₦airaland Forum

Nigerians dare Jonathan to prosecute Obasanjo

December 24, 2013 by Temitayo Famutimi


On Monday, the social media bristled with reactions to President Goodluck Jonathan’s formal response to some charges levelled against his administration, as contained in an 18-page letter written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and published in major newspapers across the country.

The attention of many Nigerians was drawn to Jonathan’s claim that Obasanjo had a case to answer over “questionable waivers of signature bonuses between 2000 and 2007” when he was in office.

Also, the President’s reference to scandals involving Siemens and Halliburton during Obasanjo’s tenure appears to be giving many people cause for concern, with some of them saying the revelation had confirmed the suspicion that Jonathan was intentionally shielding his close associates from prosecution for corrupt practices.

Wondering why Jonathan had to wait till his predecessor accused his government of encouraging corruption in the country before raising the alarm over the said waivers, they described the current development as unfortunate.

A political blogger, Japheth Omojuwa, lamented that Jonathan’s letter had clearly exposed his “hypocrisy” in the fight against corruption. Urging the President to direct the relevant security agencies to spring into action, he said, “The office of the President of Nigeria has become an open arena for shame and hypocrisy. You see, you can’t accuse a man of all that and then leave him without prosecution and expect us to believe you.

“The President said enough to let us know that Obasanjo should be battling for his freedom in the courts. Who will do that? He mentioned the Siemens and Halliburton scandals. He didn’t even say anything about bringing the former President and others to book for those allegations.”

Also, Kayode Ogundamisi accused the President of shielding Obasanjo from prosecution, saying he was shocked to learn that allegations of corruption were made against the latter.

Ogundamisi said Jonathan should not stop at associating Obasanjo with the scams, but back his promise not to “shield any government official or private individual involved in corruption” with action.

“Jonathan hinted in his letter that Obasanjo was involved in the Siemens and Halliburton scams, yet he is protecting him. When will Obasanjo be made to face the law or is he above the law? Is he aware that Obasanjo is corrupt and failed to act?” he asked.

Egghead Odewale also wrote on Twitter that the allegations made against the former President proved that the President was shielding corruption and criminality.

Odewale said, “And thus it was written that President Jonathan openly admitted shielding corruption and criminality. You accuse a former president of corruption and criminality and he still walks freely? Should he also present evidence of his own crimes? But how can President Jonathan write about Siemens and Halliburton, yet he has done nothing to prosecute those involved. It beats my imagination!”

For Seun Fakuade, the President’s letter depicted him as having lost the moral ground to fight corruption in high places.

He argued that out of the weighty allegations of corruption made by Obasanjo, the President “glossed over” the issue in one paragraph. “The President’s letter is sad, petty and out-of-touch with the issues Obasanjo raised,” Fakuade tweeted. “I expect President Jonathan to deal with issues in this situation; go after Obasanjo since he alleges that he’s corrupt. But he doesn’t have the right to do so. The President has lost the moral right to go after corrupt people directly because he lends credence to corruption: Oduah, Alamieyesegha, etc. He lost it.

“Mr. President, you lend credence to corruption. You pardoned a criminal. You have no moral capacity to lead us. Mr. President, not one minister, among all those fingered in corrupt deals, has been suspended and charged to court for trials. Not one.”

Responding to the matter on Facebook, Soulz Daniel said that with the letter the President only tried to convince Nigerians that he should not be held responsible for Nigeria’s woes, especially corruption and insecurity.

“Jonathan says he isn’t shielding corrupt government officials. Can he explain why the Petroleum Minister, who has been indicted in many reports, is still a minister? What about Stella Oduah (aviation minister) who has been found to violate the due process in the purchase of the infamous two bullet-proof BMW cars scandal and her recommendation for a sack by the National Assembly, just to mention a few?” Daniel said.

http://www.punchng.com/i-punch/nigerians-dare-jonathan-to-prosecute-obasanjo/

Import Waiver Granted First Lady To Import 200 BMW Cars: SaharaReporters Writes Minister Of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Posted: Dec, 23 2013, 10:12PM

By Omoyele Sowore
Dear Minister Of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala : It has come to our attention that your Special Assistant on Media, Paul Nwabuikwu, is circulating a press statement to a select group of news outlets and bloggers describing as false a report by SaharaReporters about import waivers obtained by Mrs. Patience Jonathan’s office to import 200 BMW cars for her “Africa First Ladies” summit in 2012.

While your aide’s statement did not dispute the existence of waivers that were ultimately granted to Coscharis Motors to import the cars, he went to great lengths to accuse SaharaReporters of distorting the information released by your office.

We are not in the least surprised that you would authorize your aide’s misleading press release aimed at casting aspersions on us. This mendacious release is consistent with your style of responding to legitimate questions about your conduct as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance. You have established a reputation for intolerance of principled and accurate media reports once they raise questions about your ministerial judgments or reflect poorly on your performance.

You would recall that, on December 3rd, 2013, you published a doctored list of beneficiaries of import waivers in response to pressures mounted on your office by Nigeria’s PUNCH newspaper. Without question, you had hoped to bamboozle the public with this incomplete list. However, we refused to accept your list for publication, having received information from officials who should know that your list was distorted and incomplete, indeed an attempt to hoodwink gullible reporters and Nigerians. Yesterday, your office surreptitiously released an updated list on the web. It is this fuller list that revealed part of how the First Lady has benefited significantly from the questionable dispensation of import waivers to politically connected individuals and firms. We duly acknowledged our source.

The tone of your aide’s press statement makes it clear that you had hoped that your updated list would not become public knowledge. That explains the harsh and predictable attack on our medium.

Since your statement claimed that Mrs. Jonathan did not benefit from the imported BMWs, we urge you to go a step further: produce the list of beneficiaries and providing the chasses numbers of the BMWs imported under the questionable waivers you granted to Coscharis Motors in 2012. In addition, we challenge you to provide evidence that Coscharis Motors imported the vehicles for which the waivers were granted.

You should also do the Nigerian public the great service of explaining why presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, claimed that the Federal Government had not contributed a dime to the importation of the BMWs, when your office had indeed granted waivers worth N560 million to the controversial auto dealer.

Since you claimed that your latest release was driven by your desire to ensure transparency, we await a detailed response to the issues raised here.

Sincerely,

Omoyele Sowore
For Saharareporters.com

http://saharareporters.com/article/import-waiver-granted-first-lady-import-200-bmw-cars-saharareporters-writes-minister-finance

Things are getting better in Ogun, says Obasanjo

December 23, 2013 by Segun Olatunji, Abeokuta

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has endorsed the urban renewal programme and other developmental projects embarked upon by the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led government in Ogun State.

Obasanjo noted that things were now getting better in the state.

Speaking at the 2013 Ogun State Christmas Carol held at the June 12 Cultural Center, Kuto, Abeokuta, on Sunday, the former
president said the massive road projects and construction of ultra-modern model schools had brought landmark improvements to the
20 local governments of the state.

He further described Amosun’s achievements as breathtaking and the right step in the right direction.

“Things are getting better everyday, getting better everytime in Ogun. When I was talking of roads in Abeokuta, they said I haven’t been to Ijebu-Ode and Sagamu. On getting to Ijebu-Ode, I saw if not better bridges than that of Abeokuta being constructed. What about the ones in Ilara; what of Ayetoro?

“If we have good infrastructure, business will thrive, economy will increase and that is what you are doing across the state”, Obasanjo
said.

http://www.punchng.com/news/things-are-getting-better-in-ogun-says-obasanjo/

Jonathan’s impeachment will stabilise democracy —APC

December 22, 2013 by Allwell Okpi


The Interim National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Lai Mohammed, reiterates the party’s call for the impeachment of President Goodluck Jonathan, in this interview with ALLWELL OKPI

The All Progressives Congress recently called for the impeachment of President Goodluck Jonathan. What prompted this call?

In our press release, we gave reasons for our asking for the President to be impeached. One is that we are running a democracy and particularly, it is a presidential system of government. That being so, it provides for separation of powers. Power is shared by the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. The system gives a lot of powers to the executive, but being conscious of human nature that this power could be abused, it also provides for checks and balances. That is why the constitution says the president or the governor can be removed if he is found guilty of charges of gross misconduct. In principle, what we said and did was simply following the constitution, which allows for the president to be impeached.

Can you mention the actions of President Jonathan that constitute gross misconduct?

We said the responsibility of any government is the security and welfare of the citizenry. The administration has failed to live up to the justification of its existence. We also complained of total failure of leadership, which has given birth to insecurity, unprecedented level of corruption, palpable impunity, massive unemployment, among other things. We gave examples of each of these. This country is currently swimming in corruption: Is it the oil subsidy scam that you want to talk about? Or the armoured vehicles scam? Or the pension scam? Or is it the N8trn missing fund discovered by the Central Bank of Nigeria, that you want to talk about? Or is it the missing SURE-P fund you want to talk about or the arbitrary distribution of money from the ecological fund to the cronies of the President? Or is it the impunity that has been going on for about one year in Rivers State that you want to talk about? The commissioner of police in Rivers has become the de facto chief executive. Let anybody say any of these did not happen or that any of them does not constitute gross misconduct. And for crying out loud, when did asking for the impeachment of the President become treasonable felony? This is a government that has run out of ideas. Everywhere in the world, parties call for the impeachment of the President. Even in the US, small parties call for the impeachment of Barack Obama for frivolous reasons. When has it become sacrilegious to ask that the President be impeached? If it was so, the constitution would not have put the impeachment clause there.

Did the letter by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to Jonathan play any role in your call for the President’s impeachment, considering that it was revealed a few days earlier?

No, it (the letter) was not on the list. The letter only reinforced our call, but it is not on the list. The things on the list were not taken out of the letter. If we are going to be honest to ourselves, there is no issue in the letter, except the training of snipers and putting 1000 people on Jonathan’s political watch list. There is nothing in Obasanjo’s letter that we have not been saying. Is it about impunity; is it security; is it corruption? We have even spoken more than what Obasanjo wrote. If we are to compile what we have said about this administration, it would be a book, not a letter. It is interesting that even people in Jonathan’s party have said exactly what we have been saying about his administration; Obasanjo on one hand and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, on the other hand. Tambuwal said the body language of the President showed that he was encouraging corruption. Two months ago, we said he was an accessory to corruption; that his body language showed that he was not ready to fight corruption.

The Presidency has accused APC of seizing every opportunity to heat up the polity and has charged you with treasonable felony. What’s your reaction to that?

If the President is sure that he is not guilty of any of these misconducts, why is he afraid? Clearly, the answer to call for impeachment is not a charge of treasonable felony.

Considering how heated up the polity is ahead of 2015 elections, don’t you think impeaching the President now will throw this country into chaos?

How? Will it be the first time in a democracy that a president will be impeached?

But it would be the first in Nigeria.

Of course, we are a young democracy, that’s why. Nothing will stabilise Nigeria’s democracy more that the impeachment of the President; it will show people that democracy is not just about the right to choose your leaders, but also the right and the ability to get rid of them when they don’t perform.

With the rigorous process of impeaching a president, do you think it is possible for the National Assembly to impeach Jonathan?

What is the rigour? To serve the notice, you need only one-third of the members. You don’t need two-third to serve notice of impeachment. The next thing is to call the Chief Justice of Nigeria and put forth the allegations for him (Jonathan) to defend. If they are not satisfied, the CJN will constitute a committee. People will be shocked that by the time the process gain momentum, more and more people will join the impeachment train. We absolutely have no doubt in our minds that it is doable.

That means APC will be banking on its increased strength in the National Assembly.

Frankly speaking, most of these allegations are not wrongs against APC alone; they are wrongs and misdeeds affecting entire Nigeria. If you talk corruption and insecurity, even some states controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party suffer it more than APC states. You will be shocked that people that you think are on the President’s side will join the train of impeachment. So many people, who have been groaning but have not had the opportunity to air their views, will join.

http://www.punchng.com/politics/crossfire/jonathans-impeachment-will-stabilise-nigerias-democracy-apc/

Mass defection to hit PDP again

December 22, 2013 by John Ameh, Success Nwogu and Leke Baiyewu

Barring any last-minute change in the unfolding schemes on the political scene, there is imminent mass defection of Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers in the House of Representatives to the opposition All Progressives Congress, SUNDAY PUNCH has learnt.

Intensive discussions are ongoing between members of the APC and members of the PDP in the House, it was learnt on Friday.

The effort by the opposition party to win over PDP lawmakers is in pursuit of APC’s determination to increase its numerical strength in the legislative chamber to 212.

The feat, if achieved, will put the party in a position to take over the leadership of the House.

Findings by SUNDAY PUNCH showed that about 40 more PDP lawmakers are considering the APC.

With the defection of 37 members of the ruling party to the APC last week, the opposition party currently has 172 members in the House, while the PDP has 171.

The forty lawmakers expected to join the APC in January include five members of the PDP from Adamawa State.

Adamawa State Governor, Mr. Murtala Nyako, was one of the five former PDP governors, who defected to the APC last month.

Curiously, PDP lawmakers from the state did not defect to the APC on Tuesday, when the 37 from Sokoto, Kano, Rivers and Bauchi states moved to the APC on the floor of the House.

“The reason they did not move on Tuesday was part of the strategy of the APC. If they had moved with their colleagues, the number would have been 42, instead of 37. Such a large number moving at the same time could have caused tension on the floor.

“It was part of the strategy that the defection should be done gradually. For the case of Adamawa, it is a done deal; they will move”, a source confided in SUNDAY PUNCH on Friday.

