A coalition of holders of Higher National Diploma have threatened industrial action if government fails to implement a white paper detailing the removal of dichotomy on their career progression in public service in four weeks.
The coalition, comprising public servants, unions and students amongst others, says it will occupy the office of the Head of Service of the Federation, if its demands are not met in four weeks.
“We are going to occupy that office until they do the needful because we will not continue to keep quiet and things will continue to go wrong,” Chris Isiquzo Ikechukwu, president of Nigerian Union of Journalists and a Visitor of International Institute of Journalists, told a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.
He said having one group of workers enjoying their promotion in service and another group retarded, “is unacceptable to us.”
“We are not going to take this lying low; we are going to mobilize our students and members across Nigeria.”
The white paper has been nearly 14 years waiting to be implemented, said president of Higher National Diploma Holders Association of Nigeria (HNDHAN) Sabastine Onyemaobi
He added the wait continues to expose HND graduates to discrimination, stigmatization and undue stagnation.
He said HND holders do not progress above level 14 rather they are faced with demotion in cases where they try to rise above that, after acquiring PGD and Masters as required by the law.
He demanded that the HND certificate holders from accredited NBTE be recognized as approved by the white paper to progress to higher grades up to level 17.
While noting that their members are becoming restive and they may not be able to contain their agitation, he said promotion and progression in career if free and highly competitive and that HND holders should be given a level playing ground.
The coalition, however, appealed to the president to take this seriously and call the HoS to order because anything that affects a particular set of government affects the entire system.
Over 16,000 people have signed a petition on Change.Org calling on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate All Progressives Congress leader, Bola Tinubu.
The petition, which was started a week ago by Reno Omokri, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, had garnered 16, 243 signatures as of 9.30 am on Friday.
The petition is titled, ‘Calling on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate Bola Tinubu for contravening the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act of 2011, by having bullion vans ferry alleged large sums of money into his house on the eve of the 2019 Presidential election’.
Omokri wrote, “Dear citizens of Nigeria, let’s take our country back by signing this petition to compel the EFCC to investigate and prosecute Bola Tinubu for contravening the Money Laundering Act, by ferrying bullion vans into his house. Don’t say ‘na today’, or ‘leave matter’.
“We as Nigerians must stop confusing cynicism for wisdom. If we do not fight for our country, who will? George Floyd’s death sparked a revolution in America and we joined. We did not say ‘na today’, or ‘leave matter’. You and I can make a difference with this petition. #EFCCMustInvestigateTinubu.”
Tinubu had while responding to questions on the bullion vans in his home, said he was free to give anyone money since he was holding no government position.
He had said, “Is it my money or government money? I don’t work for the government. I am not in an agency of government and let anybody come out and say I have taken any contract from the government of President Mohammed Buhari, APC in the last five years.
“They should prove it. I am on my own and I’m committed to my party. So, even if I have money to spend on my premises, what is your headache? Excuse me, if I don’t represent any agency of government and if I have money to spend…., if I have money, if I like I give it to the people free of charge, as long as is not to buy votes…..who are those watching my house looking for bullion vans? They must be mischief-makers.”
Several groups had in the last one year submitted petitions to the EFCC demanding Tinubu’s probe but there has been no official reaction from the EFCC.
The Convener, Concerned Nigerians, Deji Adeyanju; Ariyo-Dare Atoye of the Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution and Adebayo Raphael of the Free Nigeria Movement as well as many others had written the EFCC calling for Tinubu’s probe.
Adeyanju’s The petition noted that Section 7 (1) (b) of the EFCC Establishment Act 2004 gives the commission the power to investigate properties of any person that appears to the commission that the person’s lifestyle and extent of the properties are not justified by his source of income.
It added, “To the best of our knowledge, Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a private citizen who ordinarily should not be seen with a convoy of bullion vans.
“The questions begging for answers are: What are Bullion Vans doing in the house of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu? Who owns the content, believing to be cash in the Bullion Vans that were seen entering the house of Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the eve of Nigerian Presidential elections?
“Has the commission, based on its core mandates, investigated the source of the Bullion Vans? Is Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s house, now a bank where bullion vans now take money to?”
No fewer than 183 of 360 House of Representatives members do not have a single bill listed against their names since their inauguration in June last year, The Nation has found.
The 1,039 bills that have passed first reading were sponsored by only 177 members.
The Executive and the Senate also have bills either pending or being passed by the House.
Ten executive and 10 Senate bills are at various stages of consideration.
Our correspondent found that 93 All Progressives Congress (APC) members have sponsored bills in the House.
They lead members of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) 73, All Progressives Grand Alliance’s (APGA’s) six, African Democratic Congress’s (ADC’s) two and one each from members of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
The Southwest leads in members with bills, with 43 of the 71 from the region proposing 181 bills since inception; 35 of 55 members from the Southsouth have proposed 198 bills.
Twenty-nine of the 51 members from the Northcentral have contributed 217 bills; 26 of the 43 members from the Southeast have contributed 192.
From the Northwest, 25 of 92 members from the region have contributed 158 bills; 19 members of the 48 from the Northeast have contributed 99 bills to the pool.
Tajudeen Abbas (APC, Kaduna) has the highest numbers of bills (58) that have passed through the first reading.
The Chief Whip, Tahir Mongunu (APC, Borno), has the second-highest number of bills (43).
Ossai Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta) is third with 38 bills; Dachung Bagos (PDP, Plateau) is fourth with 32 bills; House Spokesman, Benjamin Kalu (APC, Abia) and Uzoma Abonta (APGA, Abia) have 30 bills each.
Deputy Chief Whip, Nliruka Onyejeocha (APC, Abia), Minority Whip, Gideon Gwani (PDP, Kaduna), Simon Mwadkwon (PDP, Plateau) have 29, 23 and 21 bills.
Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos) has 19 bills against his name, with many of them already passed and some others awaiting committee report or second reading.
About 152 members have between one and nine bills, including Minority Leader Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta), with nine bills.
The Nation found that 28 members account for about 564 of the bills currently being considered, ranging from 10 to 58 listed against each of them.
Immediate past Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, who recently returned to the APC, has 10 bills listed against his name; Deputy Speaker Ahmed Idris Wase (APC, Plateau) has 15 bills.
Lagos, which has 24 members, tops the states with the highest number of members who have sponsored bills (11).
Only a member each from Yobe (which has six members), Sokoto (11 members) and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) (two members) have sponsored bills.
Majority of the bills are either for new universities, polytechnics, colleges of education or agriculture, or federal medical centres; several others are on constitution amendment.
A breakdown shows that 81 of the bills seek one form of an amendment or the other to the constitution, while 44 seek the establishment of both conventional and specialised universities.
Also, 43 bills seek the establishment of federal medical centres across the country; 27 bills seek the establishment of federal colleges of education; 22 bills seek the establishment of colleges of agriculture, while 17 bills seek federal polytechnics.
Some bills are for the conversion of Auchi Polytechnic, Kaduna Polytechnic, Yaba College of Technology, Adeyemi College of Education and Federal College of Education, Zaria to universities.
While the bill seeking the conversion of Auchi Polytechnic to City University of Technology has been passed by both chambers of the National Assembly and is awaiting presidential assent, others are still at committee stages.
The cost of internet use is so expensive in Nigeria that the country ranks at the very top in a survey of 85 countries of the world.
An analysis by Surfshark Press, a United States-based solution provider released Monday, said Nigeria ranks below Columbia and Honduras in terms of internet affordability.
“Nigeria has the least affordable internet globally. It ranks below Columbia and Honduras in terms of internet affordability,” it said.
In its methodology, the company said the overall affordability is measured by combining the affordability of the cheapest mobile and broadband plans available in a country.
On the overall analysis of digital quality of life index 2020, Nigeria ranked 81st.
The analysis was based on five pillars: Internet affordability, internet quality, electronic infrastructure, electronic government, and electronic security.
The examined countries have a combined population of 6.3 billion people.
In Africa, the report said while Nigeria surpassed Algeria, it lagged behind South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, and Tunisia.
Algeria ranked 84th while South Africa took the 59th position. Kenya is in the 77th place, Morocco at 70th and Tunisia at 64th.
According to the report, Nigeria ranked 70th in terms of e-security, 53rd in terms of cybersecurity, 81st in electronic infrastructure and 82nd in electronic government.
It has data protection laws available in the country, the report said.
The report revealed that Nigeria has better internet quality than Peru, Algeria, Philippines, and Sri Lanka.
Overall, Denmark came first, followed by Sweden, Canada, France, Norway, Netherlands, and the UK.
The U.S. ranks 22nd; China, 38th and Russia, 42nd.
Internet is most affordable in Israel, Canada and Azerbaijan, the report found.
“Top 10 countries with the highest e-security levels are the European Union member states. Globally, they lead in implementing effective cybersecurity policies and ensuring personal data protection,” the report says.
The report said countries in Central America and Africa lag behind in terms of ICT adoption and internet usage.
“The government’s readiness to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the artificial intelligence technology and the assortment of its services provided online strongly correlate with the country’s e-security, except for Eastern European, South Asian, and African countries,” it added.
President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, approved the implementation of the proposed cost-reflective electricity tariff for the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
However, residential areas classified as “poor” will not be affected by the increase in tariff, TheCable understands.
Also, Buhari has approved a one-year waiver of 35 per cent import tax for prepaid meters.
In January, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had announced that there would be an upward review of electricity tariffs across the country from April 1.
However, it directed electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to suspend the proposed tariff increase in March as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In June, the national assembly had persuaded the DisCos to defer the plan till the first quarter of 2021 because of the pandemic on energy consumers.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan had maintained that consumers should be properly metered before the tariff hike is implemented.
With the approval of the president, the new tariff regime is expected to kick off on September 1 and to be reviewed quarterly.
This is said to be a requirement for the approval of a proposed $1.5 billion World Bank loan for the power sector.
According to the new tariff via a NERC order dated December 31, 2019, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) residential customers R3 that were paying N27.20 per unit will now pay N47.09 and N63.42 by next year.
For the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) customers, the R3 category paying N26.50 per unit will now pay N36.49 per unit and later N58.
