The Kogi Government will be the first African government seeking to use a transparent car to promote accountability in governance.

– An election observation group in a letter to the United States of America called for investigations into the Rivers state re-run killings – The group said the Rivers state governor should be held responsible for the killings during the state’s re-run elections – The group also called for the arraignment of Wike before the International Criminal Court (ICC)

An election observer group, Beyond Boundaries Legacy Leadership Initiative (BBLLI) on Friday, April 1, wrote to the United States of America demanding justice for the killings during the Rivers state re-run election. The group in a letter to the ambassador of the United States of America to Nigeria said the intervention of the US over the killings in Rivers state at the re-run is needed. The letter signed by the director, monitoring and evaluation, Anthony Yusuf said the governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike should be held responsible for the activities and killings in the state. Yusuf in his letter called for a thorough investigation of the governor and subsequently an arraignment before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

He said: “The unpleasant atmosphere created by stakeholders of the two major political parties to wit; All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), particularly series of unwarranted threats issued by governor Nyesom Wike, no doubt are the root causes of the wanton killings and destruction of valuable properties.”

“We have it on record that governor Nyesom Wike, who is statutorily duty bound as the chief security officer to maintain peace, law and order in Rivers state, had openly threatened violence and death to stakeholders long before and even during the rerun elections. Yusuf said the governor was also reported to have told staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to write their wills ahead of the re-run election. “Unfortunately, Wike’s threats materialized and the rerun elections were greeted by violence, leading to numerous atrocities perpetrated against our security agencies by some armed gang believed to have been sponsored by the Rivers State Government. Worthy of mention is the brutal murder in Ahoada-West Local Government Area of the State of a member of the National Youth Service Corps named Samuel Chukwudumebi Okonta who served as an INEC ad-hoc staff with call-up number RV/15B/5539.

“The murder of Mr. Okonta, an orphan and indigene of Illah community in Oshimili-North Local Government Area of Delta State, has attracted both local and international condemnation. His death was not only painful and condemnable but avoidable.

“We are rudely shocked that Nigerians and members of the international community who usually cry foul and castigate our security operatives whenever they go wrong in the discharge of their duties have thrown their conscience to the wind by choosing to keep mute instead of demanding for justice on account of the unimaginable atrocities and provocations perpetrated against security agencies in recent past,” the letter said. The observer group also called for the adequate protection for security officials with the recent abduction and killing of an army colonel, Samaila Inusa in Kaduna. “The slain men and officers who laid down their lives for the service of fatherland are not angels from heaven but responsible Nigerians with obligations to families, friends and dependents. Their lives deserved adequate protection and at death their killers ought to be brought to face the wrath of the law without fear or favour.

“We join other advocates of justice across the world in condemning the callousness and political opportunism exhibited by agents of the Rivers state government against humanity in the name of preventing the APC led federal government of Nigeria from taking over power at the state level,” the group said.