₦airaland Forum

Villa dinner won’t stop NGF

Posted by: Yusuf Alli in Featured, News 12 hours ago 58 Comments

All is set for today’s meeting of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) which was convened by the Chairman of the Forum, Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

Also, the Presidency yesterday started reaching out to governors of on the motive behind the dinner planned by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The presidency said the dinner is designed to be a book launch by the President.

But the governors were still kept in the dark on the nature of the book from the President.

The pro-Amaechi governors remained adamant last night on their decision to hold the NGF meeting.

They have however told presidential emissaries that they bear no personal grudges against the President.

A governor, who spoke in confidence with our correspondent, said: “We have consulted all over; we are going ahead with the NGF meeting convened by Amaechi. All is set for the meeting.

“We have also warned our members to be careful in attending the dinner first because they might use it to tie them down from coming to the NGF session. No governor will want to walk out on the President.

“But our position is that we can attend the dinner after the NGF meeting if it won’t be too late for the presidency.”

Another governor said: “The presidency has been trying to reach out to the governors to defend the rationale behind the dinner.

“They have persuaded us to attend the presidential dinner. When I asked, they said the dinner is about a book launch by the President. We have not seen a copy of the book and no one could tell us the title.

“It is all about plot to divide the governors and stop pro-Amaechi members of the NGF from holding their meeting. We are however ready for this session.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/villa-dinner-wont-stop-ngf/

ping

Not a role model

Editorial

From her gruff and boorish conduct, Patience Jonathan is no exemplary First Lady

At the height of General Ibrahim Babangida’s rule of total domination, Olanrewaju Adepoju, a Yoruba recording and performance poet in an LP, let out a biting rebuke, with an awesome pun on the Babangida name, a direct fallout from the June 12, 1993 presidential election annulment crisis: “Baba-ngida, Iya-ngida, Omo na ngida!” [Literally: “Daddy is involved, mummy is involved, and even the child is warming up to join the fray!”]

In Julius Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the famed English playwright told a disapproving tale of how spousal excesses turned an otherwise good man, Macbeth, into a monster; by pushing him into regicide. Lady Macbeth’s continuous goading pushed Macbeth to kill King Duncan, his benefactor. But it also led the couple, who usurped the Scottish throne, to self-destroy.

Both Adepoju and Shakespeare, therefore, spoke of the danger of excessive spousal interference in public office. In Adepoju’s view, the Babangida government was becoming a family affair, particularly given Mrs Maryam Babangida’s larger-than-life Better Life for Rural Women programme. Shakespeare also told a gripping dramatic tale of how Lady Macbeth destroyed her husband and herself.

On the office and place of the First Lady, in Nigeria’s often troubled polity and politics, there perhaps would be no unanimity. But nobody can say First Lady intervention in governance is intrinsically evil.

One thing is clear, though: the Constitution does not expressly make provision for the office. So many, clearly upset by the excesses of many a First Lady, have declared the office illegal. But that is not necessarily so. The office can earn itself a place in the mind of the populace by convention, if it is perceived to be of public good; its occupants comport themselves with decorum, honour and dignity; and are perceived to be assets, not liabilities, to the office of the President or Governor. This is more so, when the Constitution does not expressly preclude the office and activity of the First Lady.

A caveat, here: this newspaper has, and indeed every Nigerian should have, the highest regard for the office of the Nigerian President; and that of the state Governor. Though no elected officers like their spouses, this honour and courtesy should extend to their wives (or husbands, if they are female); who are expected to reciprocate the honour with decorum and grace.

It is on suspect comportment that First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, does a lot of disservice to what should be, if well handled, the institution of the First Lady.

Even before the highly reported friction between President Goodluck Jonathan and Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Mrs Jonathan had mostly generated negative vibes. Many complain of her perceived lexical challenge, making insensitive statements and also her convoy shutting down every city or town she has visited. Lagosians have an abiding bitter tale to tell of her visits. So do domiciles of Port Harcourt; still talking of a city meltdown, just because the First Lady was in town for a private wedding. What was even more galling was the reported abandonment of a function by Governor Amaechi, just because the First Lady’s security cordon had blocked every place.

That action, extremely provocative and insensitive, should be decried by all. The impunity itself is condemnable, coming from a person who is no constitutional official of the state. Besides, to think that Mrs Jonathan was openly rubbing in the quarrel between her husband, the president and Governor Amaechi, two state officials, was proxy battle most absurd. Aside, the question of waste: so, because Mrs Jonathan was visiting, literally the whole of the Police should choke the state, in a country whose parlous security requires every hand to be on deck?

But it was on the score of careless and tactless talk that Mrs Jonathan disrespected the office of the Rivers State Governor and undermined the honour, integrity and majesty of the Nigerian Presidency. In the midst of the cream of Rivers State, Patience Jonathan lampooned the governor, claiming, not without open spite, that Port Harcourt, the state capital, had lost its glory. In an infantile bid to win friends for a most embarrassing and thoughtless talk, she compared the present to the tenure of some past governors who were present at the occasion, leaving her guests little choice but to nod in embarrassed agreement. That was bad grace of the highest order.

It was not even the first time Mrs Jonathan would resort to such public lampoon of a sitting governor. The first was the open spat over the Okirika waterfront resettlement scheme. On that occasion, even with the governor present, Mrs Jonathan went on a rude and crude lecture binge, haranguing the governor on his faulty diction. Her only reasons were that she was the wife of the president and also an Okirika native who had returned in glory to pillory an errant governor.

For the president to avert a constitutional crisis, he should call his spouse to order. Under the spirit of Nigeria’s federal Constitution, not even the president can talk down on a governor. The president deserves everyone’s respect. But he is no prefect over any governor. From the presidential fiasco arising from the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) election, it should be clear to the president by now that even he cannot enforce powers he does not have. If the president cannot do that, what gives his spouse the conceit that she could do so? President Jonathan must not give the impression that he has been emasculated by his beloved Dame. Even if that were true, that should start and end in the presidential court; and not extend to where it can cause the president avoidable trouble.

Mrs Jonathan should change her rather reckless, rude and crude ways. Though every Nigerian has the bounden duty to respect the high office of President, the rude conduct of his spouse exasperates everyone to want to feel otherwise. All over, Mrs Jonathan appears a liability: her controversial promotion as Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa State Civil Service is a huge dent to the anti-corruption war; her proxy battle on behalf of her husband is a great but needless tension to Nigeria’s delicate federalism; and her rather unguarded comments on her travails, while abroad on medical tourism, was a study in lack of grace.

President Jonathan should move to save the dignity of his Presidency from spousal assault. Even after the Jonathans must have left, the Nigerian Presidency would still be there. It behoves them then to preserve it, as others before them had tried to do, warts and all.

A First Lady should be seen for her good deeds, and seldom heard for her rude thoughts.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/editorial/not-a-role-model/

Money, Cries Bamanga Tukur At PDP NEC Meeting, Give Me Money!

Posted: June 20, 2013 - 22:47

By SaharaReporters, New York
Moments after he formally survived the hurricane that threatened to sweep him away earlier in the week, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today burst into tears, metaphorically, saying he was being starved of funds to run the party.

Following a similar personal appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan last year, the President urged PDP governors to attend the launch of Tukur’s biography in Abuja. They dipped their hands into the coffers of their poor states and instantly enriched the party chairman personally by billions of Naira.

Today, Tukur, who was described as having run the PDP into the ground by a panel set up by Jonathan to investigate its ongoing crisis, suggested at the National Executive Committee (NEC) that a dearth of funds was responsible for the chaos, therefore hitting the ping pong ball back to Mr. Jonathan.

He appealed to the leaders of the party, including Mr. Jonathan, Vice-President Namadi Sambo, Senate President David Mark, Speaker of the House Aminu Tambuwal and the party’s 18 state governors, to come to the aide of the beleaguered party.

“We cannot afford running this party with severe under-funding dilemma. Democracy is a serious business but easily broken; it is a small commodity of exceptional value reserve,” he begged. “Some philosophers describe it as a Parachute where the operator, practitioner and beneficiary need a safe landing place because nobody had ever lived to tell a story of parachute failure.”

Admitting the lack of respect being openly shown to President Jonathan by disaffected members of the party, Tukur expressed sadness, saying it was not the case in other countries, pleading the case of the man who spared his neck just 48 hours before.

“Ample evidence within the territory of democracy have shown that democratically elected Presidents are symbol of every nation. Here in Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan is our symbol.”

While calling for the national leader to be treated with dignity, observers said he did not do Jonathan any favour by annoying his critics by saying he was being undermined “for no just reasons.”

He praised the almost-forgotten “Transformation Agenda” as a building block for national unity and development.

“To complement this programme successfully, PDP should be in the forefront - ensuring that we are all accountable to this nation,” he said.

“When he said that, I thought he was going to be brave and ask the President to declare his assets, about which he said last year he did not give a damn,” an analyst told SaharaReporters. “But Tukur was obviously only trying to ensure that Jonathan puts billions of Naira in his hands to spend. You cannot talk of accountability when Jonathan will not declare his assets or permit a true assault on corruption in this country.”

While preaching reconciliation among the disgruntled members of the party, Tukur said that mechanisms had been put in place to achieve unity at all levels of the party.

One of the decisions implemented at today’s NEC meeting was the acceptance of the resignation of 20 officials of the party, eight of whom were powerful members of the National Working Committee. Last April, the Independent National Electoral Commission said that their election had violated established guidelines. It was the first time the electoral body had challenged the PDP about its serial violation of the law.

The party also set up a Special Convention Planning Committee, headed by Prof. Jerry Gana, and announced the composition of an interim National Executive Committee pending next month’s convention.

Alhaji Tukur’s plea for funds brings up the question of public finances in Nigeria. Efforts by SaharaReporters today to find a statement concerning the PDP’s accounts proved abortive. Section54. (1) of the party’s constitution says, “For the purpose of ensuring transparency and accountability and transparency in the management of finances of the party, The National Executive Committee shall design Standard Financial regulations to govern the management of party’s finances at all levels.”

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/money-cries-bamanga-tukur-pdp-nec-meeting-give-me-money

Lest we forget
--------------

The Vice-Principal of British Nigerian Academy, Prince & Princess Estate, Abuja, Mr. Kola Pele, 67, has taught in numerous schools and nurtured many pupils.

He was going about his duty at the last BNA visiting day when the National Vice-Chairman (South-East), Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Olisa Metuh, invaded the school with his wife, policemen as well as aides and allegedly assaulted him and other teachers for confiscating his son’s GSM phone.

Metuh, a lawyer turned politician, allegedly held Pele by the throat and reportedly ordered an aide to put him in his car boot, saying “No police IG or SSS can secure your release.”

The incident, which occurred on February 19, 2011, caused panic among the teachers and over 50 pupils that witnessed the incident.

The affected teachers had filed a lawsuit seeking N250m for general damages, N10m for punitive damages and N350, 000 for medical bills. The writ was issued by Joseph Dauda (SAN), the Nigeria Bar Association President.

Pele told PUNCH METRO on Wednesday that he went to the hostels around 6.30pm to check if the parents had dispersed, when a teacher, Ms. Amuche Igbe, informed him that she saw Metuh’s son, Derrick, a former pupil of the school, giving his GSM phone to pupils to use in violation of the school rules.

The BNA VP explained that Amuche seized the phone, handed it to him and he dropped it in his office. But he said a few minutes after, three jeeps drove into the school premises at top speed and Metuh alighted from the lead car.

“The jeeps drove round and round and this attracted pupils and staff. Metuh alighted and said, ‘who is Pele here’ and I said I am. He said, ‘where is my son’s phone. Before I could speak, he held my throat and pushed me to the ground. He said his boys should put me and another teacher, Babatunde Adedayo, in the car boot and that no police IG or SSS can release us,” Pele said.

According to him, a teacher, Hamzat Muftau, who was pleading with the PDP leader to calm down, was knocked to the ground by one of Metu’s aides.

He alleged that Metuh’s aides forcibly held Mufutau’s hands and took away his office keys and phone in an attempt to get him to release Derrick‘s phone. Incidentally, Derrick is no longer a pupil of the school as he was withdrawn in December 2010 while in Senior Secondary 2.

Pele stated that the teachers, who were apprehensive that he might be killed, advised him to release the phone.

Pele said that the PDP leader had no right to visit the school as his son was no longer a pupil, adding that Metuh’s police aides did not intervene when he was being molested.

He added that although the incident was reported at Garki Police Station, the Investigating Police Officer identified simply as Felicia said ‘Metuh could not be arrested because he is a big man, but could only be invited.’