Meanwhile, Buhari approved a one-year waiver of 35 per cent import tax on prepaid meters to facilitate increased provision to consumers for accurate billing.
The approval was as a result of the request by Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, to fast-track the deployment of prepaid meters under the meter asset providers (MAP) scheme.
In a statement, Yunusa Abdullahi, special adviser to the minister on media and communications, said the application of the levy on imported meters has created a significant challenge to the smooth implementation of MAP scheme.
“The 35 per cent levy was imposed on the recommendation of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, to encourage local production, as well as protect investments in the local assembly of electricity meters,” Abdullahi said.
“An important feature of the MAP regulation is a gradual up scaling of the patronage of local manufacturers of electricity meters with an initial minimum local content of 30 percent with the potential of significant job creation in the area of meter assembly, installation and maintenance.
“Even though the 35 percent was in existence since 2015, the MAP regulations by NERC in 2018 to bridge current electricity metering gap did not factor the 35 percent levy in arriving at the regulated cost of electricity meters to end-users (consumers).
“This is to immediately bridge the gap between the demand for electricity meters and local supply. It is also envisaged that this will provide protection for local electricity meter manufacturers and the opportunity to ramp local capacity in the production of meters.”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State is currently in a quandary over the selection of its candidate ahead of the October 31 Lagos East senatorial district election in the state.
This is as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) appears to have settled for the outgoing Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Polaris Bank, Tokunbo Abiru, as its candidate for the vacant senatorial seat.
The position became vacant following the death of Senator Bayo Osinowo aka Pepperito who died on June 15. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recently announced the schedule for by-elections affecting 12 constituencies across eight states in both federal and state legislative houses, including Lagos East and Kosofe state constituency II.
The vacancies across the federation were as a result of litigation and death of members. Ahead of the by-election, it was gathered that no fewer than six members of the party have signified interest to represent the party and they have all obtained the party’s nomination form.
Among those already signified interest for the party’s senatorial ticket is the governorship candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) in 2019 election, Mr. Babatunde Gbadamosi; the party’s candidate for the district in 2019 and daughter of the late Ayangburen of Ikorodu – Oba S.A.A Oyefusi, Princess Abiodun Oyefusi.
Others include the immediate past Vice President, Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Yeye Adenike Shobajo; a trade unionist, Babatunde Olanrewaju; a legal practitioner, Aare Oladotun Hassan and Princess Saidat Fawora.
New Telegraph learnt that delegates and leadership of the party are currently divided on who will become the flag bearer of the party following the decision of some blocs within the party to support Gbadamosi who recently returned to the party ahead of Oyefusi who represented the party in the 2019 polls.
A source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said: “The PDP has a better chance of winning Lagos East if we present BOG (Gbadamosi), but it appears some people within our party don’t want him. He is popular, has a deep pocket, and understands the issues, even the APC is scared of him. I hope we get it right resig this time.”
But a former member of the state executive in the state said the party should conduct free-and-fair primaries ahead of the election, asking: “Why are we always looking for short cut in our affairs?
Someone left the party to contest on another platform against our candidate, and he came back again and we are already putting him forward. Don’t we have other capable people within the party again?”
Meanwhile, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP has inaugurated a five-man screening committee for the Lagos East Senatorial and Kosofe state assembly by-elections.
The committee has Hon. Tajudeen Ayo Yusuff as Chairman while Barr. Jacob Otokpa will serve as its Secretary. In the meantime, the APC may have settled for Abiru who announced his retirement from the service of Polaris Bank, effective August 31, 2020, having completed his second two year tenure at the helm of the bank.
Some of the aspirants within the party are said to have withdrawn their interest following the resignation of the former Commissioner for Finance who appears to have the backing of the party’s National Leader and former governor of the state, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
A former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Lanre Odesanya, a few days ago stepped down for Abiru.
The Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle has presented some gold bars and other precious stones to President Muhammadu Buhari. The presentation was done at the residence of President Buhari on Monday night, reports AIT.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) at the weekend urged telecommunication companies to reciprocate the reduction in the charges on Right of Way (RoW) by reducing data charges to Nigerians.
Its Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, stated this while addressing participants at the maiden virtual edition of the Telecoms Consumer Parliament (VTCP) at the NCC headquarters in Abuja.
Danbatta noted that considering the steps the Federal Government had taken to reduce the charges of RoW below N145 per linear metre while some states waived the charges outright, it had become necessary for operators to reciprocate the gesture.
“The commission is hopeful that with the reduction in RoW, which will automatically result in reduction in capital expenditure (CAPEX) by the network operators, telecom companies will sooner or later reciprocate the gesture by making their services, in particular, data services, more affordable to Nigerians,” he said.
The NCC boss said the event, with the theme: Impact of COVID-19 on Telecoms Service Delivery, considered the dynamics of the global pandemic and the directives from the Federal Government on social distancing and other measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Danbatta said the National Assembly also provided an opportunity for industry stakeholders to examine how the pandemic was impacting service delivery in the telecommunication industry, which currently provides the digital platform for the economy to remain afloat.
“As we all are aware, telecoms is highly capital intensive and, as such, continuous network upgrade and expansion are very key to operators’ ability to deliver top-notch Quality of Service (QoS) to their consumers.
“For instance, if operators are not able to expand or they are incapacitated to expand and upgrade their network in the face of spike in traffic, as occasioned by the pandemic, it will definitely have potential grave impact on quality of service delivery.”Despite the pandemic and the lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 virus, we on our part have also not relented to ensure that the quality of telecom services is sustained during and post COVID–19 period,” he said.
The Lagos State House of Assembly has asked Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to explain the whereabouts of three helicopters belonging to the state government.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the matter was raised during plenary on Monday sequel to the Matter of Urgent Public Importance moved by the Chief Whip of the House, Mrs Mojisola Miranda.
The House, therefore, summoned some key government officials to explain to the Assembly the agreement between the state and Caverton Helicopters, the managers of the helicopters.
The state officials summoned were Chief of Staff to the governor, Tayo Ayinde; Commissioners for Economic Planning and Budget, Sam Egube; Special Duties, Seye Oladejo and management of Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF)
“Recall that in 2007, Lagos House of Assembly passed a bill for the establishment of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) for the state government to equip and strengthen the security agencies in the state.
“Three helicopters were bought to strengthen security in the state. But, the helicopters are nowhere to be found now.
“I will want us to look at it and get the concerned parties to tell the House the location of the three helicopters to see if they are just lying fallow.
“If the state government has entered into an agreement with an entity on the equipment, let’s see to what extent the agreement has been working,” Miranda said.
The Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, noted that the helicopters were meant for dual purposes – for security and for commercial purposes.
Obasa emphasised that the House should know the amount that had accrued to the state from the helicopters so far.
“What we have said so far has nothing to do with the image of the state or the assembly.
“What the Chief Whip has done is not too much. We need to know what has happened to the helicopters,” he said.
In his contribution, Mr Rotimi Olowo (Shomolu I) said that the House had approved the purchase of two helicopters during the era of former Gov. Babatunde Fashola.
Olowo said the House learnt that the state had an agreement with Caverton Nigeria Limited to partially commercialize operations of the helicopters on behalf of the state government.
He added that it was important to know how the three helicopters had been managed so far.
Also speaking, Mr Fatai Mojeed (Ibeju Lekki I) said the assets were purchased for security purposes and to generate money for the state government.
Mojeed said the House needed to know what had happened to the helicopters and urged that a committee should be set up to look into the matter.
Corroborating, Abiodun Tobun (Epe 1) said the helicopters should be at the reach of the state for security, probity and accountability.
However, Rotimi Abiru (Shomolu II) cautioned that the assembly ought to have approached the office of the Chief of Staff over the helicopters before bringing it to plenary.
Another lawmaker, Olawale Olayiwola (Mushin II) noted that it was important to call the attention of the state government to the matter.
Olawale said the House needed to know the whereabouts of the helicopters, adding that many vehicles that were donated for security purposes in the state were also not functioning well.
The Legal Defense team of Dr. Obadiah Mailafia has explained why the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Dr. Mailafia would not honour the fresh invitation extended to him by the Nigeria Police Force through the office of the Deputy Inspector-General Force Criminal Investigation Department.
Dr. Mailafia was invited to appear today (Monday) in Abuja for an interview but he didn’t honour the invitation as his legal team said such invitation is strange and alien to Nigeria’s extant laws and procedures.
Speaking with journalists in Jos on Monday, on behalf of the legal defence team, Yakubu Bawa said the said invitation which came as a photocopy is being challenged in the court and all relevant parties have been served.
According to Bawa, “Dr. Obadiah Mailafia granted an interview for a local FM radio station in Lagos on the 9th day of August, 2020 on issues related to internal security of Nigeria. His interview focused on the incessant killings and ethnic cleansing in his homeland of Southern Kaduna and nation- wide insecurity.
“Consequent upon the said interview, the Department of State Security Services (DSS) Plateau State Command on the directive of the DSS Headquarters, Abuja invited Dr. Obadiah Mailafia through his employer, National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru to appear before the Command on the 12th August, 2020 at 1200hrs for interview, investigation and interrogation.
“Dr. Obadiah Mailafia honoured the said invitation, on the 12th day of August, 2020. I accompanied him to the DSS office in Jos. On that very day he was interrogated, profiled and his statement was recorded. The crux of the invitation was for him to make retraction of the comments he made during the interview at same time to apologize. I personally objected to the said instruction issued him by the DSS officials.
“However, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia was cajoled and coerced by the DSS to address the media of his interface and interaction with them. According to the DSS officials it was an order from the Headquarters for him to do so.”
Speaking further, he added, “Eventually Dr. Obadiah Mailafia addressed the media on his invitation and interaction with the DSS officials. After the media address, I was instructed being his counsel to provide a surety for him to be released on bail. I provided the surety, after fulfilling the bail conditions Dr. Obadiah Mailafia was allowed to go home that very day after 6hours of interview.
“In the same vein, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia was re-invited to appear before the DSS Plateau State Command on the 17th August, 2020. The Surety and I accompanied Dr. Obadiah Mailafia to the DSS office, Jos Plateau State Command that day. Similarly, he had another interaction with the Director of the Command for about forty(40)minutes after which he was allowed to go home.