In addition to the five lawmakers from Adamawa State, it was gathered that 35 others from states whose governors did not move to the APC, were on standby.

“These members are with the PDP on the floor, but their hearts are with the APC”, the source who pleaded anonymity added.

One of our correspondents gathered that the major reason for the planned defection was to enable the lawmakers actualise their 2015 ambitions.

When contacted, the Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, confirmed the findings, saying , “More members are billed to join us in January.”

Although, he declined to mention any figure, he stated that there was “no longer any doubt that things will not remain the same by the end of January.”

Five aggrieved PDP governors of the rebellious G-7, had on November 26, 2013, announced their decision to merge with the APC.

The five governors were Muritala Nyako (Adamawa), Rabiu Kwakwanso (Kano), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto).

The governors, at the meeting they had with the leadership of the APC in Abuja, said their decision was aimed at rescuing the country.

http://www.punchng.com/news/mass-defection-to-hit-pdp-again/

Amaechi: Jonathan is victimising Rivers

Posted by: Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt


Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has spoken on his frosty relationship with President Goodluck Jonathan, saying the state is being victimised.

The state is neglected by the Federal Government, which ceded its oil wells to neighbouring Bayelsa State, the governor said.

Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), noted that he left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to protect the interest of Rivers.

He urged Rivers indigenes to be politically-conscious and become agents of progressive change, thereby voting out the ruling PDP at the federal level.

The governor spoke on Wednesday at the Government House, Port Harcourt, the state capital, while interacting with medical doctors.

Amaechi said the APC held the light to the country’s rapid development and to reducing the general impoverishment in the country.

He said one of the reasons for his disagreement with the Federal Government was the Soku oil wells in the Kalabari area of Rivers State, which were ceded to Bayelsa State and which the Rivers State government contested in court.

The NGF chairman said: “For Rivers State, basically that is the cause of the quarrel and you have a choice to make. The choice for me is to vote out PDP and there is no sentiment about that.

”Legally, we have not lost Soku (oil wells). We have just lost Soku to the fact that the President is from Bayelsa. When a President that is not from Bayelsa comes, he will look at the facts and the facts are there.

”The Federal Government, in writing in the court, said to the court: ‘sorry, court, we made a mistake; we will correct the mistake’ and we have told the Federal Government: ‘don’t call us for a meeting; go and correct that mistake. How could you people wake up in 2011… suddenly changed the map of Nigeria and take Soku into Bayelsa State?”

Amaechi also said the Jonathan administration failed to execute a road project awarded by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration to link the oil-rich Bonny Island in the state.

He said: “That road to Bonny was awarded by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. They started; they have done just one bridge. The road has been abandoned. Yar’Adua tried to restart it, but he stopped.

“President Goodluck Jonathan has forgotten about that road completely, despite the fact that part of the money that feeds the Nigerian economy comes from that place, Bonny. That’s where you have the natural gas plant.”

The governor said the Federal Government had not reimbursed the state for the N105 billion spent on the Port Harcourt-Owerri federal road, Eleme and Agip flyovers in Port Harcourt, among others.

On his administration’s bid to secure a loan to provide potable water for residents, Amaechi said the loan was being held up because of the challenge posed by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, whom he noted had not signed off on the loan.

Amaechi said: “I will start from water. We got African Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank to give us a loan, for which we will pay 0.4 per cent for 40 years, which is a wonderful loan and we planned to give Port Harcourt people water first.

”If everybody in Rivers State is drinking (potable) water that will reduce the number of patients that go to Braithwaite Memorial Hospital or any other hospital. World Bank agreed; Federal Government agreed; ADB agreed. They said, ‘go and do due process’. We have finished due process. What is remaining is for the Minister of Finance to just sign off.

”In fact, you know, like I tell people, I have no appetite for money, they can award the contract to whoever they want; all I want is water, because that will impact on other sectors of the Rivers State economy. ‘Oh, you are quarrelling with the President, we will not sign’; that is why they have not signed.

”Should the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that schooled in the University of Port Harcourt, worked at OMPADEC, Ministry of Education, University of Education or College of Education (COE) sit down there and deny Rivers people water?”

The people chorused ‘No’. “Should I remain in that kind of government (party)?” Again, the people chorused ‘no.’

Amaechi said his decision to join the APC was not for his personal interests, but for the state. The people of the state to discourage politics based on tribe or region and play politics for the collective interests of the people.

He said: “It is not about Ijaw. It is not about Southsouth, because the first question I will ask myself is ‘what have I benefitted in the government of President Goodluck Jonathan? We gave him between 1.5 million to 2.1 million votes. What have we got? What has the Federal Government done for Rivers people?” ”Nothing,” the people chorused.

Amaechi also decried the grounding of the state’s aircraft by the Federal Government and its refusal to sign to allow the state to bring in two surveillance helicopters from the United States to check kidnapping and other crimes.

The NGF chairman also stated that his critics in the state had been angry with him for his refusal to be corrupt, stressing that the Police Commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu, was influenced in his actions by the Presidency.

The Rivers Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Ibitrokoemi Korubo, assured the governor that they would continue to support his good policies.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/amaechi-jonathan-is-victimising-rivers/

Rivers State: Justice Wali’s office bombed Published on December 18, 2013 by

Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

Less than 24 hours after the office of the Mr Tele Ikuru,the Deputy Governor Rivers State was bombed by unidentified persons, the office of Justice Charles Wali was also bombed at about 3 p.m today, a day after he ruled that Mr Evans Bipi should stop parading himself as the Speaker of Rivers House of Assembly.

A witness said that some cars at the parking lot of the Judge and part of the administrative block of the judge’s office on Omoku Road, Ahoada were affected.

Mrs Ibim Semenitari, the Commissioner of Information and Communications confirmed the incident and expressed worry that a spate of bombing seems to have resumed in the state, simultaneously as the criminal elements who the Amaechi administration had chased away from the state, have staged a comeback.

She wondered why some few powerful politicians are backing bad elements to throw the state into its dark days.

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/12/18/rivers-state-justice-walis-office-bombed/

Osun: Giant strides continueon December 18, 2013

BY KUNLE OYATOMI

Last week, the media reported the British Deputy High Commissioner as saying that the State of Osun is a viable destination for any investor who is looking for a safe place to put his money in Nigeria because, according to him, “the State is peaceful”.

The High Commissioner did not stop at that; he said, “within three years of his administration, what the government of Ogbeni Aregbesola has done in terms of infrastructural development and how the governor has been attracting businesses and industries is IMPRESSIVE, PRAISEWORTHY AND BOASTFUL for FUTURE of the State”, (emphasis mine).

For a country now accustomed to negative stories from mischievous quarters, painting the State of Osun in the most unfavourable light, this statement from Mr. Peter Carter, Britain’s Deputy High Commissioner in Nigeria should put the lie to the misinformation and disinformation fed to and promoted by a section of the media.

The truth could not be more clearly stated. What’s going on in the State of Osun in virtually all departments is really and truly “giant strides” in development. However, a vocal minority enamoured of and sated by the miserableness of conditions that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola met, are getting serious and sizeable media attention as they hysterically demand a return to the status quo created by their People Democratic Party (PDP) friends.

These people live in the past and they have practically lost their legitimacy as “promoters of the good” for at each stage of the Aregbesola revolution every step taken by the governor was viciously condemned, his person maligned and the State placed in the dumps by the opposition party and their surrogate. In fact, many respectable citizens who were misled to buy into the false stories coming out of Osun got a sense that a radical Islamists had emerged in Osogbo who must be checkmated.

That was some two years ago. We had worked as hard as we could to change the pathetic image which the PDP and their friends tried disingenuously to create of the State of Osun. As you read this, that strainous effort is not over, because there are people in high and low places who have a preference for lies and continue to buy into the falasies that PDP and their surrogate tell about Osun. They keep the negative stories alive and they swear by their goddess of lies that Aregbesola is destroying Osun.

Some people, awfully limited in their perceptive ability, call that politics; blind, deaf and unenlightened politics perhaps. When you sit back in the fraudulently acquired opulence of your wealth to tell senseless lies about your own state, or you junket media houses with utterly false stories about how the state is being run, all for the purpose of tarnishing the image of the government in power, in the long run you qualify to be described as a terrorist.

You are in the business of mentally terrorizing your community. That is not politics; it is crime!! But the good thing is that these lies and those who take pleasure in propagating them have not succeeded even in fooling ordinary people in the state who see, hear, feel and delight in the incredible level of progress that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government led by Ogbeni Rauf Aragbesola, continues to make in Osun.

People who know what is happening, whose source of information is not the political illiterates assembled in the opposition party, will tell you that the state is making giant strides. And no less a personality than the British Deputy High Commissioner has said just that. Let the enemies of progress bow their heads in shame. They have eyes to see what is going on in their country but they deny what they see. However, their denial has changed nothing and will stop nothing.

Giant strides in Osun continue. The world is acknowledging it. The people are delighting in it. The streets of our cities tell the story. Business is bubbling. The pace of commercial activities in the last three years has more than doubled. There is no single family in Osun today that is not positively affected by the giant strides which the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola led government is taking. The scare-mongering of the opposition, the lies of their surrogate, and the evil machination of their supporters from distant lands cannot and will not be allowed to stop these giant strides.

Finally, a word of warning and advice: Those who seek to undo these giant strides which the people of Osun cherish should be prepared to face the wrath of the people. In Yorubaland, they should understand what that means. They should think again in their own best interest.

*Mr Oyatomi is the Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, All Progressives Congress (APC), State of Osun.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/osun-giant-strides-continue/

APC calls for probe of massive thefts, corruption

Posted by: John Ofikhenua, Abuja in Featured, News 17 hours ago

Party warns against plot to unseat five governors

The Opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday urged the National Assembly to launch a probe into “constitutional violations” by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

The party said the lawmakers should act in consonance with the dictates of the constitution “to save our nation from falling off a fiscal cliff caused by excessive theft and corruption”.

The APC, in a communique signed by its Interim National Chair Chief Bisi Akande after the 7th regular meeting of its Interim National Executive Committee (NEC), followed up its call on Sunday for Jonathan’s impeachment.

Yesterday’s meeting was attended by Governors Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) and Rabiu Kwakwanso (Kano), who defected last month along with three of their colleagues from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.

Governors of Adamawa, Sokoto and Kwara states, who also defected to the party, were represented at the meeting.

Also there was the leader of the New PDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje.

Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Dr. Ogbononanya Onu and Senator Ali Modu Sheriff also attended the meeting.

The APC alleged gross abuse of the ecological funds “through its selective and unjust disbursement to only non-APC states”. Such states – 16 in all – were recently given N2billion each – secretly.

It also noted the “revelation of the diversion of revenues that ought to have been paid into the Federal Account running into trillions of naira”. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has said about $49billion of such cash, which should have been remitted to the Federation Account by the Nigeria Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) were unremitted. The NNPC has disagreed.

The APC also alleged that “other budget amounts for parastatals , pensions and the fuel subsidy that ought to have been properly accounted for are similarly plundered with impunity”.

Sanusi raised the allegation in a letter to the President, saying NNPC failed to remit $49.8b into the Federation Account.

About N500 billion that should have been remitted to the SURE-P – a government interventionist agency – has also been declared un-remitted.

The ministry of Finance has also denied that the money is “missing”.

The APC said the “serial failure” of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct successful by-elections in some states – Imo, Delta and Jigawa- as well as the governorship election in Anambra State, had raised doubts about INEC’s capability to conduct a credible election in 2015.

It spoke about intimidation of its members in Abia State and the impunity in Rivers State, which it said could plunge the country into political turmoil.

“Sadly, in the course of the meeting, the APC learnt that another deadly attack was perpetrated against the Rivers Government House where the office of the Deputy Governor was partly destroyed. This and other acts of impunity clearly show the PDP, its agents and governments to be lawless. The APC warns that these acts demonstrate clearly that this government is anti-people, dictatorial and would go to any length to plunge the country into chaos.

“The APC is concerned with the situation in Rivers State. This display of impunity and the Faustian bargain between the police commissioner and a handful of rebel legislators has gone on for a full year. It must stop. Now is the time for all men and women of goodwill to speak up against the assault on an elected government and violations of the right of Rivers citizens. The international community is hereby put on notice that Nigeria’s democratic journey unravels and Rivers State might be the lightening torch for Nigeria’s descent into impunity.

“We wish to re-state that whatever touches one APC state affects the entire party. Our party will therefore not stand idly by and watch democracy desecrated in Rivers State or elsewhere in the country for that matter.”

The APC also warned that it would not accept “the deliberate disenfranchisement of large swathes of our citizenry”, vowing to fight to defend the right of every eligible Nigerian voter to vote.

“We also want to alert the Federal Government that any attempt to extend the state of emergency without any justification will be resisted by every lawful and constitutional means”, the party said, adding:

“President Jonathan should, therefore, live up to his responsibilities by ensuring that every part of Nigeria is safe enough for elections, as our citizens expect nothing less.”

The APC had earlier alerted the nation of what it described as the strategy of the Jonathan administration to depopulate areas it has strong following and suppress voter turnout in the Northern and Southwest states through deliberate exacerbation of insecurity.

“We suspect that wittingly or unwittingly the recent declaration of INEC that elections are not likely to take place in states under state of emergency is in furtherance of this agenda,” it added.

The communiqué said touched on what it described as an attempt to remove the five governors who defeated to it. It said: “The APC has noted with concern the threats of the PDP to procure a pliant judge to declare the seats of the G-5 governors vacant in spite of the Supreme Court decision in the case of Atiku in 2007.