Igbe, who corroborated Pele’s claim, stated that she saw Derrick chatting with some female pupils and asked him to leave the school, but instead of leaving, he walked towards the male hostel, saying he wanted to retrieve his phone.

She said, “A pupil offered to get the phone for him, but Derrick insisted on collecting it himself. There is a gap in the gate through which a hand held out the phone, but before Derrick could take the phone, I collected it from the person, but I could not identify the pupil who brought it out.”

Muftau also explained that every attempt to placate Metuh on the day was rebuffed as he insisted on having the phone. “As I was begging him to take it easy, he said I should just get him the phone, and that it is very expensive and can buy 200 of my own. As I moved closer to him, his aide kicked me in the legs and I fell; he said I was touching his boss. I suffered body pains, but I am better now.”

Another eyewitness, Adedayo, a housemaster, described the incident as a show of shame, which might have degenerated into a serious violence if more staff were around.

“When Metuh grabbed the VP by the throat, I moved to intervene, but he asked his aide to put me and the VP in the boot of his jeep, and boasted that no IG or SSS can release us,” he explained.

A board member of BNA, who does not want to be named, expressed dismay that Metuh, a former board member of the school, would assault teachers in the presence of pupils.

“Why I am surprised is that he is a friend of the owner of the school as well as a former BNA board member. The teachers have gone to court and he will meet them there,” she said.

But when contacted, Metuh said nobody was man-handled, insisting that the allegation was “a lie to cover up their (the teachers’) incompetence and stupidity.”

He said, “They don’t have the right to seize someone’s phone. The school never has such rule on a visiting day. During the visiting day, the pupils have the right to use the phone. When he was in the school, my son took my phone and used it there. The rule doesn‘t say anything about using phone on a visiting day.

“Why do they have to victimise a pupil because he left the school? My son and wife were the victims. I don’t want to take issues with them because the owner of the school is my friend. But I welcome the law suit; let them serve me the writ.”

The FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Moshood Jimoh, however, said nobody was above the law. He said he would find out about the matter from the Garki Divisonal Police Officer.

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/printthread.php?t=61523

Dan Etete

Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway slides into decay

Posted by: Seun Akioye

The day couldn’t have been worse for Richard Alele, a commercial bus driver and Michael, his bus mate, popularly called “conductor.” For one hour, they were stuck in the traffic of Oja-Oba/Abule Egba axis on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

Earlier that day at Abule-Egba, his bus had fallen into a pothole; one of its front tires burst. That ‘minor accident’ set Alele back by N6, 000 and wasted two hours of the day’s work.

In the bus were about six passengers all in various degrees of distress. At 4pm, the sun was biting as sweat took over the passengers’ bodies. Outside, road-side hawkers sweating under the scorching sun plied the bus with their goods – Gala Sausage rolls, soft drinks, bread, biscuits, sachet water, walking sticks and bowler hats.

“I have been working on this road for three years and this is the worst I have seen,” said Alele. By then, the traffic had improved and a maddening rush began for the hundreds of vehicles caught in the quagmire. Alele was not fast enough; his space was taken, forcing him to drive his bus into a pothole, jolting his passengers into a panic.

“A journey of 20 minutes has taken two hours; I am supposed to close by 1 pm, but because of this traffic mess, I can’t close at 5 pm. The situation of this road is unbearable; the government should just help us mend it,” Alele said in a fit of frustration.

The traffic snarls occasioned by the potholes that have taken over the road have assumed a frightening proportion. The vital route leads to the popular Living Faith Tabernacle aka Winners Chapel, Obasanjo Farms and The Bells University among others including Ota industrial area. It is the only access route for millions of residents living on the outskirts of the nation’s commercial honey-pot.

From the Iyana-Ipaja axis to the old toll gate at the border of Lagos and Ogun State, motorists spend hours especially at peak periods no thanks to the over 60 potholes on the road.

The road-stretch between Super bus stop and Oja Oba/Abule-Egba is an eyesore. The one-time four-lane road is now one. As soon as motorists approach that section, all cars would move in one accord to the only manageable lane and because drivers are impatient, accidents are frequent, and as such, worsening the existing misery.

In April, men of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) hit that spot with their lorry, shovels and granite sand. According to regular users of the road, FERMA filled some spots with the sand and planted a signboard by the road-side; mission accomplished. But motorists knew better; when rain fell some days later, the sand was washed away and the pool got bigger.

Officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) complained bitterly about the state of the road. “The bad spots are causing unnecessary suffering and impeding our own work. We do more work here because of this bad road but our hard work does not show because it is difficult controlling the traffic. This place is a headache for all of us,” an officer said.

From Abule Egba to U-Turn bus stop, motoring brings hell. By the traffic light, more than half of the section has gone bad as huge ditches compel motorists to a halt. At peak periods, Abule-Egba is a ‘no go’ area. Traffic wardens too bear the brunt as they are assaulted by dusts raised from the bad spots. “Look at this uniform I made only three months ago; the bad environment has destroyed it. See dust all over us. When it rains too, we get beaten; look at my shoes,” a policeman lamented.

By mid-day, hundreds of youths descend on the road to eke out a living, hawking all sorts of goods. But they are not entirely happy about the situation of the road. Eze Okorie, who sells bowler hats and walking sticks at Super bus stop, said: “I want the government to fix the road because when it is good, I will still sell because traffic light will stop vehicles.”

Emmanuel Nwankwo, who sells drinks at Casso bus stop, had a different view: “When some vehicles try to avoid the potholes, they run into us. Most times, they hit each other and in the night when we are running after the vehicles, we fall inside the potholes. I relocated here from Oja Oba because I fell into the water there and got injured.”

From U-Turn through General, Ijaiye, Casso and Mosalashi, several potholes await motorists. While Alakuko is in good condition, from there to the old toll gate is a night mare.

On June 4, the Lagos State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC) began palliative works on the route. Potholes at Abule Taylor, Salolo, Casso and Toll Gate were filled. While the work reduced users’ suffering, it was far from a permanent solution. Gbenga Akintola, the Executive Chairman of the Corporation, told The Nation: “The people that ply that road work in Lagos; we plan to give succour to them before the rains set in. We just want to bring relief to all road users on all the Federal Roads in Lagos. So, we are discussing with FERMA on ways to collaborate.”

The LSPWC only fixed the side of Lagos at the toll gate, leaving a large bad portion on the side of Ogun State. The development, according to a traffic officer from the Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE), was of no effect.

An officer at FERMA (South West region) said the agency would begin work on the road before the end of the month.

The assurance by FERMA meant nothing to Alhaji Eniolorunmo, a commercial bus driver, who expressed his doubt, saying: “What will they do? They will just put granite sand on it and after the first rain, we are back to square one,” he said. Whatever happens, time will tell.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/lagos-abeokuta-expressway-slides-into-decay/

PDP, Jonathan have failed Nigerians, says Tinubu
Posted by: Joseph Jibueze in Featured, News 17 hours ago 63 Comments

ACN leader lashes govt on economy, security

APC files registration request at INEC



President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration is confused about how to tackle Nigeria’s challenges, especially poverty and insecurity, a leader of the newly-formed All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has said.

He said the Federal Government promised peace and security, but under its “unwatchful eye” insecurity has grown and Boko Haram “has turned large tracts of northern Nigeria into no man’s land”.

But, a bright future, he said, is on the horizon as the APC, which he called “the government in-waiting”, would rescue Nigeria from its confused state.

“As leaders of the new party and government in-waiting, we intend to pursue dynamic, time-tested and bold policies that will liberate our people by making sure our wealth works for us,” Tinubu said.

Nigerians, said Tinubu, have become increasingly divided as a people because the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government continues to take faulty steps in addressing poverty and injustice.

“They have ignored the cause and gone after the symptoms,” the former Lagos State Governor told a packed audience inside the Grand Committee Ballroom, Westminster Hall, House of Parliament, London on Monday. He identified failed policies on power, employment, economy and security as evidence of bad leadership.

Tinubu, the keynote speaker at the British African Diaspora Conference, spoke on “Leadership, national development and the people”.

He urged the Federal Government to apply a consistent policy of targeted law enforcement operations along with an active programme of economic development, negotiations and potential amnesty for penitent Boko Haram members.

He said rather than take this step, the nation has been treated to series of government inaction and indiscriminate use of force, which culminated in the declaration of a state of emergency in three states.

“The Jonathan government set up a special Committee on Boko Haram and Security matters, but sadly before they could perform, he declared State of Emergency in three Northern states: Yobe, Borno and Adamawa.

“This is symptomatic of a confused leadership. If there is security in this jumbled policy, neither I nor the majority of Nigerians can find it!”

To the fomer Lagos governor, if Nigeria is to mature as a democracy, its electoral system must be improved. He decried the fact that those who control the system manipulate elections with such impunity that they now see misconduct without sanction as a normal way of life.

Said he: “Look at the recent controversy surrounding election of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) chairman… A group comprising all the nations’ governors could not even conduct a simple 35-person election without a disputed outcome.

“With this recent experience, I fear the length those in power would go and the means they would employ to manipulate results when the battleground is the entire nation and the stakes are the general elections in 2015.

“The NGF debacle symbolises a disdain for democracy and the popular will. If we are to save Nigeria, we must rescue the electoral process from its abusers,” Tinubu said.

In his view, a great philosophical gulf separates the government from the progressives. “This current Nigerian government is a retrogressive one. Much of what they claim as growth is but the harsh redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top. The bottom gets squeezed while the top expands. They are serving us the salad of corruption.

“They consume our today and squander the nation’s tomorrow. For 14 years, the PDP-led government cannot turn anything around. A new leadership is required to put a stop to this.”

Tinubu criticised Nigeria’s economic policies, saying the economy is being reconstructed “as an oasis for a small few and a stark desert for the many” while the government pretends to endorse the same budget-cutting austerity policies as much of Europe.

“We are not Europe; we are a Third World economy. That these policies have failed in European nations with higher standards of living than Nigeria gives our leaders no concern.”

Tinubu said the people live in dire straits, yet the government would rather waste the money than spend it on public benefit because they do not believe the people deserve it.

He said the progressives would bring pragmatic solution to the country’s woes because in their approach to the political economy, they do not rely on textbook answers as they do not “live in textbooks.

He said: “We live in the real world and thus seek answers from real world experiences. Here is a real world fact: No large nation has ever attained sustained growth without government running budget deficits to build the required infrastructure and without other government policies promoting development of the key industries that would become the spine of national development.

“Here is another such fact: No populous nation ever attains prosperity solely by extracting its raw material to exchange them for the finished goods of other large nations. We must industrialise and diversify our economy

“It is for this reason – to save the nation from the stranglehold of permanent poverty and poor governance – that the members of the progressive opposition political parties have decided to put aside personal ambition (including my own ambition) to form a new party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). We do this because Nigeria has entered a critical state of economic depression.”

According to Tinubu, because of the unfair nature of the electoral processes and the gross imbalance of its political economy, the people have been props in a drama for which they should have been the main characters. “We must change this,” he said.

He said the progressives must move Nigeria away from a place where the whims and narrow wishes of self-centered reactionary elite dictate the fate of over 150 million people.

“On our side, we will take our chances with a free and fair election, for we shall offer the people an innovative programme consisting of a national industrial policy that includes radical infrastructural development and employment targets,” he said.

The former Lagos governor spoke of “the Glorious Nigerian Revolution”, which he said has nothing to do with force of arms.

His words: “The Revolution of which I speak has two major parts. First, is the peaceful conversion of our quasi-democracy into a full-fledged one. Second, is the implementation of policies turning the political economy away from its retrogressive, elitist bearings.

“We seek policies pointing in a progressive direction affording the average person a chance at a dignified life. This will be through the provision of gainful employment, quality education and essential social services for those who need the helping hand of government to survive.

“I see no shame in believing progressive government can improve the political economy and the lives of the people.”

Groups and personalities at the event included representatives of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Business Council for Africa , the British African Business Alliance, Ministers from Nigeria High Commission UK7; an association of Nigerians in top British government employment – British Nigerians in Government (BIG) and Chairman, the African Professionals in the Diaspora (TAPID), Tope Olodo.

•Full speech tomorrow

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/pdp-jonathan-have-failed-nigerians-says-tinubu/

Gov. Dickson Awards N3.6bn Electronic Surveillance Contract To Chinese Firm

Posted: June 7, 2013 - 21:20

By SaharaReporters, New York

Gov. Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa today awarded a contract valued at N3.6 billion for electronic surveillance in the state. The project involves the installation of cameras at designated locations.

Dickson made the announcement at his monthly revenue briefing in Yenagoa amidst grunts of disapproval by local contractors who complain of lack of patronage for jobs where local expertise exists.

