₦airaland Forum

ThinkRait:
As an Islamic scholar, he has an idea of what honesty and good corporate governance is about.

What has being an islamic scholar got to do with banking? Does being an islamic scholar make him less corrupt? Does religion make a Nigerian less corrupt?

Asha80,

You know your unprovoked accusation of me as a tribalist brought about this new madness from Hisname. Thanks, yet again.

Now I know, Hisname has another agenda. One of those Igbo haters on the prowl. Please make a list of the corrupt officers under EFCC indictment and let us see how many Igbos are there. Those people are the ones holding your money and not the ones you accuse out of envy.

Could you, Hisname, by any chance be Lamidi-Obi or Billymuse using a different handle?

Hisname,

Please answer my questions above

Hisname:
Afaukwu , you are very tribalistic. David mark only was using old man sense. do you want david mark to disgrace soludo in public.?

if the economy was doing well as you claim. why is labour union on strike.

So David Mark used old man sense to praise Soludo? Is that not hypocricy then? If Mark cannot call a spade one even in public, then he does not fit to be a Senate President.

Please where did I claim the economy is doing well? My question is whether CBN is the only responsible body per the economy? Where is the finance minister and what is he doing? Do you have NEPA to grow your economy? Is the transport system in good shape to drive the economy? Are those Soludo's responsibility too?

Every idiot on the street knows that without the Soludo bank consolidation, our economy would have been more hard hit with this global crisis.

Hisname:
the reason for not renewing is that soludo is not performing. Soludo can only be measure by economy level. And the economy is not doing well. Soludo capitalizatin that is makes noise about is monopoly of the banking system by igbos. In the usa what happen to bell and miscrosoft was that the USa govt ask them to break them up.

Monopoly of the banking section by the igbos , created by soludo and iweala that is the reason they are not going to give soludo another term. And that is the final decision of the president. his sack would not be reviewed.

Thanks. It is fairer that reasons (any reasons at all) are adduced for not renewing Soludo's job than latching on stale tribalism thrash as did Junkie. Your statement that Soludo is not performing is your opinion; millions of other Nigerians think otherwise. Even David Mark and indeed, Yaradua praised him only a few days ago.

Now, Hisname, to butress your point that Soludo favored the Igbos, could you please mention the MDs/Chairmen of all the banks in Nigeria and their states of origin? Following that, could you mention the same as of prior to Soludo? If undoing a supposed Soludo-induced Igbo favoritism in the banking sector (as you seem to insinuate) is the reason for bringing Sanusi in, will another tribe be favored in revenge?

If the economy is not doing well how is that to be put solely at the doorstep of a CBN governor? What then is the role of the finance minister, the so-called planning minister and other economy-related ministers such as commerce and industry and petroleum, amongst others. What is the role of lack of electricity in the economic distress we are in today? Is that also the function of a CBN gov? What is the consequence of all the stolen billions on the economy of the country?

Kobojunkie:
1) Federal Character PROMOTES TRIBALISM . . . . Supporting Such a move by the Senator inadvertently means YOU PROMOTE TRIBALISM OVER MERIT, regardless of how legal that act is.

2) What proof do you have to CLAIM SANUSI is right now, Not the only NIgerian Qualified to be Head of CBN? Could you produce someone else MORE qualified on MERIT and not on Ethnicity?

You are dumber than I thought and your penchant for jumping here and there for the sake or argument, like a cracked up junkie does not help matters either. If federal character promotes tribalism and you want to blame me for that, did I make the laws supporting federal character? Please google my posts on nairaland to see my opinion on federal character. What is the basis for not renewing Soludo's contract? Is Soludo less qualified than Sanusi? Who is/are Soludo's deputy(s) at CBN; is/are he/they less qualified than Sanusi? Who was the First Bank MD before Sanusi; is he less qualified than Sanusi? How long did Sanusi serve as the head of FBN? Is that sufficient time to assess him vis-a-vis other qualified Nigerians?

Finally, is it ok with you that 3 individuals from one state (out of 36) will be in position to decide the economic direction of 150 million others, especialy where there are others from elsewhere who will easily bring in the much-needed diversity of opinion? But even more especially, where the laws of the land frown against such?