“It is sad to note and to our greatest shock and consternation on the 21st August, 2020 another letter of invitation was served on Dr. Obadiah Mailafia at his residence by the Nigeria Police Force through the office of the Deputy Inspector-General Force Criminal investigation Department, Abuja requesting him to appear on Monday 24th August, 2020 for interview.
“In the light of the above, as his legal defence team, we approached the High Court of Justice Plateau State and filed an action for the enforcement of his fundamental rights to personal liberty and fair hearing at same time challenging the said invitation served on him by the office of the DIG Force Criminal Investigation Department, Abuja.
“We are praying the Honourable Court to declare the said invitation letter as unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal, ultra vires with no legal effect whatsoever. We are equally seeking the Court to restrain the Nigeria Police Force from inviting or requesting him to appear before the DIG Force Investigation Department Police Headquarters, Abuja since the DSS had assumed investigation in the case and the investigation is ongoing. The case is now fixed for hearing on the 11th September, 2020.”
The Media Campaign Council of All Progressives Congress, APC, for the Edo Governorship election has apologised to the Benin Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, BENCCIMA, over a report that misrepresented the proceedings of a meeting between the Chamber and its candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
The council, in a retracted report, had erroneously quoted the President of BENCCIMA, Dr. Helen Atekha Odemwingie, to have endorsed its candidate at an event organised by the associations that make up the Organised Private Sector, OPS in Edo State last week.
In an apology released on Sunday, Chairman of the Media Campaign Council, Mr. John Mayaki, clarified that the debunked endorsement claim was reported by an overly enthusiastic communication campaign staff, who has since been queried for the miscommunication.
He apologised to the President, Mrs. Helen Atekha Odemwingie, and the Chamber for any embarrassment caused by the erroneous report.
He said: “On Tuesday, August 18, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu met with associations that make up the Organised Private Sector, OPS, in Edo State, including the Benin Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, BENCCIMA.
“At the meeting, he discussed plans and programmes in his election manifesto, the SIMPLE agenda, to revive the industrial sector of Edo State and boost trade and commerce, especially in communities neglected by the incumbent administration despite their economically viable resource potentials.
“Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu characteristically made a dazzling presentation and earned the commendation of the representatives of the associations based solely on his highlighted plans and his thorough understanding of the issues related to the state’s economy and surrounding data.
“It was this commendation, made without any partisan consideration as it is a well-known fact that the OPS does not adopt candidates or display political bias, that the campaign communication staff assigned to the event misunderstood, and consequently misreported, as an endorsement.
“Based on the goodwill of our party and the intellectual and political strength of our candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, our campaign has been satiated with endorsements, almost on a daily basis, from local and international groups of great repute.
“We, therefore, have no reason to deliberately manufacture one.
“The error, though unfortunate, was unintended. The staff in question has been queried and asked to repeat the training offered at the start of the campaign to all communication staff on ethical and factual reporting, in line with the high standards of our campaign.
“We tender unreserved apologies to Rev. (Dr.) Mrs. Helen Atekha Odemwingie and the Benin Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, BENCCIMA.”
• PDP: Shutdown aimed at stopping disclosures at ongoing investigations
The decision of the leadership of the House of Representatives to suspend over 30 ongoing probes by standing and ad hoc committees was largely caused by COVID-19 scare and five other factors, according to an investigation.
Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are also said to have inundated the House leadership with complaints of alleged high-handedness by committee chairmen.
Other untoward allegations against some committee chairmen and members similarly went to the House leadership.
Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and other leaders, sources told The Nation, were worried that the committee instrument was being abused by some members, prompting a stay of action on all the probes on August 19.
No official explanation was given at the time.
The Peoples Democratic party (PDP) yesterday deplored the suspension of the probes and claimed that the action was meant to stop further disclosures at the hearings.
Investigation however revealed that the House took the step for the following reasons:
“Covid-19 scare;
“constant complaints by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of high-handedness by committee chairmen;
“growing inter-committee rivalry;
“overlapping of functions;
“proliferation of committees without deriving powers from the floor; and
“arbitrary extension of committee timeline beyond six weeks
A top source said: “We received intelligence report that some of our members who had Covid-19 infections/ symptoms had been attending public hearings because of sitting allowance.
“A few others had been secretly keeping COVID-19 manifestations to themselves and they had participated in committee activities as if all was well. We decided to put the interest of all members and Nigerians coming to the National Assembly above any other thing.
“The safest thing was to suspend all committees’ activities so that all members would have time to rest and those with Covid-19 symptom could have time to treat themselves.”
The source also said the House leadership was “disturbed by constant complaints of high-handedness by some chairmen of the standing and ad hoc committees.
“In fact, the committee instrument is being abused in a manner that some MDAs have not been able to do anything other than to appear before committees. We opted to apply the brakes to avoid the House reputation being dragged in the mud.
“We believe the committee activities ought to be better managed than the case at present.”
A principal officer said: “We have uncovered inter-committee rivalry and overlapping of functions between Standing Committees and Ad Hoc Committees.
“This development is also creating division in the House to the discomfiture of our leaders. We cannot continue to operate in this uncoordinated manner.
“In the House alone, we have more than 30 ad hoc committees investigating some MDAs and companies outside the standing committees saddled with such responsibilities.
“For instance, there was an ad hoc committee investigating DSTV and others on high subscription rates in the House of Representatives with Standing Committees on Information and Communication. This is creating bad blood.”
“It has reached a ridiculous stage that some ad hoc committees just sprang up in the House without deriving powers from the floor. There was no House resolution that such ad hoc committees be set up.”
A ranking House member said the leadership acted on the complaints of some members who were worried that things were getting bad.
He said: “Some ad hoc committees had exceeded their timelines of either four weeks or six weeks, and they continued to operate without recourse to the floor for extension of their sitting period.”
Some members were allegedly getting more distracted by committee assignments which they have accorded priority.
At press time, findings confirmed that the House leadership was working on “strict regulations for the conduct of the committees.”
Another principal officer said: “We will fine-tune the committee system before we return from recess. I can assure you that things will change.”
Announcing the suspension of the probes on August 19, House Leader Alhassan Ado Doguwa, said: “The Leadership of the House of Representatives recently met and resolved that henceforth all activities of standing and ad-hoc committees be put on hold while the House is on its annual recess.
“Accordingly, all standing and ad hoc committee chairmen are hereby directed to suspend with immediate effect all committee meetings, public hearings and other engagements until the House resumes from its annual recess.
“The Clerk of the House should also ensure strict compliance with this circular by all committee clerks and other relevant staffs of the House of Representatives.”
He was silent on why the House decided to put committees’ activities on hold.
PDP chides Reps for halting probes An unimpressed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday kicked over the suspension of the various investigations.
The party, in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, asked Speaker Gbajabiamila to stop circumventing the statutory duties of the House and desist from obstructing the fight against corruption by the legislature.
The party described the shutdown order by the leadership of the House as a clear example of corruption fighting back from within the government circle, which it said must be condemned by all Nigerians.
It said: “It is clear that the shutdown directive is targeted at frustrating revelations from ongoing investigations on the $500 billion foreign loan from China, particularly as it relates to the mortgaging of our nation’s sovereignty to China.
“This is in addition to the investigations into the humongous corruption in government agencies including the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), the N300 billion unremitted revenue to the federation account as well as allegations of corruption in government earnings and the expenditure in Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDA’s) under the APC.
“It is therefore unfortunate that under the Gbajabiamila-led leadership, the basic responsibility of the House of Representatives, which is its oversight on the executive, has just been maimed through a forced holiday on the members of the respective committees and their Chairmen.
“It is equally distressing that the APC leadership of the House of Representatives is breaching parliamentary rules, practices and procedures to shield APC leaders and their cronies who have been fleecing our nation.
“Our party therefore holds that any parliament that deliberately frustrates its statutory responsibility to call the activities of the executive to question has lost the essence of its own existence. The leadership that led it into such constitutional suicide must be held culpable.
“Indeed, never in our parliamentary history has committee activities been suspended or shut down on the ground of holiday or suspension of plenary.
“For us in the PDP, it is shocking that the APC leadership of the House of Representatives could by any consideration shut down, its legislative investigation, which is exclusively vested on it under sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), on the guise of being on break.
Such an action is calamitous to our democracy.”
The PDP however commended members of its caucus and other minorities in the National Assembly for standing against corruption and striving to ensure that the APC did not sell Nigerians into slavery with its reckless foreign borrowings.
It urged its lawmakers not to be “deterred but continue in their assignments as they are only answerable to the Nigerian people.
“The PDP therefore charges the Hon. Gbajabiamila-led APC leadership of the House of Representatives to immediately reverse itself as Nigerians expect nothing but seamless investigations without unnecessary interferences and incursions.
“If the Honorable Speaker is inclined towards allowing the covering of corruption, against the purpose for which he was elected to lead the House, then he should take a bow and step aside.”
A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, who was sacked from office over allegations that he misappropriated funds, Babachir Lawal, tells HINDI LIVINUS that the party risks losing the next presidential election if some things are not done
Some members of the All Progressives Congress, including Mamman Daura, a nephew of the President, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), have said competence and not zoning should be the key determinant for the President’s successor in 2023. What do you think about it?
You said some senior members of our party, but I am not aware that Mamman Daura is a card-carrying member of our party. Ideally, Daura is supposed to be considered as an elder in the North on account of his age and achievements in public service. On that basis, we accord him a level of respect to the extent that his comments will carry weight.
But since he has never contested any position, either in the party or in government, we will not take his comments on zoning very seriously. My own inclination is to take it as a personal opinion. The issue of zoning is a very critical component of the Nigerian entity. Zoning is not entrenched in the APC constitution nor is it in our (Nigerian) constitution but a political party is in the business of politics to win elections.
And for any political party to be successful, it has to take into consideration the diverse demography and political structure of its constituents. Don’t forget that our politics is built on some fundamental understanding, though not legal. First, there is the issue of religious balance. We want a country in which every Nigeria feels secure to live their life in a peaceful and prosperous manner in an environment created by the government. Any political party that ignores this is obviously digging its grave. Nigerians like to count the numbers of Muslims and Christians in the Federal Executive Council to see if there is balance.
