₦airaland Forum

hardywaltz: Ogoni + Ikwerre alone can vote in any Gov. That's why Ameachi holds them dear. Nyesom Wike can keep fooling himself with Minority tribes on election day we will see if Riverine + 50% of Obio Akpor + Etche votes are enuff to make him Governor.
We dey watch.

I must say your assumption is a wild goose chase. Ogoni and Ikwerre can not elect governor in Rivers State.

khoj: Please Mr poster if you must post don't lie about my community and also d governor of R/S. Good a thing I was there live and the said community is my community, APC rally was going on peacefully without any road block nor disturbance to traffic, not until when men of the Nigerian police came in there usual way to stop any gathering not in favour of GEJ , PDP, GDI. They poined a pistol to the chief of staff rivers state govt house who happens to come from the same community, that was when indigenes of the community decided to act and the police in. There normal way started shooting but the youths refused to run, askin. Police to shoot directly @dem rather than waste d bullet on the air, police became afriad and ran away.
Need I remind u dat diz same tin happened abt 3weeks ago wen the same community was enjoying there peaceful traditional wrestling and d men of the nigerian police came to disrupt it cos d chief of staff was involved, d same community youths chased d police out of the community and d police was. Headed by the Deputy CP. Of rivers state, d shot there guns but my pple refused. To run, dey were baffled at wat. My pple can do, pls post wats true next time and not wit sentiments always knw dat d world is a smaller place now coz of internet

If your so-called community is invisible as you would have wanted to us to believe, what in the hell is stopping them from taking over Nigeria and making it a paradise according to the powers of Rumigbo.

pazienza: Actually,i think it's an insult to link Ojukwu with a sell out and white ass licker like Mandela. Not everybody is deceived by this western propaganda of trying to paint Mandela a Hero, simply because he allowed the whites them retain their economic hold on south African land and mineral resources, while giving him an empty political power in return, a far cry from what the leaders of black movement in that country fought for, before mandela assumed leadership.

Can you imagine that the saboteur Mandela the whites are selling to us as a hero, was busy negotiating with the whites, behind the back of other black african leaders.'mandela was surely a white man hero, allowing them to retain all their advantage, but surely not a black hero, never!

''The mandela legacy'' by tendai makaripe does a good justice to the scam called Mandela.

Bros the Europeans you have referenced in your post understood Africans more than Africans understand themselves. The Europeans knew Africans are bunch of imbecilic dullards who are drunk on sentiments and never appreciate the reality of life. They have succeeded in making Nelson Mandela an image which is larger than Africa with petty gifts that can never change the reality of things on the ground.

cap28: Ojukwu is not in the same league as Mandela, even a blind, deaf and dumb person would arrive at that conclusion.

Why? Because a true leader does not desert his people when the going gets tough, a true leader leads from the front and either commits suicide or stays to face the consequences, check all great leaders and you will find that none have ever deserted their people when the going got tough, even Hitler had the decency to comitt suicide when he realised that Berlin was surrounded on all sides by the Russians.

Tojo of Japan committed suicide when he realised that Japan was about to be defeated by the allied forces so Im sorry I can not put Ojukwu in the same category as Mandela.

It is unfortunate most Nigerians are known for distortion of factual facts. There are many differences between Ojukwu and Mandela which included the involvement of the Europeans on the part of South Africa, though practiced Apartheid, who were more enlightened than the idiotic Nigerians that fought Biafra.

Most top leadership of Umkhonot we Sizwe (MK) including Nelson Mandela ran away from South Africa except those captured before they could escape. Why did Nelson Mandela not commit suicide in situation less than a war? In addition, what went down in South Africa were mere riots not a war. Is it not matter of idiocy to compare well established countries and world powers such as Japan and Germany that initiated the wars to a Biafra that did not see a day of peace as country and never initiated the war?.

I have long understood the anemic problems of Nigerian stem from tribal bigotry which set the stream of thoughts of most Nigerians into the path of illogicality. This issue can not be different from other issues.

Orlando Owoh: You really need to ask one of your grandchildren to teach you government - checks and balances. ASAP.
If you must know, the Speaker didn't make this statement in an interview but in a lecture.

You have simply highlighted one of the cardinal clogs on the wheels of progress in Nigeria. Nigerians hardly understand the meaning or connotation of certain phrases yet they tend to jump all over such terms.

The “checks and balances” as you have erroneously ascribed has its limitations. There is a power of legislative inquiry and it does not translate into accelerated prosecutorial mandate.