Quoted below is what I wrote warranting a slowpoke such as this junkie boy (Kobojunkie) to talk back at me. Where is the tribalism there?

Kobojunkie is a junkie whose thinking is at best junkish. Nigeria is practicing federal character. Why anyone should be against the constitution beats me. Why one state should produce 2 ministers + CBN gov occupying related ministries/position beats me. The senator did not say hausa/igbo/yoruba. He simply noted that Kano alone has 3 officials in a similar office. That is not national spread; that is not federal character. When Nigeria begins to practice merit, it should expunge the federal character thing  from its book. Until then, we must practice federal charater. Is Sanusi of Kano State the only qualified Nigerian to head the CBN? NO!

Post the thread you mentioned or shut the Bleep up, you eediot.

Junkie,

So calling you a junkie equates tribalism? Aren't you a lost cause? You know that significant others here have questioned your sense of reasoning. I am thus not alone.

As I do not remember the thread in question, please post the said comment I made and let us look at it in perspective.

Kobojunkie:
True, he ENDORSES tribalism but seems to complain when it is dealt him from the other side. Same with most every tribalist on here.

Show me one of such complain, and please stop being a junkie with a useless pulp for a brain.

asha 80:
@poster

Actually you are guilty of this.

If defending my tribe means tribalism, its ok by me. If you check my posts, I do not go out of my way to castigate others. I respond to others based on the measures they dish. In general, I promote my tribe and try not to put others down while doing so. This is important for me, given the rate at which negative posts about Igbos are made here. Somebody can point to any ''tribalistic'' post I have made and look it its context.

ziddy:
How does having an Igbo man as CBN governor translate to progress for the Igbo Nation? Should it matter whether the CBN Gov. is Fulani or Ika, Igbo or Itshekiri, so long as he is the most qualified for the post?

It should not ordinarly matter, but when a northern is retired and is replaced by another northerner, whereas a retiring southerner is replaced by a northerner it becomes an issue for the seeming marginalized. All these happen in the face of the so-called federal character or quota system.

Why should one state out of 36 produce all the persons that make the economic decisions for 150 million people?

Becomrich, the feeling other Nigerians have for the Igbo (as you claimed) is mutual. That is why the North has been able to ride the south roughshod so far.

The coal used in part, to grow the economy before oil come on board was obtained from where? Now talking about oil, are Imo and Abia not oil-producing states?

Too long an article. Could you please highlight the relevant portions. Thanks

SubMacGun:
This poster is so dumb - U are told old for all this tribal nonsense.

You are so inconsequential and apparently unlettered that I do not have to respond to you. I only did to let you know how insignificant you are.

South East is interested in this because the spin masters (essentially, a Yoruba reporter from ThisDay Newspaper) went to work that Igbos cannot have both the CBN Gov and the police IG at the same time. This Yoruba reporter lit the fire which ignited Igbos into reality. This is that simple

