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'Apologize for Misleading Nigerians on Anti-Corruption Fight,’ ACN Tells President Jonathan

Posted: October 3, 2012 - 04:11

By SaharaReporters, New York
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to apologize unreservedly to Nigerians for misleading them on the blunder concerning the alleged positive rating given to the country by the global anti-corruption body, Transparency International.

In a statement issued in Lagos today by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, ACN expressed shock and sadness that the President of Africa's most populous nation and the continent's second largest economy can make such a frivolous claim on an issue of global concern as corruption.

''Transparency International has denied claims by President Jonathan, in his 52nd independence anniversary speech on Monday, that the global body has rated Nigeria as the second most improved country in the fight against corruption,'' the statement said, noting that the ACN’s demand for an apology came after it saw a copy of Transparency International's response to inquiries on the President's claim.

“Transparency International does not have a recent rating or report that places Nigeria as the second most improved country in the fight against corruption,” the body said in response to enquiry by Premium Times.

''In the 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures perceived levels of public sector corruption, Nigeria scored 2.4 on a scale where 0 means highly corrupt and 10 means very clean. It was ranked 143 out of 183 countries.”

ACN said that in addition to apologizing to all Nigerians for the embarrassment, the President must immediately kick-start an investigation into the source of a claim that has exposed his Administration and the entire country to global ridicule.

Furthermore, the President, who was apparently trying to showcase the 'achievements' of his administration in the fight against corruption, has now raised doubts about the authenticity of other claims he made in the anniversary speech, the party noted.

It said: ''Among other claims, the President had said that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 7.1 per cent on average; that his Administration's Investment Climate Reform Programme has helped to attract over N6.8 trillion local and foreign direct investment commitments, and that Nigeria is ranked first in the top 5 host economies for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inAfrica, accounting for over 20 per cent of total FDI flows into the continent.”

It stated that in view of the fact that the President's claim of positive rating for Nigeria in the anti-corruption fight has been debunked, it is logical for Nigerians to doubt the truth in the other claims, and indeed in the entire speech.

“This is very sad for the Jonathan Administration, because if the bond of trust between the government and its citizens is broken, the government's credibility suffers and, without credibility, any government is not worth its name,'' ACN said.

The party said if the President fails to act quickly to unearth the source of such a spurious claim and ensure it does not recur, he risks a bigger embarrassment from officials who may want to tweak facts and figures to justify their positions.

''In the end, the responsibility for any inaccuracy in any speech by the President rests squarely on his shoulders,'' it said.

It would be recalled that during a worship service at the National Christian Centre in Abuja on Sunday, President Jonathan attracted widespread mockery and laughter when he said that he is almost second to none in combatting corruption.

“Our commitment to the fight against corruption is second to that of America’s commitment,” he told the shocked congregation. “We are very commitment to it and everybody knows.”

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/%E2%80%98apologize-misleading-nigerians-anti-corruption-fight%E2%80%99-acn-tells-president-jonathan

Presidency probes alleged lie in Jonathan’s Independence speech

October 3, 2012 by Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja 30 Comments

SOME of President Goodluck Jonathan’s aides may be in trouble for reportedly putting false information in the 52nd Independence anniversary speech of the President.

Jonathan in his 52nd Independence Day broadcast told Nigerians that the global corruption watch body, Transparency International, rated Nigeria second after United States in anti-corruption efforts.

The claim has been found to be untrue with many accusing Jonathan of telling a lie.

In fact, TI has reportedly denied issuing such a report.

Furious at the development, the President has reportedly ordered a probe to discover the source of the misinformation.

“In its latest report, Transparency International noted that Nigeria is the second most improved country in the effort to curb corruption. We will sustain the effort in this direction with an even stronger determination to strengthen the institutions that are statutorily entrusted with the task of ending this scourge,” Jonathan had told the nation on October 1.

The President had made a similar claim at an interdenominational church service held on Sunday as part of the activities marking the nation’s 52nd Independence anniversary.