“It is of note that several times governors, including legislators from other parties have defected from the ANPP and PPA to the PDP even when their former parties were not factionalised without any consequence. The APC hereby warns the PDP to desist from words and deeds of impunity that threaten our stability and democracy.

“ We also hope that the judiciary will not be a party to the deliberate promotion of lawlessness and impunity in our country. APC will give its governors and lawmakers the necessary support in defence of their rights and freedoms of association.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/apc-calls-probe-massive-thefts-corruption/

Kidnappers take turn to rape female pastor in Lagos

By Anurika Onyelemelam
Published on December 12, 2013

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a gang of kidnappers who abducted a female pastor for ransom and took turn to rape her.
The gang was said to have been busted after the pastor escaped naked from the kidnappers’ den.
She was said to have screamed as she ran out of the den until residents in the area came out from their respective apartments to know what was going on.
She was later taken to the Area N Police Command, Ijede in Ikorodu.
It was further gathered that after the gang kidnapped the woman, they kept her permanently naked, raping her whenever they felt the urge.
On the fateful day she escaped, the members of the gang had gone for another operation, leaving her in the care of one of the kidnappers.
Aside from the woman pastor, a Briton was also held.
The woman had bolted out of the camp after the kidnapper guarding her attempted to rape her again.
She was said to have jumped up and no longer caring about the gun pointed her, pushed away her would be rapist.
The man’s head slammed against the wall, while the woman ran out, screaming like the hounds of hell was after her.
As soon as the kidnapper realised that the woman had bolted, he took off too, unmindful of the Briton under his watch.
Apparently, he had rather run and hide, than face the wrath of their leader.
Residents gathered round the woman, gave her clothes and took her and the Briton to the Area N Police Command.
According to the residents, they never knew that the uncompleted building in their neighbourhood was a kidnappers’ camp.
Since the rescue of the female pastor, police had arrested about two of the kidnappers, while others, including their leader, identified as Sam, are still at large.
A police source revealed that since the arrest of some of the kidnappers, the female pastor has become a regular face at the office of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, preaching to her abductors and rapists to give their lives to Jesus Christ.
She tells them that she had already forgiven them.
Among those arrested is Emeka, who has been singing like a bird to the police.
According to Emeka, Sam is the leader of the gang.
Sam, he said, recruited him.
Describing how the gang works, Emeka said that after Sam, one Ikechukwu Ibe is the second in command, while one Ugo is the messenger and pointer.
He however described himself as the hit man.
Narrating how he became a member of the gang, Emeka, a trader, said that he used to travel to Cotonou, Benin Republic to buy fairly used clothes.
But life turned pretty tough for him and his family after officials of the Nigerian Customs Service seized all his goods.
A police source said: “Emeka said that after Customs seized his goods, he had nothing left, his business collapsed.
“Every Christmas and New Yam festival, he used to go the village with his friends to display his wealth.
“But those travels and displays stopped too.”
According to Emeka, last December, he visited the village and saw Sam, whom he had once financially assisted.
Emeka told Sam about how life had been tough since his encounter with the Customs officials and the eventual loss of his of business.
After listening to Emeka’s tales of woes, Sam gave him N21,000 and asked him to call him once he gets to Lagos.
As soon as Emeka got to Lagos, he called Sam, who asked him to meet him at a certain hotel.
When Emeka reached the hotel, he met Sam with four other men.
They were gorgeously dressed.
Sam pulled Emeka away from the men and went back to continue the meeting.
According to Emeka, after the meeting, he and Sam drove to Ajao Estate, which turned out to be Sam’s place.
During the night, Sam woke Emeka and told him that he and the four men he saw in the hotel were professional kidnappers.
Emeka said: “Sam told me that they don’t kill, but only threaten their victims.
“He told me that his uncompleted building at the village was through money gotten from kidnapping.
“He said that if I joined them, I’ll soon become rich again.”
Sam asked Emeka to meet him on a Saturday at a hotel along the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Road.
Emeka started for the venue, but it began to rain, slowing him down.
He called Sam to explain the situation.
Sam asked him to meet him at under bridge, along the MMIA Road.
When he got there, he saw Sam and four others in a jeep.
They left that night for Ajah.
Sam was driving and repeatedly kept making phone calls.
After the call, Sam became angry, but did not say why.
The phone rang again, but Sam refused to pick this time.
He drove on and saw a vehicle coming.
As soon as the vehicle passed them, Sam said ‘confirmed.’
He quickly pursued the vehicle and overtook it.
The driver, sighting armed men, jumped out of the car and ran away.
Investigations had since revealed that the driver (Jude Muyiwa) was part of the gang that planned the kidnap of his boss, a local government chairman.
The driver bolted and abandoned his boss in the car.
The kidnappers took over the steering of the car and Emeka and Sam were left in the Jeep the gang came with.
The jeep followed the black colour Toyota Yaris, which the gang had snatched along with its occupant.
They drove for about an hour.
Then Emeka noticed a signboard saying Ogijo.
Then they reached an uncompleted building.
They met another set of three kidnappers there.
The newly kidnapped victim was stripped to his boxers.
Incidentally, the gang members already knew he was a local government chairman, but Emeka said he only found out after they reached the uncompleted building.
The kidnappers used his phone to make contact with his family members and demanded for ransom.
One of the kidnappers, who spoke Hausa fluently, identified as Innocent, was the one communicating with the family of the local government chairman.
After four days of phone calls and negotiation, the chairman was taken and dropped off at a filling station, close to Onipanu Bus Stop on the ever busy Ikorodu Road, Lagos.
Later, Sam told Emeka that they collected a ransom of N5 million from the victim’s family.
Emeka collected N500,000 as his own part of the loot.
Emeka said that after that deal, there was nothing for almost two weeks.
The third week, Sam called Emeka, explaining that there was another operation.
This time around, they kidnapped a Briton who worked with Chevron.
They kept the Briton at the uncompleted building.
While negotiation on the Briton was on, the gang kidnapped the female pastor.
It was gathered that as soon as she was kidnapped, she started shouting: Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!
They contacted her husband and demanded for N20 million.
Later Sam raped the woman, followed by Innocent and Emeka.
She was kept permanently naked to allow them easy access to rape her.
Initially, the gang demanded N50 million as ransom for the Briton, but settled for N25 million.
Emeka said: “The woman pastor used to cry every day.
“She also used to pray continuously.
“I began to feel sorry for her.”
Emeka recalled that Sam instructed him and Ugo to go to Ojota, Caterpillar Junction and collect the N25 million ransom meant to secure the Briton’s release.
As they headed for Ojota, Sam kept track of them via phone.
Emeka said: “Sam told me that as soon as we locate and collect the bag of money, I should separate myself from Ugo.
“He said that once I entered our car, I should start to trafficate.
“He said that the car, which those with the ransom were supposed to come in, would dim its light and then I should move closer.
“As the car trafficated, Ugo moved closer.
“There was a Sienna car at the back of the car.
“Two policemen suddenly came out and ran after the bus.
“They passed me and chased after Ugo.
“They opened fire.
“Sam, who was in another car, waiting for us to collect the money and join him, heard the gunshots and quickly drove off, leaving me behind.
“I too started running.
“The Sienna car pursued and caught up with me.
“The policemen bundled us into the Sienna car.
“Ugo’s corpse was also loaded into the car.”
SARS men went to Ogijo, Ijede and on getting to the Area N Police Command, they saw the kidnapped Briton and the female pastor.
Investigation led to the arrest of Ikechukwu Ibe, one of the kidnappers, but Sam and Innocent are still at large.
The driver of the local government chairman, one Jude Muyiwa, is also still at large.
Muyiwa was the person who planned the kidnap of his boss.
He was given N300,000 for his pains.
In the building, police recovered one AK47 rifle, one pump action rifle.
But Emeka told police that the guns were supposed to be three.

http://theeagleonline.com.ng/news/kidnappers-take-turn-to-rape-female-pastor-in-lagos/

Impeachment: Fani-Kayode dares Jonathan to charge him for treason

December 17, 2013 by Temitayo Famutimi


Former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, on Monday kicked against the Presidency’s threat to charge some members of the All Progressives Congress with treason.

The President, through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, had on Sunday said that those “threatening fire and brimstone” and calling for his removal should be ready to face charges for treason.

Almost immediately, the Special Assistant to the President on New Media, Reno Omokri, as if to affirm’s the Presidency’s position, went on Twitter to describe members of the APC as ‘desperadoes’.

Omokri tweeted, “The desperadoes in the APC are advised to focus on selling themselves to Nigerians rather than raising false alarm. Whether the APC likes it or not, the President will continue to revive the railways, power and the economy, even in their states.

“President Jonathan was elected by the Nigerian electorate and the APC cannot get from the back door what the electorate denied them. The APC’s era of politics with bitterness is long gone. We are in an era of politics without ‘betterness’ which President Jonathan personifies.”

Responding to the comments, Fani-Kayode, a member of the APC and an ardent critic of Jonathan on social media, says he is waiting to be charged with treason as threatened by the Presidency.

“GEJ has threatened the leaders of the APC with treason for calling on the National Assembly to impeach him (Jonathan). I dare the President to carry out his threat,” he wrote in a message posted on Twitter.

But another critic of the President, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and Deputy National Secretary of the APC, Mallam Nasir EL-Rufai, has yet to respond to the threat.

Meanwhile, some Nigerians have urged Jonathan not to plunge the nation into a fresh crisis by clamping down on the critics of his administration. They argued that calls for the removal of the President in a democracy, where citizens have the constitutional right to do so, should not result in charges for treason.

Writing on Abati’s website, www.reubenabti.com.ng, one Magaji described the threat as a subtle way of intimidating the masses and preventing them from expressing their opinion about the Jonathan administration.

“No meaningful Nigerian will believe that Jonathan is running a peoples government. What is the illegality of impeachment that warrants a threat with treason? Perhaps you are ignorant of Nigeria’s supreme law – the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Jonathan is one of the worst presidents we ever have in the history of this nation. Come 2015, he will surely see the result of his leadership.

“It is time for the President to stop treating people as second class citizens. We are all equal in eyes of the law and the privilege of ruling this nation is not a license to oppress,” Magaji wrote.

In another message posted on Twitter, Dare Taiwo warned that a clampdown on people calling for the impeachment of the President will amount to a repression of the freedom of speech.

Arguing that comments attributed to the Presidency were increasingly becoming pedestrian, Taiwo said, “Treason? Do you (Presidency) know how many times the Tea Party and Rush Limbaugh (conservative American radio talk show host and political commentator) have called for the impeachment of American President, Barack Obama?

“Get enlightened! You need to stop responding to asinine comments. Comments like this make you guys in Aso Rock sound pedestrian.”

Also, Muhuyi Magaji said it was wrong on the part of Jonathan or his advisers to equate calls for his impeachment with treason.

He advised the President to study the democratic history and the constitution of the country well before allowing himself to be misled into fulfilling his threat.

“Impeachment Is not equal to treason. Not even during the stormy days of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration did the Presidency equate the several calls for Impeachment and removal from office as treason,” Magaji said.

In a single tweet to Abati, one Aminu Ayama, laments that his interpretation of the Presidency’s threat is that “treason is translated into going against the wish of the President under the current so-called democratic leadership.”

http://www.punchng.com/i-punch/impeachment-fani-kayode-dares-jonathan-to-charge-him-for-treason/

I can’t be held responsible for doctors strike -Minister

December 16, 2013 by Friday Olokor, Abuja


The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, on Monday in Abuja stated that nobody should hold him responsible for the planned strike by doctors under the aegis of Nigerian Medical Association.

The NMA had directed its members nationwide to commence withdrawal of services in public hospitals follwing alleged breach of the agreement reached with the Federal Government especially on some health sector challenges, workplace conditions and the conditions of service of doctors.

The NMA had said Nigerians should hold the minister responsible for whatever happens during the strike.

But in an interview with journalists during the inauguration of the Boards of Management of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, Bauchi; National Obstetric Fistula Centre, Abakaliki; and National Ear Care Centre, Kaduna, Chukwu said government was still discussing with the leadership of NMA over the strike.

He said, “Why would I be held responsible for the strike? Okay, I am now saying they should work so that nobody will say I asked them to go on strike. Actually, seriously speaking, there is no basis to hold me responsible. When I now imagine that each group feels I am not doing well for them.

” I know I am doing the right thing. It would have been absurd if only the non-doctors were accusing me; they would have said I am biased. If my colleagues are accusing me, this means I am for the truth. I don’t look at people’s face; what I want is in the interest of all Nigerians.”

“Of course, any of us can be a patient (at the hospitals when strike
commences). I am still pleading; we are still talking with them.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/i-cant-be-held-responsible-for-doctors-strike-minister/

Obasanjo’s letter: State your side of the story – Ojudu urges Jonathan

By Daily Post Staff on December 13, 2013@dailypostngr

The allegation by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that the Jonathan presidency has 1, 000 people on political watch-list and also training assassins is not one that any well-meaning or peace-loving president can muddle up with personality attacks.

A member of the Senate Committee on Defence and Army, Senator Babafemi Ojudu who represents Ekiti Central, made this statement in Abuja.

Ojudu said rather than disparage the person of Obasanjo, the Jonathan presidency should explain its side of the story to Nigerians, unless it was busy strategising on the most suitable lie to sweep the allegation under the carpet.

He argued that: “No matter the name they call Obasanjo at this time, all that is irrelevant. What matters and should be of serious concern to all Nigerians is the yet-to-be-denied allegation that a sitting Nigerian president is arming and training snipers, ready to pounce at any time on any of the 1, 000 on the Jonathan’s alleged watch-list.”

