₦airaland Forum

The Patriots Call For Immediate Sack Of Aviation Minister Stella Oduah For Corruption, Incompetence And Negligence
Posted: October 10, 2013 - 15:18
Posted by siteadmin

By SaharaReporters, New York
The Patriots, a pro-Nigeria interest group, has demanded the immediate sacking of Stella Oduah as Minister of Civil Aviation.

In an analysis signed by Rose Ibebaku, the group said it wanted to sound “a serious note of warning to both the Presidency, the Legislature and all the high and mighty whose family and friends, constitutes the bulk of air transport passengers in Nigeria to wake up from their slumber and immediately reverse the unfolding ugly trend being spurned by [Mrs Oduah] by calling her to order.”

Outside that, it said, “More innocent bloods will be shed and Nigeria thrown into international embarrassment any moment from now as a result of unending breach of every aviation rules and ethics.”

Adding that “more dangers loom ahead if this is not checked,” the group called on President Jonathan to SACK THE MINISTER NOW.”

The Patriots accused allege that Mrs. Oduah is orchestrating the biggest fraud of the century and milking the Aviation parastatals dry all in the name of unsavoury transformation agenda.

Among others, Mrs. Oduah has recently instructed all the heads of Parastatals and Agencies under Aviation Ministry, as well as all Directors and Departmental Heads not to respond to invitations from any organ of the National Assembly on any issue, the group said, without first notifying her and obtaining written permission from her to honour such invitation.

They urged the Chairman, of the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption, National Ethics and Values, as well as the EFCC, to re-open investigation into all contracts awarded under the Ministry’s airport remodeling exercise, adding, “Please when next you pass through any of the recently commissioned airports, take a more detailed look and you will notice how Nigerians have been short-changed.”

The Patriots further allege:

• The Madam Minister has instituted a monthly standing deduction order of about N158million each from the accounts of Aviation Agencies namely NAMA, NCAA and FAAN and other Agencies under her and remittance of same into a secret account solely run by her.

• The Minister recently ordered the three main Agencies (FAAN, NCAA and NAMA) to cough out millions of Naira to settle the bill of six (6) Sophisticated custom-built ballistic armoured BMW cars for her personal use (either for her failed Gubernatorial ambition campaign or for 2015 Neighbour- to-Neighbour presidential election campaign).

• Price Waters Coopers (PWC) has audited various aspects of four Agencies under the Ministry’s financial operations for at least 4 times. As we speak PWC staff, young boys and girls who have hardly graduated from university are on ground at the Parastatals offices since January this year to date looking for God knows what.

• The Minister usually fixes the audit fee to be paid by the Aviation Agencies to PWC for these phony consultancy audits at about 250million Naira each, totaling a whopping sum of One Billion Naira on each occasion for FAAN, NCAA, NAMA AND AIB.

• The Minister took her impunity to the highest level by employing over 2000 new staff to fill non-existing vacancies in all the Agencies under the Aviation Ministry…Ninety percent of these newly recruited staff are members and online signatory to the Minister's last neighbour to neighbour presidential election campaign.

Saying it wanted to intimate Nigerians of “Nigeria ’s most scandalous, nepotistic, furious and unsavoury recruitment pattern in history,” The Patriots said that Mrs. Oduah “personally printed the letterhead of all the Aviation Agencies/Parastatals, typed employment letters stating out of designation and grade level and regularly summons the heads of the applicable Parastatals into her office to append their signatures on the already typed employment letters. Such letters are then intermittently released to her wards almost fortnightly.”

They said that “smarter ministry officials” are now having a field day stealing as many already prepared employment letters as they wish from madam minister’s office and typing their own people’s names on it, taking the advantage of the Minister’s excesses. Newly engaged staff keep turning up at the agencies even when staffs are seen sitting under the trees and pavements and corridors in the Agencies.

Said The Patriots, “Aircraft inspectors allowances are not being paid as at when due, leaving them to the open temptations of bribe and compromise from corrupt and desperate airline operators who want their planes to fly at all cost. The implication of this for air safety and air transport security is better imagined. The recent Associated Airlines crash is a veritable case in point.”

“Further to our investigations, we have discovered that just recently, World Bank cancelled a long existing training grant to the NCAA because of the Ministers illegal over-bearing influence on the Agency. Usually, the World Bank does not only provide the fund for the training but also conducts the training itself. It’s shocking that Madam Minister in her bid to scoop every available kobo from the Ministry and its Agencies, directed the World Bank to monetize it and put the fund under her supervision. Infuriated by this singular show of ignorance and greed, the project was cancelled.”

Calling on President Jonathan to fire Mrs. Oduah immediately, The Patriots said, “The way and manner she is handling the Ministry is horrendous and more dangers loom ahead if this is not checked. President Jonathan should feel the genuine pulse of Nigerians, help save the Aviation Industry from total collapse, listen to the voice of reasons and SACK THE MINISTER.”

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/patriots-call-immediate-sack-aviation-minister-stella-oduah-corruption-incompetence-and-ne

MEND Rejects National Dialogue Invitation, Passes Vote of No Confidence
Posted: October 10, 2013 - 13:32
Posted by siteadmin

By SaharaReporters, New York
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has rejected contact by the National Dialogue Advisory Committee soliciting its understanding and support for the proposed National Conference.

In a statement today, the group passed a vote of no-confidence on the National Dialogue idea, and identified the committee’s contact man as Tony Uranta, who it said described rejection from a South-South body like MEND as an embarrassment to the presidency.

“Ironically, this solicitation is coming from the same man who has been campaigning repeatedly that MEND seized to exist after the Niger Delta Amnesty fraud,” the statement said.

It noted that its skepticism and suspicion of the so-called National Dialogue may also have to do with the antecedents and lack of integrity of Mr Tony Uranta himself.

“Some hours after we took responsibility for our symbolic October 01, 2010 twin car bomb blasts in Abuja, Mr Tony Uranta sent a text message to Mr Henry Okah, asking him to reach out to me (Jomo Gbomo) to retract our earlier claim of responsibility “as the government of Goodluck Jonathan wants to put the blame on some Northern elements” (specifically, former head of state and 2011 presidential aspirant, General Ibrahim Babangida and Mallam Nasir el Rufai, were the targets for the blame).”

According to the statement, it was in anticipation that MEND was contacted by Mr Henry Okah, that President Goodluck Jonathan confidently came on national television that night to absolve MEND from the attack.

It would be recalled that immediately after the blasts, as MEND claimed responsibility for them, Mr. Jonathan declared, instead, that it was the work of terrorists, and not MEND, which he said was not a terrorist group.

“It is erroneous to think that my people who have been agitating for good living will deliberately blow up the opportunity they have now,” he said.

In its statement today, MEND also recalled that Mr. Uranta was also involved in collecting $50.000 bribe on behalf of the Save Nigeria Group which led to an embarrassing scandal at the time.



“The same people who managed to hoodwink an entire nation into believing that over 30,000 men and women in the Niger Delta, now requiring an annual training/rehabilitation budget of over 30Billion Naira, took up arms. How can the government correlate its display of less than three thousand weapons (most of which were donated by the military for the disarmament show), with more than thirty thousand (30) so-called repentant militants. Were the rest fighting with sticks?”



It noted that millions of hard working Nigerians remain unemployed, the country’s education system is going down the drain with strikes, and the country is getting increasingly full of educated derelicts while the government shares out billions of Naira monthly on miscreants, criminals and con men who claim to have been freedom fighters.



“This scam was designed by people in government such as Timi Alaibe who created ghost fighters with the connivance of those at the highest level,” it said.



The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) hereby passes a vote of no-confidence.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/mend-rejects-national-dialogue-invitation-passes-vote-no-confidence

Aviation minister under fire for attributing crash to God

October 9, 2013 by Temitayo Famutimi


Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, came under heavy criticism on Tuesday for describing the crash involving an Associated Airline plane, which killed 14 people in Lagos as “inevitable” and an “act of God.”

The Associated Airline Embraer 120 ER aircraft conveying the corpse of the former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, crashed last Thursday moments after takeoff at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, killing 14 of the 20 passengers on board.

Many online commentators described her remarks as “reckless, insensitive and disgusting.” The comment, they added, was uncalled for, especially as it came when the bereaved families were still mourning their loved ones.

They argued that such a statement could only be permissible, in the event of a natural disaster and such other events outside human control.

Commentators, who reacted to the minister’s comment, noted that she should have kept quiet and sympathised with the bereaved families instead of blaming her alleged failure and incompetence on God.

There was a similar disaster last year when a Dana aircraft crashed at Iju, Lagos, killing no fewer than 150 passengers.

Following Oduah’s comment on Monday, a former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, curiously opened the floodgates of criticisms as he practically took the incumbent minister to the cleaners.

Fani-Kayode noted that the God he serves must have been different from the one Oduah was referring to, saying his God does not cause accidents.

Fani-Kayode tweeted, “God does not cause accidents. Only the devil does that. You can say a fatal accident is an act of God only if the devil is your god. If you can steal from the dead, you can kill the living and drink their blood. May God deliver us from this vampire minister.”

A correspondent of the British Broadcasting Corporation in Nigeria, Will Ross, described Oduah’s statement in a tweet as a “terrifying reaction.”

Another angry Twitter user, Waley Kay, said he was appalled at the manner Nigerian public servants shirk responsibilities and shift blame arising from such on natural causes.

Kay said, “Under the watch of Stella Oduah, as the Aviation Minister, many souls have been killed in air crashes. Such insensitivity is rarely seen anywhere in the world. Only in Nigeria, can this happen. Not only am I surprised but I am also utterly sad. Have anyone noticed how Nigerians attribute every act of irresponsibility to God or destiny?”

Another commentator, Babatunde Rosanwo said, “For Stella Oduah to term this air crash as an act of God is insensitive, idiotic and irresponsible. It is insensitive and early to make such a remark, especially when the bereaved families are grieving. ‘Act of God’ is a special patent for systemic and cascading failure in Nigeria. Until investigations are concluded, then the minister should not utter such insensitive statements anymore.”

According to Tokunbo Omole who wrote on Facebook, statistics shows that Nigeria has had many frequent disasters occasioned by negligence. He argued that since air safety is the responsibility of the government, public servants should desist from standing logic in the head.

Omole said, “Minister, your comments are very disturbing and careless. About 15 individuals lost their lives and their families are still mourning. Is this the best way you can react to this?

“A lot of these victims are breadwinners and major contributors to the society. Please keep quiet before you spew more disgusting comments. Communication is very important minister and I’m sure you should know better.”

Beyond these scathing criticisms against Oduah, some other Nigerians have demanded her immediate resignation from office as aviation minister.

A prolific Twitter user, Japheth Omojuwa, who said the minister’s utterance was “absolutely irresponsible”, urged her to tender her resignation immediately.

He said, “If God is in charge of safety in the aviation sector, we are then duplicating roles by paying people salaries for the same. Whom do we sack? The first name on unrepentant and incompetent people’s mouth when they fail to perform their responsibility is God.

“When you arrive at a point where you start passing the buck to God, you have arrived at the point to pass your resignation letter too. When we renovate airports, we claim it is in line with the transformation agenda and leave God out. However, when there is a plane crash, we blame God. If not because God will not descend so low, some people will be talking and God will slap them into dumbness forever.”

Berating the minister, a respondent on nairaland.com with the name Burger01, wrote, “Inevitable air accident, right? Well, not for me in Jesus name. As inevitable as it is, would Oduah pray that she or any member of her family have a portion of these inevitable air accidents? I cannot imagine this is coming from a minister of aviation. I see a level of low competency and professional misconduct in all of this.”

http://www.punchng.com/i-punch/aviation-minister-under-fire-for-attributing-crash-to-god/

This is why Nigeria will not make progress.

Senate summons Oduah, others over plane crash • No fact yet on crashed plane’s insurance status – Minister • Kabo Air pilot suspended • National carrier to begin operation soon


October 9, 2013 by Sunday Aborisade and Ifeanyi Onuba, Abuja 50 Comments



The Senate on Tuesday summoned the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, and heads of agencies under her ministry, to explain the real state of the nation’s aviation industry.

The invitation followed Thursday’s Associated Airlines plane crash in which about 15 out of the 20 passengers and crew on board, had been confirmed dead.

The 23-year-old aircraft was conveying the body of a former Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, to Akure, when it crashed barely a minute after take-off from the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Ikeja, Lagos.

Hours after the accident, a Saudi Arabia-bound Kabo Air plane with 400 passengers on board made an emergency landing in Sokoto on Friday when it lost its two main body tyres.

The decision to summon Oduah was taken after the Senators exhaustively discussed a motion moved by Senator Hope Uzodima. In the motion, the lawmaker drew the attention of his colleagues to the Associated Airlines plane crash and expressed serious concern that the incident had underscored the need for the country to re-examine its aviation sector.

He also noted that the incident, the seventh between June 2, 2012 and October 3, 2013, was “suggestive of a deep-seated systemic problem that must be unravelled and resolved to avert futher occurrences.”

Other senators, in their contributions, also lamented that reports on past crashes had offered recommendations on what should be done by the relevant agencies in the aviation sector to avoid future occurences.

For instance, Senator Abiye Sekibo, challenged the Senate Committee on Aviation to, as part of its oversight functions, find out the airworthiness of all the aircraft on the fleet of the airlines in the country.

Senator Barnabas Gemade,who noted that the aviation ministry had improved facilities at the nation’s airports, said there was an urgent need for professionals to be fully in charge of the sector to enhance its efficiency.

Senator Oluremi Tinubu noted that Nigeria had the worst airport runway in the world, a situation she argued, posed a great risk to air travellers.

She also described as frightening and disheartening, statements credited to the aviation minister that accidents were “an act of God and therefore inevitable.”

Senator Smart Adeyemi said his findings showed that the plane was supposed to be on a test flight to Akure and therefore should not have carried passengers.

Adeyemi added that the plane was being repaired and had not been flown for sometime hence there were engineers on board to ascertain its performance.

Other senators submitted that the current situation demanded an holistic approach because the sector was already in a state of emergency.

The session, presided over by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, observed a one-minute silence for the victims and condemned the inability of relevant agencies to unearth the causes of air crashes in the country.

The senators therefore unanimously agreed to summon Oduah and the chief executive officers of all the agencies under her supervison to explain the true state of the aviation sector.

Ekweremadu, while ruling on the submission of the Senate, however, clarified that the invitation of Oduah and others was not an indictment of their competence.

Rather, he said it would afford the aviation chiefs, an opportunity to state their efforts at implementating past reports and recommendations of the Senate aimed at ensuring safety and sanity in the industry.

He said, “The observation of lapses in the aviation industry expressed by senators is not also an indictment of the Senate Committee on Aviation. The senators expreseed frustration on the issue and not that they passed a vote of no confidence in the committee.”

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, while briefing journalists after the plenary, said the minister and the aviation chiefs would appear before the Senators after their resumption on October 22.

He noted that the Senate suspended plenary till after the Sallah celebration so that all the reports pending before it would be submitted.