And one of the things Nigerians have criticised about the security architecture is the fact that they see the top echelons of the security service as being predominantly dominated by Muslims. To that extent, Christians find faults in whatever they do. I suspect that most of the calls that the leadership of the security agencies should be rejigged is because Christians don’t feel comfortable with the dominance of one religion, especially as cases of insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, and so on, have soared and Nigerians have factored in the religious orientation of the perpetrators.
Two, politically, Nigerians want zoning in the polity. In states where the people are homogenous on the basis of religion and tribe, they tend to rotate power across the zones or blocs within the state. At the national level, it translates into North and South; that is the understanding and every Nigerian has come to accept it. That, however, does not mean that Nigerians do not believe that merits should count. But people who have merits are available in all parts of the country and are not localised to any geopolitical zone.
There are fears that the Peoples Democratic Party may field a northerner in 2023 and that it may give them an advantage if your party picks a southerner…
No! The PDP introduced the principle of zoning. Even the All Nigerian Peoples Party, the Congress for Progressive Change, and the Action Congress of Nigeria, which existed then but now defunct, never discussed zoning. The concept was largely successful because the party had elder statesmen like Adamu Ciroma, Alex Ekwueme, and Solomon Lar who could come up with a workable political structure acceptable to the generality of their party members when things got hot. Now, the APC has found itself in the same situation and has to toe that path, or else it will not win the next presidential election. To win the next election, the APC must apply the principle of zoning, though not clearly stated in the APC constitution. We believe by 2023, after the North has produced the President for eight years, the South should have a go at it.
Do you think that will be practical if the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, is again put forward by the PDP as its candidate? Don’t you think he will win by securing the majority of the votes from the North?
I am not thinking like that. Atiku Abubakar is from Adamawa State and is a northerner like me, but I will like to contest the basis of your statistics. The conclusion that the North produces the largest bloc vote is not true. The North-West geopolitical zone in the North tends to go in one direction all the time. The North-East tends to go in another direction. They have never voted along the same lines and we are not even talking about the Middle Belt.
If the South-West, South-East and South-South agree to vote for one party as they do in the North-West, the chances are that our so-called (northern) numerical strength may be challenged, and we may come off worst.
With Adams Oshiomhole and the APC’s National Working Committee’s removal and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s alleged presidential ambitions, do you think there could be divisions in the APC?
First of all, I want to declare that I am a Tinubu man. There’s no denying that there’s a Tinubu factor in the APC. Just like I was a Buharist and every time Buhari’s name was mentioned, I stood by it. But the crisis that started in the APC has nothing to do with 2023. It just had to do with the mismanagement of the party by those entrusted with that responsibility – namely the NWC.
We had a chairman that had deficiencies in management skills in a political system where everybody needed to be carried along. As much as possible, he was like Alexander the Great. In almost every state, because of his approach to politics and conflict resolution, there was crisis, even in states where the APC had no governors. So it got to a stage where everybody was fed up with having Oshiomhole as the chairman. However, there were some people who wanted Oshiomhole out more than the rest and members of the APC knew they had ulterior motives that were not altruistic, but majorly selfish.
Does the selfishness have anything to do with 2023?
Yes, like some governors who wanted to go back to the old days when they would sit down and decide what would happen and who got what in the party. Many within the party felt that as a former governor and labour leader, he would be able to stand up to the governors. We also felt that coming to that position with some affluence; he would not sell our party for pecuniary considerations.
But Oshiomhole, to some certain extent, did not give the governors one inch because he was autocratic or a dictator. And the governors who wanted to go back to running the party created a crisis. It got to a point when even those of us who ordinarily supported Oshiomhole later became disappointed because he so messed us up. But because those who wanted to throw him out were worse than him, we stood by him. They deployed all kinds of arsenal and Machiavellian tactics that no one after something good would be inclined to do. Some of us advocated for a ‘soft landing’ for him. Like every other human being, Oshiomhole had his weaknesses. He, however, started to change towards the end of his reign but it came too late. Those who wanted him out were more desperate. From my own observation, there is very little the national chairman of a party can do to impose a presidential candidate on their party.
Do you see Buhari supporting zoning ahead of 2023?
Buhari believes firmly and strictly in what is legal. Once you point out to the President that this is what the law says, he goes with it and other considerations won’t matter. I don’t know what he will do but it is only necessary that any leader, whose tenure is running out, ought to show interest in who their successor will be. Not for personal reasons but for the continuity of their policies and programmes. To that extent, even if Buhari is not inclined towards it. I will urge him to.
Do you think the President would support that power should move to the South?
When we were in the CPC, we got many votes but didn’t win. But there were other challenges; there was an unhealthy perception that Buhari was a religious bigot. He was also seen as someone who would be hard on corrupt persons and many groups didn’t feel they would be safe if he became the President, especially the Christian community. So we sat down as a strategic group and thought of what we could do.
Which bloc could give us the votes that could make Buhari to become the President? There was no other bloc other than the South-West bloc, which had the defunct ACN in control of states in the South-West as a regional party. This was done as far back as 2010, so we planned to have a merger before the 2011 general elections. But time ran out on us. The merger didn’t work. After the loss, we were encouraged to start the merger process again. I remember a letter from the chairman of the CPC Board of Trustees directing our committee to work with the ACN, only towards having a merger. It was when we read his letter for discussion that we decided that we should not restrict it to the ACN. We moved to include the ANPP.
One of our specific goals was to make Buhari the President. Tinubu was a colossus of South-West politics. If he had said there would be no merger, there wouldn’t have been any merger. By the time we went to the APC national convention, the North-West was not with Buhari. The North-West people were either for Atiku or Rabiu Kwankwaso; most of them, at least. The late Inuwa Abdulkadir and I continued to pile pressure on Tinubu, giving him the statistics. There was no point supporting a candidate that would not win the election. We told Tinubu that this man had 12 million votes, and that there could be two million votes for Atiku and four or five million votes for Kwankwaso at best, and that it would not translate to any electoral victory.
It became very clear that Buhari was going to win that primary election once Tinubu declared publicly his support for him and accepted that the South-West would vote for Buhari.
Between Wednesday and Thursday (before the convention), it was clear Tinubu and Bisi Akande were going to support Buhari and the North-West had no choice but to support Buhari, otherwise they were going to lose out. So if Tinubu had not conceded at that point, I think probably Kwakwanso would have won the presidential nomination of the APC. For that reason alone, you can see Tinubu’s contributions to the emergence of Buhari as President and his role in building the party.
Everybody knows Buhari had no money and he doesn’t play money politics. So he won his presidential primary election without spending money. Also, Buharists didn’t have money; they only had ideas, zeal and fanaticism. And politics requires money. Tinubu, who had his tentacles spread across the corporate world, was the only man who knew where and how to raise the funds needed. He was the one that reached out to all the ‘big men’ who were at the time scared of the then President Goodluck Jonathan. These were all rich men that depended on government’s patronage. But somehow, Tinubu was able to persuade some of them to support Buhari. We had so many experiences, Timipre Sylva (now Minister of State for Petroleum Resources) and I thought we could do it but found out we couldn’t until Tinubu came in and we won the election.
How did you manage to turn around the negative perceptions the public had of Buhari?
At the time, Nigerians saw Buhari as just a wood. He had no emotions. People weren’t seeing him as a loving husband and father, and doubted if he could be humane. It was Tinubu who brought in consultants from the US – the firm behind the successful execution of President Barrack Obama’s campaign. It helped to repackage Buhari to Nigerians. They came and started from the scratch; they did some research work for us. They told us where Buhari was weak and the messages needed to change the long held perception, using billboards and other campaign methods.
That was when you started seeing Buhari wearing a suit, and in Igbo, Yoruba and Kanuri attire. It was then people started to see Buhari as a family man with his beautiful daughters.
The strategy was to transform his image and show a humane, loving and trustworthy person. It helped us. At some point during our strategy sessions, the consultants asked us: why don’t you allow Buhari’s wife to come out so that she can be contrasted with Dame Patience Jonathan? When you do that, you would have won the election already, they said. She provided a contrast to the former First Lady.
Rallies don’t win elections. It is the underground work that wins elections. Almost the same thing repeated itself in 2019. Tinubu doesn’t like to take credit for what he does; he lives for politics, gets his money from politics and spends it on politics. He has no other interest except politics. The monies he spent out of his pocket that are unaccounted for outside of the party’s campaign finances, are quite enormous. I know this because he’s my friend and because I am also involved in the Buhari government. So when there is a crisis, I am the one whose duty is to run to the South-West.
Therefore, except we want to bring the wrath of God on our heads, which we don’t want, the party must create an environment that is free and fair for anybody who wants to contest, including Tinubu, to do so. Allow the delegates, who must have emerged through a similarly free and fair process, decide who they want to vote for. It will be our duty as ‘Tinubu’s boys’ that time to say, ‘Let us vote for Bola’.
By the way, what did we get from several years that the Presidency has resided in the North? Along that line, we have also had vice presidents who were northerners. We have had presidents who were northerners but for some reason, the system is not improving. Presidency from the North is like an albatross around our neck. We northerners can do with power going elsewhere so that at least, we can now complain. But you cannot be holding on to power while things are not working fine. Let us also be able to complain, especially those of us who play active roles in the country.
There have been problems between the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and the suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, people that should be working together to promote the President’s anti-corruption war. How bad do you think this is for the country?
Like the Bible says, the heart of man is desperately wicked: who can phantom it? The conducts of certain people, whether in government or not, is incomprehensible to a normal person with a decent character. Both of them are like my younger brothers. I have known Malami since I was in the CPC and only got to know Magu when I was in government. And I like his sense of duty and commitment to his job. That’s all I know about him. I don’t know however if there had been attempts to address these issues in another way before the options were exhausted and the issues resulted in the escalation of those differences.