Ojudu said of more concern is the logical assumption that vibrant leaders and members of the opposition must be those who populate the list, adding that security agencies have an uncompromising task at this time to protect these assumed endangered species from such killer squad, if it really exists.

He added that the letter from Obasanjo to President Jonathan has shown Nigerians where to look should any opposition leader get assassinated.

“How can grave and fear-evoking allegations as these be levelled against a sitting president and all his spokesperson could muster is that Obasanjo is self-serving. Honestly, this claim by Reuben Abati that the president will respond at the appropriate time sends a wrong signal. It gives one the feeling that they are rather looking for the appropriate lie. If Mr. President has nothing to hide, he should be able to explain with facts to Nigerians his own side of the story. These are not the kind of allegations that one sleeps over. And to think he got the letter since December 2?,” Ojudu queried.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had alleged in a letter to President Jonathan that “Allegation of keeping over 1,000 people on political watch list rather than criminal or security watch list and training snipers and other armed personnel secretly and clandestinely acquiring weapons to match for political purposes like Abacha, and training them where Abacha trained his own killers, if it is true, cannot augur well for the initiator, the government and the people of Nigeria. Here again, there is the lesson of history to learn from for anybody who cares to learn from history. Mr. President would always remember that he was elected to maintain security for all Nigerians and protect them. And no one should prepare to kill or maim Nigerians for personal or political ambition or interest of anyone. The Yoruba adage says, “The man with whose head the coconut is broken may not live to savour the taste of the succulent fruit.”

http://dailypost.com.ng/2013/12/13/obasanjos-letter-state-side-story-ojudu-urges-jonathan/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=obasanjos-letter-state-side-story-ojudu-urges-jonathan

Five Anti-Amaechi Lawmakers To Commence ‘Impeachment’ Plan on Thursday Against Governor Amaechi

Posted: December 12, 2013 - 00:15


caption: Mrs. Jonathan's cousin, Evans Bipi will lead the move again
By SaharaReporters, New York


Following Tuesday’s Abuja High court judgement, five opponents of Governor Rotimi Amaechi in the Rivers House of Assembly have hatched a plot, to be put into play on Thursday, to commence his ‘impeachment.’

SaharaReporters’s sources say the plan involves the five legislators sitting Assembly beginning from Thursday, supported and led into the Assembly complex by the Police. They would also have their thugs, who are mostly former militants, in the Assembly chambers.

The five would then illegally declare vacant the seats of the other 25 legislators under the guise that the 25 pro-Amaechi legislators have moved to the All Progressive Congress.

Once that is done, they would then unconstitutionally move for the impeachment of Governor Amaechi.


http://saharareporters.com/news-page/five-anti-amaechi-lawmakers-commence-%E2%80%98impeachment%E2%80%99-plan-thursday-against-governor-amaechi

Mrs. Jonathan's cousin, Evans Bipi will lead the move again

It’s bye to PDP, say governors

Posted by: Yusuf Alli, Abuja

•Kwakwanso, Wamakko to Jonathan: we’re for APC

President Goodluck Jonathan’s battle to make the five governors who dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) reverse their decision has failed.

The governors said yesterday that there was no going back on their defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The governors are Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano); Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers).

They also asked Jonathan to henceforth invite them for meetings as APC governors instead of PDP.

The G-5 conveyed their final decision to Jonathan through Kwankwaso and Wamakko during a salvage meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Jonathan, who, watched in bewilderment as the governors made up their mind, offered to prevail on the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, to step aside for the sake of unity in the party.

But the governors told Jonathan point blank that it was “too late”.

The meeting, which started at about 10.40pm on Sunday, got to a head at about 3am when Kwankwaso and Wammako bade Jonathan and 15 PDP governors farewell.

According to sources, when Kwankwaso and Wammako got to the Villa, they met Niger State Governor Aliyu Babangida already seated.

It was learnt that shortly after the Presidency got a signal that the aggrieved governors honoured Jonathan’s invitation, other PDP governors and leaders came for the session.

At the session were the Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih; the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki( a prime facilitator of the peace meeting); Governors Aliyu(Niger); Sule Lamido(Jigawa); Ibrahim Shema(Katsina); Isa Yuguda(Bauchi); Sullivan Chime(Enugu); Saidu Dakingari(Kebbi); Idris Wada(Kogi) and the acting Governor of Taraba State, Garba Umaru.

Also there were Liyel Imoke(Cross River); Jonah Jang(Plateau); Muktar Yero(Kaduna); Theodore Orji(Abia); Godswill Akapbio(Akwa Ibom); Emmanuel Uduaghan(Delta) and Martins Elechi(Ebonyi).

It was gathered that the President and PDP leaders came with expectations that they could win back three of the five governors, especially Kwankwaso and Wamakko.

Col. Dasuki was said to have done a yeoman’s job in facilitating the presence of the two governors at the meeting.

To get a commitment from the governors, the NSA was said to have sent Aliyu, chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, to them with a plea to honour the President.

It was learnt that the Presidency acted on security reports that three of the G-5 governors were still disposed to PDP, if certain wrongs were corrected.

A source said: “The meeting began on optimistic note but it later turned into a shock for the President and the leaders present.

“When the tone for the meeting was set, Kwankwaso stood up and gave a lengthy explanation on why the governors chose to defect to APC.

“He listed the grudges of the aggrieved governors as lack of internal democracy in PDP; hijacking of party structure at the state level; recourse to impunity by Tukur and the National Working Committee(NWC); why Tukur must go for PDP to survive; arbitrary suspension of leaders /members; and disrespect for the rule of law. The governor complained also of unilateral appointments by the Presidency without consultation with governors or party structure at the state level; and use of anti-graft agencies to haunt those with dissenting voices in the party.

Another source added: “The President and the PDP governors listened with rapt attention. They later pleaded with the governors to remain in PDP as all their grievances will be addressed.

“In fact, at a point, the President offered to prevail on Tukur to step aside as a sacrifice to resolve the crisis and move the party forward.

“All the governors also bought into the idea of Tukur leaving the party.”

It was learnt that Wamakko said it was too late to reverse their defection to APC.

Wammako, who reportedly endorsed all the issues tabled by Kwankwaso, stunned the meeting when he said: “We came to formally inform you that we have left PDP for APC. When you are calling us for any meeting, we should be invited as APC governors.”

The two governors left at about 3am. The PDP governors continued the session.

A PDP governor, who spoke in confidence, said: “We tried to persuade them to return to our party, but they stuck to their decision. I think they do not want the public to see them as inconsistent.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/bye-pdp-say-governors/

APC alleges Presidency gave $32b to 16 PDP governors

Posted by: Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin in Featured, News 15 hours ago

The Presidency has clandestinely given out N2 billion each to 16 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) states, the All Progressives Congress (APC) alleged yesterday.

The Interim National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, addressed reporters yesterday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, at a forum organised by the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).

The APC scribe noted that the aim of the largesse was to starve APC states of funds for development purposes.

He said: “As a matter of fact, as I am speaking today, we have in our possession a document that the President has given N2 billion each to 16 states, and of these states not one of them is an APC state. The idea is to starve the APC states of their constitutional entitlements and secretly fund states that are perceived to be with the President.

“This is a matter we will take up and the National Assembly, we hope, will also take up the matter. I think the matter should be thrown to the court of public opinion.

“The President should understand that whatever money accrues to the Federal revenue account is for the benefit of all Nigerians. It is not for Mr. President to use as Christmas gift or as a carrot for those who support him. We know that the battle for 2015 would not be easy but we want to assure the President that he is going to have a tough battle on his hand.

“Many things are happening in the Villa today. One thing is clear: Mr President is ready to use all manners, all methods constitutional and illegal to ensure he punishes governors.

“I will only give you two instances. I am sure you have heard about the controversy over the benchmark issue. The President wants the benchmark to be put at $74 per barrel of crude oil; the Senate passed $76; the House of Representatives insisted on $79. The politics of benchmark is very simple. If you remove all the fine grammar of economics, benchmark simply means cost price. Crude today sells for about $110. “At $74, it will be impossible pay states their statutory allocations. If it is $74, the states will be entitled to only 28 per cent of $74, multiplied by, say two million barrels. At the end of the day the balance between $110 and $74 will be kept in the Excess Crude Account (ECA).

“The Excess Crude Account is at the discretion mostly of the President. The idea is that if the National Assembly approves $74 as the benchmark, the states will be starved of funds and there will be no money for development.

“Meanwhile, the President will now take money out of the Excess Crude Account to give to states that are very close to him through probably Ecological Funds or relief.”

Mohammed added: “The singular act of registering the All Progressives Congress (APC), the face of opposition changed in Nigeria and the opposition became broad-based. On August 1, this year, seven Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors walked out of the national convention of their party and I believe that the PDP is yet to recover from that internal rebellion.”

“On November 28, five of the PDP governors came along with the leadership of the New PDP to become part of the APC. I think these three events have changed the political climate, landscape and calculation of the entire polity. These three events, put together, have also altered the aspirations, ambitions of not just the individuals but also of the political parties.

“We are today standing on the threshold of a new dawn for Nigeria, because as things stand today, there is a balance of term in Nigerian polity.”

Before now the biggest opposition political party had only six governors, 18 senators and 66 members of the House of Representatives. But to the APC, especially with the defection of the New PDP, it has 16 governors, 217 members in the House of Representatives and 53 senators.

“Yes, we might control just 16 states, but if you look at the demography of those states, they are the largest in terms of population in the country. Even in those states where we don’t produce governors, the APC is the party of choice. I believe Nigerians are all witnesses to this. I believe the next few months will be interesting and entertaining.

“With the antics and reactions of the PDP and the President at the Villa, we can say there is confusion and panic in the Villa and the Presidency today.

“Only yesterday (Sunday), I heard the President say the governors who defected to the APC were not kings or gods. That was a very strange reaction, because if you lose one governor, it is a tragedy; if you lose five in one fell swoop, is is a fiasco.

“Mr President’s statement is akin to a person who is so lost.

“Only yesterday (Sunday), the President invited two of the newly converted APC governors. You begin to wonder that if the President said the loss of five governors did not matter and yet he was wooing them. “I am happy that at that meeting Governors Musa Kwankwaso (Kano) and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) told the President that their decision to leave PDP was irreversible.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/apc-alleges-presidency-gave-32b-16-pdp-governors/

On The Purported Slight Of Nigeria At Madiba’s Funeral By Pius Adesanmi

Posted: December 10, 2013 - 14:54


"Fellow Liberians: As I speak to you today, I am most gratified by the caliber of the delegations of our own African Governments, Foreign Governments, partners and local partners as well, who have come to join us to celebrate this triumph of democracy in our country. I am particularly touched by those you see - our dear brothers, the delegation from the United States, headed by the wife of President Bush and my friend, our mediator, who has been with us so long and brought us to this day. We pay homage to all of you. We respect you.

We welcome you. Bien vene a tous. My dear Brothers and Sisters of West Africa: You have died for us; you have given refuge to thousands of our citizens; you have denied yourselves by utilizing your scarce resources to assist us; you have agonized for us, and you have prayed for us. We thank you, and may God bless you for your support to Liberia as well as for your continuing commitment to promote peace, security, stability, and bilateral cooperation within our sub-region - and beyond." President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (excerpts from inauguration speech)

Shortly after inauguration, she was on a thank you visit to the United States and addressed a joint session of Congress thus:

"But our ties greatly exceed the historical connection. I stand before you today, as the first woman elected to lead an African nation, thanks to the grace of Almighty God; thanks to the courage of the Liberian people, who chose their future over fear; thanks to the people of west Africa and of Africa generally, who continued to give hope to my people. Thanks also to President Bush whose strong resolve and public condemnation and appropriate action forced a tyrant into exile and thanks to you - the members of this august body - who spurred the international effort that brought blessed peace to our nation."

--------------------------------------------------------

...which brings me to my point. This was the Liberian President in 2006 giving credit on two occasions to George Bush in particular and the United States in general for services rendered to her country mainly by Nigeria. For who does not know that ECOMOG is a synonym for Nigeria's petrobillions and Nigerian limbs? Yet, in both speeches, one could barely make out the silhouette of Nigeria, lost in broad remarks about West Africa and Africa. Before Liberia, you could possibly count fifty something other ungrateful lepers across the continent who, at various points in Africa's postcolonial trajectory, have been beneficiaries of the bottomless pit of petrobillions of Abuja, only to run to Washington, London, Paris, or Lisbon to give thanks upon being healed. At least one of the ten lepers returned in the Bible to give thanks to his healer. In Africa, Jesus heals them and they run to render thanks unto Caesar.

I am therefore "maniacally bewildered" (apologies to Patrick Obahiagbon) that, upon the latest insult by South Africa, Nigerians are behaving like they've only just discovered this fact today. From Abakaliki to Zungeru, the din of our outrage is threatening to invade my second ear. South Africa, folks claim correctly, seems to have forgotten the source of the petrobillions that funded the struggle in the 70s and the 80s and has given the funeral oration stage to those who put Madiba and the ANC on terror watchlists while money that should have been invested in our roads and other infrastructure went to buy ammunition for Umkhonto we Sizwe and to provide Federal Government scholarships for thousands of black South Africans to study free in Nigerian Universities. All of this is true. But why are we behaving like it has only just started to happen? Nigerians have this irritating habit of going to bed every night with indignity for decades only to wake up one day in the middle of the afternoon and scream: "Mr. Indignity, what the heck are you doing in my bed? How did you get here?"