Shortly after the Senate resolved to summon her, Oduah said the Federal Government had no fact yet on the insurance status of the crashed aircraft.

The minister, who also explained again that Dana Air’s operations were suspended due to operational lapses, said additional financial assistance would be given by the government to domestic airlines to enable them to keep afloat.

She told journalists in Abuja that it would not be right for the government to speculate on the insurance status of the ill-fated aircraft since the report on a probe by the Accident Investigation Bureau had yet to be released.

She said, “For now, if I answer you, it would amount to speculation because AIB, whose responsibility it is to know, has not finished with the investigation. We don’t have enough facts for me to tell you what it is that you want me to tell you. So, I don’t know what you are talking about.

“I really want to beg every one of you (journalists) to stop speculating. We do not speculate on accidents and this is because we are going to have a preliminary report. The report will tell you the exact state of the insurance, and whether it is there or not and you will have it as facts.”

Media reports had it that the aircraft might not have been insured as it claimed. The airline’s alleged insurer, Nigeria Reinsurance Plc, denied having any insurance contract with the carrier.

The second insurance firm named by the carrier, Sema Insurance, is neither registered with the National Insurance Commission nor an insurance broking firm known by NAICOM.

On the suspension of Dana Air operations, Oduah said it was not a witch-hunt but was based on investigation which was carried out on the carrier.

She said, “Certification of airlines is a routine and regular exercise and in the course of certification, there may be operational lapses and when they are noticed, we have to look at them again and take the necessary steps that would ensure safety and security.

“If somebody has high BP (blood pressure) and takes medications and the sickness calms down, if he stops his medication wrongly, what do you think would happen? If an airline has a clean bill and fails to maintain it, it will be suspended.”

The minister also said the government would by the end of this month announce when a national carrier would commence operations.

“I guarantee you that before the end of this month we will announce it, ”she told the journalists.

On the financial assistance to airlines, Oduah explained that it would be a single digit interest facility.

“This will be for a period of 20 years and it will help boost their operations. We are currently waiting for approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria,” she added.

Also, the Managing Director, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Mr. Nnamdi Udoh, stated that the pilot of the Kabo air plane that had a burst tyre while landing in Sokoto had been suspended.

He said, “The airline had investigated and found out that it was an operator fault and as I speak to you, Kabo Air has suspended the pilot that was involved.”


http://www.punchng.com/news/senate-summons-oduah-others-over-plane-crash/

N2.3 Trillion Debt: APC Governors asks Jonathan to call NNPC, Finance Ministry to order

Premium Times Published: October 8,2013

The governors want the National Assembly to protect the sanctity of the 1999 Constitution.
Eleven state governors, under the aegis of Progressives Governors Forum, PGF, have challenged the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to disclose how much it collected as revenue in January and how much of the amount it paid into the Federation Account.

The governors, all of who belong to the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, threw this challenge in a statement on Monday, in reaction to the Corporation’s denial of debt of N2.3 trillion allegedly being owed to the Federation Account.

The governors are Kashim Shettima (Borno), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Rochas Okorocha (Imo) and Babatunde Fashola (Lagos).

Others are Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Ibrahim Gaidam (Yobe) and Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara).

The Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC, Tumini Green, had in a statement, claimed that the Corporation did not owe the Federation Account payments, adding that the Corporation had made payments consistently into “its Central Bank of Nigeria account”.

The governors said, “Our attention was drawn to NNPC’s denial of debt of N2.3 trillion being owed to the Federation Account. The statement, which is credited to Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ms. Tumini E. Green, is to say the least escapist, dishonest, contradictory and in many respect fraudulent.

“While claiming that NNPC does not owe the Federation Account, “taking into account outstanding subsidies and other associated costs of operations and losses”, the NNPC spokesperson claimed that payments have been made consistently into “its Central Bank of Nigeria account”.

“At the same time Ms. Green emphatically stated that “not all revenues collected by NNPC are paid directly into the accounts of Federal Allocation with the Central Bank of Nigeria. Some are paid into the accounts of the relevant government agencies, like the Federal Inland Revenue Services and the Department of Petroleum Resources, with the CBN. But eventually, all these payments are credited to the accounts of Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC.”

“The question is how much was the revenue collected by NNPC? How much of it was paid to the Federation Account? How much was paid to accounts of other relevant government agencies? How much are credited to FAAC? How much was committed to the payment of so-called outstanding subsidies? What other associated costs of operations and losses incurred and how much?”

The governors contended that nowhere in the 1999 Constitution has any exception been granted for any collectible revenue outside “proceeds from the personal income tax of the personnel of the armed forces of the Federation, the Nigeria Police Force, the Ministry or department of government charged with responsibility for Foreign Affairs and the residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja”.

They noted that If any other law had empowered the NNPC or any other government body to do otherwise, it was contradictory, and to that extent, null and void.

The governors said, “We therefore wish to challenge the NNPC to go beyond hypothetical and generalized statements and categorically respond as follows:

How much has been realized in oil revenue on monthly basis since January 2013?

How much has been paid into any other account of any government agency?

How much has been paid to settle so-called outstanding subsidy payments?

What are the other associated cost of operations and losses incurred?”

The governors noted that the problems of accountability and arbitrary management of oil revenue by the NNPC was at the center of the current FAAC dispute.

They stressed, “The statement by Ms. Green is to say the least escapist, dishonest, contradictory and fraudulent.

“Mr. President needs to urgently intervene to protect the image of the Federal Government and safeguard the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.

“We therefore urgently call on Mr. President to call NNPC and Ministry of Finance to order.

“We also would like to invite the leadership of the National Assembly to urgently take steps to protect the sanctity of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution.”


http://premiumtimesng.com/news/146195-n2-3-trillion-debt-apc-governors-asks-jonathan-call-nnpc-finance-ministry-order.html

Nigerian youth activists led by Yemi Adamolekun of Enough Is Enough Nigeria confronted Senate spokesperson , Enyinnanya Abaribe to demand full disclosure of salaries and allowances of Nigeria lawmakers.


http://saharareporters.com/video/video-jumbo-pay-nigerian-youth-activists-take-gluttonous-senators
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-4uk-OvKiw4

Nigeria is indeed a gangsters paradise. When are we going to see AT LEAST ONE of these subsidy fraudsters jailed?

Nwabueze quits as national conference row grows

Posted by: Emmanuel Oladesu, Group Political Editor and Ahmed Rufai

There will be no restriction on issues that the proposed national conference will discuss, the government said yesterday as Prof Ben Nwabueze (SAN), a key personality appointed into the 13-member Planning Committee, pulled out.

Opinions have been divided on the conference since President Goodluck Jonathan in his October 1 anniversary broadcast announced his intention to convoke it.

The Senator Femi Okurounmu-led committee is due for inauguration by Dr. Jonathan today.

Members of the committee are: Dr. Akilu Ndabawa (secretary) Prof. George Obiozor, Sen. Khairat Gwadabe, Sen. Timothy Adudu, Col. Tony Nyiam, Prof. Funke Adebayo, Dr. Mairo Ahmed Amshi, Dr. Abubakar Sadiq, Alhaji Dauda Birma, Mallam Bello Bukhari and Mr. Tony Uranta.

Nwabueze, the octogenarian leader of The Patriots, a group of elder statesmen who have been canvassing the convocation of a sovereign national conference, said he was quitting the planning team on health grounds. But he hailed the presidential move as a bold step.

Nwabueze urged the President to replace him with another member of The Patriots, Chief Solomon Asemota (SAN).

In his letter to President Jonathan on behalf of The Patriots, Nwabueze, said : “‘The Patriots’ regard this development as epochal and re-affirms the support, which we conveyed to you on the occasion of our visit on August 29. It is our fervent hope that nothing would be allowed to stand in the way during the preparation for and execution of the national conference that would finally bring every Nigerian into the mainstream of governance.”

In another personal letter to the President, Nwabueze said: “I am presently in London and may be away from Nigeria for some time. I will be glad, if I could be replaced in the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue/Conference by Mr. Solomon Asemota (SAN), who is a member of ‘The Patriots’.”

On his return from medical vacation abroad at the weekend, a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, described the planned conference as “a Greek gift”, which should be avoided.

He said the conference was diversionary, adding: “I see diversion here. I see deception here. I see lack of honesty and integrity here. Nigerians are being deceived.”

Also yesterday, Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido said the conference “is illegal”, adding that his state will not participate in it.

Lamido, speaking in Dutse, the state capital, said there was no constitutional backing for the conference.

According to him, it will be a flagrant abuse of democratic institutions. He said his administration would not be party to it and no delegate from Jigawa will attend.

Lamido said: “The only solution to the country’s problems is good governance and leaders should abide by due process, rule of law and ethics of leadership.”

“This proposal is a flagrant abuse of democracy. We have the Senate and the House of Representatives that are legally and democratically elected to represent constituencies to discuss national issues.”

On how delegates will be selected, he asked: “Are you going to ask (Attahiru) Jega (the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman) to organise elections for those that would participate in the dialogue, which I am sure he would not accept or are you going to select them through nomination to go and take over the responsibility of elected ones?

“So the idea for the dialogue lacks formula in our democratic society and embarking on such worthless venture is not ideal.”

But presidential spokesman Reuben Abati was quoted yesterday by the Voice of America (VOA) as describing critics of the conference as doing so “for selfish political reasons”.

“The naysayers are just individual trouble makers who are opposing it for selfish political reasons. Because these same isolated individuals are persons who in the past have demanded an exercise of this nature, who have said this is important for Nigeria to move forward.

“But now that they have been confronted with it, and they have seen the administration is committed to really having that dialogue and giving them the opportunity to ventilate their own opinion, they are now trying to play politics just to be seen to be contrarian as a habit.”

Abati added: “What is different is the commitment of the government of the day, the political will to make a difference and this administration is not going to define no-go areas for the conference.

“This is a problem solving unity forging exercise, and it is not surprising that the proposal has received the support of Nigerians across the various ethnic nationalities, and across socio-political organisations, who have said that indeed a dialogue is necessary.”

According to Abati, the mandate of the conference is to “work out the modalities, the form, the structure, the nomenclature, the agenda for the dialogue or conference”. “Part of the function is also advising government on the legal proceeding that may be necessary, the constitutional action that may follow the outcome of the dialogue,” he said.

Abati said the conference would address “those issues that continue to cause friction within the Nigerian society, issues that were left unresolved by previous conferences of this nature”.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/nwabueze-quits-as-national-conference-row-grows/

Welcome To America, Pres. Jonathan By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo

Posted: September 24, 2013 - 14:50


Dear President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, PhD, GCFR: Welcome to America, Mr. President. I’m glad you are not just in America but you are, as we say here in Brooklyn, in my neck of the woods.

I’m sorry I have not been able to come to see you. I’ve been kind of busy, you know. It may surprise you to know that in this part of the world, there is no free lunch. The best that I’ve seen is buy one and get one free. I actually wanted to pull my kids out of school to have them line up on 7th Avenue to wave the Nigerian flag as you pass. But their teachers threatened to call social services and have them taken away from me by the state for neglect.

I’m trying to eke out a living over here. I’ve tried several times to see if President Obama will give me an oil block but I’m consistently told it won’t happen. I’ve even donated $50 dollars here and there to the Democratic Party but the man just sends me thank you notes. Na thank you me and my family go chop?

Anyway, how has your visit been so far? I understand that you have been having a great time. You drive around well paved roads with closed sewage systems; you enjoy constant supply of light without the sound of generators hurting your ears; and you breathe air that is not polluted by poisonous gases coming off generators. I’m sure that the water pressure from your presidential suite’s bathroom shower is powerful. No houseboy is needed to carry a bucket of water upstairs for you.

I know that you have no need for it, but if you try the stove in your kitchen there, gas will come out. No need carrying gas cylinders around. Just so you know, these things do not happen only in expensive hotels like yours. It happens even in the poorest part of Alabama and Tennessee.

I know what you will say- Rome was not built in a day. Yes. It’s the usual excuse that I hear. Please do me a favor, when you come back from listening to the First Lady address African First Ladies, please tune to History channel on your TV. You will see that when America was 53 years old, it had structure and strategic planning and was guided by ethical people who had purpose and love for country. If age makes all the difference, how come Mexico is where it is today while America is somewhere else? How long ago did Haiti gain its independence compared to Sweden?

I had wanted to ask if you have had the chance to go into New York City’s subway, but then I remembered that you move around the city in a limo. The network was built over a century ago and continues to be expanded and upgraded. It moves 2 million New Yorkers around every day. It was not abandoned soon after the opening ceremony the way Abuja National Stadium was for which you needed to spend N300 million to renovate.

I’m sure you breezed through the Central Park. That is a modern wonder of nature reserve. It has been preserved there for over a century. No politician has sliced it up and given to his wife and business associates. In a city where land is more expensive than gold, the 1317 square miles of space, at $1000 a square foot, is worth over 39 trillion dollars. Mouthwatering, isn't it?

Anyway, I saw you on MSNBC as you rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. Cool. It must have felt good. Olusegun Obasanjo, despite all his garagara, never got the chance to hold that hammer and strike. I’m happy for you. I’m happy that you have seen where Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke did her internship. Where she learned all the abracadabra she implemented at our stock exchange.

I’m really sorry I could not make it to the luncheon you had with Nigerian professionals on Sunday. Well, do you want to know why? Your ambassadors told me that the dog ate my invitation. I guess that’s diplomatic speak for “enemy of the state.” I understand that it went very well. You came, you saw, you mesmerized. A friend of mine who was there told me that you made it clear that your enemies must allow you to govern because you won the election.

I feel your pain. If I were around, I would have told you to ask President Obama how things have been for him when you met him on Monday. He, too, won- twice. Yet, some still do not believe he is a legitimate president. Some still demand that he shows his original birth certificate before he is allowed into the White House. There are people in the US Congress who have dedicated the rest of their careers to oppose anything Obama supports. They do everything to undermine laws like Obamacare. But Obama is not going about complaining that they must allow him to govern. He is governing. He understands that it comes with the territory.

You know what, try turning on that TV in your $9000 a night hotel room. Tune to Fox news. Watch it for just 30 seconds and tell me what you think? I bet you, after watching Fox news for one hour, you will never say that you’re the most criticized president in the world. Imagine Obama, acting like you by not making public his assets, he would have been ran out of town- impeached and banished to Hawaii.

I understand that you told Obama during your meeting with him that he must help fix Nigeria. Ok, Mr. President, I guess people around you did not tell you this. This is America, Jack. Here we refrain from using “must.” The use of “must” almost always illicits the response, “who the F… do you think you are?”

The world may be broken but for Obama’s people, it’s been a pretty good life. If you doubt me, just check their life expectancy and compare it to ours. He must not fix Africa for his world to keep rolling. He must not fix Nigeria for his world to keep rising. It’s you, the man “we” elected, who must fix Nigeria. That’s why we elected you. You start it, pursue it with all your might, and then, if you need help, maybe Obama can help you. You don’t say that you know corrupt people in Nigeria but won’t mention their names because they will attack you and then beg Obama to come and fix Nigeria. Common, man!

