₦airaland Forum

Metuh:
He felt cheated you say?


Which primary election will be more transparent than that?
Sen. Adeleke won him with just 7 votes o.


He should quickly defect to APC and stop this noise. Some sources are even saying he is been sponsored by APC to cause wahala.

Metuh:
This man is a very big fool.

By Lami Sadiq, Jos

Chief Michael Obi, 74, is the father of professional footballer and Super Eagles Captain, John Mikel Obi. He recently regained freedom from kidnappers for the second time. In this interview, the Jos-based transporter recalls his terrifying five-day experience, reasons why his famous son rarely comes home, and more.

Daily Trust: You recently regained your freedom from kidnappers. Can you share your experience?

Chief Michael Obi: I was travelling home for a family meeting, early evening, in Enugu. I’d just reminded my driver to stop at the Ninth Mile to buy Okpa in case I fall asleep. Not quite long after a checkpoint, we heard gunshots ahead of us, so we stopped. My driver reckoned it was armed robbers, and tried to reverse the car. But another car from nowhere blocked us from behind, and the people within came and dragged us out. The kidnappers were six, well-armed and masked. They assaulted us, and dragged us into the bush. We walked for many hours, and when I complained that I could not continue, they beat me again. Eventually, they told my driver to carry me on his back. But after a while, he also got tired and dropped me.

We walked into the bush for what seemed like the whole night, until the next morning. I asked them what they wanted from me, and that was when they told me they wanted N100 million. We communicated in Hausa, and some broken English. I told them I could not afford it, and they said they heard that my son sends me N50 million to me bi-weekly. We started to negotiate, and they threatened to kill me. I told them I only had N2 million in my bank account.

When I noticed they were serious, I told them I could give them N5 million. We agreed on that sum, but they later refused, insisting on N50 million. I finally pegged it at N10 million. Two days later, they brought out my phone to call my son Tony, and I told him what was happening, and asked him to go to my bank. But when they went there, the manager was not on seat, so my other son, Ebele, who is the goalkeeper for Heartlands of Owerri, contacted Mikel. That was how the ransom was made available.

DT: How was the exchange done?

Obi: I asked them how the money could be made available to them, and they suggested that the money be brought to Mile 9. On Friday, my sons tried to get the money, but it could only be made available on Monday, since banks didn’t operate at the weekend. When I told the kidnappers, they got mad and beat me.

So, in the early hours of Monday, they brought the phone and asked me to speak with my son, in English or Hausa only. My son told me they were on their way with the money, and the kidnappers warned that if we dare involve the police they would kill me. It was almost 12 noon when my son called to say they were at the agreed spot. God so kind, they used one of our transport buses, so they were able to cross the police checkpoint without any hitch.

The kidnappers warned that if they find that the money was short, they would kill me. But after almost two hours of the ransom arriving, the kidnappers still didn’t go to collect the money. I told them not to blame me if anything happens to the money. They ignored me, and their leader brought out marijuana and shared it round, and they smoked. When they finished, four of them left, leaving two to guard us. Almost two hours later, the two asked us to get up and move, then gave my driver one of my phones. A few minutes later, we heard gunshots. We fell to the ground, while the two ran off. As we lay there, we heard shouts saying the shooters were the police, come to rescue us. They did, and led us to the main road.


DT: What about your car, and the ransom money?

Obi: It was later that the DPO told us that my car was at the police station. My son Tony who carried the money told me they didn’t collect it at the Ninth Mile, but asked him to follow them with the money. He said they moved into the bush, where he saw more armed gang members. He gave them the money, and they examined it. They later asked him to leave, and he came back and we reunited at a relative’s filling station.

DT: How did they treat you when you were with them?

Obi: We slept on the ground, and for the five days we were with them, there was heavy rain for three. It drenched us under a tree. It was only once that they brought us Okpa and pure water. Miraculously, I was never hungry. My thoughts were on how to get home safe.

DT: How different was the experience from the one of 2011?

Obi: Those first kidnappers did not treat me as badly as these ones. Though I stayed in a bunker for 11 days during the first, they gave me food and the only time they beat me was when they captured me.

DT: Was any ransom paid then?

Obi: None was paid. It was the handwork of God

DT: Your son Mikel paid the recent ransom. What’s your relationship like?

Obi: It is an issue, but we don’t know what to do. It’s over five years now without a phone call from him to me. But he communicates with his mother.