It means that those who are screaming today about the insult from the South Africans aren't even aware of the previous insult from the Liberians. In short, they do not know when, where, and how the rain began to beat us. All these cries of insult remind me of Tortoise who fell into a pit latrine and was there for seven years. Then one day, his neighbours discovered where he was whereupon Tortoise began to scream, asking them to get him out quickly lest the stench killed him. Folks, we have been in this stench of Africa's ingratitude for our incurable habit of Santa Clausing our petrobillions for a very long time.

The point is not to scream outrage today. Your responsibility is to think very critically about why and how we got here. Are there any connections between this state of affairs and the quality of Nigeria's leadership, especially since 1999? If we had leaders who could think and deploy critical intelligence, would this be happening to us? What is your own role in canonizing mediocre and intellectually inferior semi-gods in our political process? Are you contributing directly or indirectly to this state of affairs when you display a programmatic hostility to any criticism - no matter how justifiable - of the quality of service and leadership of your canonized political gods? Perhaps in 2015, you should vote in folks with enough brain power to understand that you cannot buy love and respect with petrobillions? Perhaps you should vote for those who understand that if your citizens are healthy and well fed and gainfully employed, if your infrastructure is world class, if your Universities in 2013 don't look like the University of Timbuktu in the 12th century, respect and global esteem shall be added unto you? There are connections between things. Let us think urgently about all these connections and make something constructive of today's insult. I salute you.

http://saharareporters.com/column/purported-slight-nigeria-madiba%E2%80%99s-funeral-pius-adesanmi

Ex-banker jailed in UK over James Ibori loot Published on December 9, 2013 by

A Ghanaian and former Goldman Sachs banker Elias Preko was sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison by a London court on Monday for laundering $5 million on behalf of James Ibori, the former governor of Nigeria’s oil-producing state of Delta.

Ibori is serving 13 years in a British jail after pleading guilty last year to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering. He is the most senior Nigerian politician to be held to account for the corruption that has blighted Africa’s most populous country and top oil producer, where the case is being closely watched.

Harvard graduate Preko, 54, became the fifth of Ibori’s associates to be jailed for assisting his corruption after the ex-governor’s wife, mistress, sister and lawyer were all convicted by British courts in previous trials.


Elias Preko: laundered $5million for James Ibori

The cases have been tried in London because some of the money was laundered in Britain and some of the defendants were based there. Attempts by Nigeria’s own anti-corruption agency to prosecute Ibori, dating back to 2007, have foundered.

A jury at London’s Southwark Crown Court unanimously convicted Preko, a Ghanaian national, of two offences of money-laundering between March 2003 and April 2008 when he was arrested.

He was charged with assisting Ibori in channeling stolen money through a web of offshore trusts and shell companies.

Preko had left Goldman Sachs before he committed the offences and the bank is not accused of any wrongdoing. The court heard Preko tried to open accounts on Ibori’s behalf when he still worked there but this was not authorized by the bank.

The Delta governor from 1999 to 2007, Ibori was in his heyday a power broker at the heart of Nigeria’s ruling party. After he left office and lost immunity from prosecution his fortunes ebbed and flowed according to political developments in Abuja until he was extradited from Dubai to Britain in 2011.

“AMOUNTS BEYOND BELIEF”

“The evidence against you in this case was very clear. You knew what Mr. Ibori was doing and you were actively assisting him,” Judge Anthony Pitts told Preko in his sentencing remarks.

“You are a man of considerable ability and intelligence, highly educated, capable of making lots of money perfectly legitimately.”

The court had heard that in a decade at Goldman Sachs, where he was in charge of private clients in sub-Saharan Africa, Preko had made $12 million in salary and received a severance payment of $3 million when he left the bank.

“You had the ability to walk away (from Ibori). You chose to involve yourself with him as a professional man, against the code of upstanding conduct for men in your position,” Pitts said.

The judge noted that the sums Preko had helped launder were “relatively small amounts in a case where the amounts are almost beyond belief”.

Ibori’s total fortune is not known. During his sentencing in April 2012 Pitts put the amount of stolen money covered by his guilty pleas at 50 million pounds ($82 million) but said this may be a “ludicrously low” fraction of his total booty.

In a three-week hearing this year prosecutors sought a court order for the confiscation of 90 million pounds in assets that they said were the proceeds of Ibori’s crimes, but the hearing ended inconclusively and will restart next year

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/12/09/ex-banker-jailed-in-uk-over-james-ibori-loot/

G7 governors intact, insists Aliyu

Posted by: Kolade Adeyemi, Kano in Featured, News

GOVERNOR Babangida Aliyu of Niger State said yesterday in Kano that the G7 governors are still ‘intact’ regardless of the recent defection by five of them from the PDP to the APC.

Only Aliyu and his Jigawa counterpart, Alhaji Sule Lamido, remain in the PDP out of the seven Governors opposed to what they called undemocratic style of the party’s national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

Aliyu, on a courtesy visit to Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano, one of the five that defected, described the G7 as intact and solid, but only pursuing the same objective through different approaches.

“We are still together as one indivisible body. We communicate, exchange ideas and are pursuing the same objective. Our goal is never different, for your information,” he said.

What is unfolding in public, according to him, should not be misconstrued to mean that the group is now divided.

Aliyu, who was accompanied by former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima declared that nothing can separate him from Governor Kwankwaso.

“All we are doing is a unified idea. We are only strategising towards the same objective,” he said.

His host spoke in the same vein.

He said: “Those of us that went ahead were to chart the way for those we left behind for the political commanders to finish one or two things before joining us. Be rest assured that they will join us.

“We share everything together and people should be rest assured that we are engaging in a political strategy.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/g7-governors-intact-insists-aliyu/

Tukur says Amaechi, others have not defected

December 5, 2013 by Sunday Aborisade 96 Comments


The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, on Wednesday said he was not aware of any member of the PDP defecting to another party.

Tukur said this while fielding questions from journalists after meeting behind closed doors with the PDP Senate caucus and the Central Working Committee of the party.

Aggrieved members of the PDP in the Senate such as Bukola Saraki, Shaaba Lafiaji, Wilson Ake, Danjuma Goje, Ali Ndume, Adamu Abdullahi, Magnus Abe, Hassan Barata, Jubrin Bindo and Aishat Al-Hassan, did not attend the meeting which lasted about four hours.

But Tukur said the meeting was silent on the reported issue of defection because it (meeting) was a family talk aimed at reviewing the activities of the party.

He said, “We did not talk about people who want to go or stay (defection) I came here because this is the first time I am coming to meet my family members; they are my members.”

Tukur explained that the need for the entrenchment of democracy, discipline and good governance formed the basis of his message to the senators during the meeting.

Asked if it was an earlier visit to the National Assembly by the defunct New PDP that informed his decision to meet the senators, he replied , “Of course not, this is PDP and there is no other PDP.”

Also asked whether he discussed the impact of the defection of five PDP governors to the All Progressives Congress, Tukur said, “Have they defected? they have not gone yet.”

The five governors are Rotimi Amechi (Rivers); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano); Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara); and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto).

Tukur, had before journalists were excused from the meeting, explained that he was in the Senate to fraternise and exchange ideas with the PDP senators on how they could continue to work together as one family.

Tukur also acknowledged the challenges facing the party but said that they were surmountable “because PDP is one family working together towards achieving a common goal.”

The President of the Senate, David Mark, who led the PDP senators to the meeting,also admitted that the party was facing some challenges.

But he said that the party was capable of addressing the issues like a family matter.

Mark said, “We admit we have some challenges in the party . It is expected in a big party like PDP . It is not unusual. We are equal to the challenges as a party . Hopefully , we shall come out of the crisis stronger.”

He also assured the National Working Committee of the party that the PDP senators were united in one accord and working together to ensure that the transformation agenda was carried out to its logical conclusion .

The Senate leader, Senator Victor Ndoma -Egba, said, “We discussed issues affecting members of the PDP Senate Caucus and the national chairman listened attentively and responded and gave us words of reassurance.

“They are domestic issues; you don’t expect me to come and discuss domestic issues in public. They are issues that affect the members of the party in the Senate.”

Ndoma – Egba also said the issue of defection was not discussed at the meeting.

He said, “The issue of defection never came up and I can say it categorically that no senator has indicated that he is going anywhere. So, the issue never came up.”

On automatic ticket for senators in 2015, Ndoma-Egba said, “We discussed the provisions of the constitution and emphasised democracy.

“Our party is called Peoples Democratic Party and we reminded ourselves that we must be democratic at all times .We had a useful meeting with our national chairman.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/tukur-says-amaechi-others-have-not-defected/

‘NDDC needs N1tr to fund abandoned projects’
Posted by: Onyedi Ojiabor, Asst. Editor and Sanni Onogu in Business 13 hours ago

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) requires over N1 trillion to complete abandoned projects, the Senate said yesterday.

The Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta, Senator Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman, gave the figure during the screening of the chairman, managing director and other nominees for the NDDC Board.

Abatemi-Usman said the members of the committee were shocked when they were confronted with the staggering amount during their oversight function to the commission.

He said the committee members were worried over the litany of abandoned projects dotting the Niger Delta region.

President Goodluck Jonathan had forwarded the name of Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw and Mr. Bassey Dan-Abia for screening and confirmation as chairman and managing director of the NDDC Board.

While Ewa-Henshaw was nominated to represent Cross River State in the NDDC, Dan-Abia was named to represent Akwa Ibom State.

Others, whose names were also sent to the Senate for confirmation,included Itotenaan Henry Ogiri (Executive Director, Finance and Administration) Rivers); Tuoyo Omatsulu (Executive Director, Projects) Delta; Ball Turofade Oyarede (Bayelsa), Chief Ephraim Sobere Etete (Rivers); Etim Inyang Jnr (Akwa Ibom); Adah Paul Andeshi (Cross River) and Sir Tom Amioku (Delta).

Others are Samuel Okezie Nwogu (Abia); Uchegbu Chidiebere Kyrian (Imo); Maj.-Gen. Suleiman Barau (Northcentral); Alhaji Abdulmaik Mahmud (Northeast); Benson Adegbenro (Ondo) and Mark Ward.

The senator insited that the Managing Director nominee, Mr. Bassey Dan-Abia, should tell the committee how the abandoned projects would be completed and how abandoned projects would become a thing of the past in the commission.

Dan-Abia, in his response said part of his immediate task, if confirmed would be to set up effective project monitoring committee.

He noted that with effective project monitoring committee, the commission would identify and complete abandoned projects.

He added that before the projects were awarded, they would have been valued and properly funded to avoid project abandonment.

Dan-Abia also said the failure of some of those in leadership positions in the commission to appreciate their roles and functions breeds friction in the commission.

He noted that the NDDC Act specified the functions of chairman, MD and other board members of the commission, lamenting however that “failure to appreciate what role each person should play causes friction in NDDC”.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/nddc-needs-n1tr-fund-abandoned-projects/

APC flays FG’s threat to sack varsity lecturers

December 1, 2013 by Press release


The All Progressives Congress (APC) has slammed the Federal Government for issuing a sack threat against striking university teachers, saying the resort to such military-era tactics reflects the FG’s poverty of ideas in resolving the prolonged ASUU strike.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party in particular criticized the Supervising Minister of Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, for the way he talked down on the striking teachers, while issuing the ill-advised, go-back-to-work-or-be-sacked threat.

”Wike’s language was crude, his presentation was rude and his threat was demeaning and counter-productive. We believe his lack of finesse and the inability to think out of the box in handling the whole strike issue will not bode well for a quick resolution of the crisis.

”We also disagree with the Minister’s inference that the lecturers should automatically call off the strike because the President intervened and sat for long hours with them. It is this unnecessary deification of a democratically-elected President that has almost turned this President into an Emperor. What is the big deal in President Jonathan sitting with ASUU members, his former colleagues for that matter? What is a President elected to do if not to solve problems?” it queried.

APC said it is unfortunate that Wike can be threatening to sack university teachers at a time there is a shortfall of 60,000 lecturers in Nigerian universities, adding that the threat itself has shown that the FG does not understand the enormity of the problems facing public universities in particular and the education sector in general.

”The poor remuneration of university teachers and the inadequate facilities for teaching and learning in our public universities have combined to trigger a brain drain in the institutions. The pauperization and frustration of the teachers through the non-implementation of the pacts aimed at ameliorating the situation have discouraged those who may want to become university teachers. Yet, the few who have defied the odds to take to this noble path of helping to mold our future leaders are being threatened with dismissal. This betrays a painful lack of understanding of the long and tortuous path it takes to produce a university teacher.

”It also shows that the so-called Supervising Minister of Education is not better than the misguided market women who, having being hired and paid to protest against ASUU, threatened to invade the universities to chase out the lecturers if they won’t call off the strike.

”This is what a country gets when it puts round pegs in square holes. It is not everyone who can mobilize campaign funds for

the President or organize thugs during an election who should be rewarded with a ministerial post, not to talk of being given

such a sensitive ministry as that of education, which is directly responsible for the future of our youth and of course our

country. No one who knows the value of education will toe the path taken by Wike in issuing his empty threat,” the party said.

It said ASUU was right in demanding certain benchmarks, including the non-victimization clause and the need for a senior government official, like the Attorney-General, to sign the agreement, before calling off its strike, in view of the fact that the FG has a history of reneging on its agreements.