I was told that you will be speaking at the United Nations today. You will speak on behalf of the government and people of Nigeria. I hope you don’t mind if I tell you something to say since you will be speaking on my behalf, too.

Each year you join other world leaders to troop into New York City to make a speech in that US National Security Agency bugged chamber. A speech nobody in this chamber will remember even before you get back to your seat. Even though the world media is there, they will not print any word that you say there today. For them, your presence there is just for the fulfillment of all righteousness.

Your large entourage of aides and hangers-on will justify the hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars you spent to bring them here by going into meetings and bilateral talks with other nations of the world. You tell us that you are bringing investments, aids, capacity building to our people at home by striking deals with investors and governments across the globe. We have done this for over fifty years. When will you stand up and say to the world that it’s time we stopped deceiving ourselves.

You know that they expect you to restate how you plan to collaborate with the international communities to pursue peace in Africa and around the world. They expect you to talk about our fight against terrorism in Nigeria and how it fits into the global war against terror. They also expect you to say the mandatory banality about the scourge of corruption in Nigeria and what you are doing about it. And, of course, they are looking forward to hearing you talk about poverty alleviation and how to lift millions of our people out of poverty and into the middle class.

Are you not tired of playing this game of words with them? When will you get out of the business of setting goals that you know are not going to be met in millenniums yet to come? Are you not tired of delivering platitudes to a people who desire concrete results?

Sir, please, do me a favor, tell them that you’re not the brightest crayon in the box. It’s important else they brand Nigeria on the basis of your performance.

I wish you all the best. I’ll try and stop by after work. Maybe we can go to Aso Rock Restaurant in Queens, New York and eat fufu and egusi soup. Are you coming?

Yours truly,

Fellow Nigerian citizen

http://saharareporters.com/column/welcome-america-pres-jonathan-rudolf-ogoo-okonkwo

Ibori owns 50% equity in Notore – British prosecutors
Nicholas Ibekwe

Published: September 19,2013

James Ibori…he stole his people blind

Ibori is currently serving a 13-year jail term in the U.K.



Former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, in consortium with a group of business allies, owns more than 50 per cent of Notore Fertiliser Company, British prosecutors told a British Crown Court in Southwark London.

According to documents retrieved from the infamous lawyer of the disgraced governor, Bhadresh Gohil, more than half the value of the firm – $39.7 million – belongs to Mr. Ibori, Henry Imasekha and Jite Okoloko, the current Chief Executive of the firm. The latter two are known associates of Mr. Ibori.

According to crown prosecutor, Sasha Wass, a diagram drawn by Mr. Gohil intended to be a “route map for the ownership of Notore,” showed that Mike Orugbo, the front man used to acquire the company from the Nigerian government would get three per cent the value of the firm for his part in the deal.

Notore is a private limited liability company. It grew out of the sale of the moribund National Fertiliser Company of Nigeria, NAFCON in a privatisation programme. Notore acquired NAFCON for $152 million in 2005 when Mr. Ibori was Delta State Governor.

Investigators of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had also in the past linked Mr. Ibori to Notore through the use of Delta State funds.

Mr. Clark, who has been investigating the former governor since 2005, said Mr. Ibori’s interest in Notore was hidden through a shell company registered in Mauritius and a group of trusted associates.

According to the detective, Mr. Gohil, who is serving 10 years in prison for his role in helping Mr. Ibori in his grand rape of Delta State’s treasury, helped the former governor to incorporate the company known as Notore Chemical Industries Limited.

Mr. Clark also revealed that in 2005 Mr. Gohil had written Mr. Okoloko, asking him to “confirm your instructions” regarding bank coordinates for transfers. He further revealed that Mr. Gohil wrote a memo about a meeting he held with Mr. Ibori, Mr. Okoloko and Mr. Imasekha- both men also identified as co-conspirator in what could be aptly described as Grand Theft Ibori.

As revealed by Mr. Gohil’s memo, the men discussed that Notore equity be split among them. They put the value of the company, once it was operational, at $1.2bn.

But Notore immediately denied that the disgraced governor has any investment in the company.

A lawyer for the firm that was present in court told Reuters news agency that Mr. Ibori has no investment whatsoever in the firm.

“He does not own shares in the company and no other shareholder or shareholders hold shares for him in trust so far as the company is aware,” the lawyer said.

Mansions everywhere

Detective Constable Peter Clark of the Metropolitan Police also revealed Mr. Ibori bought two apartments in Washington DC in 2001 worth $4.43 million. According to Mr. Clark, the total previously unknown asset of Mr. Ibori hidden through fronts were worth $11 million.

A video footage of one of Mr. Ibori’s mansions in Abuja was also shown in court. The marbled mansion has facilities such as a private gym and crystal chandeliers.

Mr. Ibori, who had evaded justice in Nigeria, is serving a 13-year prison sentence in a British prison after he was found guilty of 10 counts of money laundering. The case has been described as one of the biggest embezzlement case in British history. Evidence had earlier been shown that Mr. Ibori also owns a 30 per cent stake in Oando, Nigeria’s largest indigenous oil firm, although the company denied the claim.

A Nigerian court presided over by Justice Marcel Awokulehin had acquitted Mr. Ibori of corruption while serving as Delta governor. Efforts by the EFCC to re-arrest the politician failed as he escaped arrest and later fled to Dubai where he was arrested and extradited to the U.K.

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/144898-ibori-owns-50-equity-notore-british-prosecutors.html

DAWN: Southwest’s journey to self-rediscovery

Posted by: Augustine Avwode in Politics 15 hours ago

The Southwest governors have inaugurated the office for the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission at Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Assistant Editor AUGUSTINE AVWODE writes on the vehicle designed to fast track the integrated development of the region.

The Southwest is thinking tomorrow today. The region is in a hurry to re-enact the ‘good old days’ when the Western Region was ahead in both infrastructure and socio-economic development in the country. Those were the golden era of Nigeria’s development in the early 1950s to 1966, otherwise known as the pre-independence and immediate post independence era.

The geo-political zone is working assiduously to achieve this dream through a module aptly christened Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission. DAWN is to serve as the purveyor of the integration drive. Though, now made up of six states, the region still enjoys the privilege of linguistic homogeneity and geographical contiguity.

All over the world, regional integration has been described as the key to rapid development. Therefore, many countries are collaborating and cooperating in their bid to form a stronger united front. In the same vein, states within federations are coming together to derive maximum benefits from the idea of cooperating. DAWN is a project packed with lofty dreams.

The governors took another bold step towards the realisation of the project last week. They inaugurated the office of the DAWN Commission at Cocoa House, Ibadan. Present at the commissioning were Governors Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola of the State of Osun, Senator Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and Dr Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State. Also present were Hon. Olawale Oshun, the Chairman of Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), the organisation that produced the DAWN document and helped midwife the commission.

Governor Ajimobi said the inauguration of the DAWN Commission office was a way of showing their “commitment to regional integration.” He further said that: “We have set up regional integration offices in our respective states. We are committed to exploring our strengths for common good in terms of commerce and infrastructural development. In the end, our objective is to turn our region into a place of enviable development and a competitive destination for credible investors,” he said.

The DAWN commission, according to its Director General, Dipo Famakinwa, deserves the support of all Yoruba indigenes because it seeks to restore the Southwest region to global competitiveness witnessed when the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo was the region’s Premier.

“This project is not political; it is strictly developmental. It will remain committed to the development of Yorubaland. DAWN will restore the dignity of the past and connect it with present realities and future opportunities.

“We will embark on projects, not because we want to be seen, but, because it has been well thought out in line with best practices and best interest of the region. This building (Cocoa House) for example is a testimony to the resilience of Yoruba people. Elsewhere, it would have been sold or even converted into residence,” he said.

To drive the point home more forcefully, ARG’s Secretary General Ayo Afolabi said: “We have strayed from our developmental trajectory, for which we were known and it looked like we would never get it again. It looked like the good old days of Chief Awolowo would forever be history but I am happy that today we started on that developmental roadmap. I no longer look into the future with despair but with optimistic assurance,” he said.

Skewed federalism

A political scientist and public affairs analyst, Mallam Moyo Jaji, praised the initiative, saying the skewed nature of Nigeria’s federalism has made it imperative for any region that desires growth and development to go the way of the Southwest.

“The DAWN Commission is a very welcomed development. Why did I say so? The momentum of development started by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was truncated by the emergence of military adventurers in 1966. He made the Western region a reference point in the First Republic. Going by the kind of skewed federalism we are practicing in Nigeria now, if such a programme is not put in place, you will discover that your development will be stagnated. In a situation where other zones don’t want to develop, if you want to develop, then you just have to chart your own programme and that is why the DAWN project is attractive to me”.

He said, even though one out of the six states is being controlled by a different party, the region’s integration will not suffer because it should not be determined by party consideration or affiliation.

“Government is all about development; therefore, party differences should not hinder what is good for your people. I am sure the states in the region are determined to make this a shining example for others to follow. Without sounding immodest, I can tell you that the Southwestern part of the country is still the most developed in the country and it behoves us to maintain that momentum for others to copy.”

Mallam Jaji said his criticism of the federal arrangement in the country is premised on the fact that the super-structure remains largely faulty. This, he said, makes the component parts look as if they are unable to optimize their potential and everyone is forced to depend on the centre for handouts. Such a situation, he said, will not augur well for the regions. To stay afloat, he argued, “there must be a programme of this nature, which seeks to fast track the development of regions, that is why we should encourage it.

Comparative advantage

The Southwest region is not in the mood to concede its economic leadership in the country to any other zone. If anything, it is to make the region as self sufficient as possible.

Speaking to The Nation, Lagos State Chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Chief Henry Ajomale said DAWN as conceived, is much more than just going back to the good old days. He explained that it is to also ensure that the zone enjoys the comparative economic advantage that it has to the very maximum.

“The DAWN Commission is not just desgined for a return, if you like, to the good old days of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. It is more than that. It is to ensure that we maximize the comparative advantage economically, that we have in the Southwest. What do I mean? If you are producing something, others will come and support you to develop it to the maximum. If for example you are good at Cocoa production for instance, that is a cash crop, we will support you. If it is animal husbandry like you have in places like Shaki and Isoyin in Oyo State, we will help you to the point that it will expand in scope so that all the others states that are not producing this type of product will have to depend on you for supply of life stock.

“Economically, therefore, that state will become strengthened and develop because there is a lot that will be going for it as other state will be demanding from them. Whether it is rice, tomato or cassava, there wouldn’t be need to go to another region or depend on another state when one of you can produce such a product. All you need is just go there for the supply.

“If you look at what Osun State has done now with the Nigeria Railway Corporation by signing an understating to transport the produce from the state to Lagos, it is a good idea. Once the products get to Iddo, there is a ready market for them, therefore, nothing will be wasted. The advantage of Lagos to their farmers is so much. Lagos doesn’t produce much of these things because of its geographical location. It is waterlogged. If you talk of fishery, yes, but for the others, they have to depend on the others. We have the population to consume most of these things from the other states in the region. So we encourage them that whatever they are able to produce will be consumed here. And the financial benefit will go to them and they can use it to develop their state. “, he said.

He said the DAWN Commission is also looking at infrastructure development by linking all the states in the region by developing roads both in the urban areas and the hinterland.

“Very sure, of course, the DAWN Commission is looking at that aspect. The plan is to link all the states in the region and even the hinterland. The objective is to enable the farmers to evacuate their produce from the hinterland to the cities. If this is not done, it will affect the farmers. They are planning to interlink all the states in terms of health delivery, education and other infrastructure in the region.”

The 2020 focus

The purpose of the DAWN, it was learnt, is to foster regional co-operation and integration apart from being a catalyst for decentralization. It all began at a retreat held on between July 22 – 24, 2011, at the University of Ibadan Conference Centre, Ibadan, Oyo State, and attended by a constellation of the best intellectuals, technocrats and professionals in Yorubaland, at which the DAWN framework for action was developed. The development agenda, principally, seeks to encourage the Southwest states to develop a common set of integrated development strategies that enable the region and its citizens to experience a well-managed process of development, across all spheres of existence.

Chief Ajomale said the initial focus of the DAWN is 2020 and that after that period, it will be reviewed to see how it has performed. “Our initial target is 2020, between now and then, we want to see what we can make or able to do. After that, then we would evaluate it and then we can now say let us move on to 2030 and go further and talk of another Master Plan for the next 10 years,” he said.

From now till 2020, having inaugurated the office, the governments of the states in the Southwest now owe their people the duty to breathe life into an enviable dream. The nation, nay the people of the Southwest are waiting.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/dawn-southwests-journey-to-self-rediscovery/

A Case For “True” Federalism By Chido Onumah

Posted: August 3, 2013 - 11:18

Columnist: Chido Onumah

No topic has generated as much interest in the ongoing bogus constitution amendment process as the issue of local government autonomy. That we have embarked on wholesale amendment 14 years after we were handed a constitution by the military high command is a measure of the instability in the polity.

A constitution or the process of constitution making is not a joke and no nation desirous of making progress should treat it as such. In Nigeria, once you have a new majority (military or civilian) it fancies the need for a “new” constitution. What this tells us is that we need a constitution of “we the people” that will be the necessary outcome of a conference based on the sovereign will of Nigerians.

Autonomy, like independence, is a fancy word; one that everybody wants to identify with. It is understandable, therefore, if you ask most Nigerians whether they support local government autonomy as being canvassed in the current constitution amendment, they would answer in the affirmative. Unfortunately, in the opinion of this tyrannical majority whose voices appear dominant, anybody who has a contrary view is not a democrat.
Of course, there is a strong case to be made for local governments. Local governments are closest to majority of Nigerians and are in a vantage position to cater to the needs of our rural population. However, in the context of federalism, autonomy for local governments ought to be defined by states and not the federal government.

A few weeks ago, the governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN) stirred up a hornet’s nest with their intervention on the autonomy debate. At the second edition of the National Public Discourse, with the theme, “Local Government Authority: How Autonomous?” they faulted the argument for local government autonomy.

Aregbesola made a point which should be obvious to the proponents of local government autonomy which is that the federating units in Nigeria are the states and the centre. “The states are federating units, while the local governments are merely administrative units, centres of development in the states. Local government must not be seen as anything outside the total authority of the states,” Aregbesola said.

According to Sagay, “Every state should create, fund and run local government as they deem fit. Why should we even have a Federation Account? Why not Federal Government account and state government accounts? Why can’t a state decide the structure it wants to run for its local governments? How can the National Assembly dream that the Independent National Electoral Commission should start conducting local government elections? They say it is because the state governments are rigging the local government elections. Then I ask: Is the Federal Government not rigging the election conducted by INEC?” These are pertinent questions.

Both Aregbesola and Sagay have been criticised for their position. Unfortunately, their traducers refuse to see the bigger picture. I think the issue of local government autonomy is driven more by hysteria than commonsense. When you ask why they support local government autonomy, proponents point to the constitution; the same dubious constitution given to us by the military in 1999. It is important to note that the country went through Gen. Abacha’s transition which was completed by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar without the electorate seeing this constitution.