It will be recalled that Federal government recently awarded a similar contract to an Israeli firm that sparked off a controversy which led to the suspension of the contract.

Reacting to the development, Mr. Ebikekeme Ere, a Computer Software expert, dismissed as hypocritical the claims by the government on promoting Nigerian content.

“The job that was given to the Israeli firm for $40 million can be done for $1 million,” he said. “I know the Chief Executive of the Israeli firm and we are peers in the computer world and my competences are verifiable but they do these things for capital flight and pay lip service to Nigerian content.

“A sensitive job like that should not be given to a foreigner, knowing its implications. Can you imagine a country outsourcing such jobs to a foreign interest?”

The governor described the contract as being part of the “Safe City, Safe State’ project, adding that it will ensure safety for investors, residents and tourists by helping to control crime.

He appealed to residents of the state to cooperate with the contractors, who would be installing electronic surveillance devices.

Dickson said the state had increased its internally generated revenue (IGR) profile and would further enhance it by ensuring tax compliance in the informal sector.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/gov-dickson-awards-n36bn-electronic-surveillance-contract-chinese-firm

The sulky Mimiko

Posted by: Hard Ball on June 7, 2013

Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko is a good example in this democracy of a man whose small mind is getting smaller. Recently, he was one of those who took part in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum election in which Governor Rotimi Amaechi won. Mimiko said he did not lose because he withdrew. Nobody, not Hardball, will believe such fantasy. He was on the side of Jang, and if Jang lost, then he knew he, too, lost.

Rather than take it in its stride and bite the bullet, he decided to play an empty peacock. He said the election was not free and fair, and later he said he did not believe the video because he was not there. But rather than wrap his tail around his buttocks and keep mum, the Jonathan lackey in the Southwest would not stop talking.

When the 2007 election took place, and the progressive minded fought on the behalf of his mandate, he forgot that it was not about him. It was about the principle. He does not know that it is not about his big ego and that when a person is called Iroko, it does not mean that he cannot be hewn down.

Well, he saw that in a little way when his big ego was made little in a little room where he contested and lost an election. It took a little gadget to expose the big ego of his.

Because the Aregbesola video did not capture him, he felt little. Because he felt little, he decided it was not real. Then he attacked Amaechi by saying that the chairman of the forum had no evidence that he (Mimiko) voted. Is it the duty of Amaechi to show who voted? He should direct that question at the returning officer, Asissana Okauru, who counted the votes. The video showed clearly that all of the 35 governors, including Mimiko, were present in the room when Okauru counted, showing the face of each ballot paper to the men. Why did he not protest and say, look, this is not a ballot paper. This is not where I voted. Neither he nor his 15 other losers raised a finger. Was the super-intelligent, hyper-progressive, agile and defiant Mimiko under a spell? Who so cast the spell of silence on the great Iroko that he could not speak when he was being swindled out of his mandate?

Hardball believes that Iroko should quietly go to his new master in Aso Rock and explain sincerely that he was outwitted, outplayed, outmaneuvered, outclassed, outvoted, outflanked and in the end, he went out sulking. He has not stopped sulking.

Democracy is bigger than all of us. If he wants to pay back Jonathan for his work in the last Ondo State polls, this is a tacky way to go about it.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/commentaries/hardball/the-sulky-mimiko/

Tinubu to address British House of Commons Monday
Posted by: Our Reporter on June 7, 2013 in Featured, News

Former Lagos State Governor and a national leader of the just formed opposition mega-party, All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, will on Monday deliver the keynote address at a conference at the British House of Commons.

The conference, with the theme: National Development and the People, will be hosted by a senior member of the British Parliament, Mr David Lammy MP. He will be joined by Mr Ivan Lewis MP, Shadow Secretary for International Development; Mr Julius Maada Bio, Sierra Leonean former Head of State, as well as other top politicians from various parties in British political circle.

They will share thoughts and deliberate on salient issues of national development as they concern Nigeria, Africa and the United Kingdom (UK).

A statement yesterday by Mr Sunday Dare of Tinubu Media Office, Lagos, said African Partnership Development, the UK body behind the convocation of the conference, has said Asiwaju Tinubu was chosen as the keynote speaker, with other African leaders and top Members of British Parliament (MPs), “to stimulate proactive actions and deepen the understanding of the international community and the Diaspora public on the challenges of national development against progressive leadership in Africa from the perspective of Nigeria, the most populous black nation”.

The statement added: “The organisers have been the facilitator of several high-powered deliberations focusing on the socio-economic and political progress of Africa, which have played host to a number of notable economic players and political figures in Africa and the UK, offering their views on solving some of the issues undermining progress in their respective countries.”

Quoting a statement from the organisers, Dare said: “The surge in the number of people with impressive credentials, from different diplomatic circles in the UK, British and African entrepreneurs, investors and Nigerian Professionals in Europe, who have signified interest to participate at the event since the confirmation of the former Lagos State governor as the lead discussant for the conference is a clear indication that there will be quality debates and viable outcomes for the future of Africa, and Nigeria in particular.”

The conference organiser, Tunde Alabi, said: “We are very happy at the support we have received from everybody both from the UK and Africa since the announcement of the conference. We are committed to ensuring that every Nigerian in or outside the country, has access to quality life, education, quality and available healthcare delivery service and social equality. We are focused on continuously creating series of engagements that will promote good government and sustainable growth without any political affiliation and or statements.”

The conference is expected to produce reports that will be part of the discourse for future Diaspora engagement, African/Nigeria-UK Economic and business partnership and growth.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/tinubu-to-address-british-house-of-commons-monday/

Senate cancels funding for Patience Jonathan’s first ladies mission, approves FCT budget

Premium Times

Published: June 5,2013


Senator Smart Adeyemi says the Senate cannot appropriate funds for a land that is not available.

The Senate on Wednesday declined approval for the N4 billion allocation proposed by the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory for the construction of a building for the African First Ladies Mission, currently headed by Nigeria’s first lady, Patience Jonathan.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, Smart Adeyemi, stated this on Wednesday, while confirming that the Senate had passed the Abuja budget for 2013.

Mr. Adeyemi said the proposed N4 billion for construction of the first ladies mission building in Africa was distributed to critical needs in satellite towns. He said the money to be spent on the mission building could not be approved due to litigation on the proposed land.

Mr. Adeyemi said the Senate could not appropriate funds for a land that was not available.

An Abuja court had ruled that the land proposed by the FCT ministry for the first ladies’ building belonged to an organisation owned by Mrs. Jonathan’s predecessor, Turai Yar’Adua, after a protracted muddy legal battle.

The Abuja Minister, Bala Mohammed, had revoked the choice land from Mrs. Yar’Adua’s organisation and given it to first ladies’ mission; a decision the court upturned.

Abuja’s N260bn budget

The total amount passed as the 2013 budget for the Nigerian capital by the Senate is N259.6 billion.

A breakdown revealed that N48.6 billion was earmarked for personnel cost, N50.5 billion for overhead, while N160.4 billion was for capital expenditure.

Mr. Adeyemi, who presented the budget to the Senate, said that there was a surplus of N48.7 million. He said that the committee jostled with the budget estimates, deploying funds to meet areas of critical need like roads, water, health, education and development of satellite towns.

He said that 43 per cent performance was achieved from N306.4 billion appropriation of 2012.

“Most of the projects were still ongoing due to overbearing ineptitude of getting the Due Process Certificate.

“It is also observed that new and ongoing projects are not sufficiently funded due to delay in the release of funds as a result of bureaucratic bottlenecks,’’ Mrs. Adeyemi said.

The Senate President, David Mark, said: “though, FCT is supposed to be a model capital city, but unfortunately, things are not going well within the city.

“There is (no) development in the satellite towns and this has resulted in congestion of the city centre.

“I want to urge the committee to be more committed to its oversight function so that the passage of the budget will translate to development in the Nigerian capital,’’ Mark said.

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/137742-senate-cancels-funding-for-patience-jonathans-first-ladies-mission-approves-fct-budget.html

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EFCC Arraigns Helyn Aninye, Chizobam Ben-Okafor Over N1.4 billion Subsidy Scam

Posted: May 31, 2013 - 18:21

By Wilson Uwujaren
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Friday May 31, arraigned the trio of Helyn Aninye, Chizobam Ben-Okafor and Pon-Specialised Services Limited before Justice Olasumbo Goodluck of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja on an 18-count charge of conspiracy to obtain money by false pretence from the Federal Government of Nigeria under the Petroleum Support Fund.


The duo alongside their company were said to have conspired to obtain the sum of One Billion, Four Hundred and Thirteen Million, Five Hundred and Seven Thousand, Nine Hundred and Fifty One Naira and Fifty Kobo (N1, 413,507,951.50) from the Federal Government of Nigeria by falsely claiming that the sum represented subsidy accruing to Pon-Specialised Services Limited under the Petroleum Support Fund for the importation of 15,000 MT of Premium Motor Spirit.

One of the counts read, “That you Helyn Aninye “F”, Chizobam Ben-Okafor “F” and Pon-Specialised Services Limited on or about the 3rd day of March, 2011 at Abuja within the Jurisdiction of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja with intent to defraud did obtained the sum of One Billion, Four Hundred and Thirteen Million , Five Hundred and Seven Thousand, Nine Hundred and Fifty One Naira and Fifty Kobo Only (N1,413,507,951.50) from the Federal Government of Nigeria by falsely claiming that the sum represented subsidy accruing to Pon-Specialised Services Limited under the Petroleum Support Fund for the importation of 15,000MT of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) which Pon-Specialised Services Limited claimed to have purchased from Vitol SA Bourgase Bulgaria and imported into Nigeria through the MT Fulmer (Mother Vessel), MT Cape Bradley (1st Daughter Vessel ), MT Aidin (2nd Daughter Vessel) and MT Dani 1(3rd Daughter Vessel) which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14 of 2006.”

The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to them.

Counsel to the accused then asked the court to grant the accused persons bail. He told the court that the accused persons have been granted administrative bail by the EFCC and that they would be available to face their trial.

Justice Goodluck granted the accused persons bail in the sum of N5 million each and two sureties in like sum. The sureties should be directors in a federal government ministry/parastatal or in a company established to the satisfaction of the court with a verifiable registered office within the Federal Capital Territory. The sureties must possess landed property and be resident within the jurisdiction of the court. They are also to deposit their international passport with the court registrar.

The arraignment of the accused persons was aborted on several occasions as their counsel, Olisa Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN through various applications sought to frustrate court processes. In November 2012, when the Commission first sought to arraign the accused persons, Olisa Agbakoba, a human right lawyer and activist, told the court that there was no prima facie case against the accused persons and so they could not be arraigned. He argued that the proof of evidence failed to disclose any offence against the accused persons. “My lord assuming there are offences to be disclosed, they have not in anyway been linked to the applicants, and these links must have a prima facie element to the accused persons,” he told the court.

Adebola Sobowale who was also held brief for Olisa Agbakoba, engaged the court with series of applications and motions, praying the court not to entertain the charge against the accused.

On the 30th of April, 2013, the defence counsel filed a motion praying the court to decline the prosecution leave to prefer charge against the accused persons and to strike out the 18 count charge on the grounds that the charge were incompetent. Also, on the 13th of May, 2013, the defendants filed another application praying the court to stay further proceedings on the matter and to quash the charge against them.

However, Justice Goodluck in her ruling stated that the applications were premature and ordered the accused persons to take their plea.

The case has been adjourned to July 8, 2013 for hearing.

Wilson Uwujaren

Ag. Head, Media & Publicity

31st May, 2013

http://saharareporters.com/press-release/efcc-press-release-efcc-arraigns-helyn-aninye-chizobam-ben-okafor-over-n14-billion-sub

JONATHAN AT MID TERM: Reckless, no focus – Fashakin

On May 29, 2013 · In Politics 12:10 amShare

Engr. Rotimi Fashakin, the national publicity secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, faults President Jonathan’s administration of the country saying he has been more focused on political self-preservation than on promoting the general good of all.

EDUCATION
Nigerian students have recorded failure in Mathematics and English more than in any other time in the Nation’s history. In the 2013 appropriation law, t he allocation of N426.53billion to the sector takes only 8.67percent of the total budget of N4.92trillion, whereas the UNESCO recommended for the allocation of 26percent of the total budget to the sector which is very vital to national development.

It is easily discernible why the Jonathan regime cannot point at brainy but indigent Nigerians that are on scholarship in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions or abroad. Rather than ensuring proper funding for the nation’s universities, the Jonathan regime preferred the vain-glorious political revelry of setting up nine new universities it had no desire to fund ab-initio!