What I consider painful in all this is that this government has fought corruption and committed all its energies and resources to fighting corruption irrespective of the parties the people they go after belong to. Some are politically motivated; some are not right. I would not be self-serving if I say take my own case, for instance. This issue has given the international community the impression that we are not serious about our anti-corruption campaign. When I was removed as SGF, the general outcry was that because of my closeness to Buhari, they wanted to weaken my flanks so that they could come after me.
But now in the case of Magu, the narrative is that corruption is fighting back. These are the impressions and the consequences of such conducts. Initially I had the feeling that the system would come after Magu, especially the press and the social media. If you are very discerning, you will know they are with him. The preponderance of opinions is in support of Magu’s position. The views being laid out are as if it is a witch-hunt. There are better ways to end Magu’s reign because no matter what anybody tells you, Magu tried. I used to joke that if you are a thief and you are caught by Magu, nobody can release you unless you cut off his hands.
Aliyu, a resident of Farawa Babban Layi in Mariri quarters of Kumbotso Local Government Area in Kano, was said to have been chained and caged after he was accused of drug abuse by his parents.
Mr Godday Idahosa, the Governorship Candidate of the Accord Party in the upcoming election in Edo, has defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Idahosa announced his defection on Friday at the Ogbona Ward 8 and 9 campaign ground in Uhiele, Esan West Local Government Area of the state.
He described Gov. Godwin Obaseki as a great man, saying that his developmental stride prompted his defection to PDP.
“I said by God’s grace that I can’t fight my people. When you are being fought outside, you run back home for refuge.
“Our governor is doing well. He is a great man and he deserves to be re-elected. Even the sun and moon will cooperate to work for his success. “In this election, my supporters and I are going to work for Obaseki. I am leading hundreds of my supporters to PDP today,” he said.
The Chairman, PDP Campaign Council, Mr Dan Orbir, who received Idahosa to the party, lauded his bold step, describing Obaseki and his Deputy, Philip Shaibu, as a perfect match.
In a remark, the governor said that he had directed the Commissioner for Infrastructure, Mr John Inegbedion, to commence the process of building the road to Uhiele community.
“I want us to use this election to end godfatherism in Edo. Four years ago when I came to campaign here, this road was not built but I gave it a face lift.
“This means that l can construct more roads. “By the grace of God, when you come out en mass to vote PDP, you have contributed to the release of Edo from godfatherism.
“If we end godfatherism, I will be able to repair schools, build hospitals and provide youth and women empowerment.
On Wednesday, when the social media went awash with that news that Mamman Daura, a nephew of President Muhammadu Buhari, had been flown abroad for emergency medical treatment, there was a feeling of “not again” in the president’s camp.
It has now been clarified in a report by TheCable that Daura, son of Buhari’s elder brother, is not ill as reported but on a routine medical check-up in the UK.
Nonetheless, the president has lost key friends and associates in recent times that tongues are bound to wag on the depleting ranks of his inner circle.
Wada Maida, who died on Monday, was a quiet but influential figure in the Buhari camp who died a few weeks after Ismiala Isa Funtua, an in-law to the president.
The death of Abba Kyari, his chief of staff, is apparently the most devastating to the president partly because of the key role of co-ordination that he played in government.
TheCable chronicles the deaths.
ABBA KYARI: THE ENFORCER
Abba Kyari was the first person within the president’s inner circle to die in recent times, and his death shook Nigeria for several reasons: he was the chief of staff to the president; he died of COVID-19, the first prominent Nigerian to succumb to the disease; and he was a member of “the cabal” and was even seen by some as Nigeria’s de-facto president.
Kyari died on April 17 after battling coronavirus for about a month. He had tested positive for the virus after he returned from Germany where he led a government delegation to meet with officials of Siemens to finalise deals relating to the Nigerian power sector. In his tribute, Buhari described Kyari as “very best of us” and “my dearest friend”.
ISA FUNTUA: THE IN-LAW
The president was still mourning Kyari when Isa Funtua, another of his close allies, passed on. Funtua, who died on July 20, was another strong member of “the cabal,” and Buhari’s friend for many years. Like Buhari, he is from Katsina state while one of his sons is married to one of the president’s daughters.
Publisher of the defunct Democrat Newspaper and former president of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Funtua believed he is not just a member of the cabal, rather, “I’m cabal myself.” While condoling with Funtua’s family, Buhari said his late friend’s death “created a huge gap as Malam Funtua consistently stood by him in his political journey.”
WADA MAIDA: THE ‘SILENT’ ASSOCIATE
The latest of Buhari’s associates who passed recently was Wada Maida, who died suddenly after he slumped in his living room in Abuja, on August 17. He was a former spokesman of the president who served him as chief press secretary about 40 years ago when Buhari was the military head of state between 1983 and 1985.
Ever since then, he has remained in the president’s good books and was in 2017, appointed as chairman of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) board of directors. In his tribute to Maida, the president described the late media icon as “a very dedicated, hardworking and loyal professional for whom I have the deepest respect and admiration”.
The Nigerian Bar Association has withdrawn its invitation to Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, following protests from some lawyers.
The NBA said this in a tweet on Thursday via its Twitter handle @NigBarAssoc.
The tweet read, “The National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association at its ongoing meeting resolves that the invitation to the Kaduna State Governor, H.E. Nasir El-Rufai, by the 2020 Annual General Conference Planning committee be withdrawn and decision communicated to the Governor.”
A petition to stop the governor from attending the Annual General Conference which was started by a lawyer, Usani Odum, had garnered over 3,150 signatures on Change.Org as of 4 pm on Thursday.
In a separate letter titled, ‘Request to Withdraw the Offer of Platform at the 2020 Annual General Conference of the NBA to Mallam Nasir el-Rufai,’ addressed to the Chairman, Technical Committee on Conference Planning, NBA, Prof. Koyinsola Ajayi, some lawyers said the governor must not be allowed to speak at the conference.
The letter, which was signed by Silas Onu and Auta Nyada, listed 10 allegations against el-Rufai and his son, Bello, who is a Special Adviser to Kaduna Central lawmaker, Senator Uba Sani.
They faulted the NBA for inviting el-Rufai, citing his alleged poor human rights record and his inability to stop the killings, particularly in southern Kaduna.
The lawyers also referenced many controversial utterances of the governor, including a threat during the run-up to the general elections in 2019 that any foreigner that interfered in the poll would leave Nigeria in body bags.
The NBA virtual conference, which holds from August 24-26, 2020, is expected to have Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), in attendance.
Others expected to speak at the event include former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, Governor Wike of Rivers State and a former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili.
The theme of the conference is: ‘Am I a Nigerian – A Debate on National Identity, the Indigeneship-Citizenship Conundrum.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, yesterday decried the abuse of honorary degrees by universities in the country, revealing that he turned down 17 offers during his eight-year tenure as Lagos State governor between 2007 and 2015.
According to a statement issued yesterday by his Special Adviser on Communications, Mr. Hakeem Bello, the minister made this known when the Committee of Vice-Chancellors/Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities paid him a courtesy visit.
The former governor, who said he stopped the award of honorary degrees in the Lagos State University (LASU), noted that honorary degrees must be conferred on awardees based on merit and not because they occupy political offices or command socio-economic powers.
“We said, look we are going to be different and for two or three years we did not award any Honorary Degree because truly the idea of Honorary Degree is an important building block of society and once we throw those blocks away or make them unviable then the purpose for it is lost.
“In my eight years in office I had 17 offers and I didn’t take one. I told them to wait until when I was out of office and if they still find me worthy they should then come back, and when I was out of office only one came back.
“The point I want to make is that we have to encourage our children to work hard. What have these honorees of the universities done to deserve the honour? What of those who have become undeserving, will you go back and tell them to return the degrees, that they don’t deserve it anymore?”
He also charged the dons on the need to come up with “an acceptable version” of the History of Nigeria.
“There is one thing you can do for Nigeria. Bring all these people together to start work on one acceptable version of Nigeria’s history. It is that version that can be thought in primary and secondary schools, because that is what is happening in other countries. They fought wars too but they have written one final version of their history. When you have written that final version it will be thought in our primary and secondary schools,” the minister added.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities on Tuesday told the Federal Government that the University Transparency and Accountability Solution, which it developed as an alternative to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System is read for integrity tests.
According to ASUU, the software for UTAS was unveiled and demonstrated to the Minister of Education and senior management staff of the Ministry of Education, including the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Abdulrasheed Abubakar, on Monday.
The national President of ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, made this known during a press conference held at the Gwagwalada campus of the University of Abuja, attended by almost all its national officers.
But Ogunyemi maintained that it would not suspend its ongoing strike until the Federal Government honours its 2019 agreements.
“It is our sincere hope that the government would not renege on its promise because the benefits of UTAS to the university system (both public and private) cannot be found in any other software in Nigeria today. Now that the union is close to meeting the government’s demand on an alternative to IPPIS, it is our sincere hope that the substantive issues in the ongoing strike action would be given the desired attention,” he added.
The ASUU president also lamented that five months’ salaries of their members at the University of Maiduguri and the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike are still withheld by the Accountant-General of the Federation on account of non-registration on IPPIS.
“Thousands of other academics across the Universities are suffering the same fate. So, while we counsel that government at both the federal and state levels must meet the Taskforce specified guidelines for reopening of educational institutions, we insist that all the arrears of the withheld salaries of our members in federal and state Universities must be paid immediately to pave for further discussion on the outstanding issues in the Memorandum of Action of February 7 2019,” he added.
– Wants FG to order the arrest of the COO of the company
There was heavy gridlock along the busy Yola Gombe road yesterday, as over 400 workers block the road leading to the only national motor Park in the Adamawa state capital Yola, protesting the molestation of female causal workers by the Indians working in Adama Beverages limited producers of Faro water and juicy owned by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
The protesting workers who carried placards accused the Indians managing the company for Atiku of molesting Nigerian female workers during working hours and massive sacking of Nigerians replacing them with Indians.
The workers who called on the ministry of labour and productivity to immediately wade into the inhuman treatment of Nigerian workers on their father’s land,said that the Chief Operating Officer ( COO) Mr, Francis Vazheparambbil, must be prosecuted inline with the Nigerian laws.