What difference does it make if the Speaker is giving an interview or making a lecture? Nigeria has a society wrapped in a regrettable ignorance.

zeen nurei: Sir, Prof John Iliffe (born 1 May 1939) is a British historian, specialising in the History of Africa. Iliffe is professor at St John's College, Cambridge. He was awarded the 1988 Herskovits Prize for The African Poor. He is one of the best african historian in the world.

OBJ fought for the unity of and succession of this country not contrary Sir, which is a credit for all soldiers that fought for the same thing during the civil war.

NO VICTOR, NO VANQUISHED

I assumed you know that words of John Iliffe are not gospel. Both in South Africa and Biafra, people struggled for freedom and homeland. It does not surprise me that John Iliffe is a British historian. Only deluded fool will believe in any letter from the idiotic conjecture known as “NO VICTOR, NO VANQUISHED”.

Orlando Owoh: I wonder what legacy you are leaving behind, old man. Having an eye on the executive is part of the oversight function of the NASS. Have you not read about the principle of checks and balances? When the President hides under the guise that the delay in sending the proposed budget to the NASS is because of the benchmark, you see nothing wrong, but when the NASS speaks, you spew rubbish.

Jeson123

Just look at what tribal bigotry had transformed you. The principle of checks and balances is not to recommend prosecutorial mandate or even timetable by the legislature or recommend types of laws to legislature to be created by the executive or recommend to the judiciary which laws are unconstitutional or not by both legislature and executive.

Nigeria must be disintegrated to allow growth to flourish among people who cherish intellectual exercise

mitey: And because you are a ret.ard like your boss, you had to quote the article??

I guess it takes one ret.ard goon such as you to recognize another. I am not surprise at your foolery since you can fathom who is my boss from a mere Internet discussion. There is no doubt you are among the imbecilic audience the article had referred. It is typical Nigerian to arrogate high road to themselves when, in fact, they know zero

ceo4eva: Jonathan encourages corruption in Nigeria, Speaker Tambuwal says

https://media.premiumtimesng.com/dev/wp-content/files/2013/04/Aminu-Waziri-Tambuwal-3-500x294.jpg

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, has stated that President Goodluck Jonathan is encouraging corruption in Nigeria by his handling of corruption cases.

“The President’s body language’ seems to be encouraging corrupt practices in the country,” the speaker said.

Mr. Tambuwal said the executive arm, headed by Mr. Jonathan, has failed to act on corruption cases revealed by the National Assembly.

He spoke while responding to questions on Monday after he presented a paper titled the ‘role of the legislature in the fight against corruption in Nigeria’ at a one day roundtable to mark the international anti-corruption day organised by the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, in Abuja.

“Take the subsidy probe, the pension, the SEC probe and recently the bullet proof car cases. After the House of Representatives did a diligent job by probing and exposing the cases, you now see something else when it comes to prosecution.

“In some cases, you have the government setting up new committees to duplicate the job already done by the parliament. Take the bullet proof cars case, the NSA, with all the security challenges confronting the country, should not be burdened with a job that can best be handled by the anti-corruption agencies,” he said.

He also said the government has no business setting up any administrative committee in a corruption case that is clear to all Nigerians, in apparent reference to the committee set up by Mr. Jonathan to probe the N255 million car scandal involving the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah. The three-man presidential committee had since submitted its report to Mr. Jonathan, with the president taking no action.

“What the President should have done was to explicitly direct the EFCC to probe the matter. With such directives coming from the President, I am sure we still have good people in EFCC who can do a good job,” Mr. Tambuwal said.

“By the action of setting up different committees for straightforward cases, the president’s body language doesn’t tend to support the fight against corruption.”

While lamenting what he described as the selective nature of prosecution of cases by the anti-corruption agencies, Mr. Tambuwal pledged the support of the national Assembly in the fight against corruption.

Below is the excerpt of the speech he earlier read at the event.

THE ROLE OF THE LEGISLATURE AS THE VANGUARD FOR ANTI CORRUPTION CRUSADE IN NIGERIA: BEING TEXT OF THE SPEECH BY RT HON AMINU WAZIRI TAMBUWAL CFR, SPEAKER HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AS GUEST SPEAKER AT THE 2013 INTERNATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION DAY ORGANIZED BY THE NIGERIA BAR ASSOCIATION (NBA) ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMITTEE – 9TH DECEMBER 2013, SHERATON HOTEL & TOWERS, ABUJA

PROTOCOL:

1. I should like to start by expressing my sincere appreciation to the Anti-corruption committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for assigning me the role of Guest Speaker at this auspicious occasion of the 2013 International Anti-corruption day observance.