Engr. Fashakin
There is no gainsaying in re-stating the comatose state of the Nigerian economy under the political governance of Dr Good-luck Jonathan. With over 70% of the State’s budget spent in servicing over-bloated paraphernalia of government and accumulation of foreign debts to finance all the economically unsound fancies of the regime, it is a matter of time before the Nigerian economy plummets under the weight of gross incompetence and unpatriotic handling by the Jonathan administration.

Infrastructure
The infrastructural decay in the polity has undoubtedly ensured the closure of many industrial concerns and this has inexorably brought the youth unemployment to an all-time high of over 44%.

As a Party, we are forced to believe that this may just be a deliberate policy of this administration as a way to continue to have tether-hold on the youth to implement its programme for electoral manipulations. Clearly, this administration seems unfazed by the portent of a burgeoning number of unemployed youth in terms of national security!

Insecurity
As a party, we are saddened by the insecurity in the land. Ordinary citizens can no longer pursue unfettered happiness without fear of forced kidnapping, harassment and possibly, fatal injury. There is full-scale war going on in some parts of the nation state as a result of politically festered hate which had been bred by the president’s hateful politics. Truly, the divisiveness embedded in the President’s win-at-all-costs brand of politics has inevitably brought us to the sorry-pass of this indescribable conundrum of insecurity!

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/05/jonathan-at-mid-term-reckless-no-focus-fashakin/

Ex-Delta militants issue fresh 14-day ultimatum over unpaid allowances
Premium Times Published: May 30,2013

The militants said they believe their allowances are being embezzled.

Some ex-militants in Delta State have threatened to go back to the creeks and attack oil installations if the federal government and its amnesty office fail to pay arrears of their allowances since 2010.

The ex-agitators, who gave the federal government two weeks to pay them, described the recalcitrant posture of some leaders towards their plight as frustrating.

They said after embracing amnesty and undergoing non-violence training at Obubra in Cross River State and other trainings outside the country, their monthly allowances are not being remitted to their individual bank accounts.

The ex-militants stated this in a communiqué issued and made available to reporters in Akure, the Ondo State capital. The communiqué was signed by three officials of the disgruntled ex-agitators who also provided their registration numbers at the amnesty office. The signatories are the public relationship officer, Eric O. Ajagidi (C01/B11/A1/14098); secretary, Soroh Dorwei Travel (C01/B11/B1/14205); and publicity secretary, Prince Degbe Jonah (C01/B11/B1/14127).

They said they belonged to the Tompolo Camp while Tomukebiri D. Franklyn (C01/B11/A1/14068), Ikiyan Roland Owei (C03/B10/E2/13477), and Arthur fenetobour harvest (V02/B10/D5/13375) belonged to Ezekiel Camp.

In the communiqué, the ex- militants lamented that they have been facing hardship and frustrations for the past three years over the unpaid allowances, saying all efforts to resolve the issues in a gentleman approach have not yielded positive result.

They therefore threatened to use violence to pursue their demands from the federal government and the amnesty office.

”We will go back to the creeks and start vandalizing and blowing off oil installations in the state if the federal government and amnesty office did not correct the anomaly between the stipulated period of two weeks,” they said .

According to them, out of their willingness to ensure peace in their area, they surrendered their arms and ammunition and embraced the amnesty programme of the government; but the government did not fulfill its own part of the agreement

They said the amnesty programme was a welcome idea to foster peace and development but some ”greedy” leaders have been hijacking and diverting the money at their expense. They expressed their displeasure over the non-payment of their allowances after the amnesty programme.

“We agree to surrender arms and ammunition because we only want to be good and law abiding citizens, we embraced the amnesty programme of the government.

“We are disappointed that after the amnesty programme, where most of us were taken out of the country and other within the country, the federal government has refused to pay our allowance,” the communiqué stressed.

The ex-militants said the government by its action, wants them to return to the creeks to resume their violent activities. They said they have approached traditional rulers and community leaders to wade into the matter, but all efforts proved abortive.

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/136901-ex-delta-militants-issue-fresh-14-day-ultimatum-over-unpaid-allowances.html

President Jonathan’s Coup By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo

Posted: May 29, 2013 - 15:56

Columnist: Correct Me If I Am Right By Rudolf Okonkwo

The whole premise of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration is that he will surprise us all. The more people lose hope in his stewardship, the stronger he believes in the divine nature of that impending wonder.

That is why you hear him often say that, though he is the most vilified president in the history of mankind, he will soon become the most adored. That’s why he keeps promising that, very soon, just very soon, you all will see the long awaited dividend of democracy. (I’m happy to report that, 14 years later, we have stopped calling it nascent democracy.)

President Jonathan knows, just like everyone else, that nothing in his past is inspiring. There is no role he had played in his life that excites even his most ardent supporter to believe that he has it in him to transform the lives of Nigerians. Even his biography, the story of a shoeless folk like you, has fallen hollow. Nigerians have suddenly realized that they were sold a dummy. Babangida and Abacha did not have shoes at one point. None of that made them care about ordinary folks once they got into power. Instead, they did what most poor folks do when they gain access to wealth- they used both hands to accumulate them.

For a man so underestimated, President Jonathan hangs his whole faith in his ability to surprise us all. Recently he interpreted it this way: that his name has brought good luck to Nigeria. I bet he meant to say that his name will bring good luck - unless we are still too blind to see how lucky we are. The only place that good luck brings surprises is at the pool kiosk or the lottery stand. You don’t run a country of 170 million people with the conviction of a lottery player.

Such belief in one’s ability to surprise does not develop overnight. The humiliation that Jonathan endured under the government of President Musa Yar’Adua was enough to instill such celestial mission in him. Also for reasons best known to him, the president has the confidence that those he has surrounded himself with have the ability to deliver the goods that will erase the unflattering opinion of him in the public space. That is where the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan rests- in the pie charts, graphs and Powerpoint presentations of a transformation in progress.

The most generous observer will look at the optimism of the president and conclude that the little nza bird dancing in the middle of the street must have some spirits beating the drum for him right inside the bushes.

It has been two official years since the president was sworn in for a full four year term. How has he been doing?

I bet it is not too early now to judge. I remember attempts in the past to assess his presidency have been rebuffed by people around him as too early. We were told that he needed two solid years to make an impact.

Today marks the end of his second year in power. Let us look at his enduring achievements as presented by his supporters. Here they are in a nutshell:

The president has set up a power sector road map that has improved electricity. If not in your neighborhood, well, you live in the wrong neighborhood and should just be patient. The president has revitalized the rail sector that once again it is possible to travel from Lagos to Kano by train. If you haven’t tried it, do not claim that it takes days and that the trains are old dirty bolekaja. The president has renovated and repainted the airports across the country. Even the air conditioners and the escalators are working, unless it is their days off. Yes, fertilizer and oil subsidy scams are over so food and petrol should be cheaper, unless you live in the wrong part of town. The media is now free to be lost in the freedom of information maze, so they should stop complaining of not having the president’s asset declaration forms. And the greatest one – elections are now free and fair, no intervention from the president- unless the stakes are really high, like the governor’s forum election.

As for corruption and other promises and checklists of things to do, the president wants you to know that the decay started over four decades ago and it won’t be wiped out in just two years. Wink, wink: he needs more time.

Expectations are so low in Nigeria that what should be a routine role of local governments is often assigned presidential height of achievement to be documented in books. Meanwhile the all important mission of establishing an enduring change remains unreachable.

Nigeria is like a poorly designed and constructed road constantly washed away by runoff water. Periodically scrapping the top soil, coating the surface with bitumen and gravels without building a reinforced culvert wide and deep enough to withstand once every fifty years kind of rain, is mere waste of time and resources. That is essentially what we have been doing in the last 14 years. And that we will continue to do, irrespective of who wins in 2015. Until we go back and fundamentally restructure the road itself, we have built nothing that will endure one rainy season or two.

Two years after, it’s charitable to say that President Jonathan is searching for a legacy. He knows that he has just two years to find it. By all indications, the glorious transformations he has been made to understand will happen soon will not happen. His excuse that enemies, who from the very first day wanted him to fail, distracted him will not fly. President Jonathan’s hands are tied by history. And from history, he can find an escape to immortality.

On March 31, 1968, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson went on TV and made a speech from the White House that shocked Americans. Johnson was a president who took over from J. F. Kennedy when Kennedy was killed. Many in Kennedy’s administration felt that Johnson was not good enough to replace Kennedy and run the United States. During the speech Johnson said, “What we won when all of our people united must not be lost in suspicion and distrust and selfishness and politics. Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as president.”

Making a similar speech and reminding us that he has been, at some level, the Lyndon Johnson of Nigeria, will be President Jonathan’s coup.

http://saharareporters.com/column/president-jonathan%E2%80%99s-coup-rudolf-ogoo-okonkwo

GDP growth must reflect on people’s life – Obasanjo

Posted by: Agency Reporter on May 27, 2013

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo in Addis Ababa on Sunday urged African economists and development experts to address the lopsided Gross Domestic Product growth that failed to add value to the life of the people on the continent.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Obasanjo spoke in the context of the Africa’s five per cent GDP growth rate that placed the continent among the fastest growing global economies.

The ex-Nigerian leader, who was among members of a panel on the United Nations Development Programme Rise of the South 2013 report, code-named: “The African Renaissance in the context of the Rise of the South,” said it was worrisome that the rate of Africa’s GDP growth of about five per cent annually was not showing by way of improvement on the lives of the people.

He urged the UN Development agencies, economic experts and Governments of African countries to address the situation before it becomes a serious setback to the continent’s development.

He said Nigeria had recorded seven per cent GDP growth over the last decade, especially in oil and gas, telecommunication, banking and financial sector and few others.

“But we need a kind of growth that would reflect on the lives of the people and the environment in terms of water supply to the villages, electricity and infrastructure; that is the kind of growth we want.

“The economists should address that to change the current situation, where the GDP is growing while the people continue to suffer,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Obasanjo as saying at the forum.

He urged the UNDP to reflect on the impact of the GDP growth and find ways of ensuring that it matches or comes to terms with the development of the common man in the rural areas.

On his part, former Ghanaian President, Mr. John Kufuor, harped on the need for good leadership, prudence in governance and people’s active participation in governance to usher in more sustainable growth that would impact positively on the lives of the common African.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news-update/obasanjo-tasks-economists-on-gdp-growth/

Suspension From PDP: Gov. Amaechi Speaks

Posted: May 27, 2013 - 21:32

Rivers State Governor and re-elected Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has spoken on his suspension by the National Working Committee(NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).

Governor Amaechi spoke on Monday evening at a youth Interactive Session, with the theme: “Consolidating on Rivers of our Dreams” held at the Banquet Hall of Government House, Port Harcourt with youths in Rivers State.

Amaechi said the NWC issued a Press Statement to suspend him without any invitation and fair hearing.

“I was not invited by the National Working Committee of PDP, I was not given fair hearing. What I heard was that: why did I refused to reinstate the suspended Obio/Akpor Council executive? Who suspended them?", he asked

The youths at the forum replied: "the Rivers State House of Assembly."

"Who has the power to investage Obio/Akpor council executive?", Amaechi asked again.

The Youths replied: "The State Assembly."

"….So you see the political witch-hunting. It is so ridiculous. My Party (PDP) must rise above political witch-hunting", Amaechi continued.

"Governor Amaechi did not suspend Obio/Akpor Council(executive). I hope you know, I have the power and my power is to dissolve. I can dissolve Obio/Akpor Council(executive). But I have not done that. What the Assembly is doing is that they are investigating corruption. But the party said they should not investigate corruption, is it fair?", he asked again and the youths answered "no".

"if they are not guilty, then they will re-instate them, but if they are guilty, then we will ask for the dissolution of the council. We have not even gone half, and the Party (PDP) says re-instate them. It means that the party likes corruption. Let the Assembly resume and commence investigation, let’s see what goes on. Whether there is corruption or not, it is the business of the Assembly. I have been a Speaker, and I know the powers of a Speaker and the legislature. I used it when I was a Speaker”, Amaechi said.

Governor Amaechi further advised the Police in the State to obey court orders by vacating the Obio/Akpor council premises, and allow normalcy to return to the council.

“What is the police still doing at the Obio/Akpor Council building? The court gave an order to the Police to vacate Obio/Akpor Council, they disobeyed, and the police are still stationed there”, he said.

Amaechi also expressed displeasure over the Obio/Akpor developments that made workers in Rivers State to go on strike, adding that due to the absence of Doctors in Government Hospitals, they (government) now transfer patients from public to private hospitals to ensure they survive.