”Yes, our party is eager for this prolonged strike to end so that our youths who have been marooned at home for five months can resume their academic pursuit. Yes, we believe this strike has gone on for way too long, and that it will impact negatively on our country’s development in the long run. But we believe the issues at stake must be resolved once and for all, so that we won’t have a repeat of these recurring strikes.

”The onus rests on the FG to work with ASUU to resolve this lingering crisis. President Jonathan should get off his high horse, roll up his sleeves as Presidents elsewhere do and tackle squarely what has now become one of the biggest challenges facing his administration.

”However, if the Jonathan administration has run out of ideas, as we now fear it has, going by the infantile threats being issued by it, then let it hands off the negotiations and allow other stakeholders to find a way out. We are all stakeholders in the education of our youths,” APC said.

http://www.punchng.com/politics/apc-flays-fgs-threat-to-sack-varsity-lecturers/

Nigeria Secret Police Release US-Based Medical Practitioner & Lawyer Detained Over “Online Activism"

Posted: November 29, 2013 - 18:37

By SaharaReporters, New York
Nigeria's secret police today arrested and later released a United States based medical practitioner, Emmanuel Fashakin on arrival at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport.

Dr. Fashakin is an older brother of Rotimi Fashakin, former spokesman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) arrived on Arik airline flight into Lagos only to be detained by the SSS.

The doctor, who is also a lawyer, is well known on Nigerian listservs for his comments on the state of affairs in Nigeria.

His lawyer, Bamidele Aturu confirmed the arrest and subsequent release an hour ago to Saharareporters, stating that he was held for several hours in the custody of the SSS both at the airport and its Kingsway road offices in Ikoyi Lagos.

The arrest of Dr. Fashakin offers evidence that the Goodluck Jonathan government is opening a new front not in the war against Nigeria’s problems of which it has become a part, but on critics of bad governance.

In his letter to the Director General of the SSS, which was copied to the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Mr. Aturu called for his client to be released immediately.

He pointed out that it is indefensible to subject a person who had been on an eleven hour non-stop flight to the physical and psychological stress of detention which cause is not divulged for hours.

The lawyer also stressed that the detention constitutes an unwarranted violation of the right of Dr. Fashakin to respect for the dignity of his person and not to be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment as guaranteed by section 34 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, Articles 4 and 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and all other International Human Rights Instruments.

“Since no reason has been advanced for the detention of our client, we want to believe that it has nothing to do with his well-known expression on the internet of opinions about how to advance democracy in Nigeria and ensure that our people are rescued from the abyss of inexplicable poverty occasioned by greed and graft,” he said. “Whatever may be the case, we would like to make it clear the arrest and detention of our client is unacceptable and that we shall implacably seek all possible and known legal remedies on his behalf.”

Demanding that Dr. Fashakin be released within 24 hours, Mr. Aturu said he would otherwise be compelled to take all lawful and necessary steps to ensure that the rights of his client are protected, including going to court.

It would be recalled that only last week, President Jonathan threatened to sue SaharaReporters for libel for reporting on the seedy and corrupt tendencies of his government.

“As unregulated as they are, SaharaReporters and their ilk are not beyond the bounds of legal action for libel and willful defamation of the character and reputation of a President who has courageously stepped forward to serve his country,” presidential spokesman Reuben Abati said.

Nigerians believe Mr. Jonathan’s government to be the most corrupt and hypocritical in the country’s history, and even his former Internet fans who supported him in the 2011 elections continue to say so in various fora.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/nigeria-secret-police-release-us-based-medical-practitioner-lawyer-detained-over-%E2%80%9Conline-a

UNN-ASUU berates Wike for issuing sack threat

November 29, 2013 by Ozioma Ubabukoh, Enugu

The University of Nigeria chapter of Academic Staff Union of Universities on Friday said its members would not resume work on Monday unless their demands are met.

The UNN-ASUU also had harsh words for the Minister of Education, Dr. Nyesom Wike, for issuing the order directing lecturers to resume work on Monday or get sacked.

The union, however, told THE PUNCH that it wouldn’t react officially to Wike’s order until President Goodluck Jonathan speaks.

“We have not heard from the President, so we cannot speak officially on the matter. It would be senseless to begin to react to a statement from Wike since he is a tout.

“What we would simply say is that, we don’t have any business with touts like Wike whose children are studying in Ghana, yet they (people in government) cripple the education system in Nigeria,” said Dr. Ifeanyi Abada, Chairman of UNN-ASUU.

Abada said Wike’s order cannot hold and vowed that ASUU would unleash terror if the minister attempts to carry out the order.

http://www.punchng.com/news/unn-ASUU-berates-wike-for-issuing-sack-threat/

Online war as President leaves London hospital

November 25, 2013 by Jayne Augoye 136 Comments


A dispute between the Presidency and an online news medium, SaharaReporters, has introduced a new dimension to the health challenge that President Goodluck Jonathan had in London on Thursday. The matter was provoked by a response by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, to a story by SaharaReporters on the illness.

The medium had, on Friday, alleged that Jonathan’s health broke down in London after engaging in a drinking spree during a bash organised to mark his 56th birthday. That this angered the Presidency is evident in the tone of statement issued by Abati, which indicates that the government may institute a legal action.

In the statement that has sparked online reactions by many Nigerians, Abati said contrary to SaharaReporters’ claim, Jonathan observed his birthday on Wednesday quietly with better part of the day spent on air from Abuja to London – while the remaining part was spent in the privacy of his hotel room.

The statement partly read, “It is very regrettable indeed that after complying with President Jonathan’s standing instruction that Nigerians must never be kept in the dark about the state of his health, the public was duly informed that the President had received precautionary medical attention for an unexpected indisposition in London. SaharaReporters and some other reckless, lawless, impudent and unpatriotic Internet-based media chose to assault the sensibilities of all decent Nigerians again with their entirely fictional, malicious, hate-driven and scurrilous distortion of the facts of the President’s indisposition.

“The suggestion by SaharaReporters that President Jonathan took ill following a ‘heavy birthday party thrown to celebrate the President’s 56th birthday at his Presidential suite in the InterContinental Hotel in London’ is fictional nonsense as there was definitely no party in London to celebrate President Jonathan’s birthday on Wednesday night.”

With the latest development, the presidential spokesman has once again come under fire from Nigerians who say the response is hardly necessary. A majority of Nigerians who have taken to Twitter, Facebook and The Punch news website, where the statement was also published, say Abati’s response has thrown the hitherto ‘unpopular and unknown report’ into the open.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the debate, New York, US-based SaharaReporters says its report on the President’s health is valid. It made this known in a statement on its website, saying, “Despite Mr. Jonathan’s threats and deployment of scare tactics, SaharaReporters, stands by its account of the events in London in the past few days.

“While we have the attention of the president and the hawks in the Presidency, we take this opportunity to draw their attention to the scandalous quality of Nigerian governance that SaharaReporters and most of the Nigerian media have been reporting for many years, of which his government forms only a part.

As the 2015 election approaches and Mr. Jonathan tries to invite the sympathy of Nigerians in his favour, we challenge him to prove — including in a court of law – that these reports have been “entirely fictional, malicious, hate-driven and scurrilous distortion of the facts.”

Stating his views on the issue in The Punch website, a certain Uba wrote, “They now respond to every gossip – even beer parlour gossips. The Internet is a cesspool of gossip and millions of Nigerians were not even aware of this gossip because it was not carried by the mainstream media. Why on earth is this president now replying to bloggers?’’

Abiodun Adeniran, who also dropped a comment on the website, corroborated Uba’s stance in his post which read, “I think the press relation managers of the President are a big apology by making him to respond to a ‘beer parlour gossip’. The truth is that excelling and making an indelible performance in a post like the Presidency or any other exalted office does not necessarily require the office holder to have exceptional knowledge.”

Akin, on the other hand, expressed his opinion in a rather humorous manner, saying, “Abati! Abati!! Abati!!. How many times did I call you? Why are you using ‘big big’ grammar that even your Oga does not understand? Your use of big grammar and abusive words shows a desperate man trying to be defensive by all means. Ok what caused the ‘abdominal pain’?”

Another respondent, Adaku, also shares Akin’s thought, arguing, “You make me vomit with your attempts to protect your principal. Please, try to sound a little bit believable. There is still life for after your days in the Presidency. Or will there not be?”

Comments have also been flowing in torrents on Twitter where respondents to the ongoing debate have not been milder either. Mooha posted a sarcastic tweet which read, “Make they tell Nigerians the truth about Jonathan’s health . Rueben Abati, make una tell us the truth and no propaganda please.”

Lawrence Aknwumi also noted that it is important for the Presidency to establish the meaning of ‘precautionary treatment’.

http://www.punchng.com/i-punch/online-war-as-president-leaves-london-hospital/

President Jonathan Remains Hospitalized After Chronic Stomach Pain

Posted: November 22, 2013 - 00:30

By SaharaReporters, New York
Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan, has reportedly remained hospitalized at an undisclosed London hospital to which he was taken early today after complaining of chronic stomach pain.

“The President woke up to get ready for the business of the day only to complain of serious stomach pain”, one presidency source said.

The personal doctor to the President, Fortune Fibresima, reportedly administered some medicines but as the pain escalated, Mr. Jonathan was reportedly rushed to a hospital. Presidency officials hoped he would be released to participate at an Investor’s Council Meeting taking place at the Hilton Hotel in Central London, about five minutes from the InterContinental Hotel where the Nigerian president is lodged. The meeting is the objective of his visit.

Several presidency sources have confirmed to SaharaReporters that the President and several government officials partied heavily into the early hours of this morning as they celebrated Mr. Jonathan’s 56th birthday.

The Nigeria leader is accompanied on the trip by several Ministers and officials, but three state governors who were invited to accompany him did not show up. They include the Governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, who opted to go to Poland. He was reportedly afraid the London Metropolitan Police might pull him aside for questioning concerning his role in the money laundering fraud that led his cousin and predecessor as governor, James Ibori, into jail in the United Kingdom.

Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang and his Borno State counterpart, Kashim Shettima, were also both invited on the trip both they did not show up.

Last February, during another visit to London, Mr. Jonathan came down with an intestinal disorder described as Amoebic Colitis and he underwent testing at the London Clinic on Harley Street. It is unclear if his new troubles are related to that experience.

President Jonathan is said to have a taste for ogogoro, a local gin that is widely-enjoyed in the riverine areas of Southern Nigeria. Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati has however denied that alcohol is served in the presidency.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/president-jonathan-remains-hospitalized-after-chronic-stomach-pain

Oduah's N255m Armored Car Scandal: We Are Not Shocked By President’s Insincerity, Activists Say

Posted: November 20, 2013 - 15:27

By SaharaReporters, NY
As President Goodluck Jonathan’s pretense to be investigating Aviation Minister Stella Oduah over her purchase of two BMW armored cars at a scandalous price of N255 million runs into premeditated silence and inaction, a group of activists in Lagos say they are not shocked by the president’s habitual insincerity in handling the fraud. Even though Mr. Jonathan had asked the so-called investigation panel to submit a report within two weeks, no action has been taken more than a month after the deadline’s expiration.

In separate interviews yesterday, the various leaders of several civil society organizations stated that President Jonathan’s romance with corrupt officials did not start with the Aviation Minister.

Describing the president himself as an overseer of corruption, the activists said they were not alarmed by his attitude and that of Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies to fraud in the aviation sector.

Yinka Odumakin, a spokesperson for the Afenifere Group, said Nigerians expected no other outcome than the one that had manifested. Mr. Odumakin contrasted the situation with what happened in Ghana recently where a female minister was sacked for merely boasting that she would accumulate a million dollars during her tenure.

He noted that Ms. Oduah’s scandal happened long before that of Ghana. “And in a few days, you saw what happened in Ghana over what was [a minister’s] mere thought. Compare that to what obtained in Nigeria, where what happened was actually a committed crime and yet nothing is done,” he said. He added that President Jonathan did not disappoint in showing off his sustained fraternity with titans of monumental corruption.

Debo Adeniran, one of the leaders of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), recalled that President Jonathan traveled with Ms. Oduah on a questionable pilgrimage to Israel just after setting up a lame committee to “probe” her. He added that he was hardly surprised by the president’s safari to Israel in the company of cohorts, including the Aviation Minister who should have been investigated and prosecuted.

“We received all the clues already that this administration has no intention to punish crime. On Stella Oduah, we knew from the point the president set up an ‘administrative panel’ to investigate her, that it was not intended for any tangible outcome,” Mr. Adeniran said. He added that it was a sign of hypocrisy to set up a probe committee and then travel with the main subject of the investigation as well as a member of the investigating panel.

For her part, the President of Campaign for Democracy (CD) and leader of the Women Arise Initiative for Change, Joe Okei-Odumakin, called on women to openly condemn Ms. Oduah’s fraud, describing it as a disgrace to women.

“Although it is not fair to say women are generally evil because men have also disappointed many times, but then, most of the time when we advocate for women's active participation in governance, characters like Stella Oduah are making the task difficult. They are setting bad records for others,” she said, emphasizing that Ms. Oduah deserved due prosecution.

Disclosure of Ms. Oduah’s outrageous car purchase scandal stirred outrage from many Nigerians. In seeming reaction to the spate of condemnations, President Jonathan set up a committee to “probe” the scandal. But no sooner did he set up the committee than he traveled to Israel with an entourage that included the embattled minister as well as a member of the administrative ‘probe panel.’ The impression sold to Nigerians was that Ms. Oduah was to sign a bilateral agreement in Israel, even though the documents were rather signed by Ms. Viola Onwuliri, Nigeria's foreign affairs minister.

