₦airaland Forum

^{FROM WILLIE ETIM (YENEGOA)}

FORMER Bayelsa State governor, Dr Diepreye Alamieyeseigha yesterday returned home to a rousing welcome in Yenegoa, the state capital and his hometown, Amassoma. The former governor prayed for forgiveness for his enemies, just as he said God had forgiven him.
During a courtesy call on Governor Timipre Sylva at Government House shortly after his arrival, Alamieyeseigha thanked God for being alive.

At a civic reception in Amassoma, he apologised to all that he might have offended knowingly or unknowingly. While pledging his loyalty to the Nigerian State, the former governor however said he would continue to fight for the Ijaw cause.

Alamieyeseigha, who was incarcerated for over eight months in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for fraud and money laundering charges, was overwhelmed by the large crowd that gathered to welcome him back home after his ordeal. He thanked the people for what he called the show of love and support.

Flanked by former Senate President Adulphus Wabara, Alliance for Democracy (AD) presidential candidate in the last election, Chief Pere Ajuwa and former Speaker of the state House of Assembly Boyelayefa Debekeme, Alamieyeseigha praised President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and Vice President Goodluck Jonathan for their efforts at moving Nigeria forward.

He commended the President for listing the development of the Niger Delta on his seven-point agenda and pledged to work assiduously towards the attainment of peace, stability and justice in the country.
Alamieyeseigha said he had forgiven all those who must have contributed one way or the order to his removal as governor, insisting that he had resolved to put behind him all that had happened in the past and approach life with a new and the fear of God.

To this end, he said: " I equally have a covenant with God to forgive and forget all persons who might have hurt me knowingly or unknowingly just as I have obtained forgiveness from the creator over my own failings. The difficulties of the past months have only underscored our fallibility as human beings and brought to the fore, the need for a spiritual rebirth. It was a period of intense cogitation during which I went through spiritual soul searching and rejuvenation, which have brought me much closer to the creator."

According to him, what transpired over the last two years was ordained by God but that while in his sick bed, he had made a covenant with God, to give him the strength and the wisdom to selflessly serve Nigeria.
Alamieyeseigha said there was hardly any endeavour more glorious than serving one's people and country. "As I emerge from the dungeons, I do so with a renewed sense of responsibility and dedication," he said. "This is no time for recriminations, of unnecessary brooding over developments that we as humans have no control over."

He lamented that the Niger Delta had become embroiled in an orgy of violence and rebellion, in which precious lives were being lost while kidnappings, hostage taking, oil pipeline vandalisation among other socio-economic vices, were the order of the day.

Reiterating that the set back in the Niger Delta region was the fallout of many years of resource exploitation and abject neglect of the rights and welfare of the people, the former governor blamed both the rich multinational oil companies and previous governments for such neglect.
According to him, the crystallization of the Niger Delta crisis into a national problem could have been avoided if proper measures had been taken to provide basic amenities in the area.

In his speech, chairman of the occasion and presidential candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the last general elections, Chief Pere Ajuwa said the 'spirits of the Ijaw" were behind Alamieyesegha, stressing that the Ijaw would continue to agitate for their rights until justice was done to them. "We will not hand it over to anybody. God in heaven will see to it that we don't hand it over to anybody," Ajuwa declared.

Former Senate President Adolphus Wabara said he had come as representative of his people to welcome Chief Alamieyeseigha. " I am sure that if by tomorrow this event is aired, most Nigerians, particularly the dark ones, will be shocked by the rousing welcome Alamieyeseigha received," he observed.

In a welcome address read by one time commissioner for Finance, Mr Solomon Apreala the Amassoma community described Alamieyeseigha as a great son and the day as a memorable one.

Alamieyeseigha, who had earlier been received by Governor Timipre Sylva at the Government House was received by an unprecedented crowd at Amassoma for the event which was billed for 2pm but started at about 5.30pm.

tlops:
Apart from the Oyo State Government and the NURTW, other applicants in the suits were the Nigeria Union of Tailors and the Nigeria Automobile and Technicians Association.

Big B1:
First, I will like to express my sympathy, respect and understanding to those who went through difficult period during IBB's regime.

If IBB was our president today:

- Things would have been different in many ways for better.
- He would have gotten more support from very powerful Nigerians all over the world, who were ready to assist in elevating this nation back to the top.
- The pride of our nation would have been restored and Aso Rock would have commanded more positive respect from Nigerians in general.
- Corruption would have been eradicated; an effective and efficient strategy to control corruption in Nigeria would have been introduced.
- Leaders in general wouldn't have the guts to ever stash away any funds that belong to the government.
- Restoring the Nigerian economy and improving the standard of living would have been witnessed by now.
(sometimes it takes the one that breaks it to restore it faster)


IBB never calls himself a saint and no one is calling him a Messiah.
Absolutely the man made few mistakes during his time just like any one of us. And I still feel that we've made a major mistake and blew a life time opportunity to quickly restore Nigeria back as the Giant of Africa, by not allowing IBB to come back and redeem himself.

As few of us still see this man as an evil genius; in my book IBB remains the most intelligent, loyal, stylish, honest, generous, dedicated and exciting true leader Nigeria has ever had.

I wish President Yar'Adua the best and long life; but I think at this point in Nigeria IBB would have been a better fit. And I hope one day he gets the opportunity in any way to redeem himself and show Nigerians his true identity as a kind and God fearing individual, who cares about people in general.

May God bless Nigeria.

Mariory:
And yet his (OBJ) name is still mentioned everyday because people like you and the Sun newspaper can not get past the fact that he is no longer president.
His term in government must have traumatized you so bad. You should seek counseling.

babasin:
you missed the point.