CBN: S’East Rallies Support for Soludo
By Tokunbo Adedoja, 05.27.2009


Following strong signals that Prof. Chukwuma Soludo may not be re-appointed governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), bigwigs from the South-east geo-political zone and key bankers have stepped up moves to save his job.
THISDAY had reported at the weekend that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was seriously considering the Group Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, as Soludo’s replacement as no CBN governor had enjoyed tenure renewal since 1993.
THISDAY learnt that following the report, some top political and business elite have been holding a series of meetings to map out strategies to save Soludo.
Some of the meetings were attended by serving senators and members of the House of Representatives, as well as the Igbo intelligentsia.
“It would appear Igbos are being quietly eased out of government no matter their performance in office,” a source who attended some of the meetings told THISDAY.
The anger of some of them stemmed from the possibility of having to be made to forgo one of the positions of Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and CBN governor.
“The meeting discussed this issue and considered it very self-serving. How come the North did not have to choose between Ministry of Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)?” another source said.
The notion that Yar’Adua cannot make the two appointments from the same zone at the same time was also dismissed, with examples being cited of when other zones of the country filled the positions simultaneously.
“The meeting considered it ridiculous the suggestion that the IGP and the CBN governor cannot come from the same zone. In 1999, Chief Joseph Sanusi was appointed CBN governor and Alhaji Musiliu Smith IGP at the same time. Both of them were from the South-west. When the late Abdulkadir Ahmed was CBN governor, we had Alhaji Muhammadu Gambo and Ibrahim Coomasie as IGPs at various times,” he added.
At one of the meetings, some Igbo politicians expressed concern at the dwindling fortune of the South-east in the present government.
“Ernest Ndukwe’s tenure is about to end. He has less than a year to go. It is true that the Comptroller-General of Customs, Mr. Bernard Shaw Nwadulo, is from our zone, but he was appointed a few weeks ago and he is due for retirement in August 2009. He will proceed on terminal leave in July,” the source said.
THISDAY was told that the meeting considered it “confounding” that despite the global accolade Soludo had been receiving, the government would want to do away with him.
The newspaper was told that part of the outcome of the meetings was the letter written to Yar’Adua on Monday by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Housing and Urban Development, Senator Ikechukwu Obiorah (Anambra South), advising him on the need to adhere to the principle of federal character in the appointment of a new CBN governor.
He said the Minister of Finance, Dr. Mansur Muhtar, and the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, are both from Kano State – where Sanusi also comes from.
Meanwhile, THISDAY has learnt that the lobby to get Soludo’s term renewed has been intensified, with the chief executive of a first generation bank enlisting Chief Tony Anenih in an attempt to persuade the Presidency on the matter.
There are also fears that if the President does not move in on time to make a definite pronouncement quickly, it could affect the financial markets in Nigeria and reverberate on the international level.
A financial analyst said: “The CBN position must not be left to uncertainty. It could do damage to Nigeria’s financial market. This is unlike the position of the DG of Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) which has been left vacant for weeks.”
A Presidency source however warned last night that the intensity of the lobby may backfire as the President may finally choose to go for a “neutral” person.

Plateau State and Fulani migration

SIR: This is in response to Reuben Abati's "The Expulsion of the Fulani in Wase" (The Guardian, May 17). This is an enduring question to which you have made as usual, the best argument. That question is: How do you know a Fulani that migrated from other West African States like Mauritania, Senegal, Ghana, Burkina-Faso, Niger, and Chad etc, from the Nigerian Fulani of Othman Dan Fodio's Jihad?

How does one know the Fulani that their ancestors were defeated by the British in present-day Nigeria? How would you separate a Fulani that has ancestors in Nigeria when we became independent? Chronicles of Fulani History display people that speak the same language, dress the same, and have the same faith and who stretch through Northern African states. To settle an Ibo man or a Yoruba man in Kaduna is not a problem because we know where these people originated from.

The adage of "Not in my Back Yard" cannot be ignored here due to the nature of your unknown neighbour to be. I believe the Fulani migration should be curtailed, they should settle and pay taxes and be responsible in developing the community were they live. A Habe nation of the Fulani ought to be discouraged.

It is time the problem of Fulani was solved with the help of a "Fulani Nation" yet to be identified. Before we can identify such body, no single Government should be blamed for any misstep or oversight in trying to avoid a repeat of violence. The latter assertion is as a result of the Plateau State Government's indication that the set of Fulani came in such droves that warranted a pro-active measure. To have done nothing after such hurricane migration of non-resident persons to a community that just started to sow the seed of peace after awful disturbances would have attracted more blames.

Gideon Ogbeide,
United States.

Take a look at the federal character of the participants. For them, tribalism is no issue. They are in league, their tribes notwithsatnding, to impress, oppress and suppress.

All hail Ikeoha Ndigbo
, Orlu agog as Ekweremadu takes title
From PETRUS OBI and VAL OKARA, Owerri
Wednesday, May 27, 2009

•Ekweremadu being congratulated by the representative of the Sultan of Sokoto
Photo: Sun News Publishing
More Stories on This Section

In the little, but popular Obinugwu town in Orlu, Imo State, May 16, 2009 was a day the people will not forget in a hurry as the National Assembly literally relocated to the palace of the Chairman, South-East Traditional Rulers Council, Eze Cletus Illomuanya popularly called Obinugwu to identify with the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu who was conferred with the chieftaincy title of Ikeoha Ndigbo.