The workers carrying placards with inscription “Indians must go” ” we don’t want Indians” “we say no to causalization” ”we are not slaves” and many other inscriptions, lamented that Nigerian workers are treated in the company like during the days of slave trade.
The spokesman of the protesting workers Abdullah Maigida Bello who spoke on behalf of others said ” since the Indians came to manage this company they make us work like slaves in our own country with no comessurate income”.
“Some of us have been on causal list of the company for 12 years, what they do is disengaging and reengaging without paying”.Most of the permanent staff including some senior staff appointments were terminated without payment but were converted to contract staff by this Indians”. The COO is now bringing into country even during this pandemic his countrymen to replace Nigerians,”.
“The Group Chief Operating Officer Of Priam of Companies that manages Adama Beverages Limited, Mr. Francis Vazheparambbil,has succeeded in bringing Indians from his village to take over the management of the company as permanent staff while we Nigerians who are more educated and qualified were terminated and re-engaged as contract staff,” he stated.
He added,”Even some of the the jobs meant for junior staff and causals have been taking over by this unqualified Indians he brought.”
Also speaking, the chairman of Senior Staff Union of Food and Beverages Staff Union of Nigeria, Adama Beverages Limited Branch, Comrade Puke Jackson ,told journalists that some staff were giving quary for holding meeting that did not affects the production of the day.
“We came in as a union to intervene but the management seems to have taken a stand, this has been the problem since Indians took over the company, he has brought a lot of Indians to displaced us Nigerians who are better qualified.”
When journalists contacted, the Group Chief Operating Officer of the company Mr Francis ,he declined comment saying” I don’t have any business with the in Nigerian journalists ,”i will not talk to you people “.
Leaked Video: PDP Calls Out Presidency Over Oshiomhole’s Arrest Comment
…Charges Buhari to question Gambari
By Dirisu Yakubu
The Peoples Democratic Party national campaign council for Edo Governorship Election has called out the Buhari Presidency over a trending video allegedly showing former All Progressives Congress, APC, national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole and the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari discussing the “arrest” of unnamed persons.
The amateur video showed Oshiomhole walking briskly alongside Gambari, with the former Edo state governor saying, “Arrest…deal with and the whole will change,” while Gambari responded saying “we will go beyond…”
Addressing a press conference at the party’s headquarters on Tuesday, national publicity secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan said the arresting comment may not be unconnected with the September 19 governorship election in Edo state.
He said: “Nigerians were alarmed by the video in which Oshiomhole was seen emphatically urging the Chief of Staff to Mr President on the need to clampdown on certain unnamed Nigerians to achieve political suppression and submission ahead of the Edo election.
“Our national campaign holds that the presence and involvement of the Chief of Staff to the President and the fact that the discussion held within the precincts of the Presidential Villa has made the Presidency complicit and place a huge burden on President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Already, there is anxiety in the public space that the discussion between Oshiomhole and Prof. Gambari as captured in the video is an extension of discussions that must have held behind closed doors in the Presidential villa.
“The video has validated earlier revelations of plots by Oshiomhole and the APC governorship candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, to use compromised security operatives being mobilized by certain individuals in the Presidency, to arrest innocent Nigerians, including traditional, faith-based and community leaders on trumped-up charges, ahead of the Edo election.”
Ologbondiyan who doubled as the secretary, publicity sub-committee of the campaign council, further said the people of Edo state now know who to blame should things go wrong in the governorship poll.
“Nigerians and the people of Edo state now know those to hold responsible should there be cases of illegal arrests, assassinations and unexplained killings, sudden disappearances of prominent people, accidental discharge by federal security operatives and mysterious accidents in the course of this Edo governorship election.
“The PDP national campaign council on Edo governorship election charges President Buhari to reassure Nigerians by immediately ordering that Adams Oshiomhole and Prof. Gambari be pulled in for questioning over the video.
“Anything short of decisive action on this matter will further indict the Buhari Presidency especially coming on the heels of public anxiety over Mr President’s widely condemned comment on the use of security forces for elections.
“Our campaign, however, wants the APC and Oshiomhole to know that their ignoble plots against the people of Edo state have come to nought as the people are at alert and will use every legitimate means available to defend they’re already expressed will in support of the candidate of our party, the PDP, Governor Obaseki in this election,” he added.
Vanguard could not verify the authenticity of the eight seconds video at the time of filing this report.
• Ministers, religious institutions, transport workers, women societies, CSOs get slots
• ’Oct. take off on course’
The wrangling over the 774,000 public works jobs initiated by the Federal Government might have been resolved with slots allocated to lawmakers.
Besides Senators and House of Representatives members, governors and ministers will also make nominations.
The process of recruitment which the National Assembly tried to halt, after a clash between Minister of State Labour and Employment and the joint committee of the National Assembly on Labour and Employment, is going on in all the states.
Political office holders have been allocated 15 per cent of the slots in the programme designed to employ 1,000 artisan youths from each of the 774 local government councils in the country.
Beneficiaries are to work for three months between October and December. Each will earn N20,000 monthly, doing public works as may be determined.
N52 billion has been approved for the project in the 2020 budget.
Giving a breakdown of the slots sharing, the Chairman of the Extended Special Public Work Selection Committee in Rivers State, Dr. Innocent Barikor, told The Nation reporter at the weekend that: “The programme has a guideline.
“The directive given to us is that every state governor has 40 slots of the job in each LGA; serving Senators have 30 each, members of House of Representative have 25 slots; a minister has 30 slots in every LGA in his state of origin, so I have nothing to do about it.”
The committee chairman added: “This job is for those that do not know about ICT. They are jobs for bricklayers, market women, hairdressers, among others.”
Kaduna State Chairman of the Selection Committee, Hajiya Hafsat Baba, said: “Thirteen per cent of the total number allocated to Kaduna is being shared among the elected and appointed political office holders from the state, while the eighty-seven per cent will be given to the people through a random selection committee.”
Fifty slots were allocated to the member representing Gwer East and Gwer West Constituency of Benue State in the House of Representatives.
NDE State Coordinator, Musa Sadauki, who is also the selection committee Secretary, wrote: “We are pleased to formally notify you that the Hon. Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo has approved the allotment to you of the 25 slots in each of the two LGAs in your Federal Constituency…”
Plateau State selection committee said it will soon roll out the recruitment modalities.
State coordinator, Rufus Bature, said the committee has held several meetings, and that application forms may be distributed as from next week.
Enugu State Chairman of the Committee, Chief Gbazuagu Nweke Gbazuagu, said the recruitment was running smoothly.
Keyamo who confirmed the slot reservations, said: “Yes, the figures are true. Fifteen per cent has been reserved for political officeholders. They also have constituents they represent.
“The slots for Senators and House of Representatives members are for the local governments within the constituents/catchment areas that they represent, not the whole state.
“It is a very, very small number if you consider that the slots are not up to 150 out of 1,000 per local government. So, you still have 850 per local government. You still have a large number reserved for Nigerians.”
The Katsina State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) protested the quota allotted to the association by the committee.
The chairman, Reverend Nelson Onyekachukwu, said: “Asking CAN to contribute only 20 people from each of the 34 local government areas in the state is grossly unfair to the association.”
The implementation committee chairman, Alhaji Musa Magaji, said the recruitment would be done equitably irrespective of religious or political affiliation, adding that CAN is just one of the groups to be accommodated.
The Anambra State’s Selection Committee head, Sir Uzoma Igbonwa, said the project would soon take off.
He said the traditional rulers sub-committee was yet to be inaugurated, but that those of market women, road workers, youths, CAN and Muslim group have all been inaugurated.
Lawmakers in Imo State have allegedly hijacked the forms for some local government areas.
An artisan, Elder Jacob Uwaleke from Owerri West Local Government Area, said: “We were told that lawmakers collected the forms on behalf of their constituencies but honestly I am yet to see it.”
Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, said the exercise open.
“There is no mystery about it. It is being done transparently,” he said.
Selection Committee Chairman, Okenze Obinna, said the form was available at NDE office.
“We have given the forms to all elected officials. The problem is that people think that the 27,000 slots to the LGA are inexhaustible, but I have not got any heartbreaking complaint.”
The 20-man selection committee inaugurated in Delta State has begun the recruitment process.
Chairman of the committee, Prof Kelly Ejemudo, said: “We already have slots allotted to political officeholders. Then we have interest groups.
“Our committee did not adopt the hard copy or electronic mode because some scammers may hijack it.
“Apart from the state committee, we have local government coordinators. We also have ward supervisors.”
Our correspondent learnt that 30 slots were allotted to each of the traditional in the eight councils of Delta Central.
For Delta South, 20 slots were reportedly allotted to the Olu of Warri.
Ijaw monarchs under the senatorial district reportedly got 10 slots per six local government areas, while royal fathers of Isoko ethnic nationality received 30 slots for the two Isoko North and South council areas each.
Traditional rulers in Delta North senatorial district were reportedly allotted 40 slots each.
The National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) got 10 each across the 25 council areas; market women got 250 slots, 10 for each council area; youth organisations reportedly got 20 slots for each of the council areas, bringing their total to 500.
The state chapters of CAN and the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs were reportedly given “500 job slots each, 20 per LGA”.
The committee chairman in Oyo State, Mr Ope Salami, said they were yet to receive any mobilisation fund from the Federal Government for logistics.
He said the committee would announce when prospective applicants can approach their council areas to obtain the application forms.
In Ebonyi, the committee said it will conclude work on the list of those to be recruited by end of the month.
Its Chairman, Edward Nkwegu, said 13,000 persons are to be recruited from the 13 council areas.
The Senate insisted that the Directorate of Employment (NDE) should handle the recruitment.
Chairman Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity, Senator Godiya Akwashiki (Nasarawa North), said the Senate’s position remains unchanged.
He said: “Before we went on break, we had a resolution. We did not say they should suspend the programme.
“Strictly, the law says that the NDE should implement the programme, that is, planning and execution, while the Minister’s role is that of supervision as far as the law is concerned.
“This was the position of both chambers of the National Assembly.”
On whether the NDE is implementing the resolution, he said: “I don’t know but that is the position of the Act establishing the NDE. That is the position of the law.”
