shadrach77:
Governor of Ogun State, Sen. Ibikunle Omolaja Amosun, is yet to move into the Government House in Oke-Igbein, Abeokuta almost a month after he was sworn in.
[size=14pt]He is presently housed at the Presidential Lodge in Ibara.[/size]

The story is the same at the Government Office at the Oke-Mosan Secretariat in Abeokuta.

Amosun’s refusal to move into the office vacated by his predecessor, Gbenga Daniel, is occasioned by the belief that the place needs sanctification.

He is currently operating from the office of Head of Service, (HOS), Iyabo Odulate.

Investigations by Saturday Independent revealed that the governor has been advised not to move into either the Government House or Governor’s Office until ongoing spiritual cleansings, which started days after his inauguration are completed.

Spiritualists from the Celestial Church of Christ, Cherubim and Seraphim and Muslim clerics have become regular faces at both places.

A source close to the governor revealed that he is not in a hurry to move into the office or house “until all necessary spiritual cleansings are completed.”

Checks at the Oke-Igbein Government House, the official residence of the governor, revealed that the governor has not visited the place let alone move in there since May 29, when he was sworn in.

But the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), on which platform Amosun was elected alleged that officials of the past administration removed most items within the sprawling edifice.

Similarly, the House of Assembly quarters, along the Presidential Boulevard in Abeokuta was a shadow of itself when Saturday Independent visited on Friday, a development that has forced the lawmakers to resort to self-help.

Many members of the 26-man Assembly now operate from Richton Hotels and Suites, Ibara Housing Estate. However, governor’s Senior Special Adviser, Media and Communication, Funmi Wakama said “His Excellency should move into his office very soon, the reason being that the office is currently under renovation.”

[size=14pt]Charles Taylor's First Two Weeks in Calabar[/size]

By Obong Akpaekong
Tuesday, August 26, 2003

Reactions to his presence are mixed but he and his family members are busy touring the city and buying their needs

A large number of people in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, are not fascinated by the presence of Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president in the city. Taylor has been in Calabar since August 12, after he was forced to resign and take up political asylum in Nigeria. But those against Taylor's stay in the city are mostly the youths, students and people in the lower echelon of the society. Students have issued various statements to protest his asylum in the city, citing his poor human rights antecedents as cause of their protests. Market women and housewives discuss a lot about Taylor. Many of them would not know him by name.

They only know that an African president, who fought war with his people and wasted many lives, including those of Nigerians, has eventually run to Calabar. They would not touch Taylor with a long stick. "He killed a lot of his people. He killed Nigerian journalists. He did not have to come here, but to stay and face the hot knife in his country," said one patent medicine seller on Eyo Ita Street.

Newswatch later found that, the man, who was the first person whose opinion was sought on Taylor, was speaking the minds of many people. But a lot more people, especially the elites are wishing Taylor and his entourage well in the state. Unlike the other group which fears Taylor could cause political destability and related ills in the state, they believe Taylor can affect the Cross River State economy positively. Such people are already rallying round to rehabilitate [size=14pt]Taylor, who is being lodged temporarily in the Presidential Lodge, Calabar[/size]. As Taylor is settling down, the tight security that was earlier mounted in the premises before Taylor moved in, appears to have been largely relaxed. The main gate to the vast and neat estate was half ajar when Newswatch rode inside it in a colleague's car.

The gate was manned by security personnel in mufti. Some six Mobile policemen and other security personnel were seen discussing inside the premises a few yards away from the imposing, white-painted main building of the Lodge. Some black jeeps with tinted glasses were parked by the main Lodge where Taylor stays. There was another black jeep, parked at the entrance of another white-painted building within the premises, overlooking the main Lodge. Four neatly-dressed lads stood by the building . They were Taylor's aides. They were busy loading a number of Econet and MTN recharge cards into handsets.

When the Newswatch reporter and his colleague introduced themselves, they quickly called another aide of Taylor ,who was in a waiting car ,to attend to them. The man who later gave his name as "Saar" jumped out of the car to attend to the journalists. "Wow!" he exclaimed, when the journalists expressed their desire to interview Taylor. He said the man who would handle such matter was not available at the moment. He would not give his own numbers or that of the man he said could arrange the interview with Taylor. Saar collected Newswatch business card promising to get in touch. But only God knows when such call will be.

Although Taylor and his large entourage of more than 50 persons are trying to quickly adapt to the new environment, he still appears to be largely shielded from the media. Residents of the city say they see Taylor's vehicles, especially the black jeeps, regularly in parts of the town. They were said to be regularly spotted particularly, at the premises of a pharmacy store and supermarket opposite the Holy Child Secondary School, on the Goldie - Atu Street junction. Taylor and his children are already moving freely. While Taylor is making courtesy calls on some personalities in Calabar, the children are visiting places of interest.