The constitution lists 774 local governments, effectively putting an end to development at the local level because it is unlikely that a civilian government can create new local governments even if the need arises. It is absurd to legislate local governments in the constitution. Apart from constraining the states, it presupposes that our rural areas can’t grow beyond their current state. A few days ago, in a conversation with a member of the National Assembly, I raised the issue of listing local governments in the constitution. He agreed it was an anomaly, but one that we have to live with. Why do we have to live with this anomaly when we can change it?

Why have we arrogated to the federal government the power to create local governments in the states? Why have we given the federal government the power to give money to local governments? It is this unregulated power that has created the twisted logic that makes it possible, for example, for Kano to have 44 local governments while Lagos has 20 local governments. It is bad enough that the constitution stipulates a system of local government administration, it is retrogressive to dictate the number of local governments states should have.

Clearly, the whole talk about local government autonomy is sophisticated BS. These local governments were not created to bring governance to the rural population but as a means of sharing the national cake.

Moving forward, we must make our states the centre of development. States in Nigeria were created depending on the whims of the military regime in power. It is unfortunate that because the military created these states, they have remained dependent entities that go cap in hand every month to the centre for sustenance.

States should be allowed to create the number of local governments, local council development areas or any other name they want to call it as it suits them. They should decide the structure of these councils and how they would be run. They should run their law enforcement (police), subject, of course, to the Nigeria Police in inter-state crimes and federal offences.

It means also that state assemblies would have to fashion out rules for election in each state. I know our apostles of autonomy for local government would rise in righteous indignation. They would argue that state governors can’t be trusted to do the right thing in their states. But it is clear that because we have lived under the military for the better part of our independence we are willing to replace the so-called tyranny of the state with that of an overbearing federal government. We have forgotten that we are a federal republic.

Agreed that some state governors have not managed their states well, but that is not a case for granting autonomy to local governments outside the powers of the states. Unlike the USA and Canada, for example, where the states (USA) and provinces (Canada) were independent entities before they joined their different unions or were bought as the case may be, our own states are the arbitrary creation of the military and they have ever since acted as appendages of the federal government.

Rather than clamouring for local government autonomy, we should be talking about “independence” for the states and how the states can contribute to the centre. Every state in Nigeria today is viable. But because we have created a monstrosity in Abuja that is set to consume all of us, we have denied the states control of their resources and prevented them from taking responsibility for their own sustenance and development.

The issue of local government autonomy challenges our democracy and nationhood. Now is the time to tackle it frontally. Now is the time to unbundle the federal government. Our federalism is a fraud and its fraudulent structure feeds much of the problems Nigerians have to contend with everyday.

If we want to create a more perfect union, as Americans say, we should go beyond the current hysteria and think seriously about renegotiating Nigeria.

conumah@hotmail.com

http://saharareporters.com/column/case-%E2%80%9Ctrue%E2%80%9D-federalism-chido-onumah

Petroleum Minister Lied: Companies Indicted for Fuel Subsidy Fraud Receive Juicy Import Contracts

Posted: July 29, 2013 - 19:00

By SaharaReporters, New York
Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister Diezani Allison-Madueke recently spiritedly denied that she offered fuel importation contracts to companies indicted for fraudulent fuel subsidy claims. However, an investigation by Saharareporters has revealed that Ms. Allison-Madueke lied to Nigerians. As part of that investigation, we obtained the list of companies to which the minister, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPRA) and the Petroleum Ministry have granted juicy petroleum import contracts in the third quarter.

The roster of fuel importers reveals that several rogue businesses that had defrauded Nigerians by making hugely inflated subsidy claims benefited from current import contracts. “I can tell you that the minister personally authorized each and every beneficiary,” a source in the Petroleum Ministry told our correspondent. He added: “Madam [Ms. Diezani Allison-Madueke] has tight control of every contract given out within the ministry, the NNPC, and other agencies in the oil industry.”

Included in the third quarter allocations awarded by the ministry is also a company owned and run by a relative of Reginald Stanley, the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPRA).

One of the beneficiary companies, NEPAL Oil, was referred to the Special Fraud Unit of the Nigerian Police for investigations relating to extensive fraud.

The company was accused as one of the participants in a massive fuel subsidy scam that cost Nigerians $6.5 billion. The fuel subsidy scam came to light early in 2012 shortly after Nigerians rose in massive protests against the decision by President Goodluck Jonathan to remove fuel subsidies in January 2012. NEPAL Oil was later charged along with Anonsyke Group by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In 2012, the EFCC charged both companies with forgery and obtaining money under false pretense. Even though the trial is ongoing, Ms. Allison-Madueke personally approved the allocation of an import volume of 30,000 metric tons to NEPAL Oil in the second and third quarters. Mr. Stanley of PPPRA attended the official launching of a small tank farm established in Oghara last May.

Another indicted company, IMAD Oil, which was referred to the police for investigations, received fuel import allocations at Ms. Allison-Madueke’s instance.

Two other companies, Matrix Energy and Masters Limited, were originally investigated, but the police later issued letters clearing both companies of involvement in fuel subsidy scams.

SaharaReporters discovered that a company, Rahamaniyya Oil and Gas Company, received ministerial allocation to import fuel despite the fact that the EFCC is still investigating the company for subsidy scam. Owner of Rahamaniyya, Abdulrahaman Musa–Bashir, a Sokoto-born oil dealer, was one known as the future bridegroom of Aisha Yar’Adua, a daughter of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. However, he abandoned the would-be bride as soon as her father died. Last year, the oil businessman caused a stir within the Yar’Adua family when he wrote a letter to Mr. Yar’Adua’s widow, Turai Yar’Adua, demanding that she refund $3 million he reportedly gave her in preparation for the aborted wedding.

Also on the list of fuel import beneficiaries is Blacklight Limited, an oil company owned by Lucky Igbinedion, a former governor of Edo State. Mr. Igbinedion is a convicted felon, found guilty of fraud during his tenure as governor. In 2008, the EFCC struck a controversial plea deal with the ex-governor, clearing the way for a judge of the Federal High Court in Enugu to give Mr. Igbinedion a paltry fine of N3 million that was widely condemned as a slap on the wrist.

“So why is the government rewarding a man like Lucky Igbinedion whose track record is one of corruption, fraud and scam?” asked a labor leader based in Abuja. He added: “This administration promised to address the irregularities in fuel importation. That has not been done. They promised to pursue the building of new refineries and to revamp existing ones. That, too, has not been done.”

Two sources in the Petroleum Ministry told SaharaReporters that the award of allocations to companies indicted for fraud was not the only problem. “If you look at the recent allocations, you will notice something skewed in the manner certain marketers are favored with huge allocations which runs at variance with their ability to store the imported products,” said one of them. He stated, “That’s a major reason why so many of them were able to scam the Nigerian government of billions of dollars over three years.”

For instance, Conoil, owned by Mike Adenuga, reportedly owns huge storage tanks in Lagos and Port Harcourt. In the latest round of allocations, Conoil was awarded 60,000 metric tons. By contrast, companies like A-Z, run by Chika Okafor, Shorelink, which is run by Obiamarije Stanley, a cousin to the PPPRA’s Reginald Stanley, and Nkechi Peter Obi's Techo Oil, got huger allocations of 80, 000, 75,000 and 60,000 metric tons respectively. A-Z does not have any known storage tank farms.

Another source at the Petroleum Ministry pointed to the fact that the beneficiaries topping the list of ministerial allocations are the same players who were offered massive bribes to several legislative committees and security agencies to shield them from indictment. These big-time players include Mr. Adenuga, Femi Otedola, Sayyu Dantata of MRS Oil and Gas, and Mr. Rahamaniyya.

A different aspect of the scam is that all the big players named above, and a few others, were in 2009 named by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as huge debtors to commercial banks. SaharaReporters found out that none of the businessmen ever paid the hundreds of billions of naira they borrowed from banks. Instead, the Federal Government and CBN struck a shady deal with the debtors under which a bogus agency called Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), run by Mr. Mustafa Chike-Obi, took over some assets owned by the debtors in lieu of payment.

But AMCON’s management of the debts was so bad that the International Monetary Fund earlier this year called for the scrapping of AMCON. “The AMCON deals were simply meant to free the billionaire debtors from their debt obligations,” a Lagos-based financial analyst told SaharaReporters. He explained: “Under the deal, each of the debtors handed one or two assets of their assets to AMCON. The shady part of it, then, was that AMCON officials overvalued each asset, making it possible for possible for the debtors to wriggle free of their debt obligations, leaving the creditor-banks out in the cold.”

The analyst disclosed that most of the debtors had originally obtained the bank loans ostensibly to finance fuel imports. “This is one of the worst scams in Nigerian history,” he said. “The fuel was often not imported, but these businessmen claimed fuel subsidies – and they failed to pay back the loans they took.”



S/N
COMPANY
VOLUME (KT)

1
Acorn
15,000

2
Aiteo
120,000

3
Ascon
45,000

4
Avidor
15,000

5
A - Z
60,000

6
BlackLight Ltd
30,000

7
Bovas
45,000

8
Capital


9
Conoil
60,000

10
Cybernetics
15,000

11
Dee-Jones
45,000

12
Dozzy
30,000

13
Fatgbems
*

14
First Deepwater
*

15
Fresh Synergy
15,000

16
Folawiyo
90,000

17
Forte
75,000

18
Gulf Treasures
30,000

19
Heyden
*

20
Honeywell
0

21
Hudson
15,000

22
Hyde Energy
30,000

23
Ibafon
15,00

24
Imad Oil and Gas
30,000

25
Index


26
Integrated
60,000

27
Linc Nigeria Ltd


28
Mainland
15,000

29
Masters
80,000

30
Matrix
30,000

31
Mettle Energy
15,000

32
MRS Plc.
60,000

33
MRS Oil & Gas
60,000

34
Mobil
60,000

35
Nepal
30,000

36
Nipco
120,000

37
NNPC
1,350,000

38
NorthWest
75,000

39
Oando
135,000

40
Obat
30,000

41
Optima
15,000

42
Rahamaniyyah
45,000

43
Rainoil
80,000

44
Sahara
60,000

45
ShoreLink
80,000

46
Swift
45,000

47
Techno Oil
70,000

48
TempoGate
20,000

49
Total Nig.
90,000

50
TSL Logistics
30,000



3,405,000

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/petroleum-minister-lied-companies-indicted-fuel-subsidy-fraud-receive-juicy-import-contrac

BREAKING NEWS: 11 Killed By Boko Haram Bomb In A Kano Drinking Joint
Posted: July 29, 2013 - 21:48

By SaharaReporters, New York
Saharareporters has just learnt that at least 11 people have died in a drinking joint on New Road in Sabon Garin area of Kano following the explosion of a an improvised Explosive Device believed to have been planted by Bopko Haram.

A security source in Kano told Saharareporters that after the bomb exploded heavily armed militants shot and killed several patrons of the bar as they tried to run to safety.

The death toll was likely to be higher than 11 according to our source..

"Our people on the scene and have reported that they have so far recovered 11 bodies from the scene of the attack," says the source.

He added that the recovery process is still ongoing., we expect to recover more bodies.

Witnesses on the scene have stated that there might have been more than one bomb explosion.

Sabo Garin, which literally means visitors quarters has a high concentration of christian elements from the Southern parts of Nigeria. Boko Haram has in the past targeted churches, bars and clubs frequented by non-indigenes in the area.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/breaking-news-11-killed-boko-haram-bomb-kano-drinking-joint

ping

Blood, tears in Oturkpo as David Mark’s men, villagers go to war!

BY Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief

Senate President David Mark’s quest for a vast land where he is said to be planning a university in his native Otukpo, Benue State, has pitted him against peasant farmers in Asa III, who claim that the retired military officer-turned- politician wants to deprive them of their farm land, their only means of livelihood.

The move was said to have started in the first quarter of the year when a delegation of the nation’s number three citizen, led by one Chief Obogo Alapa, met some Asa III elders to inform them of the proposed university which, it stressed, would bring development to the area.

It was learnt that the villagers told the delegation that they welcomed the development, but that they needed to know the exact size of land and in which area of the village before they could give their terms.

Consequently, it was agreed that the delegation should take representatives of the villagers to the area and show them the location and size.

This was later undertaken, with a bulldozer setting out what represented the area of interest for the proposed institution. The said land, according Mr. Sam Obochi, measures about “4 x 4” km, covering the farmlands of many families. The area demarcated alegedly extended from Asa III to their boundary with Akpegede village on the one hand, and their boundary with Otobi on the other.

However, trouble started when the villagers discovered that bulldozers were sent in to clear the vast farmland without any further discussions with them. “The Alapa delegation that went to show the villagers the area to be taken by the university project did not return to give the villagers any feedback”, the villagers claimed.

Some of the villagers went to their farms and asked the bulldozer operators to stop work on the grounds that the said land belonged to their families and that at no time did they hand over the land to anybody for any project.

As learnt, the workers ignored the villagers which led to protests during which the villagers blocked the main road that passes through Asa III in their efforts to attract public attention to their plight.


Senate President David Mark

Attacks
If the villagers expected any form of sympathy, what they allegedly got was a rude shock as, rather than coming for negotiations, those taking their land were said to have mobilized persons from Igbanomaje, Otukpo, to attack them. The assailants were said to have invaded Asa III and shot six of the villagers, burnt down houses of those considered as the arrowheads of the alleged land-grab opposition, and looted every store in sight.

The villagers ran into the bush and kept away from their homes for four days. Those who ventured into the village were said to have been arrested by gun- wielding vigilante and policemen brought in from Otukpo. 18 persons were allegedly arrested including three minors. 15 were detained in Makurdi Police Station while the minors were detained in the Juvenile Detention Center, Gboko.

As learnt, six men were shot by the attackers and had to be rushed to the General Hospital Otukpo. But even at the hospital, the police went after them and attempted to arrest them. It took the resistance of the hospital staff to stop further action against the villagers who then sneaked out of the hospital that night to secret locations outside Otukpo to seek medical help.

Two weeks after the attack, leaders of the village, it was learnt, sent an emissary to Alapa, the alleged leader of Mark’s representatives, to express their disappointment over the attack on Asa III.

A peace meeting was reportedly held with the Alapa group on June 21. The Chairman of Otukpo Local Government Council, Dr. Innocent Onuh, was one of the leaders that attended the meeting. That meeting was held at the palace of the Ad’ Alekwu of Asa III, Mr. Inalegwu Onche, where the villagers claimed to have told Mark’s representatives that due process should be followed if the Senate President wanted to acquire land for his university project.

Killing
The following day, the villagers said policemen from Otukpo Divisional Police Headquarters invaded the village at about 5.30 am to arrest some youths.