But an online publication, Premium Times, reports that TI refuted the claim when it was contacted.

“Transparency International does not have a recent rating or report that places Nigeria as the second most improved country in the fight against corruption,” Premium Times quoted the organisation to have said in a mail.

A source said since he had based his speech on information made available to him by his aides, the President promptly ordered the probe of the source of the claim.

An insider in the Presidency told The PUNCH on Tuesday that the President’s media handlers met on the issue.

They were said to have directed one of the presidential aides, Mr. Reno Omokri, to probe the source of the false claim.

Already, Omokri had reportedly concluded his findings which showed that the piece of information was lifted from a publication in the BusinessDay of September 12, 2012 edition.

Curiously, the memo in which Omokri reported his findings to other aides had found its way to the websites of some online publications on Tuesday.

The memo was also published on the website of the Ministry of Information, http://www.fmi.gov.ng/, as a rejoinder under the headline, “Mr. President’s statement was based on notorious facts.”

In the memo, Omokri who signed simply as Reno, said the President’s claim was based on a newspaper report.

“On this issue, the media published their synopsis of the most recent Transparency International report and BusinessDay, a well respected newspaper with a bias for business reporting, in a headline on the 12th of September 2012 with the title “FG’s anti-corruption initiative impacts Nigeria’s global perception” said, ‘The survey on global corruption perceptions for 2011 versus 2001 showed that the third best improvement in the world was in Nigeria, with its score improving by 1.5 points.’

“For a section of the opposition to now cast aspersions on the integrity of the President when he relied on notorious facts (anything published in the press and which remains unchallenged is a notorious fact) is proof positive of the now obvious fact that they lack ideas on how to move Nigeria forward and would rather snipe at efforts of the President to move the nation forward for which any patriot would do.”

Official reactions normally bear the full names and designations of the authors of such documents.

Our correspondent learnt that the development had caused panic in the Presidency with fear of dismissal already gripping some top officials.

In his reaction, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, told journalists on Tuesday that Nigerians should focus more on thePresident’s message.

He said, “The President’s message is that this administration is tackling corruption. The revelations from the pension scam and the fuel subsidy scam as well as the sanitation of activities at the ports all came to be because the President sanctioned them.

“People should focus on the message, namely that a lot of progress has been made and is still being made to tackle corruption in the system.

“There are lot of people outside there who mislead Nigerians that nothing is being done. These people tackle individuals.

“What the President did was that he fired hope and promised his rededication to the service of the nation. There are those who are looking for a way to water down the message.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/presidency-probes-alleged-lie-in-jonathans-independence-speech/

Happy Independence Day From Lord Lugard By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo
Posted: October 1, 2012 - 15:35
Posted by siteadmin


Columnist: Correct Me If I Am Right By Rudolf Okonkwo

Two M16 agents marshaled me into this exquisite country-styled villa in East London. The lawns leading to the family building was carefully trimmed. Along the path were wild exotic flowers from various remote parts of the world. Inside the living room were pictures that revealed everything foreign to England. I looked at paintings on the wall and saw assorted paintings of African wild animals. I saw sculptures of African gods and goddesses, some with droplets of blood still on their foreheads. The carpet was inviting but obscure in origin. The smell of tropical spices overwhelmed my nostrils. That was where I had my first meeting with Lord Frederick Lugard in between cups of tea and coffee.

Below is an excerpt from our discussion.

Question: How have you been all these years?

Lugard: I’m doing pretty well. Old age makes one reflect. Sometimes, events humble me, you know. The English men of my time used to think we had a monopoly of knowledge, but events have proved us wrong.

Question: You must have had enough time to reflect on British adventures in Africa. Is there anything you wish to share?

Lugard: You know, our initial goal apart from serving the Crown was to create a world in our own image. We had wanted to bring light to the Dark Continent but it did not look like we achieved that.

Question: Could it be that you are regretting the adventure?

Lugard: Not really. For one, we integrated Africa into the world setting, even though it is lagging behind once again.

