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By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter PFT Q&A

UNITED NATIONS GATE, February 15 – In Nigeria now the day before the elections that Muhammadu Buhari is doing anything to win, from appointing a relative by marriage to the Electoral Commission he fired the country's chief judge Walter Onnoghen. The UN Secretariat of Antonio Guterres, his pro-Buhari deputy Amina J. Mohammad and their man on the region Ibn Chambas said nothing, apparently hoping for a Buhari win to echo the "win" of Paul Biya, for the seventh time, in next door Cameroon. Now on February 15 this from the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee leadership: Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), Chairman of the Committee; Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), Chair of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations; and Rep. Chris Smith (R-J), the Subcommittee’s Ranking Member released the following statement on Nigeria’s upcoming presidential elections:  “As Nigeria marks 20 years since the country’s return to democracy, we applaud Nigerian citizens’ continued efforts to make their voices heard at the ballot box. Nigeria must show its ongoing commitment to democracy as an important example for other countries across the continent.  “Nigeria’s electoral institutions played a critical role in ensuring that the 2015 elections were carried out in a transparent, fair, and peaceful manner. We hope to see that tradition continue during this 2019 election cycle. We call on all parties, participating candidates, and security forces to support a peaceful and transparent process without intimidation, corruption, or incitement of violence. It is critical that the final result reflects the true will of the Nigerian people.  “We stand with the citizens of Nigeria during this historic moment, and encourage a peaceful, free, fair, and credible electoral process.” Last month, Representatives Bass, Engel, Smith, Steve Chabot (R-OH), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), and Gregory Meeks (D-NY) introduced H.Con.Res 4 calling for credible, transparent, and peaceful elections in Nigeria." From Guterres? Nothing - refusal to answer banned Inner City Press' written questions despite promises from his Alison Smale and Stephane Dujarric.... The opposition PDP has suspended its campaign for at least three days. Meanwhile the UN has repeatedly refused to answer Press questions about where, suddenly, Amina J. Mohammed, its Deputy Secretary General, went to visit without any transparency. Now she is in the UAE. These days when in New York she mostly re-tweets her boss Antonio Guterres, thereby owned his censorship of the Press to conceal his links to China Energy Fund Committee. Now not the UN Secretariat by Diego Garcia-Sayan, the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, has said that “international human rights standards provide that judges may be dismissed only on serious grounds of misconduct or incompetence. Any decision to suspend or remove a judge from office should be fair and should be taken by an independent authority such as a judicial council or a court." He added that some of the judges and the defense lawyers involved in Onnoghen’s case had been subject to serious threats, pressures and interference. From the UN Secretariat, silence. The Deputy SG's president is playing the Kabila card:  Buhari's government warned off international "meddling," insisting Nigeria will conduct "free, fair elections" for the presidency on February 16. Reacting to criticism by the US, UK and EU of Buhari's suspension of the chief justice, the president's spokesman defended the decision. Buhari is "determined to ensure free, fair elections. This government will not bend the rules and will not allow meddling in our affairs," spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement. Right.  Inner City Press has tried to learn Amina J. Mohammed's actual views, requesting albeit with minders in the second floor of the UN before being roughed up and banned by Guterres and her. And on January 21, Inner City Press in writing asked her and Guterres' spokes- / hatchetman Stephane Dujarric, "January 21-3: Please state where DSG Amina J Mohammed is going from January 21-Feb 4, who much it costs the UN and public including in UN Security costs, and if any part of it is to Nigeria, what restrictions are in effect with regard to political activities." But even three days later, there was no answer at all, despite emailing to deputy spokesman Farhan Haq in the light of Dujarric's on camera promise of answers, nor to online questions to Amina Mohammed's apparently robotic accounts. There's been no answer from her chief of staff Nelson Muffuh, even as Guterres covers up corruption. But now she shows up in photographs in, where else, Nigeria, as a UN official. So Inner City Press asked Haq and Dujarric, Alison Smale, Guterres and Mohammed herself: "January 24-4: On the DSG's political activities in Nigeria, you have refused to saw where she is and how much it costs. Turns out she IS in Nigeria. How much is it costing the UN? What restrictions on political activities for Buhari or any other candidate are in place? How is this consistent with "the Deputy Secretary-General will be on Annual Leave from 21 January to 1 Febrary 2019.  She will return to the office on Monday, 4 Febrary 2019"? Please immediately release a copy or audio of her remarks, as she is being presented there as a UN official." So far, no answer - as there has been none for 12 working days. This is pure censorship and it is attributable to Amina "Rosewood" Mohammed. We'll have more on this. Before UN official Mohammed Ibn Chambas' Press-less appearance at the UN Security Council stakeout on January 10, he met not only with Secretary General Antonio Guterres but also Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed, who rarely attends such meeting if not about her country, Nigeria. Inside the Council, after Chambas glossed over the denial of democracy in for example Togo and prospectively in Nigeria, Germany's Deputy Ambassador referred to detentions of human rights defenders by UNnamed countries in West and Central Africa. France's Deputy Anne Gueguen referred to Togo - whose ruling family France has long supported - and to Guinea Conakry, regarding which there was recently a protest in front of the UN with photos of Alpha Conde victims, which Guterres, Mohammed and seemingly France ignored. The Council canceled its consultations. When Chambas came to the stakeout, he was told by a staffer now for Smale that Inner City Press is "now down covering Wall Street, he can't be here;" the first question went to Al Jazeera English, which worked with and/or was willingly used by Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric to get Inner City Press roughed up and banned. The questions were entirely about terorrism and Boko Haram and not the denial of democracy, which is just the way Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed and Guterres want it. Their UN has become corrupt.  Inner City Press, roughed up and banned from the UN and the UNSC stakeout now for 190 days and counting by Guterres and Mohammed as it reports on corruption in their UN, had  asked in writing: "On Nigeria, what are the comments and actions of the SG and separately DSG on that five truckloads of heavily armed soldiers yesterday invaded the head office of Media Trust Limited at Jabi, Abuja and proceeded to occupy the newspaper company, which publishes the Daily Trust titles, for five hours, driving out all the staff, carted away desktop and laptop computers and restricted entry or departure from the premises? Please state why the DSG is attending today's 4 pm meeting with UNOWA's Chambas while not attending other similar meetings. What is the DSG's comment on a relative of President Buhari on the electoral commission?" Despite the promise of Guterres' USG Alison Smale to UNSR David Kaye that there would be answers, there has been none to this, or questions on Cameroon or Togo. Chambas' report, as to Togo, says that "the inter-Togolese dialogue process continued under the auspices of the co-facilitators of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana and President Alpha Conde of Guinea. Despite concessions made by the Government of Togo and by a coalition of 14 opposition parties, limited progress has been achieved, owing to persisting disagreements over the modalities for implementing the ECOWAS road map of 14 April. During the reporting period, the ECOWAS facilitators held meetings with the Togolese stakeholders in Accra, Conakry and Lomé to assess progress and attempt to move the process forward. While both sides reaffirmed their commitment to the road map, the Government also continued to display its determination to hold a referendum on constitutional reforms, as well as local and legislative elections before the end of 2018. The opposition parties maintained their demands for the adoption of electoral reforms before the elections, boycotted preparations for the elections and, subsequently, indicated that they would not take part in the polls. The opposition parties also continued street demonstrations against what they termed one -sided reforms." Guterres' UN is one-side, and UNreformed.

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