₦airaland Forum

Ayekotoo: show us the pictures of high patronage of customers.

anonimi: The ACN manifesto on education, which is reproduced below obviously does not tally with the mesmerising grammar that you have written up there.



As usual the maradonas in the Association of Conmen in Nigeria, ACN are long on words to seduce the gullible public but short on real action.

Let's take Lagos state for example, after over 14 years in charge with some N= 7 trillion (7,000,000,000,000) spent what is ACN's legacy on education despite their oyoyo manifesto words that says education is "TOPMOST PRIORITY"

Ayekotoo: @ Gbawe, please I beg you to leave that Guy called Anonimi because he doesn't worth discussing with. All he does here is to spread lies over Education in southwest. Awo did this, Jakande did that have been his watchwords since I know him. he's not that intelligent at all. gosh!

PapaBrowne: Quite impressive works.

I envisage a renaissance of some sort in the South West. If all the energies of the SW states can be harnessed and the core competencies of each and every one of them maximised, then the region can finally be liberated from the clutches of underdevelopment.
One thing though, the SW has to embrace entrepreneurship for it to compete effectively in this new era in the 21st century.

Mr. Oluwatobi Osinowo

https://www.lakepointlimited.com/images/tobinewpic2.jpg
Tobi Osinowo

Mr. Oluwatobi Osinowo is a developer and entrepreneur. He is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Lake Point Limited. Mr. Osinowo is a graduate of Economics from the University of Jos, Nigeria.

He also holds a Masters degree in Business Administration with emphasis in banking and finance from the ESUT Business School.

In 2002, He became an alumnus of Lagos Business School (Pan African University) having completed its Chief Executive Program, Tobi is also a member of the Oxford University Business Alumni (Oxford UK). Over the years, he has attended several professional and executive education programmes in institutions such as Harvard Graduate School of Design/Harvard Business School, Boston, USA, University of Navarra (IESE) Barcelona, Spain, Euromoney Training, Financial Times Property Conferences (UK), Henry Stewart Property Development Master Class (UK) and several leadership, project management and general management courses in Lagos Business School.

He has over 20 years post qualification experience. Prior to starting Lake Point Limited, he worked with African Petroleum Plc (former British Petroleum), First Capital Group - a financial consulting firm and Universal Building Society - a primary mortgage institution.

In 1995, Tobi founded Axial Ventures Limited – A financial advisory brokerage services firm. Axial Ventures under his leadership provided advisory services to a number of businesses ranging from multinationals to financial institutions across different industries in Nigeria.

anonimi: It would appear that the ACN governors and other party stalwarts do not realise that EDUCATION is the foundation for any society to develop upon.

Chukwumerije hails Aregbesola’s education policies
POSTED ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10TH, 2012


By Gbenga Faturoti, Correspondent Osogbo

Chairman, Senate Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije has called on other states in Nigeria to emulate the feat recorded by Osun State in education sector saying that what is happening in the state is capable of rescuing the country’s rotten education sector.

Chukwumeriji, who lead other members of the committee on an oversight visit to Osun State, challenged other state governors to learn from the policies being put in place in Osun if indeed, they are set to put their states on the path of glory.

He explained that all state governors must drop their party affiliations and sentiments and learn from Osun because the state is on the right path to the development of the sector.

Other members of the committee included wife of the former governor of Lagos State, Oluremi Tinubu, Professor Olusola Adeyeye and Atiku Bagudu.

The committee said the visit was a mark of respect and solidarity in showing appreciation for the feat that the young administration of Aregbesola has achieved in Osun.

According to Chukwumerije, “The states and the country owe Governor Aregbesola a lot of gratitude for promptly laying a formidable foundation for education in the state. I will like to use this opportunity to advise other states irrespective of your political affiliation, you must drop your ego and learn from the people oriented projects and programmes of Governor Aregbesola.”

The senator described the collapse of education in the country as a national challenge and appealed to all to muster the courage to address the decay in the education sector.

“The Governor of Osun is God-sent to his people. Aregbesola, as a fresh governor, has shown that he is a serious-minded person. For the first time, the education policy of Ogbeni Aregbesola remains the best in the country, even ahead that of Lagos State.”