Question: Was the whole Imperial project in Africa a Whitehall design to react to the challenge the British Empire faced from France and Germany? Was it all an attempt to save India, which was the biggest money making colony for Britain?

Lugard: It is easy to say so in hindsight. But for those of us who were involved, there was something nationalistic, something evangelical, and something romantic in all that happened.

Question: Was it true that you were deprived of fund by the Treasury in London, which made it impossible for you to undertake necessary development projects? That in your effort to meet profit margin expected of you, you ran an inefficient government structure that encouraged corruption?

Lugard: I do not know what books you have been reading, but I know that we did all we could if you consider the resources at our disposal to embark on our noble goal of civilizing the natives for their own good.

Question: Africa, you know, never asked to be integrated. Africans were in harmony with their natural environment before you guys came…

Lugard: To some extent, that may be true, but it was inevitable that if Africa refused to meet the world, the world was bound to meet Africa. That was just what happened. That was what we accomplished. It was divine.

Question: But must you cause so much destruction in the process? Must you destroy so many things; bring down so many fences, fences you knew nothing about why they were up in the first place?

Lugard: You do not blame us in this absolute way. If you look at historical realities, you will understand that explorers who delved into unknown territories when faced with the unexpected must enforce their reality on the new society. That is the survival instinct of man.

Question: So does it mean that you regret the destruction of Africa’s innocence by the Europeans?

Lugard: No! Africa was not that innocent when we met her. Remember that the Arabs got there before us and in some parts of Africa, the Romans and the Greek had come and gone, leaving behind their footprints.

Question: Now, let me go to Nigeria, which you had a lot to do with including the amalgamation of the Southern and Northern protectorates and getting your girlfriend to name the territory Nigeria. Based on what is going on in Nigeria today, do you have any regrets?

Lugard: No! I do not feel any guilt at all. Don’t assume that we were gods. Even though we were English, we were not exactly gods. We did not envisage all the events that took place from 1914 to 1960. First of all, we never knew the empire would not last forever. Secondly, we never knew you guys would chase the Europeans out too early.

Question: We chased the Europeans out too early? Is it not more like too late?

Lugard: I said too early. Without the surprises of the 20th century, all of Africa would have been like South Africa. There would have been a significant population of Europeans all over Africa. I do think you guys need us to maintain an equilibrium, which I agree we disrupted in the first place.

Question: You brought your system of government to Nigeria with no attempt to incorporate indigenous political arrangements. Wasn’t that dumb?

Lugard: We could not integrate something we did not understand. Remember that in places like Northern Nigeria, we did little disruption of the prominent order we met. We left it virtually intact, you could even say that we strengthened it - which shows that our interest was not necessarily to cause any upset. We only embarked on such rearrangement when the existing order is in conflict with the interest of the Imperial Majesty.

Question: You belonged to what they called the Sandhurst School of Thought. In fact, you were a product of Sandhurst. So obviously, you have something to do with the establishment of this tradition of Nigeria held captive by Sandhurst graduates. What do they teach you guys in that school?

Lugard: Sandhurst is a fine institution of higher learning in the best of all military traditions. It has consistently produced courageous men who had influenced the course of world history in no small ways.

Question: You were born in Madras, India in 1858. You served in the military before you went to Uganda where you practiced your own style of colonialism. You arrived in the protectorates of Northern Nigeria and pressured the emirates to accept British protection. You introduced your signature policy of “indirect rule”. And you lobbied the colonial office to amalgamate the Southern and Northern protectorates into one country. What was you primary source of motivation?

Lugard: What answer will I give that will satisfy you? Do we say “evil genius” in me?

Question: That is not funny at all. Anyway, how do you view the current Boko Haram crises in Nigeria? Why should the blame not be brought squarely to your feet?

Lugard: Like I said before, you all chased us out too early that we could not finish the Nigerian project. And there you are, for 52 years, totally at a loss as to what to do.

Question: So what will you do if you were still there?

Lugard: Are you asking us to come back?

Question: Hell, No!