2. The subject matter, corruption, is so vast that to attempt to address it generally will take ages. Accordingly, therefore, I have decided to restrict my discussion today to “the role of the legislature as the vanguard for anti corruption crusade in Nigeria”

3. As a phenomenon, corruption is so notorious that it does not require introduction at an occasion or definition in a discussion such as this. The mere fact that corruption has been able to secure a whole day globally set aside for the observance of the prosecution of war against it confirms it’s notoriety beyond doubt. It also establishes the fact that corruption is a global citizen.

4. Nonetheless, for purposes of refreshing our memories, corruption refers to dishonest or illegal behaviour or conduct especially by powerful people. It is the impairment of integrity, virtue or moral principle and a departure from what is pure and correct.

5. Even though the tendency has been to talk of corruption more with reference to persons in position of governmental or managerial authorities, in reality corruption permeates all segments of society and indeed all societies since government and authorities are products of societies. It must be admitted though, that the level of prevalence differs from society to society.

6. For us in Nigeria, the reality that no greater challenge than corruption confronts us as a people is not in controversy. Indeed if the roots of the overwhelming majority of our woes were traced, they are sure to terminate at the doorsteps of corruption. This is a commonplace fact known to all Nigerians and requiring no corroboration. Yet for the avoidance of doubt, it is important to state that in its 2012 Global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by the global corruption watchdog, Transparency International ranks Nigeria as the 36th most corrupt country globally! Nigeria placed 139th of the 176 countries assessed scoring 27% in contrast with the least corrupt countries; Denmark, Finland and New Zealand which scored 90%.

7. A survey of the social media showed that 98% of Nigerians who commented not only agreed with the country’s corruption ranking but in fact felt Transparency International was too generous to Nigeria. A few of the comments read: “We don’t need a report to tell us what we already know” another “Wow, I taught (sic) we were No.1, I wonder what country (SIC) are before us. We all need prayers and serious fasting for our nation”. The other “to be fair, I always thought Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world” yet another “Me too… 35th is actually being nice”.

8. A list of manifestation of corruption especially in the public sector of Nigeria is legion ranging from direct diversion of public funds to private pockets, contract over-pricing, bribery, impunity, nepotism, general financial recklessness, fraudulent borrowing and debt management, public assets striping, electoral fraud, shielding of corrupt public officers among others.

9. It is a well established fact that corruption thrives well in any environment or society where there is community indifference or lack of enforcement policies. Societies with a culture of ritualized gift giving where the line between acceptable and non-acceptable gifts is often hard to draw. Societies in which values have been overthrown by materialism, societies in which laws are observed more in the breach.

10. It would appear that these environmental preconditions are all prevalent in the Nigerian society and no wonder therefore that corruption has found fertile soil to blossom.

11. As noted earlier, corruption is Nigeria’s greatest problem and a cancerous impediment to any development effort planned or envisaged. It follows then that if Nigeria is to witness true development, then corruption must be dealt with decisively and comprehensively. It is a duty requiring will, zeal and passion on the part of the three arms of government and indeed the entire citizenry.

The Role Of The Legislature.

12. The legislature plays three basic functions in a democracy, to wit Legislation, Representation and Oversight. It is within this scope of authority that the legislature can and indeed does impact on governance and can thus participate in the prosecution of the war against corruption in Nigeria .

13. Under the legislative function, Section 4 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 provides to the effect that the National Assembly shall have the power to make laws for peace, order and good government of the country. More specifically, under Section 15 (5) of the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, it provides, “The state shall abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of office”. Again in Section 2 (2) (b) and (c)’ government is enjoined to harness the resources of the nation for the common good and to prevent the concentration of wealth or the means of production and exchange in the hands of few individuals or of a group.

14. The responsibility of fashioning the legal framework for the fight against corruption and corrupt practices is thereby vested in the legislature.

15. In the exercise of this mandate, the National Assembly has enacted, the Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal, The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2002 and The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission Act 2000′ for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting Public Officers and other persons suspected of involvement in corrupt practices. In both legislation, the Commissions are given extensive powers of investigation and prosecution to deal with all cases of corrupt practices and abuse of office that may arise.

16. With respect to the specific objective of injecting transparency and accountability in the management of the resources of the nation, the National Assembly enacted the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the Public Procurement Act 2007. Both legislations make copious provisions aimed at engendering transparency and accountability in the public space.