Before the event kicked off, children, adults, elderly women, as well as all kinds of masquerades milled around the Community Primary School Obinugwu, struggling to catch a glimpse of the helicopter that brought Senate President David Mark to the community.

The villagers who came out in their numbers also waved endlessly to the posh cars and convoys as they navigated the narrow road that leads to the palace of the traditional ruler.

At the arena, it was the height of attraction as senators and members of the House of Representatives lit up the palace with their flambuoyant dressing and presence; while traditional rulers from the West, North and the Niger Delta also added colour with their unique type of traditional attire.

It was an event that brought together the different people of Nigeria represented by the traditional institution; the Ooni of Ife Oba Okunade Sijuwade represented by Oba Oladele Olasore, the Jaja of Opobo, joined leading traditional rulers from the South-East such as Eze Patrick Acholonu of Orlu, Eze Agom Eze from Ebonyi, among others.

On the side of politicians, the Senate President David Mark; former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim; Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State; Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu; Governor Ikedi Ohakim, represented by the Chief of Staff, Government House, Owerri, Sir Emma Ohakim; and former Minister, Chief Frank Nweke (Jnr.) were on hand to grace the occasion.

Others were Senators Tony Agbo from Ebonyi State; Osita Izunaso; Sylvester Anyanwu; Chris Anyanwu; Annie Okonkwo; Enyinnaya Abaribe; Bukkar Abba Ibrahim; Anyim Ude; and Egba Ekaette.
Also present at the occasion were Chief Chris Uba, Chief Dave Umahi, PDP chairman, Ebonyi State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, Chief Emeka Ihediora, Chief Austin Nwachukwu, Senator Kabiru Gaya, former deputy governor of Imo State, Dr. Douglas Acholonu, among others.

Welcoming his guests to the occasion, Eze Ilomuanya said the title was in recognition of the position of Senator Ekweremadu as the highest political office holder in the zone and for his outstanding role in moving the zone and the country forward.

Mark in his remark at the occasion said the honour on his deputy was by extension one to all members of the National Assembly and the senate in particular.
He described the Deputy Senate president as a patriotic, honest and transparent senator and on behalf of the members of the National Assembly expressed gratitude to the traditional rulers of the South-East for the honour done to them.

Mark described the National Assembly as the pillar of the country’s nascent democracy, saying that “The mere fact that we have gone for these number of years; 10 years now in our current democratic dispensation means that the National Assembly has worked very well because at the end of the day we remain the pillar of democracy in this country.”

Referring to dignitaries and traditional rulers who came from all parts of the country for the event, the senate president stressed the need for Nigerians to learn a lesson from the event, saying “that the unity of the country is of prime importance to all of us.”

Senator Ekweremadu said that he was honoured by the presence of other traditional rulers from the North, the South and the West; “shows there is hope where we can come together as a nation to rejoice when we have to rejoice and to cry when we have to cry.

“We have a country where we have a crop of leaders and politicians who are beginning to work together for this country; and I can see our traditional rulers, who at their own level are working closely together. These are the things we want to bequeath to the next generation.

“As I speak for the unity of this country I am emboldened by the unity that exists in the senate. We have shown that people can come from different background and different political associations and work together
I believe that a country as big as Nigeria where we have people of all tribes and tongues; somebody from a different tribe and tongue can be the president and take care of the rest of us; that is the Nigeria of our dream; and I am seeing that it is beginning to manifest; we can only pray that God will guide all of us to continue on this part so that our country will be great.”

As the helicopter lifted the senate president from the soil of Obinugwu, it threw dust, sand, and dirt on the villagers who ironically waved goodbye more to the aircraft than the occupants, signaling the end to an eventful day which the community would wish could return probably with a bigger aircraft.