There is nothing I have not done to fix it. God has told me that I should not feel hurt. When we start to talk about it, I say, ‘Well, as long as I see him on TV, doing great, no problem’.

DT: But some people say he called you recently...

Obi: During the just-concluded World Cup, one or two days to one of their matches, we spoke. He called his mum, and she told me that Nchekwube (Mikel) was on the phone and I told him that God will see him through. I prayed for him. That’sit.
When he first joined Chelsea, my people in Anambra were very happy that God has blessed their son, and when he came to Abuja, they prepared very well with the hope that he will come to our hometown. They even made some magazines. It was grand. But he didn’t come. It was a shameful thing to me, as a father. He once told his brother that sometimes he picks his phone to call me, but something tells him not to.

DT: Have you met your grandchildren, the twins, yet?

Obi: Sometime last year, he was to bring them so that I could name them, he said he would. But he didn’t. His other colleagues frequent home, so I don’t understand.

DT: Do you encourage him to invest at home?

Obi: Isn’t that why kidnappers are targeting me? Because they think the money he makes, he ships it to me to make investments.

Bakerdav:
amosun was real indigine of ogun state, he was living in ogun state ND son of the soil

vickingz:
Lasun or oriolowo for deputy

akanbiaa:
what is negative about imposition of a candidate from a senatorial zone that have spent over 12 years as governor at the expense of the zone that only spent 1 and half years? Just wish those currently pulling the strings know this Is a fatal mistake that will cost them general election.

Johnnyessence:
so what is now your problem here having issues with him. people support him and he has God in his back. you don't support him why i support him, so stop your hatred here. ok . karma will back fire if you don't stop it. besides i love all the whole aspirants contesting. all of them shows love, peace and unity among themselves. there is love among themselves.

Johnnyessence:
you only hate him and his personality. God almighty will judge you accordingly.

Johnnyessence:
lol that is power of money.

By Luminous Jannamike ABUJA – NATIONAL Youth Service Corps, NYSC, on Monday waded into the controversy trailing the authenticity of the Exemption Certificate tendered by the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun.

The Scheme, in a terse statement by its Director of Press and Public Relations, Mrs Adenike Adeyemi, said available records indicate that Mrs. Adeosun did apply for an Exemption Certificate. However, it did not disclose whether the Minister was issued with an Exemption Certificate in response to her application.

This is coming on the heels of public outrage over reports by an online news portal, Premium Times, detailing how Adeosun allegedly skipped the mandatory national service and used a forged certificate to cover for it.

The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to the issue of the alleged forgery of an NYSC Exemption Certificate by the Honorable Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun.

“Checking our records, Mrs. Adeosun did apply for an Exemption Certificate.” Adeyemi further said that an investigation will be launched to ascertain the origin of the Exemption Certificate in question.

“We shall investigate the origin of the purported Exemption Certificate in question,” Adeyemi added.

ON JULY 8, 2018

By Jide Ajani

From Friday evening, up till the early hours of yesterday, politicians in some parts of the country, particularly the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, launched into a series of meetings in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment clearing Senate President Bukola Abubakar Saraki of charges bordering on assets declaration. Whereas information made available to Sunday Vanguard confirmed that Saraki has not decided on what his next political move would be, there were a few uneducated – though desirable – suggestions from some quarters that he should rush into the presidential contest. Indeed, having endured and persevered three years of hedgy-baddgy legal tug, while simultaneously serving as Senate President, Saraki’s clean bill of health, in a manner of speaking, is set to ignite fresh permutations and counter permutations in the political sphere. This report will show the correlation between the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, and Saraki’s travails, as well as how the clearance of the former paved the way for the renewed collaboration that brought the Goodluck Jonathan administration down. And although there is a world of difference between the augmented dismal positioning of the Jonathan administration and the Muhammadu Buhari regime, there is genuine reason the ruling party should put its house in order, especially in the face of the growing angst in the land, occasioned by insecurity. The coming days are expected to be interesting ahead of the 2019 general elections.