Lugard: I thought as much. African men and their pride. I bet 100 years from now; you guys will still be blaming colonialism for your problems. I wonder when you will begin to take personal responsibility. You don’t see England blaming the Romans for our problem. You don’t see America blaming the British. But all you cry babies will continue to point accusing fingers on England. Believe me, we were just a force of nature. We did all we could to fulfill what was written. As for you guys, you just have to go and finish the job.

Question: We are preparing for a Sovereign National Conference to let all ethnic groups in Nigeria to come together and decide the kind of country we want. Something you guys should have done first before dumping us all into one nation.

Lugard: Good luck to you all.

Question: If we succeed, we shall get all of Africa to copy our example. By so doing, we shall reverse what your people did during the Scramble for Africa.

Lugard: I like that attitude. I tell you one thing though; the Western world is tired. That fowl has gushed out all the blood it has. We have virtually exhausted all we can give to the world. So it is over to you guys. It will be nice if you can pull that off. I see more Redeemed Christian Church of God pastors in America than all the Irish priest that came to Africa yet they have not had the kind of impact in America that the Irish priests had in Africa. Doesn’t that tell you something? If you look at it, there are more Africans in Europe at present than all the English men and women who went to Africa. Also in America, there are more Africans than all the Britons who were in Africa at any given time. So you guys can do it if you really want. You guys can take over the world and show us what you have got.

Question: That is so gracious of you.

Lugard: One thing I have learnt over the years is the ability to gladly listen to any fool. It is an indispensable skill in politics. If I had it in me 100 years ago, I would have done a better job in Nigeria. Honestly, I thought you guys were just fools who shouldn’t be listened to. Now I know better.

Question: So will you recommend reparation to Africa for all those years of abuse and exploitation?

Lugard: There you go again. Looking backward rather than looking forward.

Question: Didn’t our elders ever tell you that those who did not know where the rain began to fall on them would never know where it stopped?

Lugard: You guys pretend as if whatever is it that we did to Africa was the worst thing that ever happened to a people. Obviously, you are unaware of what the Romans did around the world. Ever had about the Crusades? If you want to talk about massacre, people were massacred. If you want to talk about cultural destruction, forced conversion to foreign religion, it all happened during the Crusades. Ever asked yourself how English people became Christians? Or do you think Christ was an English man? Europe you must know has had its own share of barbarism. The world changes. Forces come and exert their impact on the world and leave the stage for others. It has been like this all through the ages. The job of a people is to cast their spell while they can. That way they must have contributed their own quota to humanity.

Question: If you believe what you just said, why then are you all in the West putting us down, putting chains round our ankles?

Lugard: The goal is for you to free yourselves and soar. No power on earth ever relinquished its authority without a fight. The English fought the French to the last, remember? And we are doing all we can to resist the Americans and the Chinese. In this competitive life, nobody will just hand over the touch to another without a fight. You have to go and get it.

Question: The generic colonialism you helped create has moved from palm oil to crude oil. What is next?

Lugard: Brain oil. In fact, that is already taking place. And you are a living proof of that. Instead of you to go home and change your society, you are here looking for Lord Lugard, hoping to pick on his brain and see what he’s got. You cannot stand your own people but you are eager to blame an English man who crossed many rivers and seas to come and bring light to a Dark Continent. You guys have always wanted the ball in your court. The ball is now in your court and you are all running away in doves. Running to stadiums all over the world where the game is over and the celebration is taking place. What a show of courage! What a shame! It is a shame that you follow Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and all the English football teams but none of your teams. You wear our designer clothes, drive our cars, send your best kids to our schools, speak our language, come to our hospitals to die and yet have the audacity to complain.

Question: Lookia man, I don’t want to hear any more of this. I didn’t come here for a lecture from you.

Lugard: Sorry sir. What else do you want me to say? Oh, I remember, Happy Independence Day.

