Will the new Nigerian president revisit the Nera 10 case?
By Wilson Musa
Africa’s biggest economy and largest population, Nigeria will be electing a new president this Saturday, February 25, 2023.
The country’s Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, said on Thursday February 23, 2023, that a total of 87,209,007 million people have collected their PVCs, voters cards with the Lagos State having more than 6 million voters cards collected, followed by Kano and Kaduna.
INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu said only about 6.7 % of registered voters have not collected their PVCs, making a total of 6, 259, 229 out of 93, 469, 008.
The front liners in the February poll are Peter Obi of the Labor Party, Tinubu Asiwaju of the ruling APC, and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.
The new leader in Nigeria is not only expected to revamp a falling economy with the scarcity of the country’s legal tender ( Naira notes) and fuel shortage but will also need to investigate cases of corruption and nepotism said to be creeping into the government sectors.
Apart from internal issues, the new Nigerian President will also have to look at foreign policies.
Southern Cameroonian separatists in Cameroon, whose leaders were arrested in Nigeria on January 5th, 2018, and repatriated to Cameroon, are holding their breath to see if the new president could reopen the case of what has become, the “Nera 10”
On Friday, March 1, 2019, the Nigeria Federal High Court ruled in favor of abducted Ambazonia leaders Paul Biya Hurriedly Sends Congratulatory Message To Buhari After Federal Court Order on Ambazonia Leaders – Cameroon News Agency
But the Nigerian Government has never shown intentions of revisiting the “Nera 10” case, even as they were sentenced to life imprisonment in Cameroon.
The stakes may not be high but what if Atiku takes over power? The leader of the Separatists in jail, Sisiku Julius Ayuktabe was teaching at Atiku’s university in Nigeria before his arrest. The link between the two men could mean that an Atiku Presidency may steam up the case file.
Faced with unrest in the South East, a Peter Obi presidency may not mean so much for Separatists in Cameroon as national and international attention on Obi would be to see how he will handle the separatist agenda during his presidency.
A Tinubu presidency could mean nothing to the Separatists because he is an economically driven personality who may not be too interested in dusting the files of 2018.
Whatever the case and whoever comes to power in Nigeria after February 25, 2023, it will be a new beginning and one cannot conjecture what might be reserved for the future because as they say, people change.