Responding, Governor Aregbesola held that for the country to progress, the interest of the people must be considered before any decision is taken; stating that parliamentary system of government is the essence of democracy.

He said, “The best form of political activity is in the parliament, our nation will not make appreciable progress if it focuses only on the executive, at least the parliament is where ideas are generated, they have total representative and support of the people.

“Parliamentary system is the essence of democracy. The assembly of the people must not be an expression but it must put into practise. For a country to have a meaningful development progress, it must not be a one-sided means of power.” The governor averred.

Speaking on education, Aregbesola said when he got into power; his intention was to close down schools for about a year because of what he met.

“What was on ground was dilapidated school buildings not fit for human habitation. The conditions of teachers were nothing to write home about plus the condition of other infrastructure.”

He urged the committee not to be afraid to tell the president that there is a problem in the educational sector, adding that the decadence in the sector must be arrested to rescue students from the problem of not having sound education.

Aregbesola held that the basis of growth for any country is sound education and that Osun is committed to provision of genuine and sound education for its citizenry hence the commitment of huge resources to make sure that its pupils will rank among the best in Nigeria.

mandarin: Economic empowerment is essential for this region now and there is the need to pursue it rigorously

Group Passes No-Confidence Vote On Fasheun
Posted: July 30, 2013 - 14:29

https://saharareporters.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/news-page-images-480-wide/page_images/news/2013/Mustapha-fasehun_0.jpg
OPC leader, Dr. Fredrick Fasheun and Major Hamza Al Mustapha riding together in Kano

By Saharareporters, New York
A new group called the Media for Ethnic Equality (MEE) has passed a vote of no confidence on Dr. Fredrick Fasheun of the Oodua Peoples’s Congress (OPC), urging Nigeria to desist from seeing him as one of the leaders and mouthpieces of the Yoruba people.

In a communiqué issued after a meeting of the group on the renewed confrontation between Chief Gani Adams and Dr. Faseun over the role of the latter in the release of former hatchet man of late dictator, Sani Abacha, Col Hamza Al-Mustapha, MEE condemned in strong terms, what it terms the “unholy association” and appealed to the Yoruba race to drop Faseun as one of its mouthpieces and leader.

The group, which bemoaned the shoddy arrangement that led to the acquittal of Al-Mustapha, said it was painful that the arrow-head in a government that wasted the lives of so many journalists and notable Nigerians could be so freed with impunity on the altar of politicking.

“It is sad that the people in government and some desperate individuals could connive to settle for political gains with the blood of the heroes and heroines of our nation who laid down their lives for the enthronement of the democracy we are today celebrating. It is a sign of a collective resolve by the present ruling class to strangle patriotism and enthrone anarchy which we must all rise up to fight,” the group says.

The communique which was jointly signed by Gboyega Adeoye and Gbenga Soloki, Executive Director and Director of Publicity of MEE, respectively, called on members of the Oodua People’s Congress and the people of the Yoruba nation to renounce Dr Faseun as a factional leader of the group.

“We are of the opinion that a true son of the soil in Yoruba land will not pitch his tent with a major actor in a government that made living a hell for Nigerians; a government that killed so many of our illustrious sons and daughters in cold blood. Faseun has done similar thing before when he betrayed the OPC cause by hobnobbing with late General Sanni Abacha and later Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 when the OPC had aligned with other civil society groups not to participate in a military tailored transition.

“It was this betrayal of the group’s resolve that made many notable Yoruba indigenes, including the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, to solicit support for Adams faction which is today the main engine that drives the OPC in South-West Nigeria,” the communiqué reads.

MEE also solicited for a total blackout of all activities relating to the Faseun faction of the OPC in the media just as it called on media houses in the country to place a total blackout on Dr Faseun and his Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, stating that his mission in setting up the party after the one founded by the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo, is to further plunge the Yoruba into deeper ridicule.

“For a man who has chosen to betray his race to struggle for leadership of the nation at the ripe of his age, the desperation is better imagined than felt. The sad end of Kudirat Abiola, Pa Alfred Riwane, Bagauda Kaltho and so many martyrs, so numerous to mention, is still fresh in our memory and this is why we have to rise up to register our disapproval to the deadly moves of some elders who are scheming to mortgage our future, our heritage, for their selfish ends,” MEE said.