(A version of this piece was first published in 2000.)


http://saharareporters.com/column/happy-independence-day-lord-lugard-rudolf-ogoo-okonkwo

Military, others evacuate 76,000 Anambra flood victims
October 2, 2012 by Emmanuel Obe, Awka 100 Comments
Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State (fourth right) with others at the flooded area of Osamalla, Anambra State ... on Monday.
| credits:
More than 76,000 victims of the devastating floods that hit about 200 communities in five local government areas of Anambra State are being evacuated from their homes to relief camps in Onitsha and Nteje.

The evacuation came as reports said two persons, a woman and a boy, died at Ogbaru following the flooding that submerged their homes on Sunday night.

Governor Peter Obi led the evacuation exercise on Monday as he abandoned the Independence anniversary parade review in Awka and headed for Ogbaru Local Government Area whose communities are the hardest hit in the flooding.

Personnel of the Navy, Army, Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety Corps, the Red Cross Society of Nigeria, the Peace Corps and other voluntary agencies were involved in the exercise.

According to a worker of the state Emergency Management Agency, no community in Ogbaru local government, which lies along the River Niger, is spared in the disaster.

He said the flooding paralysed communication and economic activities in the communities.

Meanwhile, many of the victims are being evacuated to the 302 Artillery Regimernt, Onitsha, where the army and other emergency agencies are on hand to resettle them.

Other victims particularly from Ayamelum, Anambra East and Anambra West local government areas are being moved to Nteje, headquarters of Oyi Local Government Area.

But according to the Executive Director of SEMA, Dr. Austin Ijezie, more camps were being opened at the Onitsha South Stadium and other areas to accommodate more victims.

He said, “Twelve buses and trucks have just brought in people to Onitsha and many more loads of them are coming. The situation is getting beyond what the state government alone and SEMA can handle. It is an evolving catastrophe.”

Ijezie, however, said many of the victims were reluctant to move from their ancestral homes.

He said, “Such people are so attached to their homes that they do not want to move.”

Senator Andy Uba, representing Anambra South in the National Assembly, visited the victims at their Onitsha and Ogbaru camps.

http://www.punchng.com/news/military-others-evacuate-76000-anambra-flood-victims/

L–R: President, Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor; Vice-President Namadi Sambo; President Goodluck Jonathan; Senate President, David Mark; and a former VP, Dr. Alex Ekwueme at the cutting of the 52nd Independence Anniversary cake, in Abuja ... on Monday.

L–R: President, Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor; Vice-President Namadi Sambo; President Goodluck Jonathan; Senate President, David Mark; and a former VP, Dr. Alex Ekwueme at the cutting of the 52nd Independence Anniversary cake, in Abuja ... on Monday.

Akeredolu ‘ll transform Ondo, says Fashola
Posted by: Damisi Ojo and Leke Akeredolu, Akure Posted date: October 02, 2012 In: Featured, News | comment : 40

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola yesterday said he is optimistic that Ondo State will witness a rapid transformation in all sectors, if the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) standard bearer, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, is voted into office on October 20.

Akeredolu will create employment opportunities for youths, he said.

He said the masses are lamenting that the Olusegun Mimiko administration has failed to provide the basic amenities.

Fashola, who spoke at the ACN State Secretariat in Akure during a prayer session organised by the Muslim chapter of the party, assured the indigenes that the ACN government would not betray them.

The Lagos State Governor described Akeredolu as a trustworthy person, adding that he defended them at the election tribunals because of the injustice by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He said Akeredolu was part of the team that retrieved the mandate of the party from the oppressors.

He said: “I’m glad to be in this state today to canvass for votes and mobilise the people to support ACN and its candidate, Akeredolu. He has demonstrated that he is capable of wiping away tears from the eyes of the masses because in the past he fought for injustice and defended the masses. He led the legal team that restored the stolen mandates of the Ekiti, Osun, Edo and Ondo governors.

“He will never betray the people and the party. Ondo people will smile during his tenure. Today, ACN remains the only party that has changed the lives of the masses in the country. I hope you are aware of the transformation projects already executed in Lagos, what Governor Adams Oshiomhole is doing in Edo. At present, Ekiti State is witnessing rapid transformation. I am delighted that my neighbour, the Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, has built a bridge and a six-lane road. None of these states has the resources Ondo has.

