. Anything else is merely an insult to the very democratic values the party claims to uphold.

“A stolen mandate cannot be reconciled away. A disputed election cannot be wished away. And injustice cannot become legitimate simply because a committee has been established to manage the anger it created.”

The aggrieved members said they view the committee as intended to endorse or validate injustice rather than correct it.

They said the reconciliation effort is seen as legitimizing manipulated mandates and as an attempt to persuade aggrieved members to accept an unfair outcome.

“Let it be on record that this is completely unacceptable. It is a blatant affront to fairness, justice, and due process, and it must not be tolerated,” they added.

A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Osita Okechukwu, on Sunday said Nigeria must stop fighting 21st century wars with 20th century military orthodox doctrines, stressing that improved remuneration alone cannot guarantee victory over insurgency, terrorism and banditry without corresponding investment in superior technologies that define modern warfare.

Okechukwu made the remark while commending President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for approving a substantial salary increase for members of the Armed Forces.

He made this known in a statement he signed in reaction to the recent salary review and the expansion of the Nigerian Army from eight to twelve divisions.

President Tinubu had approved salary increases of 80 per cent for Privates to Staff Sergeants, 50 per cent for Warrant Officers to Colonels, and 30 per cent for Brigadiers to Generals, alongside the creation of four additional Army divisions.

He said: “Like millions of Nigerians, I wholeheartedly applaud Mr President for improving the welfare of our gallant Armed Forces, who daily risk their lives in defence of our nation.

“However, patriotism compels one to ask a fundamental question? How will our administration, in an era of lean fiscal resources and under budget implementation; sustain such a significant increase in recurrent expenditure while adequately funding critical sectors such as healthcare, education and infrastructure without triggering hyper-inflation?

“Dear President, my candid concern in the midst of huge debt is the big elephant in the room. For a pay rise of almost 30% across the board with little or no export product outside fluctuating oil price may trigger off hyper-inflation and monetary paralysis?

“Albeit, Mr President I know is aware that what is good for the goose is good for the gander; therefore the Police, other paramilitary agencies and the wider civil service will naturally demand aggressively for comparable salary adjustments, to face the same market?”

On offering an alternative approach, Okechukwu said: “I believe that 30% budget addition to kitchen table welfare enablers to the greatest number of Nigerians among which are members of the Armed Forces and other public servants, interalia; comprehensive healthcare, quality educational opportunities and and affordable mortgage home schemes, will better spread joy, strengthen purchasing power, encourage productivity and employment. It is on record that 80% of the Armed Forces have no mortgage homes.”

On the expansion of the Army, Okechukwu argued that military superiority in the 21st century is determined less by the size of an army than by the sophistication of its technology.

“Today’s battlefields are dominated by drones, satellite surveillance, electronic warfare, cyber operations, precision-guided weapons, artificial intelligence and real-time intelligence. Victory no longer belongs to the side with the largest number of boots on the ground, but to the side with superiority of AI-driven intelligence capabilities,” he added.

Ahead of the 2027 general elections, a former Political Adviser to President Bola Tinubu, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed has said the All Progressives Congress, APC, is having sleepless nights over fear of being rejected in a free and fair election.

Baba-Ahmed noted that the APC has all the money and most of the politicians needed but it’s battling fear ahead of the 2027 elections.

He was reacting to an X user @Abdulrah_maan who claimed that the opposition in Nigeria is lacklustre.

He posted: “I do not like how very disconnected I have become with this country’s politics.

“Major political events keep happening without me being aware. I wonder what could be the cause.

“Politics should be interesting and I find nothing interesting in what and how these guys are carrying it out.

“The opposition on their part is largely lacklustre.”

Responding, Baba-Ahmed posted: “Opposition is not lacklustre. It is undergoing the most crippling assault from the governing party in the history of democracy in Nigeria.

“APC has all the money in the world and 90% of elected politicians on its side. Yet it cannot sleep for fear of rejection in credible elections.”