*Jona, I'd like to have your opinion on the war in the Niger Delta. Please take a minute from your Igbo bashing and share with us what you think about the military onslaught in your region. Thanks.

Kobojunkie is a junkie whose thinking is at best junkish. Nigeria is practicing federal character. Why anyone should be against the constitution beats me. Why one state should produce 2 ministers + CBN gov occupying related ministries/position beats me. The senator did not say hausa/igbo/yoruba. He simply noted that Kano alone has 3 officials in a similar office. That is not national spread; that is not federal character. When Nigeria begins to practice merit, it should expunge the federal character thing  from its book. Until then, we must practice federal charater. Is Sanusi of Kano State the only qualified Nigerian to head the CBN? NO!

I posted this news because it does not quite add up. I thought Segun was married to Anne Njemanze. They separated/divorced a few years ago. Now this news says Segun wants to divorce a wife who definitely is not Anne and to whom he has been married to for 12 years. Does this mean Segun had two wives concomittantly, in which case he divorced one first and now the other? Is he ever going to settle down?

http://thepmnews.com/2009/05/26/segun-arinze-seeks-divorce

Segun Arinze Seeks Divorce
May 26, 2009 14:39 (2 hours ago), 194 views

Nollywood actor, Segun Arinze, on Monday sought leave of an Ikeja High Court, Lagos, to dissolve his marriage to Annette Aina-Padonou.

The marriage of 13 years is blessed with a 12-year old daughter.

Arinze told Justice Sybil Nwaka that the marriage had broken down irreparably and irreconcilably, after the couple had stayed apart for 11 years, since 29 May, 1998.

He said he was seeking leave of the court to legally separate them to allow him go on with his life, promising to be responsible for their daughter’s upkeep.

Arinze said they both found out after about a year into the marriage that they could not live together as husband and wife.

The marriage was contracted at the Ikorodu Local Government Registry on 10 May, 1996.

Under cross-examination by his counsel, Mr. Henry Efere, the actor said their marital differences culminated in his wife packing out of their Surulere residence 11 years ago.

Arinze said he was not opposed to Annette taking custody of their daughter, Morenike Padonou, and assured the court that he would continue to be responsible for her upkeep.

Nwaka adjourned the case till 24 June for further hearing.

New Report Reveals the Depth of German Poverty

Delicious Digg Facebook Fark Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print Reuters – Demonstrators hold banners during a rally against the financial crisis, in a protest hosted by German … By TRISTANA MOORE / BERLIN Tristana Moore / Berlin – Mon May 25, 5:10 am ET
To many on the outside, Germany looks like a big, rich country enjoying the benefits of being Europe's largest economy. Inside, Germans know that looks can be deceiving. As in any nation, parts of Germany suffer from poverty, and Germans have always assumed they knew which parts: the west is rich and the east is poor. But a new report reveals the truth isn't that simple. The wealth imbalance in Germany isn't just between east and west; there are also large regional differences between the country's north and south. And across the country there are pockets of poverty more crushing than most Germans realized - and it's only getting worse.


Based on data taken before the recession hit, the new "poverty atlas" published by ParitÄtische Gesamtverband, an umbrella group for German charitable associations, and the Federal Statistics Office on May 18 is, according to the its authors, the first report to detail Germany's poverty levels and break the results down by region. It shows that in eastern Germany, for example, the average poverty rate is around 20%, with up to 27% of people in one area, Vorpommern, living below the poverty line. By contrast, in southern Germany, in the states of Hesse, Baden-WÜrttemberg and Bavaria, the poverty rate is around 11%. (See pictures of printing money in Germany.)


Chancellor Angela Merkel's home state, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, is the poorest region in Germany with a 24% poverty rate; one of the richest is the picture-postcard pretty Black Forest region, with a poverty rate of only 7.4%. According to the report, the massive gulf between rich and poor doesn't only exist between regions, but within them, too. The northern areas of the state of Bavaria have a poverty rate of 15%, more than double the 7% rate in Munich, in southern Bavaria. (Read about Merkel in the TIME 100.)