“The current administration in the state has enough resources to change the living standard of the masses, but it has failed to do so. The governor has failed to provide jobs for the youths.

“I was disappointed when I read in a newspaper that the ruling Labour Party government promised to revamp the moribund industries in the state, if the people vote for him. My question is, what has he been doing in the last three and a half years? This is political propaganda. ACN will never make a promise without fulfilling it.

“Ondo has oil, gas and cocoa. This state is the pillar of cocoa production in the Southwest. As at now, the state should have been producing chocolates for export. By initiating this, there will be employment opportunities for the people. “In Lagos, we have engaged our people through the creation of jobs. Over 7,000 people have been employed at the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA), 17,000 people have benefited from our skill acquisition programme and they are now independent, feeding their families. I don’t know why Ondo’s own is different.

“ACN under the leadership of Akeredolu, popularly called Aketi, will revamp the moribund industries established by the leaders of our party such as the late Chief Adekunle Ajasin and Chief Adebayo Adefarati. Akeredolu will never betray you, he is committed to the development of the state and I am sure during his regime, Ondo will witness rapid transformation because he knows the blueprint of the ACN. Our blueprint is transformation and creation of job opportunities for the people.”

Akeredolu described Fashola as the “skipper of all ACN Governors,” adding that it was his achievements in Lagos that created the channel which ACN used in taking over other states in the Southwest.

The ACN candidate, who was accompanied by his wife, Chioma, urged the party members to turn out en masse for the senatorial district rally that would come up in Ikare, Ondo and Ore from today.

“After the senatorial campaign, please go back to your wards and units to mobilise the people to vote for the ACN on the election day,” Akeredolu said.

The Chief Imam of Qaulieayah Central Mosque at Ore in Odigbo Local Government, Sheik Aliyu Balogun Ibrahim and Alfa Akintuyi Azeez Jamiu predicted victory for the ACN.

They urged Akeredolu not to neglect the people if he wins the election.

Dignitaries at the event included the Acting Chairman of the party, Chief Noah Adesoji, Senator Ajayi Boroffice, the Director-General of the Aketi Campaign Organisation, Chief Tayo Alasoadura, Ifedayo Abegunde and Joseph Ajatta.

Others are Tayo Abidakun, Olatunji Oshati, the treasurer of the party, Ade Adetimehin, Femi Adekanmbi, the State Women’s Leader, Erelu Modupe Johnson and Youths’ Leader, Enas Mohammed.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/akeredolu-ll-transform-ondo-says-fashola/

Victims drink from River Niger, sleep on bare floor
September 29, 2012 by Fidelis Soriwei 3 Comments


Fatimah Idris, a 25yr-old mother of three from Edimose, Lokoja, is among the 520 occupants being quartered at the Kabawa Primary School flood camp in the Kogi State capital.

The young woman, who like the others in the camp, has lost virtually all her possessions to the raging flood, has spent the past four days in difficult conditions in the camp.

Idris and her three children sleep on the bare floor in the night without any prevention from mosquito bites in the open classroom now converted to an emergency room.

“We were brought to this place because we have no place to go to,” Idris laments. “We lost our house in the village. The flood has taken over the entire village and we lost everything.

“As you can see, we have nothing left. We want the government to come to our aid. It is true that they are feeding us, but we need more assistance; even when we leave here, we have nowhere to go.”

Her story is similar to those of several others in the camp. Reluctantly, Margaret Ekeh, 65, an Isoko indigene from Delta State who has lived all her life in the riverine community of Natako, Lokoja Local Government, talks about her predicament.

The old woman looked vacantly into the air as she laments the loss of her prized items – her fishing nets – to the floods, which arose from unusually heavy rains and the release of water from the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon, and the Shiroro, Jebba and Kainji Dam in Nigeria.