Those who noticed the arrival of the policemen were said to have alerted others by phone. Those who could not get the information on time were arrested while those who escaped arrest had their Okadas (motorcycles) taken away. The villagers then mobilized and insisted that every villager must be taken to the police station. Overwhelmed, Sunday Vanguard was told, the police started firing into the air to disperse the crowd. In the process, one of the police constables was shot due to accidental discharge by a fellow police man.

This was said to have infuriated the policemen the more as they insisted on arresting as many of the villagers as they could. But the policeman behind the shooting allegedly reported himself to the police authorities in Otukpo. He was said to have declared that he could not bring himself to accuse the villagers of a crime they did not commit.

The policeman was arrested and detained, then transferred to the Benue State Police Command headquarters in Makurdi where he was detained, pending his orderly room trial. In spite of truth about who shot the deceased policeman, the team that left the village only reinforced with more officers, soldiers and armed vigilante, and stormed the village later that day. The raid was unprecedented, according to the villagers, as they could not resist the large armed team that stormed their little village. Several villagers were arrested with others running into the forests. At the end of the day, many houses were allegedly burnt down and shops looted, creating a scenario of a village at war.

Strangers
After the raid, Mr. Obochi, a senior civil servant in Makurdi, but whose family land is part of the parcel in dispute, decided to meet the Senate President’s representatives in Otukpo. He was arrested and detained for one week, in Makurdi, along with those earlier arrested.

Obochi told Sunday Vanguard, in an interview in Makurdi, that what was happening in Asa III since the beginning of the year was a clear case of intimidation of the peasant farmers.

He said he was arrested in the process of trying to resolve the issue between the Mark group and his brothers and sisters in his village. According to him, “my offence was that I bailed those who were arrested by a combined team of policemen, soldiers and vigilante”.

Narrating the situation, Obochi said, “The Mark group claims that the villagers are strangers and as such will not receive any compensation for the land and their crops. Rather, they said that compensation will be paid to Otukpo indigenous people. Their informants misled them. They told them that those farming on the land in question are ‘Aalala’”.

Those referred to as ‘Aalala’ are those from south of Idomaland, especially Ogbadibo and Okpokwu Local Government Areas.

Obochi insisted that those who own the land and even currently own farms on the land in question are aboriginal Otukpo people.

He added that most of the houses destroyed and the looted shops belonged to indigenes of Asa III and not strangers which made it difficult for any reasonable member of the society to comprehend.

Obochi said the villagers had no intention of fighting Mark but that they won’t allow anyone to forcefully take away the land which they inherited from their ancestors.

Effort to see Mark
Asked if the aggrieved villagers made any effort to meet the Senate President in person, he said, “I met Adakole Elijah ( an aide of the Senate President) and requested to see Sen. Mark. He promised to facilitate my meeting him. That was before the arrest and that was the last time I saw the man. I also had a chance meeting with one Onyilokwu Ekwo (said to be very close to the Senate President) and I told him that we don’t want bloodshed in our village and that he should arrange a meeting for us to meet Mark. There was no response and I cannot just walk to Senator David Mark’s house”.

Demand
According to Obochi, the demand of the owners of the farm land is, “the Senate President should follow due process by coming to the owners of the land. If a dirty man has something which you need, the person cannot look dirty to you.

“He should come to us and make a request, then we will decide whether to give him the land or not; or give him part of the land; but certainly not the whole land as demarcated. We don’t have any personal problem with Mark He chose the wrong process. Those he is working with are not representatives of the farmers who own the land. He should stop further work on the land in question until the issue is resolved”.

Neither the Senate President’s media team nor his family members responded to inquiries by Sunday Vanguard, in spite of repeated calls and text messages.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/07/blood-tears-in-oturkpo-as-david-marks-men-villagers-go-to-war/

Fuel Subsidy Fraud: Walter Wagbatsoma, Associates Forged Claims For N414 Million – EFCC Witness
Posted: July 26, 2013 - 07:55

Walter Wagbatsoma in court

By SaharaReporters, New York
A witness for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday told a court that Walter Wagbatsoma, Adaoha Ugo-Ndagi, Fakuade Babafemi, Ezekiel Ejide and their firm, Ontario Oil and Gas Limited, received payment in excess of N414 million by filing fraudulent fuel importation claims. The suspects are part of numerous fuel marketers standing trial for allegedly defrauding Nigeria by forging documents that enabled them to receive fuel subsidy payments from the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF). 


At a hearing at the Lagos High Court in Ikeja, an EFCC detective, Shehu Mohammed, testified that the four oil marketers and their firm scammed the Nigerian government and conspired to receive an overpayment of N414 million in fuel subsidies.

Prosecutors allege that the marketers carried out their fraudulent scheme by submitting false certificate of shore tank content. Mr. Mohammed told the court that the suspects claimed they received 19 million liters of petroleum product, adding that they forged certificates to support their fraudulent claim.

The prosecution witness said EFCC investigations at Integrated Oil and Gas depots, OBAT Oil, the Debt Management Office, and the Central Bank of Nigeria indicated that the suspects forged documents to carry out their hoax.

“Analysis of the shore tank certificate we recovered from Integrated Oil Services reads 12 million liters while the one that was given to the commission by the Ontario Oil claims 19 million liters,” said Mr. Mohammed. He added that two separate certificates were obtained by the commission, one from the source where the oil presumably originated, the other presented by the suspects to claim subsidy payments.

“We discovered there were two shore tank certificates of 12 million liters recovered from the Integrated Oil depot and one of 19 million liters that was used by Ontario Oil and Gas Services to the PPPRA in the payment of fuel subsidy claim,” said the witness. He added: “We also asked Integrated Oil to furnish us with evidence of payment by Ontario Oil and Gas Services. Our finding reveals that Ontario Oil paid Integrated Oil the sum of N37 million for the usage of the facilities for 12 million liters.”

The witness also alleged that EFCC investigations revealed that the MT Union Brave, the ship reportedly used by the accused to import the fuel, discharged a quantity that was not more than 12 liters. Mr. Mohammed said that OBAT Petroleum also admitted that Ontario Oil and Gas discharged only 10 million liters, a far cry from the company’s forged documents claiming to have discharged 19 million liters.

“Our investigation at the OBAT Oil and Gas revealed that Ontario Oil discharged 10 million liter to their storage tank. OBAT showed that exhibit marked (A), containing 10 million liters, emanated from them while the one marked exhibit (A1), indicating 19 million, is not from them. They said the shore tank marked exhibit (A1) did not represent the true quantity discharged. There was overpayment of over 10 million liters in this transaction which is about N414 million,” Mr. Mohammed further stated.


His testimony in court revealed that government agencies failed to authenticate documents before approving fuel subsidy claims submitted by oil marketers. 


In a prior case involving another oil marketer, Jubril Rowaye, an official of the PPPRA, Tope Ogundola, confessed to the court that the agency did not verify documents submitted by oil marketers before helping to process their claims. Mr. Ogundola said PPPRA officials simply accepted the documents on the basis of “trust.”

Saharareporters learned that PPPRA officials issued a query to, and reprimanded, Mr. Ogundola for making the confession in open court.

Mr. Wagbatsoma, Ms. Adaoha Ugo-Ndagi, Mr. Babafemi, Mr. Ejide as well as their firm, Ontario Oil and Gas Limited, are facing a nine-count criminal charge related to their alleged fraudulent fuel subsidy claims. Prosecutors allege that the suspects altered and forged documents and conspired to obtain property by false pretences.

Justice Latifat Okunnu adjourned the trial to July 29, 2013.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/fuel-subsidy-fraud-walter-wagbatsoma-associates-forged-claims-n414-million-%E2%80%93-efcc-witness

Yerima’s original sin

July 25, 2013 by Abimbola Adelakun(aa_adelakun@utexas.edu) 31 Comments

Nigerians worship two gods in their political affairs: tribe and religion. Both are more vengeful than Soponna, the Yoruba god of smallpox, but religion is more easily provoked and invoked. So, in 2010 when Sani Yerima — the man who kick-started the Sharia law controversy in Nigeria — married a minor, he reached for a choice armament: religion.

When he was questioned on the illegal –and immoral- act of snagging a child from the cradle, he claimed it was consistent with his religious beliefs. From painful experience, we know when someone like Yerima yells that his religion is threatened, the almajiri army in his constituency would need no further prompting before they commence burning anyone and everything. Yerima was thus left alone with his bride. Until the fury that the failed constitution amendment generated last week, Yerima’s marriage was a latent issue. It is remarkable that the ongoing debate did not even start with the malignant problem of child marriage, yet, it has become that all the same. Yerima is the face of the hoopla because of his original sin.

The Senate has feverishly explained, understandably though, that Nigerians misunderstood them but I am afraid it is too late. They will be hardly heard above the din. Another interesting dimension to the whole affair is how the good people of Ondo State have descended upon their lawmaker, Ayo Akinyelure, who has since been hashtagged as “the only Yoruba man who voted an obnoxious law.” The collective Ondo rage reduced Akinyelure to weeping like a wet puppy. He apologised and claimed he voted in error because he was not technologically savvy –a story that can be told only by politicians. It is almost comical. If only this wrath were directed at issues of corruption or bad governance too!

For the records, I support the removal of the problematic clause. If Section 29 4 (a)(b) of the Constitution says that a married woman of any age is of “full age,” it presupposes that a marriage to a female-minor is valid, and that the minor is married to someone older than 18. Otherwise, if a 16-year-old woman marries a fellow 16-year-old, does that mean she is considered of full age and he is not? How does “full age” account for the possibility of, say, a 19-year-old woman marrying a 17-year-old? There are various grey areas, some of which have been vigorously expounded in the media. It is best the Senate sits down and makes this a more extended conversation. And before it votes again, it should show the Akinyelures where to press their hand. This is a social discourse that should not be drowned under the usual debate-killing notions of “African culture” and various religious precepts.

Since the conversation turned to early marriages, there has been support for the practice, even among very educated people. Most of the proponents of child marriage plank the major parts of their discourse on what they termed women’s “sexual immorality.” To these unscientific theorists, preoccupied as they are with their standards of feminine morality, marriage becomes the ultimate solution; a fallacy passed down through the ages via the scions of patriarchates. Their model of social redemption is so phallocentric that it does not stop to ask why things are the way they are. Rather, it assumes that young women have sex because of an itch between their legs and, they –mostly men — have just the right instrument to scratch it. Their fallacious paradigm does not seek to tease out why boys too indulge in pre-marital intercourse; they cannot spare time for such extended thinking because they are too fixated on women’s bodies. To them, early marriage is convenient and that is why they shag it to death.

The debate — and surrounding misunderstandings — is actually a very good one. It exposes the underbelly of the Nigerian situation. It shows there is disconnect between the ruler and the ruled in Nigeria. Those who give out their baby girls in marriage do not care about the law; to them the Constitution might as well be written for the members of the elite and a contented middle class. While the Constitution provides a good reference point, I do not see how it stops people who marry their daughters off at puberty because of poverty, culture and religious dogma. The reality of the Nigerian underclass differs from what exists in Abuja.

The controversy also shows the question of patriarchy in Nigerian politics. The 35 Senators who voted for this contentious clause to remain unchanged were men. If there had been more women in the House, perhaps things would have been different? Thanks to this debate, we can also confirm that some of our lawmakers are in Abuja to do nothing but earn outrageous fat salaries (that is why they yawn on live TV!) and they have zero understanding of what they do in the hallowed chambers. Otherwise, why would Akinyelure ask for forgiveness for a sin he did not quite commit?

The ongoing debate, however, reechoes Yerima’s original sin. In 2010, he declared he was within his fundamental religious right to marry a 13-year-old and, instructively, added that as a Muslim, he regarded the Islamic law and precepts above any other laws in the world. The question then and now is, if Yerima believes in the primacy of Islamic law, why is he in the Senate? Is he pretending not to know that the Senate is a tradition founded and evolved on Roman/ Western traditions? So, why did he not stay in Zamfara State and start his madrassa?

The point is not that a religious person should not participate in modern political systems since the laws of even secular countries evolved from religious cultures. The problem is that when people like Yerima straddle secular and religious laws, they do so not to reconcile their contradictions for social development. Rather, they exploit the opportunities and shortcomings inherent in both. When it suits Yerima, he reaches for Islam. When it is too stifling, he becomes a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

This ideological two-timing is Yerima’s original sin and the ongoing rage –largely misplaced as it is — sees him as the face of a sickening hypocrite. His Janus-faced behaviour, by a curious twist of fate and the power of social media, has returned to haunt him.

http://www.punchng.com/viewpoint/yerimas-original-sin/

Education Minister Wike Plans London Protest Against Amaechi
Posted: July 24, 2013 - 00:33

By SaharaReporters, New York
Sources in London have told SaharaReporters that Nigeria’s Deputy Minister of State for Education, Nyeson Wike, is actively mobilizing Rivers States students and indigenes in the city to stage a protest tomorrow against Governor Amaechi who is in London to deliver a speech at the Chatham House at 10 a.m.

One of the students told SaharaReporters that Mr. Wike is making promises of financial rewards to those willing to participate in the protest.

Last weekend, Mr. Wike, a key Jonathan loyalist, led a delegation of anti-Amaechi politicians to visit the recuperating Chinda.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/education-minister-wike-plans-london-protest-against-amaechi

‘Indicted’ firms make fuel suppliers’ list

Posted by: Reuters in Featured, News 8 hours ago 0

The Federal Government has expanded its list of fuel suppliers to include companies previously named in a multi-billion dollar subsidy fraud investigation, reports Reuters

Nigeria has expanded its list of fuel suppliers to include companies previously named in a multi-billion dollar subsidy fraud investigation, sources familiar with the matter said, while large global trading houses have been left empty-handed.

Africa’s most populous country, which relies on fuel imports because it lacks the capacity to refine its own crude oil, tried to remove fuel subsidies last year but was forced to partially reinstate them after a wave of strikes and protests.

A parliamentary investigation later found the subsidy’s administration had facilitated around $6 billion of corruption over three years, with half the approved fuel imports never arriving or being sold to neighbouring countries.

“Nigerian authorities have taken some measures to improve controls,” said Marc Gueniat of Swiss NGO The Berne Declaration which campaigns against corruption in the developing world.

“But the fact that certain companies accused of participating in the fraud are continuing to benefit from allocations raises the question of whether the political will to change is sincere,” he added.

Nigeria’s gasoline subsidy soaked up 1 trillion naira ($6.2 billion) last year, equivalent to 20 percent of the federal budget and exceeding a budgeted 888 billion naira.

The list of gasoline importers compiled by Reuters using information from five sources showed around 3.4 million tonnes was allocated for the third quarter to more than 40 companies, expanded from 30 last year.

The list showed four companies that failed to cooperate with parliament’s probe were named as suppliers. These were Nepal, Fresh Synergy, Ibafon and Techno, which the parliamentary report showed collectively claimed for subsidies of nearly $60 million.

Nepal’s website lists its CEO as Ngozi Ekeoma who has twice been arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in relation to fraudulent subsidy payments. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Phone calls to her company went unanswered.At least three other companies awarded third quarter allocations – Masters, Matrix and MRS – were also ordered to account for their shipments or refund falsely claimed subsidy money in another government report released last June.