The report also shows that the west and the north, regions commonly believed to be prosperous, actually hold some pockets of poverty. In places such as the city of Hamburg and the states of Lower Saxony, North Rhine Westphalia and Rhineland Palatinate, around 15% of people are living on a low income.


The authors of the report conclude that Germany is a deeply divided country in terms of income and wealth. "Poverty is on the rise," Ulrich Schneider, the head of ParitÄtische Gesamtverband, tells TIME. "Our poverty rates date from 2007, before the current economic crisis. Unemployment will rise this year so there's bound to be more poverty." In many towns in eastern Germany local factories have shut down and, since reunification, unemployment rates have climbed to 25% after an exodus of young people looking for work in the west - a far cry from those "blossoming landscapes" former Chancellor Helmut Kohl promised back in 1990. (Read "Kohl Wins His Way."


Anyone who's living off less than 60% of the median household income is defined by the E.U. and the German government as living in poverty. In Germany, that's around $1,066 per month for a single person or $2,240 for a couple with one child. Some of the hardest hit by Germany's increasing poverty levels are children. It's estimated that there are more than 3 million German children living in poverty; in Berlin alone, up to 36% of all children are poor. "The gap between the rich and poor is wider than ever and more children have been plunged into poverty," says Bernd Siggelkow, a pastor who runs the Arche project in Berlin to help children in need. "People who claim state benefits are stigmatized by society and in the past children were simply forgotten by politicians."


Not surprisingly, the poverty atlas has reawakened the long-raging political debate over a national minimum wage. Germany doesn't have a general legal minimum wage and only six sectors of the economy have a statutory rate - in the construction industry, for example, the minimum pay rate is between $12.50 and $18 an hour. Union leaders and politicians have been calling for a national minimum wage of $10.50 an hour, but Chancellor Merkel and her conservative party colleagues have refused to back down, saying a minimum wage could be counterproductive as jobs that pay less than the required minimum would be cut and that could lead to higher unemployment. "More and more people are on low wages earning less than $7 an hour," says Michael Pausder, spokesman for the VDK, an association that promotes equality for people in need. (See pictures of the former East Germany making light of its past.)


The authors of the new report say targeted measures are needed to tackle poverty and unemployment in the poorest regions, but they admit there's no magic bullet. As the recession bites ever deeper, and with a general election coming in September, German policymakers will have to wake up to the nation's growing poverty problems - and fast.


See TIME's Pictures of the Week.


View this article on Time.com

U.S. to build American Corner project in Owerri
From Charles Ogugbuaja, Owerri

In a bid to exploit and transform the cultural potentials of Imo State, the United States government has announced the building of a cultural edifice known as "American Corner Project."


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This was disclosed at the weekend in Owerri by the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms Robin Renee Sanders, when she visited Mbari Cultural Centre at the premises of the Imo Council for Arts and Culture (ISCAC).

Accompanied by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the acting Director of ISCAC, Chidi Oguoma and Ash Okoro respectively, Sanders praised the good relationship between the U.S. government and Nigeria, adding that the United States was determined to assist the state government with the Corner Project.

She commended the government for providing enough land space to build and equip the project, urging the people to make good use of it when the project comes on stream.

Though the cost of the project was not disclosed, Sanders said the project would enhance intercultural exchange between the state and the U.S., stressing that the American embassy had accepted the proposal.

Speaking, the state Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Chief Chuma Nnaji, represented by Oguoma, said the project would facilitate the positive interaction between arts and culture researchers and their U.S. counterparts. He noted that ISCAC had been empowered by law to "research, propagate, preserve and project the arts and culture of Imo people."

otokx:
some people might miss out both ways,  let us see.

A most likely scenario; but it is Nigeria that loses ultimately, as neither Soludo nor an Igbo IGP represents Ndigbo.

''Sultans!''

Does Nigeria (by which I mean islamic northern Nigeria) have more than one sultan?