“The federal government does not care, they only stationed police at Obio/Akpor council, even if everybody dies, they don’t care. Now the whole state will be grounded, because the police have refused to vacate the Obio/Akpor Council Secretariat. They don’t want to know, we are not important to the federal government, we are not important at all”, Amaechi lamented.

“You know what it took for us to stop militancy in the state. But only last week, they now organized militants to return to the streets of Port Harcourt, is that not shameful. You all knew how the militants spent our money, rapped our women, killed our parents and young men. Immediately the militants stopped protesting, the police said, nobody should protest again”, Amaechi stated.

He urged the youths to offer prayers to God to intervene, stating that there is nothing wrong as Governor of Rivers State and member of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) to ask for his right, which the PDP is now describing as anti-party.

“Internal democracy is important in our party, if they fought me by all means, and I still won the Nigeria Governors’ Forum election, what should they do? They should have joined me to thank God. Because what it means is that God has spoken. It happened when I was in Ghana, I fasted and prayed for 6 months, 6am to 6pm, and God made ne Governor”, he added.

"I will not leave the PDP. I will go to court.... The plane issue is same politics, pure politics. For one year plus, a minister refuse to sign import permit. Am sure you are aware of the House of Representatives Committee report on the plane issue."

Governor Amaechi also called on the federal government to allow democracy to reign supreme, stating that there was no need for the police to remain at the Obio/Akpor Council.

"They should allow the police to work for the benefit of the public. And imagine, if you and I cannot go to court to seek for protection, where else can we go to? They have refused to accept the court decision. And if the police continue we shall mobilize Rivers people to come out en masse and i will be in front to lead the protest”, Amaechi said.

Speaking on the NGF election, Governor Amaechi said, "You will see it on the internet when the Governors were voting, all the governors were there and you will also see the counting. We (Governors) agreed to voting, and all the governors voted, so any governor who said he didn’t vote is lying against the nation because all of us are on oath to govern properly, so we should not lie, every governor voted, you will see the video. If we leaders of Nigeria today are refusing to accept the results of a properly organized election supervised by the Director-General of the Governors’ Forum. And somebody brought a paper that was signed in April. If you check that list, it was signed in April and you brought it on May 24th after the Governors have finished voting their chairman into office, that list is not part of our election. There is a rumour that they want to go to court to stop me as NGF chairman. We are ready to meet them in court but they should not go through the backdoor to get an order ”, Amaechi said.

"I want to say the way these people at the federal level are acting, they may come for my life, so when you pray, please pray for me."


http://saharareporters.com/press-release/suspension-pdp-gov-amaechi-speaks

Rejection of results bad omen for 2015, says ACN

Posted by: Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja on May 27, 2013

Opposition parties –Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) – yesterday chided the Presidency for its role in the crisis rocking the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

Both parties said the involvement of the Presidency in the election of the Forum’s leadership portends danger for the 2015 elections.

Presidential spokesman Dr. Reuben Abati has said the President had no hand in the NGF crisis, which he advised the governors to resolve.

In a statement in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the ACN said: The message that the Presidency, through the puppet governors, is sending to the nation is that the outcome of the 2015 elections will only be valid if a certain candidate emerges the winner.

‘’If an election involving only 35 governors can generate so much controversy and threaten to overheat the polity, what will happen when millions of Nigerians vote in 2015? Is this how President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the Godfather of the losing governors, has been sanitising the electoral process as he has been enthusing?

‘’The show of shame by the bad losers supporting Governor Jonah Jang, of course at the behest of the Presidency, is an extension of the threat that has been issued by some rabblerousers that it is either Jonathan for 2015 or there will be no Nigeria as we know it. This is the Gbagbo Option that plunged Cote d’Ivoire into a crisis in which it is yet to fully emerge. This is what the puppet governors are pushing for, hence they must be called to order urgently!

‘’Governors who participated willingly and fully in the NGF election have suddenly turned around and called the election a fraud after their candidate has lost. What were they thinking when they voted? Could it be that they were so sure that their arm-twisting tactics had worked and hence were sure of victory, only to be drubbed? Did they deviate from the Presidency’s script that they should only use the consensus they extracted from unwilling governors instead of an election to determine the NGF chairmanship?

‘’If they realised the ballot papers were not serialised, as the bad losers later claimed, why did they participate in the election? Couldn’t they have raised an objection and refused to participate? Were they dragged to the venue of the polls, screaming and kicking? If so where is the evidence that they were forced to act against their will?’’

The AC N described the denial by the Presidency of any role in the NGF election as a “tepid denial”.

According to the party, Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio is acting at the behest of the Presidency. “What President Jonathan did by his meddlesomeness is to stake his presidency on the NGF election, thereby making the elections a referendum on his leadership of his party and country. In both instances, he got the outcome he deserved: A leader who cannot hold his party together cannot hold a nation together,” the AC N said.

It added that: ‘’And here are some of the lessons that the Presidency should learn, if it so wishes, from the outcome of the NGF elections – There is always a limit to hubris and the use of naked power against perceived opponents. Needless to say that latent power is more potent than naked power. A leader should never do things just because he can.

The presidency and the ruling party have lost control of themselves. They are bound to also lose control of the nation – democratically – in 2015. Make no mistake about it!” the party added.

The ACN has called for a probe of the apparently forged document being circulated by the losing governors to show they had harvested the signatures of 18 governors pushing for a consensus candidate just before the elections.

The party said the fact that the signature of a governor, who neither attended the meeting of the PDP chapter of the NGF nor sent a representative, was included in the consensus list is an indication that the signatures were harvested long before the meeting and the day of the election. Of course, it is also clear that the dates on the typed document were cancelled and new dates handwritten.

‘’If the losing governors are insisting that the list is genuine and that the signatures were obtained at the NGF-PDP meeting shortly before the voting, then they owe Nigerians an explanation on how a man who did not attend the meeting or send a representative could have signed the document in question,’’ it said.

The ACN advised Akpabio and his group to accept the result of the NGF elections instead of threatening to break the NGF – and overheat the polity – just to satisfy their masters, saying “national interest should supersede parochial interest.”

ANPP National Publicity Secretary Mr. Emma Eneukwu expressed sadness that “the election just mirrored the resolve of the Presidency to create confusion and anarchy whereever it fails to actualise its aims”.

“It is a common knowledge that the Presidency brought out all jokers in its purse to stop Ameachi but couldn’t and, instead of submitting to the will of the majority, it decided to destroy the forum by introducing faction.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/rejection-of-results-bad-omen-for-2015-says-acn/

35 Governors Voted During NGF Election – Governor Fayemi

Posted: May 26, 2013 - 21:49

By SaharaReporters, New York
The Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has said 35 out of the 36 governors voted in Friday’s Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) election, which was won by the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.

“It is on record that all the 35 governors present voted and there is an electronic evidence of this, and Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan served as the Returning Officer in the Friday election that produced Governor Amaechi as chairman of NGF,” Fayemi said in a statement in Ado Ekiti.

Amaechi, he reiterated, scored 19 votes while his rival, Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, scored 16, a result that upset the pro-Jang group into seeking to set up an alternate governors’ forum.

“Whereas the pro-Jang group had reportedly premised their position on earlier endorsement of Governor Jang’s candidature by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum and the Northern Governors Forum, it suffices to state without any fear of contradiction that endorsement of a candidate does not translate to actual votes in any election.

And even if they want to claim it as the result of the election, how come it was originally dated April and contained the names of Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State and Governor Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State who were absent?”

Fayemi pointed out that a candidate can have countless endorsements ahead of an election, but electoral victory is determined mainly by the number of votes he is able to garner at the election itself.

He implored members of the public not to be hoodwinked by the deliberate distortions of the events in the media, and the media to help enlighten the public on the issues at stake in a bid to build a more enduring democracy.

Full text of the statement:

The attention of the leadership of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) has been drawn to the distortion of the events leading to the election of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State as Chairman of the Forum at its election held in Abuja on Friday.

We are particularly worried about the deliberate misrepresentation of events at the election in the media by some members of the Forum in the bid to justify the setting up of a parallel group, following the defeat of Governor Jonah Jang in the keenly contested chairmanship election.

While we are not interested in joining issues with the Pro-Jang group in their smear campaign in the media, we feel compelled to correct some of the negative impressions being created in the minds of unsuspecting members of the public through a pot pourri of fabricated stories and outright lies.

It is on record that all the 35 governors present voted and there is an electronic evidence of this, and Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan served as the Returning Officer in the Friday election that produced Governor Amaechi as chairman of NGF.

Whereas the pro-Jang group had reportedly premised their position on earlier endorsement of Governor Jang’s candidature by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum and the Northern Governors Forum, it suffices to state without any fear of contradiction that endorsement of a candidate does not translate to actual votes in any election.

And even if they want to claim it as the result of the election, how come it was originally dated April and contained the names of Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State and Governor Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State who were absent ?

A candidate can have countless endorsements ahead of an election, but electoral victory is determined mainly by the number of votes he is able to garner at the election.

Having won the election, Governor Amaechi had demonstrated statesmanship by making his acceptance speech, which dwelled on his readiness to work with his opponent, Governor Jang and the need for the governors to work with the President of the Country, Dr Goodluck Jonathan in moving the country forward.

Contrary to the rather bizarre position being canvassed by the pro-Jang group, we do not see any reason for us to demonstrate that we won the election. The results of the election, as announced by the electoral officer is clear on the victory of Governor Amaechi. Rushing to Abuja to create the impression of being the so-called authentic Governors’ Forum is not only childish but petty.

At an appropriate time, a meeting of the Forum will be convened. For now, we are busy concentrating on our developmental works in our individual states rather than indulging in smear campaigns and distortions.

We implore members of the public not to be hoodwinked by these deliberate distortions in the media. We also urge the media to help enlighten the public on the issues at stake in a bid to build a more enduring democracy.

Signed:
Dr Kayode Fayemi
Governor, Ekiti State

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/35-governors-voted-during-ngf-election-%E2%80%93-governor-fayemi

N10.2b suit: We stand by our allegations against Adoke, says Melaye

Posted by: Sanni Onogu, Abuja on May 23, 2013

THE Executive Secretary of Anti-Corruption Network, Dino Melaye, yesterday said he stands by his allegations against the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister for Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke.

Adoke instituted a suit against Melaye, claiming N10.2 billion for alleged libelous publication.

He is also seeking a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their agents or privies from further publishing libelous stories about him.

Melaye, a former House of Representatives member, said neither he nor his organisation has been served any court process.

He told reporters that he is standing by his allegations against the AGF, as he waited to be formally served the court summons. The politician said his organisation would resist any form of harassment in its crusade against corruption.

Melaye described the suit as a welcome development, adding that he has only released about 10 per cent of the evidence on alleged abuse of office against the minister.

Melaye said: “Neither the Anti-Corruption Network nor myself, as the administrative head of the organisation, has been served any summons or court process. We are yet to be served.

“Adoke preferred to serve the media first and carry out media stunt. We are not interested in media stunt; we are awaiting eagerly and desperately to be served.

“In fact, if we wait till 2pm or 3pm today (Wednesday) and we are not served, we will approach the court and we will beg to be served. We are waiting for him to serve us.

“I want to say without fear or favour that I, Otunba Dino Melaye, the Executive Secretary of Anti-Corruption Network, as well as the network, stand by everything we have published on Mohammed Bello Adoke word for word, fullstop for full stop, semi-colon for semi-colon, comma for comma; indeed, everything we have published about him as abuse of office and flagrant disregard for legal rules and regulation and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“I want to inform the public that what we released on Adoke is less than 10 per cent of what we have to release on him.

“His going to court is a welcome development; it will further indict him and it will further expose him.

“He tried using the Nigeria Police to institute a case of criminal libel. The police invited us and we wrote the police.”


http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/n10-2b-suit-we-stand-by-our-allegations-against-adoke-says-melaye/

Osun wears new look

Posted by: Gbenga Aderanti on May 22, 2013 in News Extra

Aregbesola consolidates clean environment policy

The traffic on Gbongan Road, Osogbo, Osun State was unusually heavy. A group of new green trucks formed a straight line, moving at snail speed. As you tried to count, you discovered that they were too many. On the median was an excited crowd of people cheering what they saw as novel in this part of the world.

In the procession was Mouka Ray, an actor, entertaining residents of the town. He, alongside other residents, stood in the morning sun to see the new set of green painted trucks procured by the state government to add to the number of existing waste disposal trucks in the state.

As you began to wonder what the excitement was all about, you heard a voice.

“This government is very serious about the environment. These are O-Clean trucks,” someone said excitedly from the crowd.