“We shall not be weary but shall remain dogged and resolute in this determination to support a just cause and fight all forms of greed and political shenanigans to a standstill.”

On-Going Roads ‘ll Be Completed As Scheduled- Ogun Govt


Towards ensuring that all roads being constructed by Ogun State Government are delivered as scheduled, contractors handling the projects have started asphalting sections of the roads. The Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite who made this known in Abeokuta during inspection tour to the sites said asphalting of the sections of roads were done after completion of all necessary concrete and earth works on the roads.
Some of the roads on which the sectional asphalting had been done include, MKO Abiola way, the Ilara axis of the 107km Ilara-Ijoun-Eggua road, Sagamu Express way - Sabo road, Ilo-Awela road in Ota and Onikolobo axis of Ojere-Adatan road. According to the Commissioner, “the contractors are aware of the state government’s stand on when the roads are to be delivered and they are working towards achieving this”.Arc. Adegbite expressed satisfaction that the raining season had not slowed down the pace of work and progress recorded on all the roads are tremendous.

The commissioner also disclosed that government has started construction of 7 fly over bridges across the state, all of which are expected to be delivered before the end of the year.The bridges according to him are Mobalufon fly over and Lagos Garage flyover along Ejirin-Oluwalogbon junction, Ijebu Ode, two bridges along Illisan- Ago Iwoye road, the fly over bridge at Sabo Sagamu and two briges at Itoku and Sapon along OGTV-Brewery road in Abeokuta.

Sundahjoe: a picture that i snap recently to show level of work.

delpee: Amazed by the new ilo awela-oju ore rd! Such a stressful road to pass through few years ago.
Up Amosun!

Amosun signs MOU with Chinese company on Ogun rail project
Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji
Published:April 10,2013

https://media.premiumtimesng.com/dev/wp-content/files/2012/09/Governor-Ibikunle-Amosun-of-Ogun-State.jpg
Ogun state governor, Ibikunle Amosun

The governor says the rail project will boost the economy of the state.
The Ogun State Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, with the China Civil Engineering Construction Company on a light rail mass transit.

The project is expected to link the major cities across the state and boost the state’s economy.
The Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, while going into agreement with the company in his office in Abeokuta, said that the project will be done in order to boost the economy of the state and raise the standard of living of its people.

“We have been doing our best on roads but it is high time we paid attention to rail as well. We are starting the mass transit within Abeokuta metropolis. This will be extended to all our major towns including the Ado-Odo/Ota axis up to the areas bordering Lagos,” he said.
The governors said that it is imperative to boost transportation in the state in anticipation of a significant rise in population in the coming years.

In his remarks, the Managing Director of China Civil Engineering Construction Company, Cao Bao Gang, lauded the Ibikunle Amosun-led administration. Mr. Gnag said that “the project on completion will enhance the transportation system and contribute to the economic development of the Gateway State.’’
He assured the governor that quality would be the firm’s watchword in the implementation of the contract.

“The project will provide jobs for residents and help the unskilled ones to gain adequate knowledge through training and involvement in the whole process,” he said.

tjfulloption: foolish idiot nigerian disgracing nigerians and nigeria. soon or later, a day is comming tyrant men shall be overthrow, onebyone!

oyb: its becoming crystal clear now that mustapha's release was orchestrated by gej as another ploy for 2015

prodam: An insight from the wise and for the wise..
Thanks sir.

You were one of the South-south leaders who fought for a president from the region which eventually produced Jonathan. Will you say you are satisfied with his performance today?

That is a difficult question because I am in the opposition. I am in a totally different party, but I do not think the economy is doing well in spite of all the good things that they quote. When capital flows into Shell, into Chevron, and when the banks shuffle their papers and money is being made and exchanging hands, we are said to be going at six, seven per cent.
I am an economist, my career was basically at the Ministry of Economic Development, Economic Planning, but until that word, development, reaches and touches the average Nigerian, until I see stability in power, until I see growth in employment, until I see graduates who have hope that even after three years they will get jobs, governance have not been effective. My attitude is that it does not matter where the President comes from, those are the basic indicators of a successful government. I think it is clear that there I nothing on ground to show that this government has performed.