SaharaReporters had reported on plans by President Jonathan to suppress any thorough investigation of the Aviation scandal. From Israel, Mr. Jonathan had pressured members of the National Assembly who were also investigating Ms. Oduah to fold their hands and help sweep the matter under the carpet. Recently, after an uproar by citizens, the Senate leadership announced that Ms. Oduah would appear before its members to answer questions. But as the scheduled date neared, another announcement came that her appearance had been canceled.

SaharaReporters learned that Ms. Oduah was a late addition to the delegation to Israel. The inclusion of a member of the administrative probe panel on the Israeli trip was seen as part of the president’s efforts to shield Ms. Oduah.

Apart from the over-inflated price of the armored BMW cars that were never delivered or provided for inspection by the legislative committees, there are also allegations that Ms. Oduah has wasted billions of naira in the airport rehabilitation and upgrade scheme. Workers in the aviation sector accused the minister of handing consultancy jobs as well as contracts to her cronies, sidelining due process and deceiving the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) with a claim that the projects were “urgent.”

The workers also alleged that the contractors who showed up on site were the minister’s cronies and not those who originally won the contracts.

The sham in Ms. Oduah's airport rehabilitation began to show as facilities in the rehabilitated airports continue to fail. Passengers at a variety of the airports have complained about non-functioning air conditioners, failing elevators, leaking roofs and incessant power failures despite the billions of naira Ms. Oduah has sunk into upgrading airports.

Mr. Jonathan’s efforts to shield Ms. Oduah are part of his agenda not to ruffle the feathers of Nigeria’s corrupt class. In addition, the president’s stance is seen as part of his 2015 strategy. The Aviation Minister had spearheaded the “neighbor-to-neighbor” campaign for Mr. Jonathan during the 2011 presidential campaigns. The initiative raised billions of naira in campaign funds for Mr. Jonathan, who is seen as paying back by looking the other way as the minister sinks deeper into corruption.

Civil society activists also pointed to the fact that President Jonathan used the same smokescreen to protect fuel marketers who defrauded the Nigerian people of hundreds of billions of naira through fraudulent fuel subsidy claims. One of the indicted fuel marketers, Walter Wagbatsoma, alongside his associate, Adaoha Ngo Ngadi, played a role in funding Mr. Jonathan's campaign. They failed to appear in court many times until the judge threatened to take action against them. Only then did Mr. Wagbatsoma appear for his trial.

Mr. Wagbatsoma had reportedly threatened to expose how the subsidy funds were used to bankroll President Jonathan's ambition, if the president did nothing to frustrate his trial. Earlier in this year, President Jonathan also exposed his affinity for corruption when he declared a presidential pardon for his political benefactor, Mr. D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/oduahs-n255m-armored-car-scandal-we-are-not-shocked-president%E2%80%99s-insincerity-activists-say

Oduagate: President Jonathan Goads Committee To Absolve Minister, Make NCAA Officials Fall Guys

Posted: November 14, 2013 - 16:33

Posted by siteadmin

By SaharaReporters, New York
Members of a committee handpicked by President Goodluck Jonathan to investigate the purchase of two BMW armored cars at a whopping cost of $1.6 million are being intensely pressured by the president to deliver a watery recommendation that exonerates Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah.

The disclosure came from a source familiar with the president’s efforts to tailor the committee's work towards a conclusion that minimizes the minister’s responsibility for the scandalous deal.

SaharaReporters broke the news that Ms. Oduah had pressured the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority to take out a loan from First Bank of Nigeria to buy the two overpriced cars. Apart from the outlandish cost of the cars, investigations by SaharaReporters as well as various committees of the National Assembly have raised serious doubt that the cars were ever delivered, even though the NCAA paid fully for them. In fact, SaharaReporters was told by two sources that Ms. Oduah received a kickback of N112 million on each of the two cars.

Our source said the Presidency was bent on teleguiding the committee investigating the armored car scandal to blame a few officials of the NCAA for allegedly “misguiding the minister.”

Our source said that Mr. Jonathan, contrary to the impression he gave in public, is hell bent on absolving the minister of any blame as well as retaining her as minister. He disclosed that the so-called presidential probe panel met two days ago and was urged by the Presidency to recommend the firing of a former NCAA director, Joyce Nkemakolam, but to absolve the minister of any blame for the scandalous purchase of the two BMW armored cars that cost the NCAA N255 million ($1.6 million).

Our source added that the president was intent on allowing Ms. Oduah to oversee the completion of a series of airport renovation projects across the country, even though some aviation insiders have questioned the costs of the projects as well as the bidding procedures used by the minister in awarding the contracts.

One sign that President was applying pressure in favor of Ms. Oduah emerged today as the Nigerian Senate shelved its earlier decision to have the minister appear before senators today to discuss recent air mishaps, the safety of the Nigerian airspace, and the BMW car purchase. In a move that stunned the public, Senate President David Mark approved a strange motion to rescind the decision to invite Ms. Oduah to appear before the Senate. Instead, she is now to appear only before the Senate’s aviation committee.

This about-face comes as the aviation committee had suddenly and inexplicably stopped its probe of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), another aviation agency under Ms. Oduah’s ministry. Investigations had revealed that FAAN also obtained a loan from First Bank of Nigeria to purchase two exorbitant, bullet-proof Lexus Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) for the use of the minister. Senator Hope Uzodinma, who heads the aviation committee, is known to be extremely close to the minister, and may have decided to shelve all investigations into her role in the car buying scandal.

Last week, the Senate suddenly cancelled a scheduled appearance of Ms. Oduah, offering the excuse that the Senate President, David Mark, would love to personally attend the hearing. A day before, Mr. Mark was suddenly tipped by President Jonathan to travel to Abu Dhabi to cheer the Nigerian Golden Eaglets to victory at the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

SaharaReporters had earlier reported that the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who had traveled with Mr. Jonathan on a much-touted religious visit to Israel, had been recruited to handle the “reaching out” to lawmakers to persuade them to drop the idea of probing Ms. Oduah. Our sources disclosed that both Ms. Oduah as well as the Presidency had provided bribe funds to enable Mr. Ekweremadu to neutralize lawmakers and scuttle any serious investigation.

In the end, it was only the aviation committee of the House of Representatives that conducted a public hearing. The committee’s report was submitted last week to the whole House, but was never released to the public. The plenary session of the House has so far failed to deliberate on the committee’s secret report.

The committee set up by President Jonathan was given two weeks to submit its final report. Although the committee’s deadline has long expired, its members have yet to submit a report. Colonel Sambo Dasuki (ret.), Mr. Jonathan’s National Security Adviser, is a member of the committee. He was also part of Mr. Jonathan's delegation to Israel.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/oduagate-president-jonathan-goads-committee-absolve-minister-make-ncaa-officials-fall-guys

N255million car scandal: Oduah’s 12 sins by Reps panel

Posted by: Yusuf Alli

A fresh insight into the report of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation on the probe of the controversial two armoured cars shows that 12 infractions are standing against the name of embattled Aviation Minister Stella Oduah.

The vehicles were bought at a total cost of N255 million by the National Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) allegedly for the minister in violation of due process.

Both the minister and the agency have denied any breach of the rules and said the vehicles were for operational use only.

However, the committee in its 20-page report, which was laid before the plenary of the House of Representatives on Thursday, said it traced massive violations of the rules by the minister in the transaction for 54 cars, including the BMW armoured cars, by the NCAA.

The committee said it discovered that on April 25, 2013, the minister approved NCAA’s request to procure 55 operational vehicles valued at N564, 665,000.00.

The agency then went ahead to secure a loan of N643, 088,250 for 54 vehicles.

But it could not explain what it wanted to do or did with the balance of N78, 423,250.

The panel also said it could not trace one of the disputed BMW cars based on the chassis numbers on the receipt issued by Coscharis Motors Limited.

The House has not fixed a date for the consideration of the report.

The report reads in part: “The 2013 Appropriation Act provides for the purchase of 25 vehicles at the of N240,000,000 namely (i) Toyota Pickup Hilux(5); (ii) Toyota Corolla(10); (iii) Toyota Land Cruiser(5); (iv) Toyota Hiace(3); and (v) Security Inspection Vehicles for Safety/Security(2).

“That there was no appropriation for the purchase of two (2) bulletproof (armoured cars) in 2013 Appropriation Act.

“NCAA proposal for the purchase of the two BMW armoured cars worth N140million was earlier rejected by the Committee. What was provided for in the budget were two security vehicles for inspection of perimeter fence.

“That Hon. Minister of Aviation claimed that the purchase of two (2) bulletproof BMW armoured cars were provided for in the 2013 Budget of the NCAA. This submission by the Hon. Minister is incorrect.

“The 2013 Appropriation provides for two operational/security vehicles for the inspection of perimeter fences and not two (2) BMW bulletproof cars as purported by the Minister and NCAA.

“On April 15, 2013, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) applied to the Hon. Minister of Aviation via a memo NCAA/DG/04/1/13 for approval to acquire a total of 51 operational vehicles at a total cost of N564, 665,000.00.

“NCAA’s application was approved by the Hon. Minister via a memo FMA/NCAA/ T44555/5.6/T2/136 dated April 25, 2013. This approval contradicts the following:

• The 25 operational vehicles approved in NCAA 2013 Budget

• The approval value is above the limit of Ministerial Tenders Board. Whereas the approved revised thresholds for service wide application pursuant to Section 16(2) Public Procurement Act 2009(as amended) a minister’s limit is N100million, in approving N564, 665,000 as evidence Ref. No. /FMA/T44555/S.6/T2/136. She was in breach of the law.

• No evidence of Due Process was shown by NCAA/Ministry of Aviation

“The Hon. Minister of Aviation also claimed that the lease financing arrangement would ensure that NCAA pays N100million by the end of 2013 fiscal year while the balance of N16million will be paid in the following years.

“This amount according to the Minister fell below what is required for the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval.”

The panel said that while documents from NCAA indicated that on April 25, 2013 the minister approved the agency’s request to procure 55 operational vehicles valued at N564, 665,000.00, “there is no evidence to show that the Hon. Minister presented NCAA’s request to FEC for its approval.

“Furthermore, the attempt to procure now and pay later is against the Extant Laws of the Federation.”

On the armoured car which it claimed it could not trace during investigation, the panel said: “The stored receipt of NCAA in respect of the two (2) BMW vehicles bears chassis No. DW68044 and DW68032.

“Upon physical inspection of the vehicles in the custody of NCAA by the Aviation Committee, two BMW vehicles were cited and inspected DW68011 and DW68044.

“The BMW vehicle with chassis number DW68032 was not seen. Messrs Coscharis explanation on this issue is not supported by

available documents.”

The panel made seven recommendations to the House of Representatives as follows:

• Given the fact that the two BMW armoured vehicles procured in the process were not provided for in the 2013 Appropriation Law nor was due process followed in their procurement, the Ministry of Aviation and NCAA should terminate with immediate effect all transactions and loan agreement it entered into with First Bank Nigeria Plc and all contracts awarded thereto;

• That all monies so far spent on the entire transaction should be recovered and returned back to the Federation Account;

• The President, Federal Republic of Nigeria should review the continued engagement of the Hon. Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, having contravened the Appropriation Act and Approved Revised Thresholds by exceeding her approval limit of N100m with the purchase of 54 vehicles value at N643m

• That EFCC and other relevant anti-corruption agencies should: (a) Further investigate the discrepancies in the chassis Number DW68032 of the vehicles on the one reported to be delivered and the one inspected by the committee; and (b) Further investigate and if found wanting, prosecute all persons/ institutions involved in the transaction

• The former Acting DG, Mr. Nkemakola Joyce, and Director of Finance, Mr. S. Ozigi, should be sanctioned in accordance with the Civil Service Rules for deliberately breaching the 2013 Appropriation Act/ Extant Laws of the Federation

• That Coscharis Motors Nigeria Limited should be investigated on the issue of waiver, source and exact cost of the two BMW vehicles supplied to NCAA;

• Coscharis should be made to pay the value of the waiver into treasury account.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/n255million-car-scandal-oduahs-12-sins-reps-panel-2/

N255m cars: Reps panel proposes Oduah’s sack

Posted by: Yusuf Alli, Abuja

Aviation Minister Stella Oduah maysoon be waving a painful farewell to her controversial job —should the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation have it way.

It is to recommend today that President Goodluck Jonathan should sack Ms Oduah, for exceeding the official limit in approving the purchase of two bulletproof vehicles by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) at N255million.

The committee may have recommended also sanctions for the former acting Director General (DG) of NCAA, Nkemakolam Joyce, and the agency’s Director of Finance, Salawu N. Ozigi – in line with the Civil Service Rules.

The panel is to seek the immediate termination of a loan agreement of N643, 088,250.00 to finance the purchase of 54 vehicles (including the armoured vehicles) between the NCAA and the First Bank of Nigeria.

Coscharis Motors Limited is to be asked to refund the N255million meant for the bulletproof vehicles. Besides, the panel will recommend that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should investigate the company for alleged abuse of waivers.

These key five recommendations are some of the major highlights in the report of the committee, which will be tabled today before the House of Representatives.

The report will then be debated and put to vote before the House takes a stand on the matter, which has generated so much heat in the polity.

According to sources, after a prolonged debate on Oduah’s fate, the panel agreed that the minister allegedly violated the 2013 Appropriation Act and the Public Procurement Act because due process was not followed in approving the purchase of the armoured vehicles.