Would you blame them for being happy? Many of them were there when their environment was rusty and neglected. The recent efforts by the government of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola to create a friendly environment is paying off.

Buoyed by the success recorded with O-Clean, which the governor has described as personal and environmental cleanliness, the government took further steps to launch the new intervention project tagged O-Clean Plus.

The O-Clean Plus is an effort of the state government to make the task of cleaning the environment, not just that of government, but also of citizens. According to the Special Adviser to the Osun State Governor on Environment & Sanitation, Hon. Bola Ilori, the programme entails a lot initiatives like: Private Partnership in Waste Management, Tree Planting, O’ Clean Gas, O’Clean Marshal, Highway Managers, Mosquitoes Reduction Programme, Environmental Awareness & Advocacy, Nylon/Plastic Buyback Programme and Local Government Technical Committee on Waste Management, among other things.

For those who are smart enough, aside the initiative of creating employment for jobless youths, it will afford them the opportunity to make money with less sweat from the nylon buy-back project. The government is now ready to buy ‘pure water’ sachets which are not only environment-friendly but constitute a nuisance to the public.

A modern dumpsite has also been constructed with modern facilities to convert all the waste into biogas. Good enough, the bio-gas is currently being used by the governor to cook. At the launch of O-Clean Plus, the governor came out boldly to vouch for the bio-gas, saying, “it is safe and healthy”

The occasion was another opportunity for the governor to tell the people of Osun that the present government is a responsive and responsible government. He disclosed that the waste collection vehicles were bought on credit; the citizens have to pay a token to dispose their waste of so that the state would be able to pay for the trucks.

The trucks will be stationed in designated parts of the streets to collect refuse.

For those who think the project will not last, Ilori was quick to point out that the government did its home work before embarking on it. The streets were enumerated five months for easy operation of the project.

The environmental enforcement marshals were inaugurated by the governor and mandated to enforce environmental laws by arresting environmental offenders. Aregbesola did not mince words when he warned that the days of flouting environmental laws with impunity were over.

Though the launch was full of fanfare, Ilori also pointed out that the state was serious about making Osun State clean. “We have done a lot of public awareness in terms waste disposal and managements, we have also provided very many alternatives for our people to get rid of their waste properly. So anyone seen dropping refuse indiscriminately would be handled by our Oclean Marshals under the various existing laws. “

With the present arrangement, each local government will have O-Clean offices with representatives.

The occasion was also used to launch a tree planting project in the state. About 2.5 million tree seedlings of various species are ready to be given free to citizens of the state for planting. The Commissioner for Commissioner of Environment & Sanitation, Olubukola Oyawoye, who was upbeat at the launch, reiterated the commitment of her ministry to the tree-planting, saying that the ministry has zero tolerance for indiscriminate waste disposal and breaching of the state environmental laws.

All things being equal, mosquitoes are going to relocate from the state as the state government is bent on continuous aerial spraying with its helicopter. The helicopter acquired by the state had generated much controversy before the launch of O-Clean Plus. At the launch of O-Clean Plus, Ilori put paid to the controversies surrounding the purchase of the helicopter. The state has saved N4billion which would have been used in fighting mosquitoes.

“After calculating how much we would spend in hiring helicopters, we discovered that it would be more that what we would use in buying the helicopter that would do the aerial spraying of the state. With the helicopter, the governor is saving the governor is saving N4bn which would have been spent on fighting mosquito alone.”

Speaking at the occasion, 50-year-old Ramota Salami, a petty trader, was happy, especially with the way the state has been able to control the perennial flooding. She welcomed the recent N500 monthly levy on refuse collection, saying “it would go a long way in stopping from indiscriminate dumping of refuse in rivers and streams.”

Joseph Alebiosu, who recently relocated from the northern part of the country, was happy about the tree planting initiative, saying “government should sensitise people more on tree planting as tree makes environment friendly.”

Steve Adeyemi, a student in one of the secondary schools, was happy about the buying back nylon/ polythene projects, saying he would do the business to support his family. “I’m not ashamed to collect nylon in exchange for money.”

The Chief of Staff to the Edo State Governor, Hon Patrick Obayagbon; wife of the Lagos State Governor, Dame Abimbola Fashola; representative of the wife of Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Mrs Doyin Olusoga; traditional rulers, politicians, unions and associations, were around to witness the launch of O-Clean Plus.

Aside the 500 commercial motorcycle riders who came to add colour to the event, artistes like Alabi Pasuma, Saidi Balogun, Mouka Ray, Kayode Sadiq, 70- year- Alabi Ogundepo and others were around to sensitise the citizens on the need to embark of clean environment.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news-extra/osun-wears-new-look/

‘Asari Dokubo , Clark are problems for Jonathan’

Posted by: Taiwo Ogundipe on May 19, 2013


Former Minister for Petroleum, Professor Tam David –West is a known social critic and political activist. In this in this interview with Taiwo Ogundipe, Associate Editor, in Lagos, he addresses the state of emergency, recent comments by Edwin Clark, Asari Dokubo, Kingsley Kuku and sundry matters.



What is your opinion of the state of emergency declared by President Jonathan in three northern states?

The action is constitutional. There is no doubt about that. But is it necessary? I will say it is not. I have listened to people, even legal experts on the television, saying it should have come earlier or that it is better late than ever. To me, they are missing the point. It may be necessary because there is breakdown of public order in the three states. But he could have handled the situation differently. Either he or his advisers, or both of them misled themselves. I often quote this Machiavellian statement: “For the Prince or the Leader to be advised wisely, the leader must be wise in the first place.” There is no problem with sending the armed forces to the states. It has been done in America before during the period of integration. But couldn’t he have sent the troops to the states without declaring a state of emergency? By declaring state of emergency in any area, one obvious thing is that civic liberties which are guaranteed by the constitution are suspended and derogated. The president should have sent the same troops without declaring state emergency. By declaring state of emergency, he is sending a very strong signal to the world that Nigeria is not stable. There is emergency and emergency is insecurity. The president is the number one law enforcement personality stipulated by the constitution. If as a person holding that position, he declares state emergency in an area because security has broken down, you are indicting yourself. It is a personal indictment. As Truman said, the buck stops at the table of the president. As the president and commander-in-chief, the buck stops on the table of Jonathan. He could have sent army to the troubled areas without declaring state of emergency.

But up till now, the Joint Task Force had been deployed to the troubled spots without being able to bring the situation under control…

I’ll come to that. I’ve also said that state of emergency is even worse than fire brigade measures. Fire brigade measure addresses sudden unexpected accident but with state of emergency, there is gradual, progressive breakdown of order and security that get up to a crescendo. Even in the Niger Delta, as I’ve said before, the deployment of the JTF has not achieved peace. I still maintain that it will never achieve peace. The Chief of Army Staff also said it. You cannot quell this problem we have with force of arms. The fundamental issue should be addressed. The problem can be solved. We are not approaching the problem with a clear mindset. For every failure on our part, it makes the other side bolder. I doubt very much if state of emergency will bring about the desired result. I wish it could.

You said a civil approach should be adopted, don’t you think the amnesty programme, offered by the government, which Boko Haram also rejected, is designed to achieve that?

I don’t have superior wisdom but like any other Nigerian, I pray to my God to guide me. I said Joint Task Force would not solve the problem in Niger Delta. The use of force of arms will not also likely solve the Boko Haram problem. The case of Boko Haram is even worse than that of Niger Delta. In Niger Delta you know who you are facing, you know the target. In Boko Haram you don’t know. The president himself has indicted himself.

I’m very critical of Jonathan. One day he will realise that my criticisms are constructive. I don’t want Jonathan to be destroyed as a leader. I want him to perform as a leader. What would I gain from wishing the president of my country to be destroyed, especially when he is an Ijaw man? Being an Ijaw man is even very irrelevant to me. It doesn’t matter to me whether you are an Ijaw man or not. If you are not doing well, you are not doing well. Period.

He came up with amnesty. Jonathan is not consistent. Sometimes he says one thing and changes. Sometimes he confuses himself in logic. Was he not the one that said the Boko Haram were ghosts? Can you negotiate with ghosts? He went further to say he would not negotiate with them because they are ghosts, I don’t know them. If you don’t know them and they are ghosts, then why are you negotiating with them? Why are you talking about amnesty? Amnesty is not a blanket thing; it is not one-way traffic. The two sides would sit down to talk and offer some concessions respectively.

He then went further to say that he had Boko Haram in his government. If he has not been able to identify the Boko Haram whom he claimed were in his government, how can he identify the Boko Haram in the larger community? He is always contradicting himself. I wish he puts more thought process before he makes pronouncements.



Recently, some Ijaw chieftains – Asari Dokubo and Kingsley Kuku – issued statements to the effect that Nigeria will experience turbulence if Jonathan does not return as president in 2015. What do you have to say about this?

Absolute nonsense and rubbish! Asari Dokubo is related to me. He is my cousin. His mother and my mother were of the same father although the two wives were married under different marriage status and customs. Jonathan sees me as an enemy. I told Jonathan that Asari Dokubo and Clark are one million times more problem to him than Tam David-West who criticizes openly and constructively. The problem of Boko Haram is there. And more insurgent groups would spring up if care is not taken. When these people make Jonathan an Ijaw president, not Nigeria president, they create more problems. They are talking rubbish without facts. They call the Hausa/Fulani people parasites; they call Awolowo a criminal. Jonathan as president should not allow his ethnic group to insult other peoples because they are creating enemies for him and no friend. They are adding ethnic dimension to insurgency. This makes the situation more dangerous. Instead of them to be less belligerent in their utterances, they are making the other people to be more resistant. They are talking rubbish and nonsense. Asari Dokubo even said oil production will stop if he is arrested. He said he is the leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force. That group does not exist any longer. Asari Dokubo is leading nobody. The other day when he came to Port Harcourt in Rivers State, he hired people to follow him. I know a number of his former followers. The breakup of the group came when he took all the money from government and never gave them their share, and was rather buying property all over the world. So they left him. The group’s name has been changed but still with the same acronym. He told Jonathan he had 40,000 people. Jonathan never found out if he had four or four hundred people and he gave him millions.

The president should dissociate himself from these irresponsible utterances from his ethnic group. He could send his media outfit to please tell the country and the world that these people are not reflecting his views as the president of this country and of all Nigerians. Jonathan is president today not from only Ijaw votes. The total vote he had was about 24 per cent from his area. Jonathan is president today of some sort – illegal and unconstitutional. First, the Save Nigeria Group, SNG, founded and headed by a Yoruba man, Pastor Tunde Bakare and his compatriots forced the National Assembly, when it was reluctant to do the right thing as stipulated by the constitution, to do something. The person that said, look, we must take a stand as government because of the vacuum created by the person the long absence of the late President Yar’adua; the person that moved that motion in the then cabinet, is an Ibo woman, Dora Akunyili.

The person that finally moved the motion in the National Assembly to make him acting president was an Hausa man. There was no Ijaw input. So, can’t he sit down as a PhD holder and think and analyse the situation like an intellectual? Though PhD does not make you an intellectual but it makes you to be broadminded in analysing situations. Everything that made Jonathan what he is today as president, 24 per cent of it came from his ethnic group. The other inputs were from other ethnic groups. His being made acting president was illegal and unconstitutional because our constitution has no provision for acting president. The act was branded doctrine of necessity which has no provision in the constitution. He metamorphosed from acting to becoming the president. With all these considerations, it behoves him as president and an Ijaw man to ask members of his ethnic group to please not make things difficult for him. They should help him to solve the problems he is facing and not add more to them.

I’m more Ijaw than Clark. Clark cannot love Jonathan more than me. Clark is not even partial Ijaw, he is patch-patch Ijaw. When you say someone is partial, you are talking about half and half. Only his father is Ijaw. His mother and grandmother are Urhobo and Itsekiri. When Clark was studying in Britain, he was secretary of the Urhobo Progressive Union, not Ijaw Union.

When Clark and Dokubo talk, they are creating more problems for Jonathan. I don’t know Kingsley Kuku. When he accused Buhari of inciting people, he got it all wrong. Buhari never incited anybody. He only said defend your votes if they wanted to steal your votes. In fact, I would say election riggers should be killed because they are worse than armed robbers. If you have death penalty for armed robbers, election riggers must also have it. Election riggers are worse than armed robbers because they target the whole country not just individuals. Until the day we take proven election riggers and shoot them, there will be no more election rigging.

Asari Dokubo, Clark, Kuku and the rest of them are compounding Jonathan’s problem. He himself has been very docile not to stop them.

Maybe the president feels that on the long run, their utterances and actions would help him.