CBN Governorship: The Political Calculations
By Yusuph Olaniyonu, 05.24.2009

 
Barring any last minute hitch, it looks increasingly likely that Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Group Managing Director of First Bank Plc may soon be named by President Umaru Yar’Adua as the next governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
And when that appointment is eventually made, it will mean that all the nation’s top economic managers are from one section of the country-the North.
From the president, who is on top of the economy, to the finance minister, Dr. Mansur Muhtar, to the president’s chief economic adviser, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu, and the minister of national planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, Alhaji Rilwanu Lukman, Minister of Petroleum Resources and Dr, Mohammed Barkindo, Group Managing Director, NNPC,  they are all from the North.
However, this scenario is not new in the country. The same situation obtained under the Obasanjo administration when all national economic managers were from the South. President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Phillips Asiodu who was his chief adviser, and was later replaced by Prof Chukwuma Soludo, Chief Joseph Sanusi as CBN governor and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as finance minister,  Gaius Obaseki and later Funsho Kupolokun as NNPC GMD, all were southerners. Even when Sanusi, a Yoruba man left CBN, he was replaced by another southerner, Soludo.
However, in choosing the next CBN Governor, the issue of reversing the economic fortune of the North which was badly hit under the Obasanjo administration is not the primary consideration, Aso Rock watchers said. The major issue is geo-political balancing in filling vacant top positions in government.
Four positions are likely to be vacant in government in the nearest future. They are the post of Inspector General of Police, which will be vacated by Sir Mike Okiro from the South-south zone in July, the CBN governor whose tenure will expire (except he is re-appointed) on May 29 and the head of service, Ms Amma Pepple, another southerner from the South-south zone who may retire in June when she turns 60.
The fourth position is that of the Executive  Vice-Chairman, National Commu-nications Commission (NCC) presently held by Dr. Ernest Ndukwe from the South-east whose tenure ends in May 2010.
Incidentally, the decision of who becomes the next governor of CBN is the one that the government is forced to confront first because the present tenure of Soludo will expire in six days time.
The government therefore must take a decision which will reverberate in the appointments in the police and other agencies earlier mentioned.
For example, since the president has decided not to extend the tenure of Okiro who is due for retirement in July, the next most senior officer in the police hierarchy is Mr. Ogbonnaya Onovo, a deputy inspector general of police and Soludo’s kinsman.
The calculation therefore is if Soludo gets re-appointed, then the chance of Onovo moving up to the office of IGP will be slim. However, if Sanusi is eventually announced as CBN governor, then the chances of the Yar’Adua government producing the first ever Inspector General from the South-east in 50 years will be enhanced. Onovo is the front runner for the position and is highly favoured if the requirement of federal character does not hinder his chances.
It is believed that faced between giving Soludo a second term and making history as the first administration to make an Igbo man the Inspector-General of Police, where the chance presents itself, the administration may have decided to choose the latter by further enhancing Onovo’s chance in the contest for who heads the police from July.
It is however obvious that the requirement of federal character cannot make both the re-appointment of Soludo and the possible elevation of Onovo to happen the same time.
However, it is not impossible that another fact that may have tilted the case against Soludo’s reappointment is the intense campaign in the North that the last time the zone produced a CBN governor was 16 years ago, when Alhaji Abdulkadir Ahmed was governor. After Ahmed, Dr. Paul Ogwuma, Chief Joseph Sanusi and Soludo had been CBN governor since then, all serving five year-single term. There are indications that Yar’Adua is unlikely to renew Soludo’s tenure, having settled for Sanusi Lamido.
However, if Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s appointment is eventually sealed, then it will be significant that apart from Ahmed who served for 11 years between 1982 and 1993, mostly under the military, no civilian administration has allowed a CBN governor to serve a second term in office. During the Shagari regime, Ola Vincent who served as CBN governor from 1977 to 1982 had to vacate for Ahmed who completed the period of the civilian era and then left in 1993.
Chief Joseph Sanusi served for five years under the Obasanjo regime from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2004. Soludo took over the same day and may leave after one term. A tradition is gradually being set. No CBN governor under a civilian government may serve a second term. If Soludo had gotten a second term, it may have been another turn of history. That history is being weighed against the possibility of an Igbo man being made the IG for the first time in 50 years.