Matrix provided documents to Reuters showing it had since been exonerated by authorities.

The other firms declined or did not respond to repeated requests for comment by email and telephone. It was not clear if these companies had since repaid their debts or been cleared.

The finance ministry would not comment on specific firms but provided a document which showed that in total only 14 billion naira out of 232 billion in questionable claims, or around 6 percent, had so far been refunded.

The ministry has previously said importers will not be delisted so long as they paid back money owed to the state.



Effective controls?



Absent from the list are large trading houses like Vitol , Mercuria and Trafigura which have historically played an important role in supplying fuels to Nigeria but have been replaced by local firms.

However, some still provide fuels indirectly to the country or via crude-for-product swap deals.

The government has arraigned some fuel marketers and industry sources say fuel regulator the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has introduced measures designed to limit abuse of the system.

PPPRA did not respond to request for comment.

Nigeria has already spent $1.2 billion on subsidy payments this year and economists say any sign of a spike in subsidy costs could risk Africa’s second largest debt issuer spending oil savings or widening its budget deficit.

Industry sources suggested the rise in the number of importers may have been partly an attempt to stave off future supply problems, as some importers struggled to get bank loans.

“What they are doing now is giving smaller allocations to more and more companies because of the credit situation. The number is creeping higher and it could be a cause for concern if it continues,” said Dolapo Oni, oil and gas analyst at Ecobank.

The supply list showed Nigerian energy firm Oando PLC won the biggest allocation of 135,000 tonnes while Total and Folawiyo, in which global commodity merchant Glencore is a minority stakeholder, won 90,000 tonnes each.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/indicted-firms-make-fuel-suppliers-list/

From Port Harcourt with shame

July 11, 2013 by Abimbola Adelakun

By now, every Nigerian with a sense of decency who has seen the video, which has since gone viral, of the impeachment drama in Rivers State should be disheartened. The power play that blew up after the crisis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum chairmanship election is inching towards an unpalatable conclusion. It is not sufficient that 35 governors could not resolve between their bumbling selves who won a simple election, the story keeps taking unpleasant twists and turns. It is increasingly obvious that as long as the “Ogas-at-the-top” from our corridors of inordinate power remote-control the crisis, there can be no fairy tale ending. The continuing skirmish feeds their insatiable savage egos; where the whole affair is headed is pregnant and nursing a baby at the same time.

As the sordid tale emanating from Port Harcourt goes, five lawmakers, who were probably high on their own supplies, decided to “impeach” the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. The fact that their numbers put them in the minority was not going to stop them from their scripted act. Yes, they are lawmakers but their thuggish tendencies were not going to be disturbed by such propriety. These knaves, instead, took the route of “anything goes.” (After all, in Nigeria, as in the famed Charly Boy Show, anything can happen.) Their acts are a shame to not only themselves and we-the-people, they also threaten the whole construct called “Nigerian democracy.” From the recent twist in the democratic tale of Egypt, we should have learnt that the seemingly small –yet unscrupulous — things we allow to stand could easily imperil the big gains of democracy. In Nigeria, small is gathering maniacal pace and before we know it, it will cease to shock us. From the cases of Joshua Dariye in Plateau State and Chris Ngige in Anambra State, Nigeria’s stories all follow the same pattern of jeopardising democracy to achieve despotic ends.

Most tellingly, in this regard was the case of Rashidi Ladoja in Oyo State in 2005/2006.

The crooked drama that unseated Ladoja as governor blew open when he clashed with his godfather, Lamidi Adedibu. It generated a crisis that distracted and detracted from meaningful governance. Adedibu — the unpretentious politician he was — declared on television that the governor would go because he was not hoeing enough state resources in his (Adedibu’s) direction. He swore he would replace the governor with his lackey who also happened to be Ladoja’s deputy, Adebayo Alao-Akala. Not only did Adedibu publicly announce his plans to scuttle a democratic process, he unabashedly stated he had the backing of Aso Rock. His claims were never refuted.

When the impeachment was eventually staged, it was a certain Lateef Salako –Eleweomo — who presided over the process. His fellow thugs stormed the House, kicked out the lawmakers and in an abominable moment, Eleweomo announced that on behalf of the lawmakers, the governor had been impeached. And indeed, the governor stood impeached for a while.

It has been a while since the Ladoja episode and a lot has happened. Adedibu is dead; both Ladoja and Alao-Akala have suffered electoral defeats and the pro-Adedibu/Alao-Akala camp that spearheaded the illegal act has found other idleness; Eleweomo himself was gruesomely killed in another thuggish act that involved the then Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin. However, the culture of impunity and disrespect for democratic processes these political actors fostered subsists. Like the cases of Ladoja, Dariye and Ngige, the hands of Abuja shape the emerging drama in Port Harcourt; obviously someone has been reading Olusegun Obasanjo’s playbook and is not even imaginative enough to improve on the familiar script. The plot remains as barbaric as it was when Eleweomo used it to subvert a democratic process. This renascent do-or-die mentality from an animal called man has seen far too many episodic repetitions.

From Awka to Jos to Ibadan, and this past Tuesday, to Port Harcourt, thugs and pretend-lawmakers would never have had the effrontery to invade and desecrate the Hallowed Chamber if they were not confident of the backing of other scoundrels in high places. If they were not given the assurances that they would get away with it, they would not do it; at least not with so much impunity. Chris Uba and his men walked away as free men after abducting Ngige. And did so till date. The Plateau Eight equally got away with their boorishness. Eleweomo and his band of merry thugs, as they took over the Oyo State House of Assembly in an orgy of violence, were beamed on television but so what? What action did the state take against them? Rather, the old thug remained at the behest of the governor and was still doing his bidding when he was killed.

The case of Port Harcourt is not likely to be very different. If it would, the fighter-lawmakers would have been arrested and charged with assault at least. By now, their sober faces should be on the evening news, but will that happen? Will the rogues in Abuja move against their stooges? Hardly.

The thugs in Port Harcourt might look better dressed than the ones in Ibadan but they are the same philistines, used by sadists to upset the political cart of the state. When five lawmakers become so desperate to want to “impeach” and they feel empowered enough to proceed with such an illegal act, then we should ask if they –and their paymasters — have the most basic idea of what democracy means at all. If they want to be thugs, why not write their own constitution? An unprepared mind will always exhibit its crude nature, sooner than later when dissent is espied. And so has been the case since 1999. What passes for statesmanship and statecraft most times will shame even the wild animals roaming in Yankari Park.

The consequences of violating the legislature are legion but let those who are puppet-controlling the strings of the crisis in Rivers State not forget this: When you throw ashes into the wind, it blows back right into your face. You cannot make a mockery of democracy — by grabbing and fighting over the mace, beating up and pushing out fellow elected lawmakers, taking over the legislature — without also suffering the consequences eventually. Those who sit in lofty places and engineer crisis to prove their power (or lack of it) should know that if Nigerian democratic processes go down, no one is immune. We will all go down with it.

http://www.punchng.com/viewpoint/from-port-harcourt-with-shame/

Blame Jonathan if Rivers governor is killed, says Soyinka

Posted by: Joseph Jibueze in Featured, News 12 hours ago 80 Comments

President Goodluck Jonathan will be vicariously liable if Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi is killed, Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka warned yesterday.

He said despite the Presidency’s denial that Jonathan is not behind the protracted trouble in the state, the President’s handwriting is on the wall.

“The perception out there in the world is that he (Jonathan) bears a vicarious liability with what is happening in Rivers State,” Soyinka said.

Soyinka and activist-lawyer Mr Femi Falana (SAN) jointly addressed a news conference in Lagos on the state of the nation, particularly the political crisis in Rivers.

Soyinka said he had first hand information from his colleague who was in Rivers State Governor’s Lodge when a tear gas was thrown into the premises.

“My colleague was with the governor during what amounted to a siege. Anyone who said teargas was not thrown into the premises is either ignorant or is lying,” he said.

The dramatist accused First Lady Patience Jonathan, whose office he called an “unconstitutional appendage”, of contributing to the crisis.

He said Mrs Jonathan “cannot be a First Lady without first learning to be a lady.”

“She is getting away with murder because she has the backing of her husband,” Soyinka said.

He urged President Jonathan to call his wife to order, saying: “Please curb the excesses of your wife. Too much is too much. The vulgarity has become intolerable. We have now reached the bottom of obscenity and it’s got to stop.”

Describing the five lawmakers who claimed to have “impeached” the Speaker as “the five fingers of the controlling hand”, Soyinka said democracy in the state had been threatened.

“We’re sitting down here, pretending nothing is happening. The democratic ground on which we are supposed to stand is being eroded,” the playwright said.

He added that if not the President, then there must be those around him who want Amaechi out by all means.

The poet chided Rivers Commissioner of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu, describing him as “a political policeman in Rivers State”.

He said the governor had rejected the police chief, yet the powers that be have refused to remove him.

“Are we waiting for a smoke bomb to be thrown into the Governor’s Lodge before we take action?” Soyinka asked.

Either that, or there could be an “accidental discharge” similar to the case of the “Unknown Soldier” only that in Amaechi’s case, it will be “the Unknown Policeman”, said Soyinka.

He compared Amaechi’s situation to that of the 12th Century Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, whose life was extinguished by a sword’s crushing blow on a cold December evening at the King’s instance as he struggled on the steps of his altar.

Becket’s troubles with King Henry II, Soyinka recalled, reached its peak when the Archbishop excommunicated the Bishops of London and Salisbury for their support of the king.

Becket, he said, remained steadfast in his refusal to absolve the bishops.

According to Soyinka, the news threw King Henry into a rage in which he was purported to have shouted: “What sluggards, what cowards have I brought up in my court, who care nothing for their allegiance to their lord. Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest!”

The consequence was that the king’s outrage inspired four knights to sail to England to rid the realm of the annoying prelate.

Becket fled to the Cathedral where a service was in progress. The knights found him at the altar, drew their swords and began hacking at their victim, finally splitting his skull to pieces.

“Are we not moving towards absolute monarchism?” Soyinka said.

He said the signals emanating from the Presidency bother on impunity, conveying to “followers” that they too can act with equal impunity.

First, he said the Federal Government took away Amaechi’s aircraft in dubious circumstances, making it imposing for a “duke” of the kingdom to be with a “carriage.”

According to Soyinka, Nigerians are being treated to the same kind of experiences under the President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration where governors were illegally removed from office.

“It’s insulting; it’s condescending. I feel, as a citizen, personally insulted. So I wonder what we have done to deserve this level of governmental banality. What is happening in Rivers is only a variation of our old familiar theme,” Soyinka said.

According to him, the Presidency ought to be more concerned about the worsening situation of insecurity, the latest of which manifested in the “butchering of our children in school”.

“We should be bothered about the wastage of our future, and the closure of schools. It is a defeat for schools to be closed,” Soyinka said.

He explained that his condemnation of the brigandage in Rivers State does not mean he is calling for a mass protest akin to those of the Arab world.

“We haven’t reached that moment where anyone is calling the citizens to action,” he said, adding: “We all have a duty, including the media.”

For instance, Soyinka said it was wrong to refer the so-called new “Speaker” in media reports as if he is legitimate.

“Stop treating this clown as an equal of the elected Speaker, though you can quote him. You can describe him as ‘self-declared’ speaker.

“Help the public to put everything in the right perspective. Preparation of the mind of the public is critical. Don’t call them by a title which they have not earned properly.”

Falana said it was shameful that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has congratulated a man unconstitutionally elected by five lawmakers as their new leader.

“Those who set the engine of illegality in Rivers State are currently outside the country. It follows the same pattern,” Falana said.

According to him, he will not be surprised if the Presidency soon hosts “the new speaker” just as President “received a man who scored 16 votes and grounded the plane of a man who scored 19 votes”.

“Just this morning (yesterday) the Minister of Finance issued a statement from abroad that she was not responsible for the darkness in the country.

“Why hasn’t the President issued a directive as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces for the security forces to restore order in Rivers State?

“We are calling on the Inspector-General of Police to begin enforcing the Police Code of Conduct fully and by removing the Rivers Commissioner of Police Joseph Mbu without further delay.

“He has treated the court of law and the Code of Conduct of the Police with contempt. He should be sanctioned by the Police Service Commission,” Falana said.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/blame-jonathan-if-rivers-governor-is-killed-says-soyinka/

Can you remember your first case in court, not as an ‘appearing with’?
The first case was a motion when I was with Ayoola. I dressed up beautifully. It was an ordinary motion for extension of time. It could be contentious but mine was not and the first lawyer I ever opposed in my life was Rotimi Williams. He was then in Ibadan. But I can’t recollect my first case in my own chambers because I started as a charge and bail lawyer (laughter). When you have nobody, you have to make friends with the police, who would give you overnight cases. There was nobody to give me big cases to start with. If you were the son of a big lawyer, you come and start with big cases.

Was the rivalry between you and FRA Williams a hype?
Well, in the 90s and 2000, I had many cases against him. There is no doubt about that. Knowing his ability and experience, I prepared very hard any time I wanted to meet him because I did not want to lose. It was not a case of rivalry; it was a case of me not wanting to lose. He had already arrived, so there was nothing to rival with him. There was nobody who would want to meet Rotimi and not be prepared unless the person was a fool.

Fortunately, he had a lot of respect for me. Even when both of us appeared together, defending the same person though most of the time, I was always against him, but both of us defended Abiola and I knew then that he had a lot of respect for me and I remember he once said, ‘’if you want to meet Afe Babalola, you have to prepare hard.’’ One of his juniors told me this. Because he was much older and I was much younger, I was able to work so hard and prepare bundles of documents which he acknowledged, especially my ability to turn out papers overnight.

Was the turning-point becoming Obasanjo’s lawyer?
No, no. I was already an established lawyer before meeting Obasanjo. Let me tell you something curious about the person of Obasanjo. In 1979 or so, my people in Ado-Ekiti wanted me to go to the Constituent Assembly. Obasanjo was the Head of State. I told them I was not interested in politics but they persuaded my mother, subject to the condition that I must be returned unopposed. So, my people returned me unopposed. It was announced, ‘’Afe Babalola returned unopposed.’’ On Sunday morning, on the front page of the papers, particularly Sketch, Afe Babalola flung out.