They cannot help him. Look, if in 2011, the Ijaw votes were 24 per cent, they would be less in 2015. And you cannot be president without the support of other ethnic groups. There cannot be any northern, western or southern president. There cannot be any Moslem or Christian president. The constitution is clear. You will not only win majority of the votes but you have to have 25 per cent in at least 24 states of the federation, that is two third of 36 states. So, Ijaw cannot make you president.

With all these crises that are raging in the South-South axis of the country – including the Bayelsa scenario when erstwhile Governor Sylvia was forced out of office, and now the case of Rivers State where Amaechi is under a lot pressure presumably from the presidency ….

It cannot be presumably. It is certainly from the presidency. Let President Jonathan himself deny that his hand is not there. It is the voice of Esau and the hand of Jacob.

Do you think Amaechi has not done anything wrong to bring the pressure on himself?

Not at all. I will come to that later. Every time they talk, they call Edwin Clark elder statesman. One can be an elder without being a statesman. Edwin Clark may be an elder because of biological age but I’m not sure he is a statesman. A statesman doesn’t talk like he talks. A statesman does not make pronouncements that divide the society. Also, Asari Dokubo’s recent statement that Ijaw people are violent is utter rubbish. The Ijaws are never violent people. He gave examples of the fact that we fought tribal or ethnic wars. He referred to the conflict over fishing rights. The Ijaws were never violent. If they were, the white people that came in through the south wouldn’t have been allowed in. All that is happening now in the South-south engineered by these and sometimes with Jonathan’s collusion or encouragement is making things more difficult for him. It is not endearing him to the bigger Nigerian society and the world.

And I’ve said it before: if all this is being done for Jonathan to be president in 2015, then 2015 has been lost in 2013. 2015 has been forfeited by the excesses and irresponsibility of 2013 coming from people close to him or by his acts of collusion or commission. Take the case of Bayelsa State, I don’t know Sylvia but when they had Kangaroo impeachment of Alamieyeseigha and Ladoja, I came out in the papers, saying the impeachments were illegal, unconstitutional, and null and void. I was vindicated by the Supreme Court. Now, what has Amaechi done to Jonathan? Amaechi is PDP. I had not been in any political party. Amaechi is Ikwerre. I am partly Ikwerre too. Buhari is a Fulani. I’m a die-hard Buhari supporter. I’m also a die-hard Amaechi supporter. I have no apology for saying I’m not in support of Jonathan. I can never be in support of Jonathan because he has not performed well. He has not carried himself well. He has not been able to control the situation. What did Amaechi do wrong to him? Rivers State gave Jonathan the highest number of votes. If the governor was against Jonathan, he couldn’t have got it. The child that forgets the hand that feeds him is not only a bad or wicked child, but also one that is digging his own grave. Amaechi is a solid supporter of Jonathan. And I’m close to Amaechi. He always speaks very glowingly of Jonathan. Whenever we discussed together, he would always remonstrate with me whether my articles were not too critical of Jonathan. And I would explain to him why I was doing what I was doing. I would tell him I was not doing against Jonathan; I’m doing it for us as Nigerians and Ijaw people. If Jonathan messes up there, an Ijaw man would not see that seat for over 60 years in our lifetime. So Amaechi does not deserve what they are doing to him.

The Minister State for Education, Nyesom Wike, who is now fronting for Jonathan, is the closest bossom friend of Amaechi. He was also Amaechi’s Chief of Staff before he became minister. So why are they treating Amaechi the way they are treating him? Jonathan is tilting at the windmill as Don Quixote in the book, The Man of La Mancha. Jonathan is seeing the windmill as enemy, a giant fighting him. He is tilting at an enemy that does not exist. In fact, he is creating more enemies for himself. Amaechi does not deserve what they are doing to him. Every measure has been put in place to deal with him. They are even planning to institute state of emergency against him. They have even brought into the state a fake mace. They are trying to do to him what they did to Alamieyeseigha. I was reading one book on war strategies. It says it is a bad general that opens war frontiers. He dissipates his energy. Sometimes, Jonathan is his own enemy.

Another topical issue is the merger. Obviously, if the merger works, an Ijaw man might not become the candidate.

I don’t care if an Ijaw man is not candidate. I care that a good Nigerian is candidate. I’ve said it before and I mean it: If my father contests against Buhari, – I’m not saying that Buhari is going to be the president , Buhari himself has said it, if the APC has more formidable candidate than himself, he would step down – I will vote against my father.

And talking about the candidacy of Buhari, some people believe he should leave the political space for much younger people. What do you think of this?

That is nonsense. Mandela (of South Africa) and Ronald Reagan (of USA) became presidents in their 70s. Mandela was president up to 80 something. So it is not about age. What is the guarantee that a younger person would do better? In Nigeria we have this nonsensical mindset that we need a younger person with degree. When Buhari met with Mandela, the Madiba said, look, you’ll be president. The story was published. He said he should not abandon the ambition. Mandela and Reagan were older than Buhari when they became president and spent their two terms of eight years. The criteria for candidacy should not be about age. It is irrelevant. Performance should be the criteria. Corruption and indiscipline are our major problems creating setback for us the most. Any candidate that is not corrupt; any candidate that is disciplined; he can be as old as Methuselah, I will not only support him, I will campaign for him to get Nigeria out of darkness. It is not about age or degree. People were jubilating that for the first time we had graduates in Yar’adua and Jonathan as the president and vice-president. Yar’adua has degree in Analytical Chemistry; Jonathan has degree in Hydro-Biology. I said rubbish, degrees don’t make leaders. Jimmy Carter of America had two PhDs in Nuclear Physics and Chemistry. Was he a better American president? Winston Churchill was among the worst in his class in Harrow, very dull in school. He was one of the greatest leaders of the 20th Century. Yar’adua and Jonathan never proved that degrees make better presidents.

The president of Nigeria should be a man of character; a man that can be trusted; a man that is not corrupt; a man that is disciplined; a man that believes in God not by mouth. Some of them go to church on Sunday; some go to mosque on Friday: some to babaalawos to look for miracles. They come into government to rape the country dry. They are not even ashamed. They have houses all over the place. People are suffering. They cannot be pay N8,000 minimum wage. Graduates are looking for driver’s job. Graduates are serving in the restaurants. If we are not yet a failed state, we are fast failing.

Some people believe that Jonathan, a South-south man, should be allowed to for a second term and that the Hausa Fulani should not always expect to always rule the country.

This is another case of what I call lazy intellectualism. First, does Jonathan have the right to go second term? I think the constitution allows him. The interpretation that he had been sworn in second term is contentious. First, he completed Yar’adua’s term. I don’t dislike him. I just don’t like the way he rules the country. I’ve told him I’ll never support him. I don’t need anything from him. What I need from him is good governance and consistency which he is not giving us. He should talk less with some rationality. He can only ask for a second term when the first time is glorious. He should act with clear conscience. He should go to the Redeemed Church and kneel down before the great man of God, and say God, I’ve done well. Can he say that? No! His performance in the first term has been woeful. Another issue is the allegation that he signed to rule for one term. Jonathan has to disprove this allegation with facts and figure.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/saturday-magazine/weekend-treat/interview/asari-dokubo-clark-are-problems-for-jonathan/

Speaker of Rivers Assembly Stripped Of Security Personnel

Posted: May 16, 2013 - 17:15

caption: Otelemaba Dan Amachree

By SaharaReporters, New York
The Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Mr. Otelemaba Dan Amachree, says that the Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, has unceremoniously withdrawn the police orderly and escort attached to him, and reiterated his call for the redeployment of the commissioner.

In a previous letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, he complained about a plot to by some persons to unleash mayhem in the State, including assassinating Governor Rotimi Amaechi and officials of the House.

“Recall that I have earlier expressed my fears about plans to withdraw Security Operatives from the Governor and top officials of the Rivers State Government, including me, making us vulnerable to attack by hoodlums,” he said in a statement just issued.“Now my fears are made worse by the recent murder of an Aide to Chief G. U. Ake, Mr. Eric Ezenekwe, at his Home Town in Erema, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Saharareporters learns that the Speaker has four security aides who were removed today. A source in Abuja also stated that the police and state security services have been told to withdraw the security of the governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi anytime from next week.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/speaker-rivers-assembly-stripped-security-personnel

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Anti-Corruption Network Writes Barack Obama Asking For Visa Ban On Jonathan Ministers Diezani, Adoke, And Orubebe

Posted: May 16, 2013 - 16:59

caption: Petroleum Resources minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke, Godsday Orubebe and AGF, Mohmammed Bello Adoke

By SaharaReporters, New York
The Anti-Corruption Network (ACN) today escalated the war over the non-war against corruption in Nigeria by sending a petition to United States President Barak Obama, citing the dangers of failing to check “corruption with impunity” in the country, and linking it with growing insecurity.

“We are deeply concerned that if this gravity of corrupt practices goes on unchecked, unpunished and unabated, it will definitely worsen the unpalatable security situation and challenges we are already facing which its root course could also be traceable to destructive impact of corruption,” the group said in the letter, dated May 16 and routed through the US Ambassador in Nigeria.

Citing the influence of globalization, ACN asserted that insecurity in one part of the world becomes insecurity to the whole, and economic quagmire in one part will also affect the whole, especially in a case such as Nigeria’s as the most populous black nation in the world and with the greatest influence among Africa nations.

It cited the case of Plateau State during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, when Governor Joshua Dariye was illegally impeached, stressing that since then, that State has been in turmoil.

“Now the same sage is happening in Rivers State, where the Police escorted only five Members of the House to perform a similar act,” the anti-corruption group said. “[Governor] Amaechi’s offence is that he is speaking out against injustices, oppression in the ruling class.”

Towards implementing the illegality in Rivers State, members of the House of Assembly are being lured with oil blocks, the petition disclosed. “We have also refused to be used by those in Government to carry out mass protest against the Governor based on fictitious documents to implicate the Governor of corruption. We are also determined to protect any progressive Governor or citizens of Nigeria who are being intimidated by the Presidency for standing for the masses, including the media.”

Drawing attention to the huge investment of the US and other western countries in Nigeria, it called on them to use their good influence to persuade Nigeria’s present political leadership to “truthfully, sincerely and constructively fight corruption and punish corrupt officials.”

On the menace of “corruption with impunity,” ACN drew attention to cases or indictments that involve several high-profile public officials, including:
• Diezani Allison-Madueke, the Minister of Petroleum Resources;
• Elder Godsday Orubebe, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs; and
• Mohammed Bello Adoke, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).
The petition also cited a variety of public documents and probes involving public bodies, such as:
• The KPMG Report, “which indicted the NNPC, PPPRA and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources of massive Corruption and lack of transparency;
• The Farouk Lawal Report of the House of Representative Investigative Committee, which “spoke elaborately of unprecedented Corruption between bureaucracy and the marketers of petroleum products;”
• Aig Imoukede Report, “which recommended refunds to the Government …yet the Honorable Minister of Finance, Mrs Okonjo Iweala one year after refunds has refused to tell Nigerians who refunded what and out of what as demanded by best practices in good governance and transparency;”
• Nuhu Ribadu Report, which “also spoke about unprecedented and scandalous Corruption in the petroleum Ministry and its Affiliated Agencies and parastatal;”
• NEITI Report, which “revealed that the NNPC is yet to remit #1.3 trillion Naira to the Federation account under the Chairmanship of Mrs. Deziani Alison Maduekwe… and that 600 million U.S dollars was withdrawn from the Joint Ventures Account with Chase Bank” and inexplicably squandered.

“It also revealed that 2.3 billion dollars was collected from Joint Ventures account and transferred to the NNPC headquarters for security reasons in the Niger Delta region,” the letter said. “We all know that the Ministry of Petroleum has no relationship whatsoever with defense issues, as all the security Agencies including the police are funded by Appropriation Act.”

ACN also recalled that in 2011, about 280 billion Naira was budgeted and appropriated for oil subsidy, but that the Government of President Jonathan “ended up spending over 2.3 trillion Naira, over 2 trillion Naira above appropriation and of course half of Nigeria total appropriation, describing it as “unprecedented in Nigeria history” and against the law, and all of them taking place under Mrs. Alision-Maduekwe.

Reviewing previous corruption cases that involved Ministers and a former Senate President who were publicly disciplined, ACN pointed out that even if all those cases were to be put together, they would be “nothing to be compared to the mountain of corruption” against Mrs. Alison-Maduekwe.”

It expressed regret that the Jonathan administration has not only ignored all such cases during his time, he even chose to grant pardon to such convicts as D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha who, it noted, is carrying an international warrant of arrest for money laundering and escape from the United Kingdom, a move that certainly boosts corruption with impunity.