“My children and I – three of them – are all here,” she states. “We do fishing; that is our work. We sleep on rice shacks and on the bare floor. I sleep on that rice shack there; others who don’t have anything simply spread their clothes and sleep on it. That is how we sleep.

“We need mattresses and blankets in the rooms to reduce the suffering in this place. We want the government to give us money and used clothes to help us while we are here. We’ve nothing left for us. We cannot go to the river to fish again because the water has taken away all our nets. If government gives us money and provides nets for us, we will go and get fish from the river.”

Saturday PUNCH investigations show that students from humble backgrounds, who got caught in the disaster, have temporarily suspended their academic activities.

Among the students held up in the camp is Ismail Abdul, 28, who is studying business administration in the Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja and Philomena James, 14, from Onumaye village.

Idirs, Ekeh, Abdul, James and the others in the relief camp constitute one large family of people who have lost their happiness, joy, comfort and even their source of livelihood to the raging waters of the River Niger.

Virtually all of them who fought off melancholy to field questions from this reporter. They all had one tale or the other to share. Their demands come in their torrents like the unyielding rains that increase the water level that has replaced their joy with misery and agony. Theirs is one long unending story of lamentations.

Their discomfort, the poor sanitary conditions at the camp, all combine to threaten the humanitarian efforts being given by the operatives of the National Emergency Management Agency, its state counterpart and the men of the International Red Cross.

The combined team of NEMA, SEMA, the Nigerian Police and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps were seen putting up their best to ensure the maintenance of law and order in the camp.

Investigation showed that destitution was fast giving way to desperation and loss of temperament as the victims separated themselves along ethnic lines to spoil for a confrontation at the slightest provocation. Our correspondent saw the police team mediating in a conflict involving some women.

The Head of the Red Cross Team, Mr. Idris Angulu, says that those in charge of the camp had observed that the people are sharply divided along ethnic conflicts.

“You know that it is really difficult to keep them here without issues,” says Angulu. “They are not from the same ethnic group; they are from different places such as Kotonkarufi, Bashan, Ogunma, Agatu, Isoko, Ebira, and others.

“And you know before this unfortunate disaster happened, they used to have ethnic disputes among themselves and because of that they don’t sleep in the same room or eat in the same place.

“So, we have to separate them. For instance, Gande people have issues with Otenerodo; Isoko have issues with Ibira, Agatu and Ibira too and others.”

Although the camp is yearning for urgent attention from the government and public-spirited individuals, it was learnt that security maintenance is adequate. The Search and Rescue Officer of NEMA in charge of the camp, Mr. Timothy Tile, said that a combined team of the police, the NSCDC and the local vigilante in Lokoja was providing security cover for the embattled people.

He said that while NEMA and the Kogi State Government donated some items to the camp which were being distributed to the people. He stated that the DG of NEMA had directed distribution of more items for Friday.

Without doubt, the historical town of Lokoja is a besieged city. A sizeable percentage of buildings in the town, which rightly prides itself as the confluence city, is submerged by the very confluence which has yielded its vast natural resources to the sustenance of the Kogi State capital for years. The wait for normalcy and restoration promises to be very long with the bold indications of rising water level. This is as the roads of Lokoja are playing host to canoes and speedboats with scores of rooftops almost by the destructive flood.

The raging flood has also brought to its knees the highest tourism centre and the most beautiful hotel in Lokoja, the Confluence Beach Hotel. It was learnt that the hotel was the choice hotel to the top businessmen, rich travellers, government officers within and outside Kogi.