Somebody against the wish of the town had said I had not paid my tax, then they flung me out according to them. So, I went to court. Justice Aguda found that I had paid deposit because I used to pay a lot of money to the tax authorities in the beginning of the year. When they finished auditing, it would be resolved whether to refund me or not. So, Aguda found that I had paid my money and, therefore, I should go to the Constituent Assembly. But Obasanjo refused. He said he was not going to be persuaded by any court judgement. That was why and how I didn’t go to the assembly. Maybe today, I would have been a politician, if I had gone for four years there. In 1980, Obasanjo had left government. I was a lawyer for government in the N2.8 billion enquiry. I subpoenaed him to come and give evidence about what he knew about the N2.8 billion. He hired Williams to say that as former president, he was immune from giving evidence. That was where he knew me for the first time. About a year after, Obasanjo wrote a book, Not My Will, and was taken to court by some people mentioned in the book. He then hired me as his lawyer. The same person who did not allow me to go to the Constituent Assembly hired me. Thereafter, I started acting for him in many cases. When he was sued after the 1999 elections by Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu and Chief Olu Falae, he sent for me and when I arrived with a team of about 12 lawyers in Ota, people around him thought that it was the SSS that came to arrest him. They were leaving one after the other and he said, “No, don’t go away. He is a lawyer, not SSS. Are you afraid again?” Because he just came back from prison and we were in black suits. He then said, ‘I now know why you charge in dollars, for you to come with 12 lawyers.’’ People call our chambers Kingsway because we charge our fees in dollars. We won many cases for the government between 1999 and 2007 and I remember one paper saying “Afe Babalola, the Legal Fix-It of Aso Rock.”

Were the Atiku cases challenging?
Atiku’s case was very easy for me. Even look at the judgment. They agreed with all my submissions and how they arrived at their decision is still curious. In fact, Obasanjo thanked me very much because the main finding of the court was that a person who is the VP has no right to criticise the decision of the executive to which he was a party. It was wrong for the VP, while still in government to which he held his loyalty, to go and join another party. It is the ratio of a judgement that matters not whatever a judge pronounces.

Did you ever get to advise Obasanjo on some of his acts in office, before filing cases for him. For instance, his decision to lock Atiku out of office even as VP?
Any advice that I gave him while in office, was given by me in good faith and from my abundance of knowledge of law. If I gave any advice, it was because I knew it was right and I still believe so.

Including those controversial elections you defended?
We won our results. We won all our cases.

Even his largely-flawed re-election polls?
There was not a single case where Obasanjo influenced any judge, either directly or through me. I wish we could return to those days. They were golden days of the judiciary because we kept away from influencing judges. He believed in my ability. He has a special name he gave to me as a man who would achieve anything at any time. I have a large number of lawyers in the office and others joined us. It was difficult for any group to defeat us in court because we not only prepared our cases, we prepared what the defence would say, in advance. There was a case where lawyers were with me till 4a.m. preparing our papers. Before they came back 7 am, they were surprised that I had changed the whole thing and what I changed it to, was what we found in court.

What about this story of oil blocs being used in paying your legal fees?
When we finished the first set of cases, I said I donated it to the government and I didn’t receive a kobo. I will give you a copy of the letter. The only thing I asked him (Obasanjo) to do was to ensure that those that worked with me were given cases. Most of them were disappointed because no case was given to them. You must have heard about Odein Ajumogobia, former minister of Petroleum, Foreign Affairs and co. We invited him to Afe Babalola University recently to be the Director of our Oil and Gas Institute. He told them they he accepted because of my integrity.

When he was minister and looking at the files, he found out that at a time, a company in which I had interest was given the allocation of an oil bloc and because the amount which we were asked to pay was too small for my comfort, I wrote a letter rejecting the offer. I am the only person in Nigeria who rejected an offer of oil bloc allocation. I can also get you a copy of the letter which I wrote. Obasanjo has many good qualities, the greatest fault in that man is that he doesn’t give money out (general laughter). He is alive, you can ask him. The money government still owes me is over N580 million for the numerous cases I handled. Adoke is there, the file is with him. They said they had no money to pay yet. Obasanjo would always tell you, “Chief I have no more o, we know what you charge other people but when you are working for us, whatever we have we give you.”

I see my service as service to the nation and to make sure that the republic succeeds. But for me and my professional competence, we would probably not have civilian government today.

When Oshiomhole and others decided to go on the “mother of all strikes,’’ I am sure you remember, over the introduction of fuel tax, that would cripple the nation, Obasanjo was to travel out, the AGF went to court and they failed. The strike was to start on Wednesday, I was in England, I was asked to come back. From the airport, I went straight to Abuja, without sleeping, I began to put the case together. We filed on Monday, served it throughout the necessary places across Nigeria and got the motion to be argued on Tuesday. It was handled by Justice (Ayo) Salami and others.

But for that victory, only God knew what would have happened to the Nigerian government today. I won the case and the court stopped them because my submission was that “you have right to associate as members of a union to fight your cause in your employment. But your right is limited to matters which concern your employment. Unions are not to fight on political matters.’’ In order words, whether fuel price is high or low, it is not a matter of employment in the civil service. You can say your salary is poor, you are not paid allowances, but what has increase in fuel price to do with your employment? That was the argument I offered.

Why this impression that you are a bully in court. During the fuel tax case, you pulled an opposing lawyer’s ears in open court?
But Oshiomhole physically attacked me. If you saw that (pulling a lawyer’s ears in open court) why didn’t you see that? (general laughter). It was a big case. I don’t think I am a bully in court. That day, it was Oshiomhole that was more of a bully.

You made Akinlolu Olujinmi AGF, but you were never one?
Even under late General Sani Abacha, I did it twice. Not becoming one has to do with my upbringing and I also do not think that is a place for me. I want a place where I can work for 18 hours. The civil servants don’t work for 18 hours. Olujinmi did not last long because he was working late. I nominated him. He was doing it the way we were doing our work here and the civil servants did not like him.

You never considered the bench?
In those days, you didn’t apply for judgeship, you had to be invited. It was a glorious time. I was invited in 1975 and I told Justice Oyemade that “I come from a very poor family, I want to have enough money.’’ I had just built about three houses then, so I said I would still want to come because it should be the pride of anybody in law to one day adorn the bench with his experience and judgement. I fact, in England, Senior Advocates are those who go to the bench; they don’t just appoint ordinary people to the bench. So, I begged him for a little more time to make enough money so that when you have made your money and go to the bench, you would not take bribe. But when you start as a poor magistrate, you want to see how to make money. I will keep on advocating that SANs should be allowed to go to the bench. In any case, he invited Justice Ayoola, my former boss, and Justice Thompson to plead with me, but I pleaded for time. But a year after, the military removed judges from courts without a hearing. If I had gone, maybe I would have been removed, because I would only decide cases according to the law, even if it affected government. That is the reason I did not go. I don’t regret not going.

Which case really challenged you as a lawyer?
Maybe not challenged, but the one which gave me greatest concern was Abiola’s case. I went to the Court of Appeal in Abuja. Umeadi was the lawyer for Babangida and others. Abiola had a very good case and we were ready for it that day. When we got to court, Umeadi came in late and said “Afe why all these books, this case won’t go on,’’ I said it would go on today, he laughed. When the judges came, he said “my Lords, the election has been annulled.’’ I almost burst into tears. The judges asked for my response as a lawyer, I quickly said he could not announce to this court that the election had been annulled, there must be a gazette. Umeadi then asked for a short adjournment, ran back, got a gazette and brought it, then the judges said, “we have a gazette now, Afe, what is your submission?’’ It would be futile for me to go on with the appeal because, it was a military era and I said, “This is the beginning of a journey, the end of which nobody knows.’’ I burst into tears and left the court. We are still on that journey even now. I never cried over the loss of any case. It was only the Abiola case. I cried because it touched Nigeria and its future. It was the most dearest case to me. I still feel bad we were cheated out of justice by the military.

Would you say the judiciary is worse off today?
O yes, certainly yes! When I came to this country, I met white judges, black judges, judges from Ghana, Sierra Leone, West Indies and England. The standard of practice was good. Education was even good in the university. The virus that affected everything in Nigeria has affected education in the university. Before you can sign a paper prepared by a junior lawyer, you go through as if you are marking secondary school papers. Two, in our day, you never saw a lawyer without a car. Today, you see many lawyers on motorbikes, with their gowns folded in Ghana-Must-Go bags. That was not the type of law I met. The Chief Magistrates now live in hired houses and enter buses with accused persons and when alighting, the accused would say “sir, can I pay your fare’’ and he says “who are you?’’ and he says, “I am having a case before you.” Lawyers who have never been to court before are now appointed as judges. Appointments are no longer on competence. You now find a judge presiding over a motion ex-parte which is to be decided without the other party and the judge says the other party has not been served in a motion ex-parte ( general laughter) when the other party must not know. In fact, (sighs)….

What would you have been if not a lawyer?
If uneducated; a farmer. If educated, either an accountant or businessman. But either way, I would still be involved in farming.

What is the secret of your good health?
Discipline. I went through hardship, I decided to succeed and to succeed through hardship, you had to be disciplined. Discipline about the food I eat, about what I drink. I take only water.

http://tribune.com.ng/news2013/en/component/k2/item/16210-i-started-as-a-charge-and-bail-lawyer-—afe-babalola-the-story-of-my-rivalry-with-fra-williams-why-i-wept-over-abiola’s-case.html

And scholarship never came your way?
That was the time I applied for scholarship because that qualified me for Intermediate Law and Intermediate Economics and the Western Nigeria government then was giving scholarship to Nigerians, Division by Division and Ekiti was a division of Ondo State then. There were five divisions: Ondo, Ekitipupa, and so on. So, I applied and I was the most qualified because I had four Advanced Level subjects, while all they asked for was school certificate, two Advanced Level subjects with passes in Mathematics and English and one Advanced Level in Economics. I had all, had more than that. So ordinarily, I ought to be the first person. I was so confident I would get it but alas when the result came out, the name of a person who had only a school certificate got the scholarship. So, I went to Rev. Banjo who was the chairman of the scholarship board and I showed him my result and told him I didn’t know why the scholarship was given to someone with ordinary school certificate and according to the requirement was not even qualified because he would still spend two years to study for Advanced Level subjects in England. He said that was what the government decided but he prayed for me that God would help me. I left the man with tears but, I resolved that I would not apply for the scholarship again but would make it. Then I entered for my Part 1 BSc Economics. I decided to study at home remaining in my one-bedroom, while continuing with teaching now in a grammar school, because with my GCE Advanced Level, I was qualified to teach in the grammar school. I wasn’t earning one pound any more (laughter). I was earning about 11 pounds.

How did you take off from that point to land where you are now?
That disappointment made me to buckle up again and knowing where I was coming from, overcoming the problems I faced, I saw that as another problem that I overcame it. I resolved that before that person would come back from England, I would pass the same examination here and I did that again. In fact, I was the only candidate for the examination who sat in Lagos centre for my B.Sc Economics final examination of London University inspected by a white woman.

So, when did Law come into all these?
When I obtained a degree in Economics, I had started working in the Civil Service as an executive officer. My salary then had gone to about 30 pounds a month. So when the result came out, it was like a summer fire. The whole of the secretariat heard about the result within an hour: that an Ekiti man had bagged London University degree privately. There was no degree in Ibadan University then for Economics. So, the white man who was the under-secretary at that time heard about the result and sent for me. I showed him the result, he was very happy. He said they were going to promote me to the post of an assistant secretary, meaning my salary would now be 624 pounds. I would be entitled to a house in GRA, entitled to a car and police orderly, but I wasn’t impressed. I asked him for time to think about it. By that time, I had resolved that I would be my own employer and not work under anybody again. So, I went back to him and said “Sir, sorry, I want to leave the civil service. You know why? Because, as an economist, for the rest of my life, if I remained in the civil service, I would have problems. I was already anti-social. I had no friends, I didn’t go to parties, I don’t drink and only social people are promoted in the civil service. I knew I might have problems with promotion because of the way I was.

I also thought that having so much ability to study and work on my own, if I used the same energy and ability in private business, I would make it faster than I would in civil service or elsewhere. That was the main reason why I left and went to teach at City Academy, Ibadan for one year where I had my intermediate Law within nine months of my first degree and I became the vice principal of the school because of my qualification.

Even with the increase in my salary, I remained in my one-bedroom and was using the extra to maintain myself, so I was able to save the 624 pounds which I could have earned in the civil service. At the end of the year, I was the best customer of UBA where I was saving money (general laughter) because I only saved money, I never withdrew.

Would that not make you even stingy to yourself?
No, I was spending money. 120 pounds was spent on ordering books, paying for my examination, food, and paying for my brother’s school fees. It was enough.

You were the one training them in school?
Yes, all of them

What accounted for your being anti-social?
When coming back from class after closing hours, I would eat, usually eBay because it was easy to prepare, and would go back to the classroom with my lantern and wouldn’t come back until about 12am because if you stay back in the one-bedroom face-to-face, the music of your colleague would distract you. And you would not be able to read.

But you have this reputation with women now. When you were anti-social, were you also completely off women?
In those days, up to the time I graduated, my mother thought I was a eunuch (general laughter). There was one night I went home, all my friends were married with kids, my mother complained that I was always seen with books and books and no more and when I wanted to enter my room, she called me and said, “that lady wants to see you.’’ I said ‘’which lady?’’ She said ‘’I arranged her for you,’’ and I said ‘’mama, if you do that again, I would never come to this house again.’’ She wept all that night. I was the only son and she thought I was a eunuch, so she complained to my father that ‘’I don’t know whether your boy is a whole person’’ and my father said “leave him alone, he knows what he is doing.’’ So, I do not know where you got the idea of reputation with women now. All I know is that as a successful man, you expect people to come round you, including women in large numbers. Even at my age, girls still propose to me that I still look handsome as the one near you ( a colleague) is right now (general laughter).

Something must be the driving force if you had no inspiration around you growing up. Was it family poverty?
Honestly, I can’t explain the driving force, except that once I became aware that I had such ability, I wanted to be the best in everything I did. Because of my childhood days on the farm — I still love farming; so, today, I have the largest farm in Ekiti. In farming, I am successful. In university education, I am successful, in my law practice, I am successful. There is nothing I had laid my hands on, which I didn’t do well. Whatever I want to do, I want to do well and get results.

Did you have any tutelage in law practice?
When I finished my law course, I went to the chambers of Justice Ayoola, the same Ayoola of the Supreme Court and ICPC. That was where I started my practice.

But Ayoola is almost like your age-mate?
Could be, but his late brother was the owner of the chambers and I joined him as a green-horn. He came to Nigeria ahead of me, so he was my senior in law. In my own case, I had to go round. His own father was a teacher, so he probably had it easier than me. My philosophy is that we should dream high and big, plan to get your dreams achieved and try and execute your dreams. It is not a sin to dream of great things, but it is a crime not to have a dream at all.

I started as a charge-and-bail lawyer — Afe Babalola

•The story of my rivalry with FRA Williams
•Why I wept over Abiola’s case

Written by Lanre Adewole Tuesday, 09 July 2013

He could barely wait for the interview to be concluded before exclaiming “How did you get to know so much about me?” Before an answer could come, he gushed, “this is the most engaging and detailed interview I ever had.” When Law Editor and Lagos Bureau Chief, LANRE ADEWOLE sat with the legendary Aare Afe Babalola for this chat, the time allotted was 15 minutes. Hours into it, time went unnoticed as the reporter guided the iconic lawyer through the maze of his life, practice, controversies, reputations and success stories. It was Afe like-never-before.