Coming to your state, Edo, the battle for Governor Oshiomhole’s successor is already on. Do you not think that may tear the coming APC apart in the state?

The only surprise to me is that the struggle for his successor started so early and such an intense manner, and I think it was wrong. We still have a lot of catching up to do in Edo and I mean that seriously we don’t want anything for at least two years to divert the energy both of the government and of the people. There is a lot of time for that, the advice one wants to give in a situation like this is that those who get into the ring too early are likely to fight themselves to a state of exhaustion by the time the real fight comes and you will allow a third party to run away with the prize. It is even in the interest of all those that are involved to back down and let the proper time come. It was really threatening to destabilize the party, and, if the party is destabilized, government will also be destabilized and we don’t want such thing. I was very upset about that and I think at the appropriate levels we all made that very clear.

Edo PDP is strategizing also ahead of 2015 and 2016. Do you think the APC will have the fire power to check the PDP since Oshiomhole’s tenure will come to an end in 2016?

I don’t see the PDP featuring in the struggle. The real struggle will be who will satisfy the people within the ACN and being capable of continuing at the same level that Governor Oshiomhole was operating; not whether the PDP will feature of whether they are re-organizing. I know human memories are short, but the last ten fifteen years is also short and people remember what they lost in twelve solid years of PDP governance in Edo State. And the excitement that the last five years has brought, the hope, the change, will always be considered, not the PDP. So the real issue is going to be who will replace Oshiomhole rather than whether or not the APC as it is will retain office. I have no doubt about that in my mind. Oshiomhole has made us proud and Edo people will always be grateful to him and reward him with their continued support.

What do you see ahead of 2015?

The fear I have for the country is the nomination process. Once the candidates emerge, the political battle lines will be very clear and will be decided. And that won’t be subject to structures any more, it will be subject to your ability to convince the people that you have performed in the past and you will even be able to do better in the future. And I don’t think that in this age, it will be possible to do, with INEC, the police force, the totality of the security agencies, what happened in President Obasanjo’s time.

The world has moved on including the Nigerian world. Of course the opposition has learnt very bitter lessons and, but for the courts, some of its victories could not have been achieved, only a few were snatched back from the seizure by the PDP. So it is clear that we have to be better prepared for 2015 and any other election for that matter, because the first election is coming in October, Anambra State.

And we are going to have elections in Ekiti, Osun, and the rest; we are not going to take chances. The only people who would want to fake the elections will be those who want to be self -destruct, because things won’t be like they used to be because we too will be prepared.

How do you view the battle for the presidency between northern leaders and the South-south?

Sometimes I think I am over simplifying issues but I could go back to what I said before, it is for the Nigerian population to decide who will be their president. The day will not come when all those contesting will be northerners or where all those contesting will be southerners; there will be a mix of North, South, East and West contesting in 2015. It will be left to the good sense of the Nigerians voters to know what is in their best interest. I have got calls from strange people who say I am one of Jonathan’s supporters and I said no, that is not the issue.

The issue is that he has fundamental constitutional right to contest and you cannot take that away from him, just like it is the fundamental constitutional right of the Nigerian voter to decide who governs him. To me, the issue is simple; all the people over heating the polity and shouting it must be a northerner or a southerner; that does not arise. President Jonathan is entitled constitutionally as a Nigerian to contest the election. It is for him to convince the PDP.

Any other person is also fully entitled, it is for him to convince his party, then we meet at the political battle ground. I hate people creating arguments and difficulties where there are none. Of course they are initial drums of political excitements leading to the big event, but if they can do that without endangering the political health of the nation, the better for us. But I don’t think Nigeria will collapse for any reason.

How do you view the recent war of words between the President’s wife and the Nobel laureate, Prof.Wole Soyinka?

Normally, the President’s wife should not be doing what she is doing, out of respect for her husband, the President, out of respect for the position she holds. But she is a Nigerian, she has a right to a party card, she has a right to aspire for whatever she wants to be politically in this nation but that has a price. From her exalted position, immediately she decided to be involved in political combat and political conflict, then she should be ready for the consequences. I find that very sad indeed because she was a pinnacle, but she has abandoned that pinnacle and decided to be a politician like every other person.