“We are watching. We believe it is still in the preliminary stages, so there is no cause for alarm. It is too early for now because all of us are on break. So I will advise you to wait.”
House of Representatives spokesman, Benjamin Kalu, added: “It’s their job to recruit. That the Executive is doing the job does not mean the National Assembly is not having an input into the programme.
“The National Assembly will have input because there must be a way to accommodate the people we represent.”
Barikor said members of the committee would not allow any political party to hijack the scheme.
According to him, the committee was in talks with the Rivers State government following its decision to pull out of the scheme.
He said: “I believe that some level of misinformation is responsible for what had happened.”
Amidst liquidity crunch that has seen all the 36 states of the federation slash their 2020 budgets by over N3 trillion, the state governments may have to also sacrifice part of their tax revenue as reliefs to businesses and individual taxpayers in the country.
This, however, comes with a reward of $2.5 million for each state under the Federal Ministry of Finance Budget and National Planning (FMFBNP) World Bank’s $750 million States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme for Results.
This was the outcome of weekend’s virtual meeting held under the SFTAS Programme for Results, which was organised by the World Bank and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF). Already, the move, which is aimed at engendering quick economic recovery, has seen some of the states introducing tax relief programmes to mitigate the unending toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses and individual taxpayers.
The relief programmes, which were initiated in states across the board, have focused on five main tax activities, including extension of filing and payment dates, tax moratoriums, waivers or reduction of penalties and interests over the extension period.
While some states are also offering rebates or discounts on taxes paid within a specific period, others are allowing the payment of taxes, fees and levies, among others, in instalments. In the same vein, states’ tax offices are now enabling filing and the issuance of tax clearance certificates electronically (online).
Various state governments had, in the wake of nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the country, offered tax reliefs to business operators and individuals to mitigate the effect on their businesses. Lagos State government, for instance, granted three months extension of deadline for filing of annual returns by business organisations.
This was for a period of March 31 to June 30, 2020. Later, the Executive Chairman of Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Ayodele Subair, announced additional tax incentives as part of measures to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Lagos taxpayers.
These included instalment payments of outstanding liabilities to ease cash flow challenges; waiver of penalty for late payment of liabilities under pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) scheme that were due during the March to May lockdown; waiver of penalties due to late filing of 2020 annual returns (Form A); waiver of interest and penalty of outstanding tax audit liabilities from 2000 to 2015 for entities that present and keep to a structural payment plan that ends on or before December 31, 2020
Abia State government, on its part, granted 25 per cent waiver/discount on small scale industries/artisans (PAYE and all forms of personal income taxes/ direct taxes), who make payment for past three years arrears. Acting Chairman/ Chief Executive, Board of Internal Revenue, also announced 20 per cent waiver/ discount for payments in August 2020 and 15 per cent waiver/discount for payments in September.
The state government equally reduced tax clearance certificate (TCC), capital gains tax and payments for Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) for urban and rural areas. In Kaduna State, the board of internal revenue said taxpayers subject to presumptive tax would enjoy a four-month grace period, from June 1 to September 30, to enable them recover from the effects of the lockdown.
KADIRS executive secretary, Zaid Abubakar, said the incentives was in accordance with sections 95 (1) and 127 of the Kaduna State Tax (Codification and Consolidation) Law, 2016. “Penalties and interests that hitherto would accrue for late filing of returns have been waived for the period of the extension.
“Filing of Annual Tax Returns within the extended period shall be deemed to be within the statutory timeline and shall attract one per cent rebate on tax due,” Abubakar said. Private school owners also enjoy a grace period of six months, from April 1 to September 30.
The SFTAS experts at the webinar concluded that such waivers for businesses are no longer optional, but have become an essential element of governments’ stimulus-targeted packages to facilitate recovery for businesses which face liquidity crises, and individuals whose livelihoods have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
Incentivised by a new Disbursement Linked Indicator (DLI), eligible states will be rewarded with $2.5 million each in performance- based grants if they announce by 31st July 2020 and implement by 30th September 2020 a tax compliance relief programme for individual taxpayers and businesses to mitigate the COVID-19 impact. Incidentally, the state governments are themselves currently experiencing a liquidity crisis of their own; and with limited capacity to borrow, it has become imperative that they find a balance between granting tax reliefs and maintaining revenues at a sustainable level.
The extent to which government revenues will be impacted by these reliefs will depend on the type of relief that they grant and their ability to raise their tax efforts simultaneously, including offering incentives for greater tax compliance. Recall that the 36 states’ aggregate budget of N9.2 trillion earlier signed into law was recently revised by the individual states to N6.2 trillion as revenue dwindles.
The states rely heavily on the monthly allocation from the Federal Government and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to fund their budget. However, the slump in oil price means less money from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, while projections for IGR have also been shattered by the downturn in the economy.
The SFTAS virtual meeting gave state governments between July 31 and September 30 this year to implement the relief packages to qualify for the grant. The meeting was attended by participants from the 36 states of the country, including state commissioners for finance and Executive Chairpersons of State Internal Revenue Services.
A statement issued at the end of the meeting gave as condition for the grant, the publication of the tax reliefs on the state website and in national dailies to ensure widespread awareness amongst taxpayers.
“Furthermore, the state government should issue to their tax officials and collecting agents, guidelines for the implementation of the reliefs to ensure consistent execution by all and sundry,” the statement added.
Olanrewaju Ajogbasile, NGF’s SFTAS technical assistance, project, who addressed the meeting, promised that the secretariat will provide technical advisory to the states on the domestication of necessary reforms to meet the DLI and fiscal sustainability.
Ajogbasile noted that some states have followed the requirements of granting extension for filing 2019 annual returns and waiver for penalties and interests for businesses and individual taxpayers, others have gone further to waive other taxes, fees and levies for a specified period of time.
• To demand more contract scandal information from Akpabio
• Commission boss, Pondei, faces fresh probe September
Sunday Aborisade, Olaleye Aluko and Tunde Ajaja
The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions has said the information at its disposal is not sufficient to commence the probe of senators indicted in the alleged contract scam at the Niger Delta Development Commission.
The ad hoc committee set up to unravel the alleged financial recklessness by the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC had recommended an internal mechanism to investigate lawmakers indicted by the agency to have secured multi-billion naira projects without executing them.
There has been an outcry over the billions of naira stolen from the commission, even as a member of the NDDC Forensic Audit Committee, Prof Isa Sadiq Raddah, said recently that no fewer than 12,000 projects, some of which were partly paid for, had been abandoned.
Speaking at a workshop organised by the Network for Justice on Budget Monitoring and Tracking in Sokoto, Raddah, who is a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, said 1,700 contractors took mobilisation fees and disappeared.
He said, “NDDC for 20 years has got over $40bn. And when you convert $40bn to naira, we are talking of N116tn.
“The entire money was taken away by their young people, leaders, agitators, activists and now the Niger Delta is as bad as many of the rural areas you find in Northern Nigeria.”
But the chairman of the senate panel saddled with the responsibility of carrying out the probe within four weeks, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, told one of our correspondents in Abuja that the ad hoc committee did not provide relevant details that could assist him in carrying out the task.
Akinyelure also said the probe of a fresh petition against the Managing Director of the NDDC, Prof Daniel Pondei, would wait till September when the National Assembly resumes its current annual vacation.
He said his committee members, who would need sufficient time to study all the allegations contained in the petition, were currently not available following the adjournment of legislative activities till September 15.
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, had said during an investigative hearing by the House of Representatives in July that some lawmakers were beneficiaries of NDDC projects.
He subsequently released a list of the contractors, including a senator from Delta State, who allegedly had 53 projects against his name; another senator from the state with six projects against his name; a senator from Edo State, who also had six projects against his name; and a former senator from Imo State, who had 19 projects against his name.
Others were a former chairman of the Reps committee on NDDC, who had 74 contracts against his name; a former Delta State governor and another former governor of Abia State.
While the identified persons denied the allegations, the NDDC Director of Corporate Affairs, Charles Odili, said in a statement that the Interim Management Committee of the commission stood by the list released by the minister. It said the names emanated from files in the possession of the forensic auditors.
The statement added, “It is not an Akpabio list but the NDDC’s list; the list is part of the volume of 8,000 documents already handed over to the forensic auditors. The ongoing forensic audit would unearth those behind the contracts.”
But in his interview with one of our correspondents, Akinyelure argued that the information at its disposal at the moment from the ad hoc committee on the senators accused of failed contracts, could not allow his panel do justice to the issue.
Lack of information hampers deep investigation –Panel
He said, “We have yet to receive detailed information from the ad hoc committee. Before my committee can entertain any petition, there must be specific allegations against certain sets of people and the allegations must be clear.
“We must have details of the contracts collected. There must be sufficient details about specific contracts, the level of execution, period of award, contract sum and amount collected. All these are not in the recommendations of the ad hoc committee.
“The ad hoc committee has not given details of the one they want my committee to sit on. We are still expecting them to supply us with information about the specific allegations against the affected senators. We need to have their identity.”
…insists Akpabio must provide more details on allegations
He explained that the committee needed to know the contract the senators collected without execution, adding that there must be specific allegations for the committee to verify and that the minister who made the allegation would need to supply more information.
He added, “I am aware that senators don’t award contract but if it is the ones they facilitated for their constituencies, we would investigate their links to the contractors.
“We will find out the procurement process they went through before the contracts were awarded, those who paid the contractors, and to whose account was the money paid to, was the contract executed or not?
“It is when we have these details that we could ask questions. So, we are still expecting the details of the petition to be forwarded to my committee. The minister (Akpabio), who made the allegations, will also need to supply adequate details.
“We want to know the senators who allegedly collected contracts and those who allegedly demanded bribe. It is when we get all the facts that we could do justice and present our report and recommendations.”
… says Pondei’s probe shifted till September
On the fresh petition against Pondei, Akinyelure said, “We will start the investigation when we resume plenary in September. We have to take our time to find out those behind the petition and other details that would guide us on who to invite to come and give evidence.”
“If we don’t have all these details, we cannot do anything. Moreover, most of my committee members are now on vacation. I cannot sit alone as chairman and claim that I’m conducting public hearing.”