How can he knee down berging yaradua is this our to run Govt??

He surely lost me, He has slowly become a politician.

Mark it, this is the begining of the end.

Bluestream:
I have a joint account with my wife, any thing other than that is really a form of infidelity. Sounds a bit absolute, but think about it for a moment, ask yourself, what are the things that should guide our most intimate relationships?

If complete openness, trust and interdependence are included in your list ( this is me being presumptious), then it stands to reason that anything that detracts from those elements is to some degree, infidelity.

I rest my case.

CENTRAL Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, was yesterday a casualty of President Umaru Yar'Adua's new reform agenda.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, and the Minister of State for Finance, Chief Aderemi Babalola, have made public their declared assets.

Soludo lost his membership of the reconstituted Economic Management Team (EMT) he had initiated as the Chief Executive of the National Planning Commission and Chief Economic Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003.

Soludo is not alone. Also dropped are the Director-General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE). Mrs. Irene Chigbue; the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Mr. Jacob Gyang Buba and the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu.

The membership of the team, which is to steer the economic direction of the Yar'Adua Administration, has been reduced from 28 to 11 with three other members as technical support group.

The new members are: Minister of National Planning (Vice Chairman), Minister of State, Finance; Minister of State, Petroleum; Honorary Strategic Adviser to the President on Energy; Economic Adviser to the President; Deputy Governor (Economic Policy, CBN; Special Assistant to the President (Power); and Special Assistant to the President (Petroleum).

The others are: Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); and Director of Research and Statistics (CBN).

The Technical Support; members are: Group Managing Director, NNPC; Director-General, DMO; and Accountant-General of the Federation.

Finance Minister Shamsudeen Usman who is the chairman of EMT, disclosed that the President has also approved that the membership of the economic team be boosted by the inclusion of the private sector, the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the Nigerian Economic Society (NES).

The team's immediate assignment is the consideration of Soludo's Naira re - denomination policy.

Dr. Usman, explained yesterday that President Yar'Adua reduced the membership because it was wieldy and some members in the past never made useful contributions.

He said that Soludo, on the directive of President Yar'Adua, is expected to brief the Team next week on the new Naira policy's workability. He assured Nigerians of a good working relationship with his former boss at the CBN.
Usman debunked insinuations that a sour relationship exists between him and the CBN governor and advised Nigerians not to create a crisis where none exists.

"We have met with Prof. Soludo a number of times and spoken on the phone several times after I was appointed. He was even happy that I was appointed Minister of Finance given that we are coming from the same background which will make for a very good working relation. I am therefore surprised to be reading in the press that there exists acrimony between us. There is nothing like that. We enjoyed a cordial relationship while I was at the CBN and even now,'' Usman further submitted.

Meanwhile, Usman and the Minister of State for Finance, Chief Adeyemi Babalola, yesterday made public their assets as declared to the Code of Conduct Bureau.

The lists indicated that Usman is worth N470 million in liquid cash and assets and shares in 25 companies amounting to 5.1 million, while Babalola is worth N389.73 million.

Afam:
I actually stopped buying newspapers about 2 years ago.

In reality, some nonsense and very misleading headlines on our newspapers go to show that the owners are really interested in making money not protecting the interest of Nigerians.

If OBJ did not read newspapers and developed Nigeria very well will some of us be saying what we are saying?

Reading or not reading newspapers (especially Nigerian newspapers) has very little to do with whether a leader will do well or not.

A leader that wants to work will work regardless of what the newspapers say or whether he/she reads them.

Seun:
What is the source of this article? I'm sick and tired of asking this question!!

Seun:
What is the source of this article? I'm sick and tired of asking this question!!

ono:
You can say they don't have foresight. No wahala. Everyone is free to air his/her views in a democracy.

What is sure and here to stay is that EFCC will be flushed down the toilet soon. Just like WAI - War Against Indiscipline. We dey kampe dey watch as events unfold.

Residents of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, woke up yesterday to discover an increased presence of troops in some parts of the city.

The deployment of troops followed the abduction of a Nigerian Production Supervisor with Elf Petroleum Company Limited, Mr. Peter Agwuma, last night.

He was kidnapped by unknown men on his way from church around 8.30pm barely twelve hours after a Pakistani construction worker was kidnapped in Ogoniland, also in Rivers State.

The fear of more kidnappings has led to the increase in military presence.

The troops virtually took over the former Eleme Petrochemicals at Indorama in what was tagged a “routine” military exercise.
The Public Relations Officer of the Second Amphibious Brigade in Port Harcourt, Major Sagir Musa, said residents and visitors should not panic when they see the movements as it was meant not to scare anyone.

“The deployment of troops to Eleme Petrochemical Company is a normal and routine exercise by the Joint Task Force to ensure safety of lives and properties of the company and surrounding inhabitants. People should not panic, it is a conscious and continuous effort aimed at providing an enabling environment for law abiding citizens to carry out their lawful business in a secured and peaceful environment in Rivers state,” he explained.

Agwuma was allegedly picked at Iwofe road area by Agip Road. Since he was picked, nothing has been heard of him.
Confirming the story, the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu said “there is no news at all on the incident since he was taken away. Nobody or group has claimed responsibility”.

Also responding to inquiries, the Head of Corporate Affairs of Elf in Nigeria, Mr. Fred Ohwawha confirmed that their staff was kidnapped but that they do not know those.

“We do not know the motive of the people who kidnapped him and we do not want to speculate. We are trying to do our best. We have been in touch with the family and the police on the matter,” he said.