TINUBU: FLASH BACK TO NOVEMBER 30, 2011

After the ‘NOT GUILTY’ verdict of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, on Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in 2011, Sunday Vanguard published a tie-back (a summary of earlier published works) which this paper had done, explaining to the discerning Nigerian public that the trial was nothing more than a fool’s errand, a wasted effort, meant to embarrass the former governor of Lagos State. In fact, the precursor to the trial was the fear at the seat of power – then – that Tinubu’s incremental political stature was going to be a challenge to the Goodluck Jonathan presidency and, therefore, he needed to be cut to size. Unfortunately, however, the rush to get him convicted, at all costs, led to some fundamental errors of procedure, which, ultimately, created a leeway for his clearance. Sunday Vanguard pointed out all these and, when the CCT’s Danladi Umar pronounced Tinubu ’NOT GUILTY’, it was a testament to the underground reporting that this paper had done.

Tinubu had, on November 30, 2011 after his acquittal on the three-count charge that was egregiously slammed on him, regarding allegations of improper assets’ declaration filings, particularly on issues of operating foreign accounts, against the laws of the land, said: “Where and when are the transactions in these accounts operated? What are the balances in each of these accounts? What is the ageing analysis of those balances and their sources if any? The government prosecutors and some of their political leaders in their media campaign listed these accounts and made spurious allegations making it seem as if I looted public funds and stashed it away in these accounts. Yet they have failed to provide evidence to prove these weighty, yet unfounded allegations, which shows clearly at the tribunal that this was a political persecution from the very beginning.

“The government and its lawyers in their handling of this case have revealed a crass lack of knowledge of financial rules at home and abroad thus, embarrassing me as a citizen, their own government and the country”.

The former governor of Lagos State further stated that wasting millions of public funds to prosecute a political vendetta is unjustifiable in a country like ours and failing to apply both the principle and doctrine of materiality; cost and benefit analysis in their so-called investigation and prosecution of this case is questionable.

The former governor of Lagos State further stated that wasting millions of public funds to prosecute a political vendetta is unjustifiable in a country like ours and failing to apply both the principle and doctrine of materiality; cost and benefit analysis in their so-called investigation and prosecution of this case is questionable.

“I feel ashamed that the government is using a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, and a costly team of attorneys to prosecute this case, thereby demonstrating lack of policy direction to develop and train hundreds of lawyers in the Ministry of justice and office of the public prosecutor. I dare ask what is the aim of outsourcing a case like this to outside lawyers with huge professional bills,”he said?

“The government equally failed to employ the FOI to disclose to Nigerians how much are in these accounts and how much the government was expending to prosecute.

“I am still in consultation with my attorneys on the next plan of action. The longtime of media trial and political persecution have had toll on my businesses, my political reputation and constituted an infringement of my rights and that of my family as Nigerian citizens. It is only a wicked system that will list minors and portray them as looters for having in their accounts amounts in the hundreds meant for their upkeep and school runs.”

All these happened in 2011.

SARAKI: PRESENT DAY (JULY 6, 2018)

Once Saraki became Senate President by eyeballing his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and going ahead to defy same when filling leadership positions in the Senate, even a fool would have known that there would be a fight-back. But no one expected the fight-back to come in the form a dirty legal fight.

The legally laid down procedure for conducting an investigation in the event of any allegation of a breach of its Act by public officers covered by the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act provides thus:

(1)Any complaint that a public officer has committed a breach of or has not complied with the provisions of this Act shall be made to the Bureau. (2) Upon the receipt of any complaint, the Bureau shall cause a notice to be served on the public officer concerned to appear before it within a period of fourteen days from the service of the said notice. (3) The Bureau shall upon the commencement of investigation serve a notice debarring the public officer concerned from disposing of or otherwise dealing with any property which is the subject of investigation.

By virtue of the above Section, the Code of Conduct Bureau is required and mandated by law to serve notice on any public officer against whom a complaint has been made. But that did not happen. So, after the Supreme Court pronounced Saraki not guilty, the Senate President had this to say: “At the end of a tortuous journey of 1018 days, counting from September 22, 2015, when the case began at the Tribunal, I am happy that I have been vindicated. The Supreme Court has affirmed that there is no evidence of false declaration of assets. The court also observed that certain agents took over the responsibility of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) in this trial, and one can infer that this was done towards a pre-determined end.

“I have always believed in the infallibility of our Judiciary, secure in the knowledge that our courts – the last refuge of the oppressed – would never condemn the innocent. This outcome is also a vindication of my belief in the rule of law.

“As I said in my first appearance at the CCT, this is a politically motivated case. The case was trumped-up in the first instance because of my emergence as the President of the Senate, against the wishes of certain forces. Ordinarily, I doubt anyone would be interested in the asset declaration form I filled over 15 years ago.