The committee recommended to the House to ask “President Goodluck Jonathan to review the continued engagement of Stella Oduah as the Minister of Aviation, having contravened the 2013 Appropriation Act by overshooting her threshold of N100million and for violating the Public Procurement Act.”

The report said: “The committee recommends sanctions for the acting DG of NCAA, Nkemakolam Joyce and the agency’s Director of Finance, Salawu N. Ozigi, in accordance with civil service rules for circumventing the Public Procurement Act.”

On Coscharis Motors Limited, the committee directed that the auto firm should “refund the N255million paid to it for the bulletproof vehicles through a loan agreement with immediate effect”.

“The armoured cars are also to be returned to Coscharis Motors Limited.

“The N643, 088,250.00 loan agreement with the First Bank of Nigeria by the NCAA to finance the purchase of 54 vehicles should also be terminated forthwith because it is not in the interest of the country.

“The EFCC is also advised to further investigate Coscharis Motors Limited for abuse of the waiver process and the discrepancies in the chassis numbers of some of the BMW vehicles.”

Speaking with our correspondent last night, a member of the panel said: “As a matter of fact, there was nowhere in papers to show that the vehicles were bought in the name of the minister.

“But in terms of approval, the minister was found guilty, having gone beyond her threshold of N100million. Due process was also not followed in the purchase of the vehicles by the NCAA.”

On the next step, another source said: “It is left to the House to accept or reject our recommendations.

“It was not easy arriving at these recommendations because of vested interests and pressure, but most members of the committee put the nation ahead of personal matters. The committee members had to reconsider the wording of recommendations on the minister.”

First Bank Plc was given a clean bill of health in respect of the transactions.

The July 30, 2013 agreement between NCAA and First Bank of Nigeria reads in part: “The borrower (NCAA) has applied to the bank for a Term Loan Facility (herein referred to as “the facility”) in the sum of N643, 088,250.00 to finance the purchase of 54 vehicles for Management Staff of NCAA on Grade level 15 and above.

“The bank has agreed in the usual banking terms to extend to the borrower the said facility on terms and conditions herein contained in this Loan Agreement and in the Letter of Offer which terms are hereby incorporated into this agreement.

“The parties hereto have agreed to secure the facility, including interest and other charges.

“The facility shall be for a period of 36 months without moratorium. Subject to the terms and conditions hereinafter contained, the Borrower shall repay the facility hereunder in 36 monthly installments as contained in the Letter of Offer.

“The borrower shall until the repayment of facility to the Bank pay interest on the balance outstanding and on all monies whatsoever at any time owing to the bank at the rate of 18 % per annum(all inclusive) or such other rates in line with changing market conditions as may be advised.

“The borrower hereby covenants with the bank that so long as any part of the facility or interest or other moneys hereby covenanted to be paid remains outstanding, the borrower shall:

•furnish annually to the Bank not more than 120 days after the end of the period in respect of which they have been made up Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Accounts showing the true position of the Borrower’s affairs such Balance Sheet and Accounts being certified by the Auditors …”

“The borrower will also from time to time supply to the bank such other information as the bank shall reasonably require in respect of the assets and liabilities of the business operation and administration of the Borrower and shall permit and enable the bank’s representative to inspect the borrower’s properties and operations including all relevant records and documents after giving reasonable notice; and costs of such inspection and the out of pocket expenses incurred by the bank’s representative aforesaid during such inspection being payable on demand by the Borrower provided that such costs are fair and reasonable.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/n255m-cars-reps-panel-proposes-oduahs-sack/

Enugu Government House Hostage: I Was Fully Briefed By Mrs Clara Chime, Asserts Femi Falana
Posted: November 6, 2013 - 23:14
Posted by siteadmin

caption: Femi Falana (SAN)
By SaharaReporters, New York
Human rights advocate Femi Falana has repudiated the claim by the governor of Enugu State, Mr. Sullivan Chime, that he did not receive a brief from his wife to represent her to secure her release from the illegal detention imposed by her husband, the governor.

“I wish to say, without any fear of contradiction, that I have her instructions in writing to challenge her illegal detention at the Government House, Enugu,” he declared in a statement on Wednesday. “Through the assistance of some of the security personnel in the Government House she has since spoken to me on phone to confirm her instructions. Indeed, Mrs Chime's mother and her personal physician have also been in touch with me urging me to take all appropriate measures to secure her freedom from Governor Chime's illegal confinement.”

Beyond that, Mr. Falana pointed out that contrary to the governor’s diversionary statement, he does not need the instructions of citizens who are illegally detained to demand for their release.

“Without any instructions I am duty bound to file cases in court to secure the enforcement of the fundamental rights of detainees to personal liberty. For the avoidance of doubt, the doctrine of locus standi in the area of human rights has been abolished by the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009 which came into force on December 1, 2009,” he said.

Mr. Falana noted that at the press conference Governor Chime succeeded in confirming the allegation that he has held his wife in illegal custody but attempted to justify the illegality by alleging that his wife has "a medical challenge".

Said the statement: “When Governor Chime was recently medically challenged he was not subjected to solitary confinement in the Government House but flown abroad for adequate medical treatment,” the lawyer said. “But Mr Chime has conspired with his private physicians to sentence his wife to unwarranted mental torture and psychological trauma in a room in the Government House for the past four months. If Mr. Chime's claim is correct that the wife is non compos mentis, when was the Enugu Government House converted to a psychiatric hospital?

“Having confirmed the allegation that he has willfully infringed the fundamental rights of his wife to personal liberty, dignity of the person and freedom of movement Governor Chime should release his wife from illegal custody [and] be warned not to divert attention from the brutal abuse of the rights of his wife. If he and his doctors are convinced that she is medically challenged they should send her to a hospital for quick recovery!”

Mr. Falana thanked the Director-General of the State Security Service who, he said, has directed the security service personnel attached to the Government House to desist from teaming up with the Governor to hold his wife hostage.


http://saharareporters.com/news-page/enugu-government-house-hostage-i-was-fully-briefed-mrs-clara-chime-asserts-femi-falana

Beyond Oduah-gate By Okey Ndibe
Posted: November 4, 2013 - 21:54
Posted by siteadmin

Columnist: Okey Ndibe
For all of two weeks, Nigerians have been riveted by the disheartening revelation that Aviation Minister Stella Oduah approved the purchase of two bullet-proof BMW cars at the cost of $1.6 million.

Once SaharaReporters broke the story, we were treated to a predictable game of fibs and obfuscations. First breath: an aviation official denied the report. Second breath: the minister’s spokesman admitted the purchase. He then defended it on the ground that the minister needed the cars to protect her from faceless threats to her life. Third breath: Yet another official said the cars were actually bought for the use of foreign aviation dignitaries on official visits to Nigeria. Fourth breath: Ms. Oduah, appearing last week before a committee of the House of Representatives, disavowed her spokesman’s account of events.

If the varied accounts had any characteristic in common, it was this: each narrator seemed to speak before thinking. If there was a common impression, it was of a desperate bunch trying hard – but failing mightily – to defend a transaction that’s simply impossible to justify.

If Ms. Oduah were an official in a country where ill-thought actions have chastening consequences, she would long have handed in her letter of resignation. Instead, she’s extremely lucky to be a Nigerian, a space where anything-goes is the going style.

Nigerians can’t stand the small crook, won’t forgive the petty thief. If a wretched, starving fellow is spied picking somebody’s pocket for a hundred naira for a meal, you can count on any Nigerian mob to deliver a sentence of death. And that sentence is instantly executed, no appeals for mercy from the hapless thief entertained. But let a Nigerian public official – a governor, say –steal billions of naira of public funds, and the same mob becomes amazingly dovish. Some will rise to the thieving governor’s defense because he’s a “son/daughter of the soil,” a fellow “tribesman/woman.” Some will put much store by the fact that s/he worships in the same church or mosque. Some will declare that the Bible warns, let s/he who is without sin throw the first stone. Some will ask whether you expected a person who had sugar sprinkled on her/his tongue to spit it.

Nigeria is a paradox. It metes out instant capital punishment on pickpockets. Yet, it is the perfect kingdom for the big, bold, audacious embezzler or squanderer. It’s a country where ethics is frequently asked to surrender to ethnicity, principle must cower before sectarian claims, and where institutions are made to shudder in the presence of personalities, the merest achievement of public officials is inflated beyond belief. It is, above all, a country where nothing is ever any body’s fault. In Nigeria, the buck never stops at anybody’s desk; like the Energizer bunny, the buck must keep on going.

Ms. Oduah has benefited from the strange confection of Ethics Nigeriana. Many (I’d even hazard, most) Igbo saw that what the Aviation Minister did was plain wrong – no ifs or buts. But some Igbo groups and individuals rushed to her side, proclaiming her a target of ethnic bigots. Their line of argument, whether deployed by the Efik, the Hausa, the Yoruba, or the Igbo, is exasperating. How does being Igbo lessen the awfulness and scandal of a minister’s decision to buy two BMW cars at a price tag of $1.6 million?

Every inch of Nigeria is bereft of basic facilities. For the vast majority of Nigerians, life is hardly livable. Only recently was the country’s minimum wage raised to N18,000 (about $112) per month. That’s $112 per month to spend on rent, clothing, kerosene/firewood, food, transportation, school fees, healthcare, (tanker-borne) water, (non-existent) electricity, and so on. The federal and state governments were dragged, kicking and screeching, to assent to that minimum. Today, many Nigerian workers are still paid much less than that miserable minimum. Forgive me, but I don’t see how the millions of hapless Igbo are helped by Ms. Oduah’s approval of vulgar sums for bullet-proof cars.

This is not to deny the existence, persistence and power of the ethnic factor. There’s no question that some of the minister’s harshest critics would shed their indignation and sing a different tune were she a member of their ethnic bracket. But that fact, I think, does not validate the use of ethnicity to defend impunity. Instead, it offers a challenge as well as an opportunity for the emergence of a cross-ethnic coalition of enlightened citizens. Such citizens ought to be courageous enough to reject the invocation of ethnicity in defense of nonsense.

In 2007, many commentators went after Patricia Etteh, then Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, for spending N600 million of public funds on renovating her official residence and her deputy’s. In one piece titled, “A female speaker’s manly vices,” I argued that Ms. Etteh deserved to be banished from her office. I wrote: “She has displayed a quality of arrogance and insensitivity to the national mood that is difficult to stomach from an occupant of her exalted position. In a season of national misery and disquiet, she has proved herself an insouciant fan of revelry, self-aggrandizement and squandermania.”

The title of my piece was provoked, in part, by some misguided apologists who sought to defend the speaker on grounds of gender. Others still raised the ethnic defense. But both the gender and ethnic apologia were hollow in her case. They have no traction in Ms. Oduah’s case, either.

President Goodluck Jonathan’s response to the Oduah scandal was to – in effect – refuse to address it. He achieved his evasion by setting up a panel to look into the matter and report back in two weeks. Is there any information of consequence that the president doesn’t already have? Nobody, least of all Ms. Oduah, has denied that an aviation agency doled out $1.6 million for two cars. That’s a grave enough misjudgment for the minister to merit being fired. The US, Britain, Germany, Norway, France, China, and Canada have lots more money than Nigeria. Yet, it’s a safe bet that no aviation authority in any of those countries would survive the scandal of doling out $1.6 million on two cars! I’d like to know whether Ms. Oduah and Nigeria’s aviation “dignitaries” are driven around in $800,000 bullet-proof BMWs when they visit other (wealthier) nations.

If President Jonathan needs a panel and two weeks to figure out how to respond to the Aviation scandal, then how much time – and how many panels – would he require in order to tackle his country’s ever-worsening climate of insecurity, its education crises, scary healthcare system, horrible roads, and the tattered state of its infrastructure?

It’s a mistake to assume that the president wanted a panel that would exhume the facts to guide his action. No, Mr. Jonathan was merely playing according to the rule book of our mess of a country. One of the rules is to shield, protect and immunize loyal “steakholders” like the Aviation Minister from the consequences of their actions and inactions. The presidential panel’s real, if unstated, mandate is to lull outraged Nigerians to sleep. If it can, the panel must induce us to forget that our “Honorable Minister” blew $1.6 million of our scarce funds on two cars. Once we forget, the president will be able to do what he really wants to do – nothing!

Some of Ms. Oduah’s defenders have pointed to the extensive renovation she initiated at various Nigerian airports. The facts are there, undeniable. But Nigeria is a nation of at least 120 million people – perhaps as many as 170 million. Surely, the president can find another minister from that population capable of continuing – and even expanding – the airport renovation projects. To argue that Ms. Oduah and she alone can oversee that job is to fall back on the Nigerian cult of the individual. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo used that canard when he made a thinly disguised bid to alter Nigeria’s constitution in order to perpetuate himself in office. His shameless acolytes argued, “If Obasanjo is not president, who can do the job?” It was an insulting, brainless question to pose in a country that brims with talent, even if the best of them are carefully, deliberately excluded from the pool. And there was the irony that the question was being posed by the surrogates of a man as ethically wretched, mischievous and bereft of a modern outlook as Mr. Obasanjo.

There’s a good chance that Ms. Oduah will keep her cabinet post, but that outcome would be for all the wrong reasons. It won’t be because she’s a superb performer, or that it made sense to fork over $1.6 million for two cars, or that the purchase met the smell test. It will be because she happens to operate in a country where ethnicity trumps ethics, loyalty to the oga at the top supersedes loyalty to the collectivity, and expediency has far more muscle than adherence to sound principles.

Please follow me on twitter @ okeyndibe

(okeyndibe@gmail.com)

http://saharareporters.com/column/beyond-oduah-gate-okey-ndibe