ACN appealed to the United States and President Barack Obama to impress it upon the Nigerian Government and President Goodluck Jonathan to stand firm against corruption.

It also recommended that the visas of all indicted corrupt government officers and those of members of their immediate families be withdrawn, particularly for Petroleum Minister Alison-Maduekwe; AGF Adoke, Minister of Niger Delta Orubebe, former Governor of Kogi State Ibrahim Idris, former Managing Director of Oceanic Bank, Cecilia Ibru, and Justice Abubakar Talba, a judge of the Abuja High Court.

ACN’s letter comes at a particularly bad time for Mr. Jonathan, who has been strongly criticized by the United States lately over a number of issues. It also comes at a time the government is negotiating for Mr. Jonathan to visit the White House as a way of boosting his image as he prepares to run for president again in 2015.

On several occasions, including during visits of President Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo to Washington DC, the US has encouraged the Nigerian government to do something about Nigeria’s bourgeoning corruption industry. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also made stops in Nigeria in which she blasted growing corruption and the failure of Nigeria’s leadership to lead by example.

Last year, as Nigerians demanded he declare his assets, Mr. Jonathan famously declared, “I don’t give a damn.”



Full text of the letter:

ACN/NEC/CORRP./VOL 1/004
16th May, 2013

His Excellency
Mr. Barack Obama
The President
United States of America (U.S.A)
White House Washington D.C.

U.S.A

Through,

His Excellency

The Ambassador

Embassy of the United States of America

Diplomatic Zone

Abuja, Nigeria.



Your Excellency,

CORRUPTION WITH IMPUNITY AND INSECURITY IN NIGERIA

It is with absolute sense of responsibility duty and patriotism that we in the Anti-Corruption Network have deemed it necessary to draw your Excellency’s attention to the practices of Corruption with impunity that is ongoing in Nigeria under the present Administration. We are deeply concerned that if this gravity of corrupt practices goes on unchecked unpunished and unabated, it will definitely worsen the unpalatable security situation and challenges we are already facing which its root course could also be traceable to destructive impact of corruption.

We are conscious of the fact that in todays globalized world, insecurity in one part of the world is insecurity to the whole, economic quagmire in one part will also affect the whole, particularly in the case of Nigeria as the most populous black Nation in the world and as the greatest influence among Africa nations. It is in the light of the foregoing and taking into consideration. During Obasanjo’s era, Joshua Dariye of Plateau State, was impeached with less than the required number of Legislators, since then Plateau State has never been the same.

Now the same sage is happening in Rivers State, where the Police escorted only five Members of the House to perform similar act. Ameachi’s offence is that he is speaking out against injustices, oppression in the ruling class.

To further carry out the act Members of Rivers State House of Assembly are being lured with oil blocks. We have also refused to be used by those in Government to carry out mass protest against the Governor based on fictitious documents to implicate the Governor of corruption. We are also determined to protect any progressive Governor or citizens of Nigeria who is been intimidated by the Presidency for standing for the masses, including the media house.

The U.S.A huge investment in Nigeria and those of other Western Countries and others that we are calling on the U.S.A Government to use their good influence to call on our present political leadership to truthfully, sincerely and constructively fight Corruption, punish Corrupt officials and serve deterrence.

EXAMPLES OF THE CASES OF CORRUPTION WITH IMPUNITY

1) Mrs Daziani Allison Madueke: the Honorable Minister of Petroleum Resources, she has been indicted by five different investigative panel Committees reports at different time, yet she confidently remains in charge of the Ministry unperturbed.

2) The KPMG Report: Indicted the NNPC, PPPRA and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources of massive Corruption and lack of transparency.

3) The Farouk Lawal Report of the House of Representative Investigative Committee: Spoke elaborately of unprecedented Corruption between bureaucracy and the marketers of petroleum products. It is commonsensical as well as logical to observe that the marketers can not dip their hands into Government coffers to pay themselves without approval from NNPC, PPPRA, Minister of Petroleum, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) AND OF COURSE Minister of Finance. Unfortunately till date no Government Official in these Ministries and Agencies has been invited by the Anti-Graft Agencies or Police on these outrageous subsidy scandals.

4) Aig Imoukede Report: This report recommended refunds to the Government and indeed some refunds have been made, yet the Honorable Minister of Finance, Mrs Okonjo Iweala one year after refunds has refused to tell Nigerians who refunded what and out of what as demanded by best practices in good governance and transparency. Ideally, this nature of refund means indictment, yet no prosecution is ongoing talk less of jail.

5) Nuhu Ribadu Report: The Nuhu Ribadu report also spoke about unprecedented and scandalous Corruption in the petroleum Ministry and its Affiliated Agencies and parastatal.

6) NEITI Report: Revealed that the NNPC is yet to remit #1.3 trillion Naira to the Federation account under the Chairmanship of Mrs. Deziani Alison Maduekwe. It further revealed that 600 million U.S dollars was withdrawn from the Joint Ventures Account with Chase Bank and squandered on an inexplicable reason till date.

It also revealed that 2.3 billion dollars was collected from Joint Ventures account and transferred to the NNPC headquarters for security reasons in the Niger Delta region. We all know that the Ministry of Petroleum has no relationship whatsoever with defense issues, as all the security Agencies including the police are funded by Appropriation Act.

We recalled with great pain that in the year 2011 about 280 billion Naira was budgeted and appropriated for oil subsidy, however, the Government of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan ended up spending over 2.3 trillion Naira, over 2 trillion Naira above appropriation and of course half of Nigeria total appropriation. This is unprecedented in Nigeria history and against the extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. All of these took place under Mrs. Deziani Alision Maduekwe supervision as the Minister of Petroleum.

(2) We have chronicled and reported cases of Corruption in the Ministry of Niger Delta Headed by Elder Godsday Orubebe.

(3) Corruption in the Ministry of Power

(4) Corruption by Honorable Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke.

THE POSITION OF THE PUBLIC POLICY TRADITION

The Public Policy Tradition recommends Suspension for any Government official indicted in cases of Corruption. We are deeply disturbed under the present Administration headed by President GoodLuck Ebele Jonathan, this act has not been applied afore mentioned glaring cases of Corruption. Undoubtedly, the administration is rather encouraging, shielding and promoting corrupt practices.

THE PUBLIC POLICY TRADITION APPLICATION IN THE PAST

1) Chief Sunday Afolabi, former Minister of Internal Affairs during the President Obasanjo regime was removed over the National Identity card scam

2) Professor Fabian Osuji, former Minister of Education was also removed over allegation of Corruption.

3) Chief Adolphus Wabara, former President of the Senate, Federal Republic of Nigeria was removed over bribery allegation

4) Professor Grange and Architect Gabriel Aduka, former Minister of Health and Minister of State for Health respectively were both removed from office on allegation of Corruption, to mention but few.

The Corruption cases against these mentioned Minister and the Senate President combined are nothing to be compared to the mountain of Corruption against Dezaini Alison Maduekwe alone (Minister of Petroleum) not to talk of others yet the Jonathan administration have turned a blind eyes to all cases of corruptions under him, instead President Jonathan went ahead to grant pardon to Mr. D.S.P. Alamesiagha who is carrying an international Warrant of Arrest for money laundry and escape from United Kingdom in a move that certainly boost Corruption with impunity. Major Magaji a man who committed Sodomy had sex with four men and was sentence to jail by the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. Supreme Court in her judgment described the act by Major Magaji as brazen bizzare and barbaric, yet he got President Pardon.

Our Appeal:

1) We want to seriously appeal to the Government of the United State and President Barack Obama to use his good office and diplomatic influence to impress it upon the Nigerian Government and President Goodluck Jonathan to stand firm against Corruption.

2) We recommend that all indicted Corrupt Government officers visas and members of their immediate families be withdraw particularly for the following officers;

v Deziani Alison Maduekwe – Minister of Petroleum Resources.

v Mohammend Bello Adoke – Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation.

v Elder Godsday Orubebe – Minister of Niger Delta.

v Alhaji Ibrahim Idris – Former Governor of Kogi State.

v Cecilia Ibru – Former M.D. Oceanic Bank PLC.

v Justice Abubakar Talba – Judge of the Abuja High Court.

We sincerely appreciate the great sacrifice you will have to make in reading through this lengthy letter of ours and the attached evidences of Corruption documents. We however hope that will deserving attention in the common interest of peace, political stability and security of our two countries.

Accept please the assurances of our high esteem.

Yours Sincerely,



Otunba Dino Melaye

Executive Secretary


http://saharareporters.com/news-page/anti-corruption-network-writes-barack-obama-asking-visa-ban-jonathan-ministers-diezani-ado

Anti-Corruption Network Protest At The US Embassy Asking For Visa Ban On Jonathan Ministers Diezani, Adoke, And Orubebe

The Anti-Corruption Network (ACN) today escalated the war over the non-war against corruption in Nigeria by sending a petition to United States President Barak Obama, citing the dangers of failing to check “corruption with impunity” in the country, and linking it with growing insecurity.

The group led by a former house of representatives member Dino Melaye led protesters to the US Embassy in Abuja to drop a letter demanding that President Obama revoke the visas of key officials of President Goodluck Jonathan's regime and their families.

“We are deeply concerned that if this gravity of corrupt practices goes on unchecked, unpunished and unabated, it will definitely worsen the unpalatable security situation and challenges we are already facing which its root course could also be traceable to destructive impact of corruption,” the group said in the letter, dated May 16 and routed through the US Ambassador in Nigeria.


http://saharareporters.com/gallery/anti-corruption-network-protest-us-embassy-asking-visa-ban-jonathan-ministers-diezani-adoke-

Lagos begins free knee surgery
On May 14, 2013 · In News
10:33 pm


BY Chioma Obinna

Lagos State Government, Tuesday, announced the commencement of free total knee replacement surgery at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, for the less-privileged indigenes.

Already, 12 total knee replacement surgeries had been done in the last three years.

Addressing journalists at a presentation ceremony of the latest beneficiaries of the exercise, Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, explained that the state embarked on the exercise because of the high numbers of patients who applied to the state government for financial assistance to travel abroad for such surgery.

He said: “Lagos thought it wise to discontinue the trend of taking our resources abroad for surgery.

“By starting this exercise, we would not only discourage patronage of overseas treatment, but we would build local capacity for surgical procedures.”

“The state government, through this effort, would be saving a lot of the funds that would otherwise have gone to India and other places abroad aside performing the roles of caring for its citizens.”


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/05/lagos-begins-free-knee-surgery/

Hoodlums raze Rivers LG as police vacate premises

May 15, 2013 by Chukwudi Akasike, Port Harcourt


BARELY 24 hours after security operatives vacated the secretariat of the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, suspected hoodlums on Tuesday razed a building in the premises.

The PUNCH learnt that the hoodlums threw dynamite into a building housing the council’s generating set at about 10am. The secretariat gets its supply of electricity from the attacked generator house.

The fire that resulted from the bombing of the generator house reportedly burnt down the whole building.

Chief of Staff to the Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Mr. Tony Okocha, who visited the council after the incident, described it as the handiwork of saboteurs.

Okocha said some names had already been mentioned as suspects to security operatives for investigation.

He said, “It is just the power generating house that is in flames. From what I gathered, the fire was as a result of a dynamite thrown inside the generator house.

“The police was ordered to vacate the council, but should ensure that a minimal security was put in place. From what I can see, the police all left the place.

“I have lost confidence in the police. It is unbelievable that this is happening because the battle appears to have shifted to between the government and the police. Some names of people who masterminded the attack on the council have already been mention.”

A High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, the state capital, had on Monday ordered policemen guarding the council to vacate the place.

The court directive came on the heels of the suspension of the council chairman, Mr. Timothy Nsirim, for alleged financial impropriety and the consequent inauguration of Mr. Chikodi Dike as the caretaker committee chairman of the council.

The policemen, who had sealed-off the local government council, vacated the premises on Monday in obeisance to the court order.

Amaechi and the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers have been at loggerheads over the suspension of Nsirim.

Also, for passing the resolution to suspend the council boss, the PDP had announced the suspension of 27 lawmakers in the Rivers State House of Assembly. The House has 32 members.

A court ruling has however nullified the suspension.

When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Angela Agabe, confirmed the incident and added that the police had vacated the council based on a court order.

Agabe explained that the state police command had deployed some policemen in the area to the place to forestall a recurrence of the incident.

“It is a generator house that was affected. The court said police should vacate the place. We have, however, posted two or three policemen to the council to forestall any recurrence of the fire incident,” the police spokesperson said.

http://www.punchng.com/news/hoodlums-raze-rivers-lg-as-police-vacate-premises/