17. I make bold to say that if the provisions of these legislation and indeed others were diligently enforced, significant milestones would have been accomplished in the fight against corruption and corrupt practices in Nigeria. Sadly however these Legislations are observed more in the breach by the majority including government and government agencies.

18. I am pleased to report that the House of Representatives is currently working on some proposals for the reform of these laws with a view to reinforcing the independence of the agencies administering these laws including their mode of constitution and disbandment. I wish therefore to call on members of the NBA and indeed all Nigerians to prepare to buy into these reforms by making their inputs now or when the time comes for Public Hearings.

19. One other area which has been of great concern is the culture of undue secrecy that surrounded the operation of government. Whereas our Constitution enjoins in its Section 14 (2) (c) that ” the participation of the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution” government business tended to be run like secret societies to the exclusion of the citizenry. It was clear that this tended and was indeed intended to aid the concealment of corruption such that even in times of suspicion, members of the public including gentlemen of the fourth realm could not access public information.

20. The National Assembly has passed the Freedom of Information Act 2011 to enhance the right of access to public records and information about public institutions. This is one Legislation that attracted massive public interest and it is my expectation that Nigerians will make maximum use of the right created under this legislation in order to defeat the culture of undue secrecy in the running of government business.

21. The other function of the legislature is oversight of the other arms of government. Section 88 mandates the National Assembly to investigate the conduct of affairs of any person, authority, ministry or government department charged or intended to be charged with the duty of or responsibility for

i) Executing or administering laws enacted by the National Assembly or

ii) Disbursing or administering moneys appropriated or to be appropriated by the National Assembly

The main object of investigation according to sub section 2 (a) and (b) of Section 88 is for law reform and to expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the execution or administration of laws or administration or disbursement of public funds. Similar provision is made in Section 128 of the constitution for legislatures at the sub-national levels.

22. Another critical role of the Legislature is the provision of adequate funding for Anti Corruption Agencies through appropriation. Unfortunately efforts to exercise this function by the legislature is often misconstrued by the executive arm and even some members of the public. Yet without adequate funding the anti corruption agencies cannot execute their functions satisfactorily. I wish to call on the other arms of government and indeed the general public to corroborate with us in the exercise of this mandate .

23.It is in exercise of this mandate that the House of Representatives and indeed the National Assembly has been carrying out oversight of government agencies and series of investigations or probes over allegations of corruption and corrupt practices. As you are all aware, the legislature has over the years exposed several cases of corruption.

24. It is important for me to stress once again at this stage that the mandate of the legislature is to expose corruption. It does not have further mandate to prosecute. That mandate of prosecution lies with the Executive and Judiciary. I have heard public comments to the effect that the public is tired of investigation by the legislature since the people indicted in their findings are never prosecuted and sanctioned.

25. Let me reiterate that the Legislature will not abdicate its responsibilities on the account of inaction or negligence of another arm of government. If nothing else we will at least continue to name and shame. As noted earlier, the war against corruption is the responsibility of all and I call on the citizens of this great nation to rise in the exercise of their constitutional power to insist on the prosecution and sanctioning of persons indicted by the Legislature or by any agency whether public or private concerned in the fight against corruption.

26. In the exercise of the mandate of oversight the legislature is able to audit both pre and post expenditure of agencies of government and to give appropriate direction on the administration and disbursement of funds and execution of programs and projects under the Appropriation Act. Indeed the Public Accounts Committee of both the House and Senate has the specific mandate to review the disbursement and administration of public funds by ministries, Departments and Agencies.

27. As representatives of the people, Legislators will continue to be for all Nigerians their eyes to see, ears to hear and mouth to speak out against corruption anywhere and at anytime it rears its ugly head.

28. The task may appear daunting but I wish to assure that wit will, zeal, passion and determination we shall eventually overcome this hydra headed dragon. Only let us be single minded that it’s a task that must be done in order to preserve the country for posterity.

Thank you all for your attention and God bless Nigeria.

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/151161-jonathan-encourages-corruption-nigeria-speaker-tambuwal-says.html

IF the above crap allegedly credited to speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, is remotely truth, there is apparent no need to be in the same country with such a fool who thinks every action by human beings under the Sun is corruptive. If this fool thinks that since every goon in Nigeria believes that the purchase of two cars was act of corruption that should require accelerated prosecution, one wonders why Nigeria has government in the first place.

I should appreciate the fact if someone can remind the lapper that primary function of the legislative body is not to prescribe prosecution of presumed wrong doers. NASS can carry out investigative duties but the onward persecution rests with another arm of the government that has professionals more properly equipped to handle prosecutorial matters than a house full of moronic dullards such as National Assembly.