That is unfortunate and that is of course the reason for the comments that we observed recently. I read some of the comments and they were surprising. I even listened to a few radio programs and some people said ‘you should not talk to the First Lady that way’.

I agree, you should not even talk to the President like that, but if anybody, President or the First Lady, decides to go into the mud of politics, then he/she must expect the mud to be thrown at him/her. Even though I am in the opposition, I admire the President’s wife because she is a very strong- willed lady, but there is a lot of good she can do without descending into the murky waters of political conflict.

It is easy to make that deduction that she could be the cause of the crisis in Rivers State because she was in Rivers for ten days, the whole place was virtually locked down and days after she left, this conflagration started. Well, this is a case of putting two and two together. Wole Soyinka and Ben Nwabueze are respected Nigerians and she cannot ignore their advice and it will be very unfair for her to condescend to a level of trying to insult such great men.

But are not surprised that the President has not been able to caution the First Lady and stop this national embarrassment?


The President probably thinks and his advisers have probably convinced him that these things serve his political interest. May be they are right, may be they are not. But like I said earlier, the fight should not be something that involves the total population of Rivers State. It should be something to be carried out within the structures of the PDP. It should not affect the House of Assembly.

If you want to induce members of the House quietly, whatever you need to do, do it, but carrying thugs there, with the police supporting them one way or the other, that is not the best way to convince anybody. This is something for persuasion, inducement, not something for breaking heads. It is unfortunate, I would have expected that the President will be more presidential both as the issue relates to the Nigeria Governors Forum that is a disgraceful show of ineptitude at too high a level of governance in Nigeria.

The NGF problem and also this Rivers angle, the President should step out as a statesman, he is the father of this nation, he is the number chief executive of this nation, the governors are chief executives of their states, they have a common interest outside politicking. He should now take whatever else he wants to do within the PDP family and not allow the kind of show of shame we are witnessing today. His position must be clear, must be firm, he must put himself at the right side of history and posterity and his own personal reputation.

Many people think that the same crisis you spoke about in the PDP may tear the APC apart due to personal interests of the leaders?


It does not worry me. I have seen miracles happen since the negotiation for the merger of this party started. I have seen politicians accept what I never thought politicians will accept. I have seen politicians making sacrifices that I never thought politicians were capable of making.

I have seen the hand of God in what is happening now; we have already set up an interim executive to meet up with the requirements of INEC. We have three major parties each of which has an executive already, almost the same number of positions.

There were three, four chairmen, but we now have only one; so there are chairmen today who are just playing the role of ordinary members and they have accepted the situation. Nobody has had to make extraordinary promises of anything whatsoever.
In a political circle, I think that is nothing short of a miracle. God loves this country. I have no doubt about it and what is happening now is God’s way of saying, ‘look, I wish you people well, I want to give you another chance,’ and, thank God, the various leaders of the parties, have been modest enough, sacrificing to make what has happened possible.

Yes, there will be disagreements here and there, but the pattern is already set on how to spread the offices between the various interest groups and the minute the APC is recognized, all the barriers of ‘I am CAN’, ‘I am CPC’, ‘I am ANPP’, will be totally broken down; we will now have one single national party.

But how optimistic are you that APC will take over the Federal Government come 2015?

I am not a gambler but, on this particular issue, I am ready to wager anything. The discontent in the country is palpable, you can see it, you can feel it, even touch it.

The hopelessness in the country is very high and you can see that the people are waiting for a way out. What they have been doing in the past is based on the fact that they did not perceive that they had a credible alternative so that they can punish a non- performing Federal Government. Now that the alternative is here, I have no doubt that the long suffering Nigerians will know where to dismount and back the party that will restore hope to their lives.
What do you think about Rivers political crisis/ factionalization of NGF?

I don’t know if there are words harsh enough to describe the developing situation in Rivers State . It is disgraceful, it is shameful. Not only before Nigerians, we are also dancing naked before the international community. 35 responsible leaders, the second layer of governance in this country could have such arguments over an election in which only 35 actors, leaders, executives governing millions of people participated.