Bankole mentioned in N6bn scam

ABIODUN ADELAJA ABUJA


The arrest and detention of Godwin Ndudi Elumelu, chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Power, and two of his colleagues-Mohammed Jibo and Paulinus Igwe-by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in connection with their roles in a N6 billion rural electrification contract, might have begun to unsettle the federal legislature.

With the passing of each day, mutual suspicion grows and heightens tension among the "honourables" as to either their leaders or colleagues that may have benefited from the scam, albeit in gloves.

While their colleagues in the green chambers prefer to discuss the matter in whispers, curiously the leadership of the House of Representatives has shown more than a passive interest in the ordeal of the embattled lawmakers.

Sources informed Sunday Champion that a principal officer of the House has been making frantic efforts to enlist some retired army generals who would entreat the National Security Adviser to the president for a soft-landing for the accused lawmakers. This moves, though subtle, is said to be an attempt to cover alleged involvement in the scam of speaker Dimeji Bankole.

Could he have been deeply concerned about the fate of the three embattled federal lawmakers simply because they are his colleagues and he playing the role of the proverbial Good Samaritan or could he be possibly working to shield himself from being linked to the scam?

Interestingly while Elumelu and his co-travelers were cooling off at the Wuse 11 Abuja office of the anti-graft agency, a newspaper published a report linking the speaker to the messy deal. He was alleged to have used a company belonging to one his brothers as front in the oily contract.

In reaction to media report linking one of the speaker’s brothers to the contract scam Chairman House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Eseme Eyiboh, said the allegation was speculative, and urged that the EFCC be allowed to conclude its investigations. But the allegations are weighty and beg for prompt response.

Much as he tried to distance the speaker from the allegation, apprehension and tension among members refuse to abate.

"In the national assembly another principal officer confirmed that he was aware that the name of one of his colleagues has been associated with the raging scandal, adding that it is difficult to rope him in because it is members of his family that were said to have benefited from solar based electrification project. Indeed it was learnt that companies owned by principal officer’s family members have been already been linked to the scam", a newspaper was quoted to have reported of the event.

Eyiboh was however oblivious of the concern shown by Nigerians from diverse walks of life to issues of financial complicity involving any of their leaders.

Some members of the House who have shown disappointment in the way the scam was routed are expressing deep feeling about the image of the lower chamber given that the speaker entered office on account of the N532million contract scam which consumed his predecessor, Mrs. Patricia Etteh.

Etteh was alleged to spent huge sums of tax payers money to renovate her official residence, that of her then deputy, Babangida Nguroje as well as purchase of cars for principal officers among sundry charges.

A lawmaker, who prayed anonymity, said "if it was true that the speaker got the N900 million being peddled, then the Etteh issue would be a mere joke."

"I can only imagine what Nigerians would do to us this time," he added.

Etteh’ refusal to step aside as her scandal rocked the House led to the formation of Integrity Group, which hounded her out of office.

Eventually Etteh and her retinue of principal officers acceded to public clamour for them to submit themselves to open enquiry before a multi-party panel and in the full glare of the public.

Following the harsh verdict on her Etteh was eventually advised to voluntarily relinquish her position in order to avert a looming impeachment.

Interestingly, beneficiaries of that action are today the principal officers of the House of Representatives.

On assumption of office, Bankole assured that he would restore the sagging integrity of the lower chamber which then was on low ebb.

But shortly after, a major scandal broke out over the purchase of Peugeot 407 cars for himself and his colleagues. The leadership, in a shaky tone, explained it as official vehicles for lawmakers apparently even while the monetization policy affected them.

Although the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges tried to sweep the matter under the carpet through a lack-luster inquiry not many Nigerians were impressed by the outcome of the enquiry.

Several other cases involving alleged financial impropriety have similarly been linked to the House. These occurrences only denigrate the exalted federal legislature. Some now prefer to label the House of Representatives as the House of Scams leaving most at a loss as to the sort of leadership Bankole wants to bequeath to the nation.

Meanwhile, Bankole has remained mute to enquiries about his alleged involvement in the REA scam, even as the Integrity Group has now taken up the task of laundering his image as far as the rural electrification scam is concerned.
















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