@OP

Most of the Hausa people in Owerre can pass as indigenes. They have co-joined in businesses with host community, married Igbo girls and may have no intentions of going back. During every riot in northern Nigeria, the indigenes of Imo State had marshaled support to protect them and make sure large numbers of them were transported to a nearby army barracks. Besides certain physical appearances, most of northern dudes in Owerre speak Igbo fluently.

There could be some political jabs in the post as Okorocha has turned Owerre into mosque museum.

ifechez: These are the most economically viable states in Nigeria:

Lagos
Anambra
Abia
Rivers
Kano.

The second set of most economically viable states are (in no particular order):

Enugu
Oyo
Delta
Kaduna
Jos
IMO
Ogun
Edo.

When was Jos State created in Nigeria?

zeen nurei: Cambridge University scholar of African history, John Iliffe, has this to say about Obj: ” Obasanjo having been an active opponent of apartheid and an architect of the African Union. THE MOST IMPORTANT AFRICAN LEADER OF THIS GENERATION , Obasanjo has had an extraordinarily diverse career as soldier, politician, statesman, farmer, author, political prisoner, Baptist preacher, and family patriarch. As a soldier, he secured the victory in Nigeria’s civil war” . In a nutshell , even in his life time his history is being written favorably

He has been at fore front of African affairs.
His leadership has been felt much more than in Africa continent . Obj was the leader of G77, comprising most developing countries of the world . When he was president of G77 he started the campaign for global debt relief arguing that the so call debt was another form of enslavement . Later the western world agreed to debt relief , but only to poorest countries in the world, excluding Nigeria but Obj fought on for Nigeria.

Now back to Nigeria . I know those of you who don’t like the man for whatever reason , I know some just hate him because he does not belong to their political or ethnic side but that is the reality of human beings .

Here is a man who met external reserve of Nigeria at $2 billion and within 8 years left it at $68 billion .Even though the price of oil , in real terms , was the lowest in the history of petroleum when he came in . A barrel of oil was sold $9 per barrel .

He met external debt at $ 35 billion and left it at none .
He met 200 thousand functioning fones left it at over 70 million.
He met Stock Market Capitalisation @ 400bn left it 13 trillion naira...As at when he left office Nigeria stock market was best performing in d world.
We know the Story today..6yrs after all his legacies were destroyed.

May God help Nigeria.

I do not know if the John Iliffe is an African or Nigerian however if he is either African or Nigerian, it is unfortunate that Cambridge University education did dent his inferior mentality. In the first paragraph of this unfortunate thread, the author raised two distinctive issues as he praised Obasanjo an opponent of Apartheid and opponent of Biafra who helped secured victory for Nigeria in the civil war.

It is very ironic the so-called Cambridge University scholar did not notice the parallel between the struggles against Apartheid and for homeland by Biafrans. The only difference in both struggles is the absence of Europeans. I have already noticed that it takes Europeans in any cadre for an African to validate his/her humanity. It really sucks.

@OP

I have always hated the scenario where Nigerians or Africans jump into certain things the Europeans do without paying attention to fundamental modalities of such things or organization.

It is very silly that organization such as National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will invite Rivers State Commissioner of Police over a petition allegedly filed by Amaechi, Governor of Rivers State, over number of escorts assigned to him or lack therefore.

Most Nigerians are molested everyday and their inalienable rights infringed upon by Nigerian security agents, fellow citizens or government yet the useless and so-called National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) looks the other way. Were where the goons at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) when a state government in Nigeria deported citizens of Nigeria?

Onlytruth: NO, the sheriff is TOTALLY WRONG.
The office of the President of the United States is an INSTITUTION not an individual. When that office issues a directive (though I must clarify that this is NOT an order, and so can be disagreed with), it binds on ALL American citizens to follow that directive.
When he openly (as is bound to happen in this case anyway) disagreed with the President, he is disagreeing with the institution he represents.
He is indirectly weakening that institution because another person can do the same in the future to another President he disagrees with.
Not good at all.

You totally forgot that USA is country of law and order. The principles of the country are not based on goofy sentiments. If the USA’s presidential directive can be disagreed with and overlooked as you have posited, what makes it imperative to be followed by ALL American citizens?

Bros I am afraid if the president’s directives are unconstitutional, I shall openly challenge them. It is unfortunate that sentiments tend to becloud the reasoning faculties of most Africans.

The Sheriff equally pointed out how it has been done or should be done thus lowering American flag to half-staff in the USA’s embassy in RSA.