The situation is also very alarming because it is a precursor to what is happening, it has now degenerated to such an extent that the consequences are going to be enormous if it continues. The whole nation cannot be behaving as if this is kindergarten politics, as if this is student union politics. Minister, Honourable members, police commissioner, the Presidency, behave as if there is a cult war in a university. Five people trying to impeach a Speaker and a governor; if it were a fairy tale, it would still have been very outlandish, but to think it is disgraceful that supposedly responsible people are fighting for something the end of which they may not live to see, and the nation is tense.

They don’t even think of the consequences, they are so myopic and so blinded by events which are yet to come, two years from now. Everybody keeps saying power belongs to God, so why have they decided to play God at this very early stage of the process? The issue today is nomination, the election is not even an issue, but when people are pontificating and talking, they bang the table, ‘if this one does not become this, Nigeria will cease to exist, we heard that from the South-south and from the North’.

What kind of rubbish is that? Let them talk within their parties, concentrate on making sure that those they favor get nominated, we have not come yet to voting and we have to trust the Nigerian people, put their case before them, and stop beating war drums and promising bloodshed if A or B is not returned as President, not even to be nominated as a candidate. I find it astonishing.

It is as if normally responsible people are taking leave of playing ordinary common sense. So one can only appeal that they should go step by step; everybody should shift his belt and carry the battle to his party, get nominated; when campaign time starts, we can start the game. I don’t see reason for this kindergarten type of overheating the polity and endangering the corporate existence of the nation. Let these people keep quiet and not play God, when the time comes, God will show the people what to do.

News: Jonathan is disgracing Nigerians – Oyegun

Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the first civilian governor of Edo State, is one man who craved, long ago, for an alternative national political party that can check the seeming arrogance of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the federal level.


Today, he is one of the Action Congress of Nigeria, CAN, leaders working for the registration of the All Progressive Congress (APC). In this interview, he discloses how the leaders of the opposition have been able to bury their personal interests to ensure that the APC merger becomes a reality.

He describes the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP as a failure, just as he notes that the activities of the First Lady of the nation, Dame Patience Jonathan, are making the President more unpopular. He speaks on other national issues including Edo State politics.

Excerpts:

Some of the leaders of the opposition have been busy trying to register the APC. What impact do you think the party will make if eventually registered?

I think that the day after we get the official letter, registering the APC, the political dynamics of this nation will totally change, because it will be a move nearest to a two- party system. Secondly, we will be creating, from day one, a credible national party which will have root in every state, every geo- political zone of the country. We will be offering, from that very day, a choice between the PDP and the credible alternative, the APC.

We will be offering the people a choice between two proven entities, the record of the PDP is there and I think it is one great endless list of mismanagement, bad governance and extreme level of corruption, as against an APC which also has a record; fortunately, when you think of the record set by the South-west governors, when you think of the record set by the only APC government in the South-south, which is Edo, when you think of the Nassarawa governor who knows that he has an Assembly that is controlled by his opponent but he has been able to make a landmark achievement in the short time he has been there, you know we have an edge over the PDP. And, of course, you must think of the ANPP contribution in terms of its strength in the North-east.

Also coming into the fold very strongly is Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, and you have to count Anambra where we control one senatorial area, and, but for electoral manipulations, we would have won the governorship there.

So we have a party that is evenly spread all over the country. The one component of the party in the North, the CPC, their candidate in the last elections garnered about ten-eleven million votes; by the time we add to that the massive votes that are to be harvested in the South-west, in the South-south, South-east, I think the voting public will now see that, truly, they have an alternative with performance that can be the ruling party at the center.

So it is going to be interesting, it is going to be challenging and i think the course of political events in this country will dramatically alter. I don’t want to go into the endless crises and the threat of implosion within the PDP which, of course, can only rebound to the advantage of the APC.

Several governors of the PDP will be lining- up, knocking at the gates of the APC in the not too distant future; so the future is absolutely bright for the APC.