“What we have seen is the opposite. Instead of working together in the interest of the nation and to seek to do better for our people, we are fighting one another and using legal instruments to mount baseless accusations against one another. Instead of exhibiting the need for unity and working day and night for that purpose, we are stoking the fire of division and rancour. I maintain that, above all else, my CCT trial has been a flagrant vilification of my person, and shows that some people are after their personal interests rather than the national interest.

“As a result of the war of attrition, various arms of government have wasted resources needlessly. It has been three wasted years across board in this country. Three years that would have been devoted to tackling issues affecting Nigerians, including economic recovery, insecurity, youth unemployment and strengthening national institutions, were wasted on malicious prosecution. People were ready to trade-off three years that would have been devoted to fostering cooperation, unity and economic progress for their selfish ends. It is my hope that those who are behind my persecution will see the handwriting on the wall and leave me to do the work for which I was elected, so I can continue to give my all to this great country of ours.

“As many have rightly observed, it is plain to see that the anti-corruption fight is being prosecuted with vindictiveness, to target perceived political opponents. I believe in the need to fight corruption, but I will never be party to the selective application of the law or the rhetoric of an insincere anti-corruption fight”.

BETWEEN TINUBU AND SARAKI

To demonstrate why Nigeria has remained an undeveloped nation, the running of government and processes of governance have been structured in such a way as to infuse incompetence, stupidity, crass malevolence as well as lack of a clear understanding of why nations fail, into the day to day activities of government.

Take, for instance, the case of fighting corruption.

In 2006, a report was submitted to President Olusegun Obasanjo. Parts of the report are quoted below:

“The President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – Chief OlusegunObasanjo, in June 2006 set up a Joint Task Force on fighting corruption comprising the following organizations namely; the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), The Department of State Services (DSS), and the Nigerian Police.

“On the whole each of the Establishments named above contributed five members of staff on the team. The activities of this Joint Task Force came under the control and supervision of the EFCC hence its Chairman – Mr.NuhuRibadu is the Head of the Task Force.

“The Task Force commenced its activities in a temporary office located at Asokoro. During its inaugural meeting, the team noted that its main functions were to complement the activities of their primary establishments.

“ASSETS VERIFICATION EXERCISE

“The team commenced its activities by embarking on the verification of Assets of Public Officers. This is to give it background knowledge to identify corrupt public officers for further investigation.

“In doing this, the team decided to collate copies of the Assets Declaration of all State Governors as a starting point. The forms were scrutinized and the verification exercise commenced.

“So far thirty-two State Governors have had their Assets verified. The remaining State Governors have been asked to schedule appropriate dates that they would make themselves available for the exercise. The Task Force has also notified the Deputy Governors, Speakers of State Assemblies and Secretaries, to the various State Governments to prepare for the verification exercise.

ACHIEVEMENTS

“Arising from this exercise, three issues have been identified.

“(i) Some public officers had declared Assets far above what they owned as their declaration could not be substantiated. A case of anticipatory declaration.

“(ii) Some public officers did not declare some of the properties they acquired while in office.

“(iii) The issue of ownership of foreign account and late declaration was treated with levity.

“The consequences of the above is that so far 15 State Governors have been found to have individually contravened some of the Provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Part I to the 5th Schedule, especially on the issue of false declaration of Assets and or acquisition of properties outside legitimate means.”

Interestingly, Tinubu’s name was not on the list of persons submitted as having run foul of the law.

Yet, for political reasons, the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCB, acting just to please the government of the day, went ahead to institute a case against the former governor of Lagos State.

Interestingly, the Chairman of CCB, Sam Saba, held a press conference where he excused the non-prosecution of the 15 indicted state governors in the report on the grounds that they owned up to the offences.

Funny enough, Tinubu, whose name was not on the list, was the one singled out for trial. The trial failed on technical grounds. However, based on the same technicalities, the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, Danladi Umar, jettisoned his own precedence initially, but went ahead to free Saraki, before the Federal Government went on appeal, whereupon a judgment caused the case to be brought back to the CCT.

Now, the Supreme Court has spoken.

POLITICAL PERMUTATIONS

In the face of contemporary realities in the APC today, especially the sudden announcement of a Reformed-APC by Buba Galadinma, a known associate of President Muhammadu Buhari, there are many who are questioning the propriety or otherwise of such a move and such a movement at a time when the Adams Oshiomhole leadership is just settling down.