Sir, the only formal education that can be credited to you was primary education?
Yes, the only formal education I had was at Emmanuel Primary School.

Your story is an amazing one because today you are a legend in the learned profession. Can you be regarded as the 8th wonder of the world?
Well, people have credited me with all that before but I don’t see anything wonderful in it at all. I think the magic was the fact that I was sent to school at all. If I was not sent to school, I would probably have died as a poor farmer. The seed was sown by my father when he decided to send me to school and all the way, I had problems; each problem was surmounted and each victory over one made it easier for me to confront the next. So today, there is no amount of problem that would confront me that I cannot surmount. That is the secret of my success.

Your father was not educated.
Not at all!

So, what was the inspiration around you then in the village?
Yes, I was born into a polygamous, large family. My great-grand Pa had a large compound. The children lived with grandpa. It was a large compound with one entrance in those days because of enemies. My own section with my brothers had no windows and when going to the farms, there were no doors; we used to put mats on the entrance. There was no ceiling then but life was safe. I used to travel alone to the farm of about seven miles away into thick forests with nothing to fear, except animals. While he sent me to school, I still don’t know. I thank him because he changed my life. It was beginning of change in my life. He sent me to school because the Catechist missionary persuaded him to do so but I didn’t like it, because by sending me to school, I was being deprived of the beauty of the farm, the beauty of eating what you liked at any time, the beauty of wanting to bath for many months (laughter) There was nothing wrong in that. We were sleeping on banana leaves every night and we saw it as a normal thing. We had snakes which would come in at night because it was warm inside the tent we lived and they would creep into our coverlet and when we woke up in the morning, they go away because they saw us as friends.

Snakes!
Yes. Rats and snakes and there was nothing wrong in that. It was as bad as that but we didn’t see it that way. At night, we lit the firewood, so it would be warm inside and snakes would creep in because there were no walls and rats in the forest very close to us. So they crept in, enjoyed the warmth and sleep with us. So, why would they want to kill us? I feel they were also wise. You don’t seem to believe it, but that is the truth.

Were you the only one sent to school in your family?
I was the only one in the large family.

How large?
About 40 men; each had his own wife. So many children! We are about 200 in the family. My father had four wives. There were other brothers of his own, who had wives of their own, and half-brothers too were there.

How many children did your dad have?
We were 12 and I was the only one that went to school. Even in the entire extended family. I was the only one too in that family of hundreds.

If your dad didn’t tell you why he made that decision, your mum also didn’t mention anything to you like certain uniqueness surrounding your birth or soothsayer predicting a certain future?
I didn’t ask them why they sent me to school. All I know is that I didn’t like it. But about prophesy, I can tell you this. When I was six days old, the practice then was to go to an Ifa priest to find out the type of person you would be. I knew that when I built that house (old wing of his chambers) in 1985. The first daughter of my father’s sister came here and saw this building. She stood up and saw the large area of Ibadan and she started to weep. I said aunty, ‘why are you weeping?’ It took me about five minutes before I could make her calm down. She said I carried you on this my back to Oke-Ila in Ado-Ekiti of about four miles away to my father’s house where they consulted Ifa about the type of person I was going to be. Do you know that the book about Ifa, its literature was bigger than the Bible? It took about six hours for any consultation.

According to my aunt, after consultation, the Ifa priest called my mother, my father was also there, and asked my mother to promise that she would not offend me. My mother, a very stubborn woman, said how can I say I would not offend my own son but the priest insisted she must say so. So she said, ‘okay Ifa, I won’t offend my son o’ reluctantly (general laughter). After further consultation, the priest said, according to my aunt, that this your son is going to Ibadan. He is going to spend many years in Ibadan and would make the city a beautiful place and contribute to the city. And my aunt said, ‘here you are today and you have done so’ with my aunt wishing that the priest was alive to see his prophesy coming to pass almost 60 years after. The priest also saw I would leave Ibadan, go over a river, which means overseas, would stay sometime there and return to Ibadan again. My father had never been to Ibadan. Nobody in my family ever did then. Ibadan was a journey of about one week at that time. That answers your question of something unusual about my going to school.

But you didn’t like school.
No, I didn’t

So, you were forced to go to school every day?
Yes, I was forced to go to school. I ran away from school a number of times but my father was always dragging me back.

With cane, I suppose?
Yes. There were times, I would hide in the bush for one or two days in order not to go to school. We were flogged mercilessly. I can show you marks here (got up and pulled his trouser up to reveal marks of healed wounds around his knees). I have on my body too (touching his back and ribs).

In other words, your aversion for school was because of the excessive punishment?
Certainly and because I did not see any need for me to go to school. My constant question was, what do I want to derive from this type of training? There was nobody around who had made a success of education which would make you like to go through the rigours. There was no inspiration around. I grew up in Ado-Ekiti but it wasn’t a big town then. The only person that could be called inspiration was the Catechist, riding an old bicycle, with his over-size coat. My parents used to give him banana, plantain and eggs. So, what was in that to inspire anybody? Who wanted to become a poor Catechist?

From a reluctant pupil to a celebrated lawyer with a PhD in Law to boot, what was the turning-point for you?
It was when I was in Standard IV. There was a teacher from Saint Andrew College, Oyo, Mr. I. A Olowu. He was a trained teacher, trained by the white men. I think part of the training was to identify students’ ability. He found out that some students were not concentrating. Apparently, I was one of them; those with ability but not concentrating. He identified those without ability at all and according to teaching method, you have to separate them, including those who did not need a lot of efforts. I was grouped among those with ability but not concentrating (general laughter). By the end of the year, I found myself among the first 10 in a class of 25, whereas before then, I used to be in 16th or 18th position. By the time I got to Standard V, I found myself within the first three and by the time I was in Standard VI, I was leading every time. That was how things changed. Fortunately, the same man taught us for three years. We became his favourite. I came out the best in Standard VI. I could not go to secondary school but because of my performance, I was made a teacher in the same school. I started teaching in the same primary school I just finished from as an ordinary pupil teacher for one pound, a month, without shoes, short khaki, short shirt.

You suddenly transformed into a teacher for some of your junior colleagues?
That is correct. We were not teaching those in Four and Five; we were handling from infant class to Standard II. Those ones were still very young. There was nothing exceptional because even now, if you are in class three, you can be helping a teacher in class one or two.

No funds and education fire was burning in you?
Since I now knew I had the ability, the love to go back to farming receded. It was now time to make it in education and I found out somebody who was under-tuition Mr. Omojomu. So, I got the address and decided to study for my Cambridge School Certificate, so that before my colleagues finish their secondary school, I would also be able to take my examination. Fortunately, I was able to take the exams and I passed along with them.

From then on, it was correspondence examination.
From there, I was under tuition for GCE Advanced Level. After my GCE six ordinary subjects, I applied for four for the Advanced Level, though usually, you don’t apply for four at a time, either two or three. I was now so confident about my ability, so I applied for four and when the result came out which was published in Daily Times that GCE London result was out, only three Nigerians passed four at the Advanced Level, I was one of them who had the four at the same time in 1954.

Oil theft: Dickson’s statement stirs controversies

Posted by: Mike Odiegwu in News Update 4 hours ago

The statement credited to Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, on reasons behind oil theft has generated controversies in the Niger Delta region.

The governor was quoted as saying that militants were using their proceeds from oil theft and illegal bunkering to stockpile arms.

It was observed that the remarks which the governor was quoted as making when the new Flag Officer Commanding, Central Naval Command, Rear Admiral Usman Ali-Sidi visited him had drawn the ire of activists in the region.

The President of the Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative, Mr. Austin Ozobo, said Dickson’s statement was an indictment on the region.

He insisted that the governor feigned ignorance of the difference between militants and oil thieves.

He said militants depended not on illegal oil bunkering to acquire arms but on wealthy sponsors.

He said: “It was a noticeable fact that there was no poor person among the heads of former agitators when they started and some of them were not from oil communities contrary to the claims of the governor.

“Militancy started when the Niger Delta youths were not having privilege to bunkering activities in this country.

“We want the governor to be specific in his indictment. We should ask the governor to explain how criminals in the upland areas where there is no drop of oil sustain their criminal activities.”

He said the government should encourage invention and creativity by legalising operation of illegal refineries.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news-update/oil-theft-dicksons-statement-stirs-controversies/

Boko Haram Storms Boarding School In Yobe, Kills 30 Students

Posted: July 6, 2013 - 15:09

By SaharaReporters, New York
Showing contempt for the state of emergency in effect in Yobe State, suspected Boko Haram militants today stormed a boarding school and killed 30 students.

A credible military source in Nigeria who confirmed the attack to to SaharaReporters said the incident occurred at the Government Secondary School in the town of Mamudo at about 2am. The militants seem to have regrouped in a commando style to carry out the butchery, some of the victims reportedly burned alive despite soldiers all over the place enforcing the military emergency.

In addition to the dead, many others incurred serious injuries and were rushed to hospitals in Damaturu, the state capital.

One teacher, our source said, is among those killed. Troops have now been deployed to the area, but the incident calls to question the strategy being employed by the military in their implementation of the state of emergency, and how much success they have actually achieved so far.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/boko-haram-storms-boarding-school-yobe-kills-30-students

Salisu Buhari, A Member of UNN Governing Council? No Please!

Posted: July 5, 2013 - 07:07

By Joe Igbokwe
I may not know the current situation now but the University of Nigeria I left in 1985 was a citadel of learning where the Dignity of Man is restored. When I got to the University in 1980, it was to me the best place you can be, the environment is unique, the structures correct, the teachers good, the students fantastic and well behaved. We were told then we were the best the nation could produce and therefore the most privileged to be there. The name University of Nigeria rings bell. It was the best brand then, the only University that taught General Studies (GS). If you are in Science, you must take a course in Humanities and Social Sciences and if you are in Arts or Social Sciences you must take courses in Sciences.

That was the University of Nigeria I know; an institution built for excellence, for the best and nothing but the best, a great university built to produce great minds for Nigeria. I do not know the situation now but the troubles of our country have permeated into the corridors of our university system and rendered the huge sacrifices of our heroes almost nugatory. Thanks to the leaders of Nigeria for rubbishing our university system. In the University of Nigeria then, anybody who gives a good account of himself or herself at the Manifesto Night becomes the President of the Student Union Government. That was how Dr Olu Oguibe, a very small but mighty man won the presidency of the Student Union in 1982. It was Dr Olu Oguibe who told us that if leadership is measured by might giants would have been ruling the world. Again he taught us that Methuselahs would have been ruling the world if leadership is measured by old age.

In Nsukka then you cannot aspire to be in any office in the Student Union Government if your cumulative average is below 2.5. From 1980 to 1985 when I left the University I did not see two students fighting and I did not lose anything to anybody. There were no killers and thieves then. There was nothing like cultism.

Today almost 30 years of rudderless leadership has rendered our universities almost worthless. Things that you could not imagine then are happening now in our universities. Hard criminals, fraudsters, 419ers, drug peddlers, certificate forgers, oil thieves, looters, armed robbers, kidnappers etc walk into our most priced universities to pick Doctorate degrees for fees. Students who have no entry behavior are now students in our universities, producing graduates that are not graduates, graduates that are not employable, graduates that are armed robbers, kidnappers, rapists, thugs and what have you. Oh we have gone full cycle.

This is the only reason why the Federal Government would deem it fit to appoint Alhaji Salisu Buhari, a disgraced former Speaker of the House of Representatives (removed as Speaker for certificate forgery) as a member of the UNN Governing Council. This is public assault. This is impunity. This is recklessness and at best, unholy. My Alma Mata whose motto is TO RESTORE THE DIGNITY OF MAN cannot take this public assault. The state of our university systems in Nigeria today tells a big story of how miserable our leadership has become in the last 30 years. The tragedy is not peculiar to our university systems as it has permeated into every sector of our economy, dealing a dangerous blow to all the things we hold dear. Villains and fraudsters of yester years who were thrown out of the system because they were found wanting have been exhumed, dusted, repackaged, garnished, robed and re-dressed to look like angels and then brought back to the system, and the rot continues. Enemies of the organized systems and organized institutions have been recycled into the system to continue to inflict pains on the project Nigeria.

Please let somebody tell President Goodluck Jonathan to use his left hand to throw away Salisu Buhari from the University of Nigeria’s Governing Council before we get annoyed. Salisu Buhari is a reproach to the education system. He is a rebuke to the sacred values of education and should not be found anywhere near an academic constituency. he is a smear to academic integrity and will ever besmirch the sacred ethos of education. He is a dent to the University of Nigeria Nsukka and a huge mockery to the values of the school and the entire Nigerian educational sector. He has no redeeming value and should be kicked off. President Goodluck Jonathan should use his leg if the left hand cannot do the job to kick Salisu Buhari on the buttocks for convenience sake. To allow the certificate forger to tarry a day at the University of Nigeria is to rubbish the pride of that great university.

Joe Igbokwe
Lagos

http://saharareporters.com/article/salisu-buhari-member-unn-governing-council-no-please

Ijaw group claims responsibility for attacks

Posted by: Shola O’Neil and Okungbowa Aiwerie in News 16 hours ago

An Ijaw group in Warri, Delta State, Egbema Radical Group, yesterday claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s bloody attack.

Eight Itsekiri, including a father and his infant son, were killed in Tuesday’s bloody attack, targeting towns in Warri North Local Government Area.

The group’s spokesman, Capt Dada Amin, promised more mayhem in the days ahead.

No fewer than 200 persons, mostly of Itsekiri extraction, have been displaced.

Sources from the riverside communities said the full extent of the havoc wreaked by the militant was still yet unknown, stressing, “There who is nobody willing to go and find out because of fear of the unknown.”

It was gathered that some of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) fled as far as Ondo and Edo states.

Amin, who spoke in a telephone interview, said the group is determined to ensure scuttle democratic rule in the council and make the riverside areas ungovernable.

A source within the group, who acted as mediator during the chat with the warlord, said, “We gave the government enough warning to address issues of marginalisation of the Egbema Ijaw in Warri North.

“Unfortunately, our warnings and threats were treated with levity and what you saw and heard about on Tuesday was just the beginning of more attacks to come. We are determined to change the situation once and for all,” Amin added.

The Commander of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Koko, Lt. Col Etim, could not be reached for comments.

A source in the command said he was supervising troops deployment to the troubled spot.

The government has banned speed boats of two horse power and above on the waterways in Warri North Local Government Area.

The Secretary to the State Government, Ovuozorie Macaulay, announced this after a Security Council meeting.

He said security operatives have also been mandated to arrest youths, who hide under the guise of youth associations to engage in nefarious activities.

He said: “The existing law banning the activities of youth organisations in the state is still in force.

“The Council notes with regret the recent happenings in Warri North Local Government Area within the last few days. We wish to commiserate with victims and affected families.

“Security operatives are in control and they should be allowed to do their work. People should be calm and go about their duties.

“The Council approved the ban on all movement on the waterways in Warri North Local Government Area from 6pm to 7am.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/ijaw-group-claims-responsibility-for-attacks/