PDP, CPC, ANPP, others violate financial regulations, ignore rules- INEC
Festus Owete
Published:March 26,2013


The Nigerian political parties were indicted in a report.
The external auditors appointed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to audit the political parties in the country have indicted 54 of them for not adhering to the accounting procedures in their operations in 2011.
According to the report, which is the latest by the auditors, while some of the parties ignored the conventional books of accounts, others did not have membership register at their headquarters during the year that the last general elections were conducted.
Other lapses noticed in the operation of some of the parties include absence of self audit report (internal and external), non-existence of fixed asset and liability, and lack of fiscal control measures.
Altogether, the accounts of 56 political parties, including those later de-registered, were audited by the external auditors.
The exercise was concluded in February 2013.
The indicted
Among the major parties indicted by the Commission’s auditors are the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP; Congress for Progressive Change, CPC; All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA; and the Labour Party, LP.
Only the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; and the Citizens Popular Party, CPP; escaped INEC’s hammer as they were found to have complied with the Political Party Financial Reporting Manual 2011 and Political Party Finance Handbook 2011.
ACN, in particular, was found to have maintained internal audit report and account as well as conventional books of accounts during the year under review. The auditors also said that budget and budgetary control of the opposition party were in place and that the party has a well defined fixed asset register while its membership register was in place.

On PDP, the audit report said, “The party does not have a prepared internal audited financial statement for the year.” It also noted that “Conventional books of accounts were not properly kept as required by Section 93 (2) of the Electoral Act” and “the Party did not maintain fixed assets register both at the Headquarters and Zonal offices.”
The Commission’s auditors, therefore, asked the ruling party to establish and maintain necessary records and accounts of its financial transaction in the states and zonal chapters so as to have a global view of the affairs of the party.

The ANPP was indicted for the same offences as PDP. Additionally, the Nigerian opposition party was discovered not to have maintained membership register even as it had no prepared budget for the year under review.
The report urged the party to “improve on the filing system by computerising its account functions for future transaction.”

It also admonished the party to maintain an effective internal control system and comprehensive fixed assets register and that membership register should be introduced.
The CPC, according to the report, did not have budget and budgetary control throughout 2011, amongst other improper accounting procedures. Accordingly, the Commission’s auditors asked the party to “endeavour to write up all the relevant books of accounts from where its financial statements could be extracted for analysis and proper evaluation and monitoring.”

It also asked CPC leadership to open a membership register and endeavour to install a more effective internal control measure in compliance with the political parties finance manual handbook.

The auditors rebuked APGA, for not maintaining a membership register at its headquarters. The party was also scolded for not having internally prepared and approved audited financial statement for the year under review.
The party was then asked to install “an effective internal control system for checks and balancing and endeavour to maintain a comprehensive membership register and remittances of all deductions to the necessary agencies.”

saxywale: Who is the guy on the right? he looks like opeifa though.

ebamma: and before some guys come here to make foolish comments am a full born niger deltan, am no Gej hater, but he is wrong on this one, u can't change a thief by paying him to protect his loot

ebamma: also to add to that, he pays opc leader fasheun 2 billion naira to protect pipelines , what happened to our armed forces? Why is he paying so much money to exmilitants when yet still, we lose atleast 150,000 barrels daily to oil bunkerers according to shell

samuelkaykay: Thank God,i don't know who joe igbokwe is,though the name sound like my dad's former driver.

Fear Of Extinction Grips PDP South West

https://www.osundefender.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/sinking-ship-300x255.jpg
PDP sinking ship

All things considered, I make bold to say that this is not the best of times for PDP South West and PDP National. Ever since the coming of APC, the PDP family has been living in fear. Fear of the unknown, fear that things are likely to go wrong for the party they claimed to be the biggest in Africa, fear that they may lose elections in 2015, fear they may be called to give an account where all the money went to and fear that the next President can bring the corrupt to book. But this is the story for another day.

Today my attention is going to be focused on PDP South West. Few days ago the PDP South West said ACN has been causing divisions within party. They said that efforts they have made in recent years to put their acts together has hit the rocks because they suspect that ACN has been putting spanners in the works. The party claimed that ACN has been sponsoring moles in their leadership hierarchy and thereby making it difficult if not impossible for them to settle their irreconcilable differences for years now. They went further to claim that ACN has bought over their leadership.
PDP South West has been suffering from fear of the unknown, anxiety or what medical experts call neurosis. They blame others instead of blaming themselves for their predicaments. Several factors contribute to the catalogue of woes the party has been going through in the past years.