Governor Duke is one of those already visited by Taylor. Some 26 of Taylor's "children" have also been touring some facilities and places of interest in Calabar. The Calabar Export Processing Zone, EPZ, the National Museum and The Mirage - the glamorous ultra -modern guest houses which have been the main attraction to tourists in Calabar in recent years, were among the places the children visited last week.

Edem Duke, proprietor of The Mirage is among people with very strong reservations on Taylor's presence in Calabar. He believes there was no basis to celebrate Taylor's arrival unless the man showed remorse for his past and actually turned a new leaf.

Duke, a former public affairs manager of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, told Newswatch: "My expectation was that Charles Taylor's departure from Liberia to Nigeria and arrival in Calabar would have imbibed in the man, an attitude and posture of reconciliation, while, his demeanour and remarks must be those of reconciliation and, capable of building bridges." He said he was disappointed that Taylor was instead, still defiant even as he was leaving Liberia.

"We also have to understand Taylor's state of mind. It is not easy for you to sit back and think that yesterday you were a president and today you are not," he said. Duke advised government to counsel him equally to come to terms with his new status, which he said would help him settle down.

Edwin Madunagu, a former member of the editorial board of The Guardian newspaper, and executive director of Calabar International Institute for Research, Information and Documentation, an NGO, believes Taylor's presence in Calabar "is a non-issue" and should not bother the people.

He told Newswatch: "Once an agreement has been reached between American president, George Bush and West African leaders, led by President Olusegun Obasanjo that Taylor should be given asylum, in this region, we knew that he will come to Nigeria." He believes Taylor's case should not be a priority to the Nigerian government when the mystery surrounding the death of former justice minister, Bola Ige and the burning political crisis in Anambra State, among others, had not been resolved. Madunagu advised that rather than worry about the presence of Taylor in their midst, residents of Calabar and the entire Cross River State should urge the government to tackle the problem of poverty and under-development as well as find answers to such issues as Ige's death and the abduction of the governor of Anambra.

Bassey Eko Ewa, speaker of Cross River State House of Assembly agrees with Madunagu that the people had no choice over Taylor. He told Newswatch that unlike the National Assembly, the State House of Assembly has not held any deliberations on Taylor because the matter was decided by Abuja. Said he: "Taylor is a human being and one time president of Liberia. Since Mr. President has found it necessary to grant him asylum in Cross River, we cannot but accommodate him." Ewa said he has listened to and read from publications, complaints from people over Charles Taylor. "These people are not Cross Riverians. The people of the state have accepted him but on the condition that he abides by the contractual agreement between him and the Nigerian government.

Some traditional rulers in the state also wished Taylor and his family good luck in Calabar. Among them were Ndabu Eyo Nakanda, a chief of Bakassi and Edet Etim Okon, paramount ruler of Bakassi. They said it was too late for people to complain about Taylor and to worry that he will cause disaffection in the state. Okon, who resides in Calabar, told Newswatch: "For now, we welcome the Liberian community. If in future, the Nigerian government says let them go, we will support it," adding, "I support the decision of the Federal Government and the position of Governor Duke on Taylor. Okon went on: "I am with the governor in everything he does. If you are against him, then I am against you. All these protests by the university students do not appeal to me. I don't have time for them."

Nakanda also said there was nothing wrong about Taylor being in Calabar. He said people who were protesting Taylor's asylum in the state did not stand to gain anything if Charles Taylor remained in Liberia and his countrymen continued to die in the war. He said peace was returning to Liberia just because Taylor left. He noted that America was now supporting the peace process because Taylor left his country.

Okon and Nakanda dismissed the fear expressed by some, that people seeking for Taylor's head could invade Calabar by sea through Bakassi. They agreed with the speaker of the State House of Assembly that Taylor would positively affect the economy of the state. "Donald Duke has foresight. He knows that the world's concentration will be in Cross River if Taylor is here. That will bring in investors. It will bring in tourists. The international press will come. All these people will stay in hotels. They will buy things in Calabar and the economy will improve." Okon and Nakanda said.

solopumpy227: I might be wrong though, I believe inviting IBB (an Ex-President) instead of the sitting GEJ to commission a Presidential Villa is symbolic...2015

juman:

One nigeria problem. Free oil money. They spend it just any how.

Shine It:

Are you a learner? Irks me how grown men like you spew rubbish instead of doing research when in doubt.
I stay in presidential suites any time I travel to Lagos.
This makes me the President of Odua republic doesn't it?

donigspain: Allahu Akbar that they have already started building the capital city of Arewanistan for the predicted, prophesied, forecasted and confirmed 2015 breakup.

*idriis*:
Don Allah wai, waye IBB ne?

otijah: u ar banned for 2 years


chukxie: Look at how those coyotes wasted money on a building when there are thousands of unemployed graduates and high school leavers in Sokoto. I weep for Nigeria! Even God weeps for Nigeria!

chukxie: Look at how those coyotes wasted money on a building when there are thousands of unemployed graduates and high school leavers in Sokoto. I weep for Nigeria! Even God weeps for Nigeria!