He assured the public that the Senate would do justice to the issue.
My c’mttee has no further details on indicted lawmakers – Adetunmbi
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Senate ad hoc committee that probed the alleged reckless spending at the NDDC between October 2019 and May 2020, Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, has said his committee has no further details on the issue apart from the ones already provided in its report.
He said his panel did an explicit job based on submissions of all stakeholders who were requested to provide both written and oral submissions while the exercise lasted.
He said, “I have done the work that was given to me. My report was explicit about the recommendations. I have yet to see details of what Senator Ayo Akinyelure’s committee was asked to do.
“All the information before us were considered and we have written our report. I don’t have any other information apart from what is contained in the report which the Senate had considered, approved and acted upon.”
CSOs ask NASS to submit lawmakers for probe
Two civil society organisations, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, and Transparency International, have demanded that the Senate and the House of Representatives turn in their members indicted in the NDDC contracts for probe.
CACOL’s Executive Chairman, Debo Adeniran, asked the leadership of the National Assembly not to shield their indicted members from the ongoing probe.
He said, “We have made that call for long that the National Assembly should surrender its indicted members to the relevant anti-corruption agencies to investigate the allegations against them. Let them defend themselves. If they come out clean, they will be okay and if they don’t, let them face the consequences.
“If nothing has happened to the lawmakers indicted, the minister may not reveal further names. But the minister seems ready to spill the beans. There must be a reason why the National Assembly does not want him to continue talking.”
Also, the Head of the Transparency International in Nigeria, Musa Rafsanjani, said, “First and foremost, the National Assembly has the moral burden and they must ensure that they carry out their work with sincerity and compliance with the ethical values of the legislature.
“Some of the National Assembly members who have been accused and fingered in these allegations must be investigated. We expected by now that there should have been a thorough probe into the allegations made by the minister, Akpabio.”
There is fresh anxiety in the camp of Governor Godwin Obaseki following recent defections from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the rival All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, reports ‘Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor
AS the governorship election in Edo State draws closer, anxiety continues to mount in the camp of the state governor, Godwin Obaseki, over some recent developments which pundits have described as possible threats to his re-election bid. After years of political upheaval between him and his erstwhile political godfather, former governor Adams Oshiomhole, Obaseki dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC) and pitched his tent with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in pursuit of a fresh term of four years.
Following the emergence of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu as the gubernatorial candidate of the APC, and the return of Oshiomhole to Edo State after his stint as the National Chairman of the APC, many allies and supporters of the governor have returned to Oshiomhole’s fold and declared their readiness to work for the victory of Ize-Iyamu at the polls next month. This is just as numerous supporters of the APC candidates are also dumping the PDP to join him in his new party ahead of the governorship election.
To add to the concerns in the governor’s camp, 17 members of the Edo State House of Assembly have declared support for APC’s Ize-Iyamu, leaving Obaseki and the PDP with only seven lawmakers as the governorship election draws nearer. During the week, the lawmakers, led by factional Speaker, Victor Edoror, warned that if the governor flouts any of their directives, he will be impeached. Though the governor, through his spokespersons, said the threat by Edoror and others are harmless, sources say there is concern over happenings in the Assembly among Obaseki and his men.
The Nation gathered that this development has not gone down well with the leadership of the governor’s camp, thereby leading to concerns being expressed by allies and loyalists of Obaseki on the need for urgent steps to be taken to forestall a disastrous outing at the polls. Our correspondent gathered that the governor’s loyalists fear the APC and Oshiomhole may have plans to outfox Obaseki at the polls, hence the effort to create the impression that the governor is hugely unpopular across the state.
The Nation also learnt that Obaseki recently charged his aides and other appointed government functionaries serving in his administration to work hard and deliver their various constituencies on Election Day or be prepared to quit. According to a very reliable source, the governor was addressing a gathering of frontline loyalists in Benin-City when he gave the directive. “The election is a war we must win. It is not true that the governor threatened to sack people who lose their area on Election Day; what he said is that for the PDP to remain in government, all of us must deliver our constituencies at all cost,” our source said.
Worries
Speaking to The Nation on Thursday, a council chairman in the Central Senatorial District, who is a loyalist of the governor, said many supporters of the governor are currently apprehensive over the developments. According to him, there are fears that the ruling APC at the federal level may be planning to rig the election. He claimed that there are ongoing efforts to lure supporters of the governor into supporting Ize-Iyamu on the pretext that the presidency has decided to stop Obaseki from being re-elected at all cost.
“We are aware of all that is going on and I can tell you that Edo people are worried. Supporters of the governor are worried and leaders of the PDP are anxious over some recent developments. There is a plot to deceive the world into believing that Obaseki is not popular in Edo. There is a plan to rig the election. APC members are using the name of Buhari to deceive our people. They are saying Buhari doesn’t want Obaseki to be re-elected. That is how they are getting some of these people joining the APC.
“They know that in a free and fair election, Obaseki will defeat both Oshiomhole and Ize-Iyamu in Edo. Now, they are deceiving and bribing people to join the APC. But we are ready to match them. We are meeting and strategising everyday on how to counter them. The people you see joining the PDP are doing so based on what they believe. Nobody is bribing them to join,” he said. The Nation also gathered that some prominent leaders of the PDP met with the governor and factional Speaker, Okiye, to discuss happenings in the state Assembly.
Another ally of the governor and a former state official of the All Peoples Party (APP) in the state, Daniel Osifo, said aside from luring supporters of the governor away ahead of the governorship election, opponents of the governor are plotting to scare away people from coming out to vote for Obaseki. According to him, the governor’s camp has discovered plans by APC to use thugs to scare people before and during the election across the state. “Our opponents are not ready for free polls. They are trying to scare away our supporters.
“They are planning a strategy to use the federal might to scare and intimidate us. Every day, we are told by very reliable sources that the opposition was preparing the ground for chaos and anarchy, as part of the grand plot to deceive the people of Edo State into believing that it is unsafe to come out and vote for the candidate of their choice on Election Day. The federal government should be interested in law and order in Edo during the electioneering. It should be the interest of everybody to see a peaceful and fair election,” he said.
During the week, a pro-Obaseki group, the Obaseki Field Marshal Campaign Group (OFM) also appealed to the federal government as well as the ruling party not to allow the governorship election to be militarised. The group also appealed to INEC and other relevant security agencies to ensure the election is free and fair. During a media briefing in Lagos, its convener, Don Olusegun Ugbo, said the forthcoming election is another opportunity for President Muhammadu Buhari to show the world he is an impartial leader.
The group said it is supporting the governor based on what it described as his sterling performance and commitment to the welfare of the people of the state. The group implored the players and stakeholders to allow Edo people make their choice for the continued development of the state.
Allegations
Meanwhile, the Chairman of PDP’s National Campaign Council for Edo Election, Governorship, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, has given assurance that the party will thwart all plots by the APC to use security agencies to rig the forthcoming governorship election. Wike said APC’s confidence about winning the poll is because the party has plans to rig the election. In a press statement, signed by Paulinus Nsirim, Commissioner for Information and Communications, Wike stated that the PDP has gathered enough intelligence report about the unholy plan and would scuttle it at the appropriate time. The PDP tasked INEC to resist alleged attempts by the APC to prevent a free and fair election.
“We consider the comment by INEC to cancel or suspend the election because of violence as succumbing to the antics of the APC. All they want is violence because they cannot win the election. If the election is suspended, the implication is that Obaseki will serve out his tenure without election in November,” Wike said, adding that “for Oshiomhole, the election is a face saving, do or die venture having been treated badly in Abuja.”
But the APC has dismissed PDP’s allegations, insisting that President Buhari would not allow the military to influence the outcome of the forthcoming poll. The party also said all the people defecting into the APC from the PDP are doing so because they are tired of the government of Godwin Obaseki.
Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Yekini Nabena, wondered why the PDP is so panicky about the events of the past few days and concluded that Edo people are definitely ready to elect the man they want to govern them.
Nabena, who said the APC is constantly reiterating its appeal to security agencies to do everything possible to stop all forms of violence and malpractices before, during and after voting, boasted that victory is certain for his party at the September 19 poll. “Sensing the widespread acceptance and support the good people of Edo State have given the APC governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, in the lead up to the forthcoming governorship election, the PDP is clearly panicked and has resorted to childish and comical conspiracies.
“Procurement of result sheets, cloning of PVCs, stealing card readers, vote buying, voter intimidation and other election fraud are the PDP’s stock-in-trade. For us in the APC, it is one person, one vote. Our people-focused development record is visible to all and the good people of Edo State are poised to make the right and progressive choice, come September 19. We reiterate that our security services must do everything to stop the PDP’s plan to unleash violence, intimidate voters and buy votes during the election. Come September 19, votes will count and the will of the Edo electorate will prevail,” Nabena said.
The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) at the weekend said angry youths shut down a major power facility, the Afam Power Station, in Rivers State.
The acting Manager, Corporate Communications, PHEDC, Mrs Chioma Aninwe, said the angry youths on Friday, forcefully took over control of the Afam power station belonging to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
She said the development was the reason for the total blackout in the state.
Aninwa said “The youths, known as Oyibo Youths, shutdown Afam Transmission lines around 21:04 p.m. on Friday, thereby, throwing the entire Port Harcourt and Rivers state into darkness.
“The youths took laws into their hands and marched in their numbers to the transmission station, forcing the operators to shut down supply without observing safety measures.
“This ugly incident has become the order of the day due to their acclaimed inadequate power supply to their communities.
“PHED also informed them of the need for the company to apply systematic load shedding in order to accommodate all its customers.
“However, all our attempts have proven futile as the youths insisted on 24-hour supply, negating our efforts at ensuring equitable distribution of supply to customers.
“PHED condemns in its entirety the frequent shutdown of Afam power station, and hereby, draws the attention of law enforcement agencies and the Rivers government.
“We urge the authorities to come to our aid and put a final stop to this frequent disruption of power distribution to customers at the slightest power challenge in the state.”
Education › HND Holders Threaten Industrial Action, Lament Discrimination by Islie(op): 12:42pm On Aug 28, 2020