First is the inability for PDP South West to attract critical thinking men and women or cerebral personalities that will drive the party to greatness. The party has been saddled with primitive, corrupt, light-fingered personalities whose antecedents are well known. The party is saddled with unrepentant political jobbers with no means of livelihood thereby making them vulnerable to see politics of the stomach as a way of life. To attract credible men and women who are prepared to work for the party through thick and thin has always been the biggest cog in the wheel of South West PDP progress.


[b]Another factor that is threatening the existence of PDP South West is the woeful performance of PDP Governors in Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and even Edo States in almost 8years Obasanjo was in power. PDP Governors frittered away 8years in the South West with nothing to show for it. Those of them former president Obasanjo rigged to the exalted office did not know what to do with power, resulting in failure of leadership in all its ramifications in the South West except Lagos State. You only need to see what the ACN Governors are doing right now in the South West for you to come to terms with the comprehensive and collective emptiness of the PDP Governors in the almost eight years of the locusts. In almost 8years South West became an address where absurdity is the name of the game with no room for intelligent objectivity they the governors were supposed to bring to the office.

The woeful performance of the party at the national level has not helped matters. Every right thinking Nigerian sees leaders of PDP as people who seek power with responsibility, wealth without work, politics without principle, pleasure without conscience, education without character, pleasure without conscience, science without humanity and worship without responsibility (the eight deadly social sins). For nearly sixteen years the national leadership headed by PDP has frittered away our huge national wealth on frivolities and irrelevances. We have earned more money in the past 14 years than what this country had earned from 1960 to 1999 without anything to show for it. This is the greatest threat to the existence of PDP in the South West Nigeria.[/b]

Under our own very eyes Chief Bola Ige, the then Attorney General of the federation was brutally murdered under Obasanjo’s regime with no trace of the killers till date. To make matter worse, his wife Justice Atunike Ige died also because of circumstances surrounding the unacceptable death of her husband at peace time in Nigeria. Assassinations of high profile political figures in Nigeria during Obasanjo’s eight years tenure left them with no option than to call PDP a nest of killers. It is as bad as that. Almost eight-years of PDP in the South West excluding Lagos was an unmitigated disaster, a colossal waste, an aberration, years of locust. Anything they touched turned to ashes.

Using the words of one Yoruba patriot, Bayo Oluwasanmi: “The Yorubas are not so gullible, manipulable, and downright callous. We have a long history of enduring memory…..That Yorubas reject Obasanjo as leader or hero or ungrateful to him says what type of character fibre and finesse we are made of…. We Yoruba do not anoint thieves fools, saboteurs, traitors and hoodlums as leaders or as heroes/heroines…..We cannot drive a car forward by looking at the rear mirror. We cannot use shoes for hammers, newspapers for umbrellas and a finger nail to tight a screw”

Another factor that is helping to render the activities of PDP South West nugatory is the obvious and painful truth that the party has never for once acknowledged the monumental human and material resources development going on in the South West especially in Lagos State. Carelessly and primitively too, the party has been handing dangerous weapons to their enemies in the South West for not getting right. If you cannot celebrate a great man you too can never be great. Those who do not speak the truth do not make sense to serious-minded persons anywhere in the world and such people cannot be trusted.

PDP South West can still redeem itself. If they can get serious and look back from where the rains started beating them, they may yet get attention. If you do not have the courage or the boldness to ask for what killed your father, what killed your father may eventually kill you too. PDP South West should look elsewhere to find solutions to their pandemic problems.

For us in the ACN or APC, we are leaving no stones unturned to justify the confidence reposed on us by those who believe in us. That is our primary focus, our big picture and our target. We will ever remain focused, fixing our eyes on the ball and getting it right. We are not the problem of PDP South West, and of course, we can never be. For once I urge PDP South West to look inwards. What PDP South West is looking for in Sokoto is right there in their Sokoto. Case rested!

By Joe Igbokwe