However, that does not, in any way, vitiate the realities of a desirable engagement in the quest for power and control in the political sphere.

As it happened just after the acquittal of Tinubu in 2011, the storm against the Jonathan Presidency began to gather steam after the fact of the acquittal – the same cannot be too distant now considering developments in the APC.

Just after Tinubu’s acquittal, the need for the opposition elements to coalesce began to attract some traction. At that time, this was due to the seeming inability of Jonathan to stick to some agreed terms before the 2011 general elections, chiefly, the need to restructure. Jonathan reneged.

Today, the coalition that produced the APC has suffered a plethora of pummel ling, such that certain individuals who played key roles in the formation of the party feel disenchanted and disillusioned about the direction of the affairs of the party, to the extent that they are willing to go public and cause an unnecessary discombobulation of the ruling entity, even in the face of no alternative. It is that bad. Some may not have agreed with the modus of the R-APC, yet, they are as uncomfortable as those who have dared to go the way of the R-APC.

Sunday Vanguard learnt that in most parts of the capital city of Abuja late Friday into the early hours of Saturday, series of meetings were held by some politicians on the potential for a seeming disequilibrium that the Supreme Court judgment on Saraki can wrought.

Yet, whereas it would be totally premature for any pursuit of a presidential ambition on the part of Saraki at this time, there are serious issues of dominance being interrogated in the political sphere within the context of the deliverables that the APC promised on the one hand, and the shambolic realities of today that the party cannot be excused from on the other.

A few leaders of the APC, starting with its National Chairman, recognise the shambles on ground and, therefore, plans are afoot to tackle them and set them aright. Meanwhile, there is a more compelling necessity to ensure that the grievances of a section of the critical stakeholders within the party are set straight to avoid the type of fate that befell the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in its moments of arrogance that nothing untoward was capable of derailing the party.

As of today, President Buhari remains the major-domo in the APC. However, it became too late for Jonathan to discover that his dominance of the PDP had disappeared. His first major problem was his inability to realise that the state governors and their greed, insensitivity and total disregard for party rules and regulations constituted a clear and present danger to the sustenance of the party. Buhari has, today, surrendered the APC to the whims and caprices of state governors of the party to the extent that some of the governors have stood President Buhari’s integrity on its head with their total disdain for sanity.

Therefore, the clearance of Saraki, who, from what the naked eyes can see, is in charge of the Senate, just as Speaker Yakubu Dogara is in alliance with aggrieved members of the House of Representatives who are also of the APC, constitute a reasonable source of interrogation of the compactness or otherwise of the ruling party.

In a Senate of 109 members and a House of 360, with both men enjoying the confidence of more than half of each chamber, such a control cannot be said to be inconsequential.

Whereas President Buhari is famously said to have (and indeed he did) defeated Jonathan with about two million votes, it would be in the political interest of the incumbent to have a more than passing interest in negotiations with aggrieved members. Pointers to this can be located in the quality and calibre of those in talks with Vice President Osinbajo just weeks before the APC convention.

For instance, 10 states were represented at the meeting. The states are Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara and Sokoto.

From those states, some of the leaders at the talks were Murtala Nayako and Senator Nyako; Speaker Dogara and a sizeable number of members of the House of Representatives; Barnabas Gemade, a former National Chairman and former Minister of Housing; Senator Danjuma Goje, a former Gombe State governor; Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi; Senator Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, who is also a two-time governor of Kano State; a former Kebbi State governor, Adamu Aliero; Senator Dino Melaye; Saraki, who had also served as governor of Kwara State, along with the incumbent, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, as well as legislators from the state; and Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and some political leaders from the state.

In fact, the political leaders had made it known to Osinbajo that many more political leaders would have attended the talks but opted not to show their faces because of the fear of intimidation for which the administration was already known. One of the leaders said “many leaders would have been here but they are afraid that sudden arrest could be their portion”.

Those raising concerns now see in these individuals the potential of mobilising more than the two million-vote deficit. The individuals leading the teams from each of the states can, with the plethora of sub-leaders, mobilise more than 200,000, without prejudice to those who would be joining the voting eligibility net on account of age and collection of PVC.

Worse still , their agitation for more inclusiveness in the scheme of things is coming at a time of manifest, clear and present hardship in the land, a situation which, in the view of some, has blighted the popularity of President Buhari.