The multibillion naira hotel is strategically located to give a clear view of the meeting point between the River Niger and the River Benue. Even though the Federal Government is making a sustained effort to open up an alternative route around the flooded sections of the Abuja-Lokoja Road, the submerged city would have to wait on the compassion of River Niger and maybe Benue, to recover from the current siege.

http://www.punchng.com/news/victims-drink-from-river-niger-sleep-on-bare-floor/

Ekeh with displaced children at the Kabawa Primary School Camp in Lokoja...on Thursday.
credits: Sam Adeko

Four Northern Governors Rob Their States Of N1 Billion For PDP Chairman Bamanga Tukur
Posted: September 26, 2012 - 04:29
Posted by siteadmin

By SaharaReporters, New York
SaharaReporters has unearthed a fraudulent contribution of a whopping N1 billion by the governors of Gombe, Bauchi, Adamawa, and Taraba as a gift to the Peoples Democratic Party Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur on the occasion of the launch of his biography.

Each of the four Northeastern governors contributed an astounding N250 million to the launch of “The Global Villager in Abuja,” written by a veteran journalist, Eddie Aderinokun, to commemorate the 77th birthday of Tukur.

It would be recalled that early last week, President Goodluck Jonathan pleaded with PDP governors for “donations” for the launch, which they had boycotted.

President Jonathan, who was accompanied to the event by Chief Edwin Clarke, Professor Jerry Gana, Chief Arthur Eze and several others, was surprised to find that only three of the party’s 23 governors were present, although they were all in town for a meeting with the president.

New revelations show that the state governors made substantial donations to the event after all, with some of them also donating expensive memorabilia for distribution to guests at the event. Some of the memorabilia obtained by Saharareporters included handmade leather iPad covers emblazoned with embossed photo and name of Mr. Tukur "BMT@77" on them

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/four-northern-governors-rob-their-states-n1-billion-pdp-chairman-bamanga-tukur

441 Lagos commercial drivers fail breath analyzer test
On September 26, 2012 · In News 1:58 am 0

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI AND MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO
At least 441 commercial drivers in Lagos State tested positive to cannabis also known as marijuana and cocaine in the screening recently conducted on 2,500 of them.

As part of the effort to curb drunk-driving, the state government said it had administered breathanalyzer on 2,500 commercial drivers in the state, to check their blood alcoholic content even as it signed a Memorandum of Understanding, (MoU) with an international liquour brewer, to sensitize the public on the negative effect of drunk-driving.

The state Commissioner for Health Dr. Jide Idris, disclosed this yesterday, at media briefing on public sensitization of Motor Health and Safety Initiative at Alausa, adding that the drivers were also screened on substances abuse, hypertension, diabetes and vision impairment.

The first phase of the exercise was conducted at Alaagba Motor Park, Iyana-Ipaja between September 4 to 12, 2012, and Under Bridge Motor Park between September 18 to 19, 2012.

Idris added; “So far, we have screened 2002 drivers with the following results obtained: 781 were found to be driving under the influence of alcohol; 601 were found to be hypertensive. and 441 were positive to psychotropic drugs, especially cocaine and marijuana.

Also, 940 were screened for visual impairment and 13 per cent had to to be given special glasses”.

Idris noted that the state government had no option than to invoke section 21, subsection 1 of the state traffic law which prescribes a conviction fine of N100,000 or two years imprisonment or both on the offenders.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/09/441-lagos-commercial-drivers-fail-breath-analyzer-test/

Islamophobia , Arewaphobia or Sanusiphobia
Posted: September 25, 2012 - 11:57
Posted by siteadmin
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By Aliyu Bala Aliyu
The term Islamophobia came to be widespread in usage post 9/11; and like the other English derivatives of phobia such as aquaphobia (fear of water), acrophobia (fear of height), arachnophobia (fear of spiders), fear of computers or cyberspace (cyberphobia), fear of foreigners (xenophobia), fear of opinions (allodoxaphobia) among others, I have coined Arewaphobia- understandably from the mischievious and irrational fear of the north / the northerner.

But quite unlike the phobia of water, spiders, space, crowd, walking, washing, bathing and even of ideas, Islamophobia, like “Negrophobia”, (albeit taken care of by the broader arms of the word racism) is both irrational, cynical, spiteful and scornful. The word “phobia” remains one of those unending suffixes -add anything you fear to the word and a new vocabulary is born. By extension, the scornful, irrational, spiteful and unfounded fear of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi since it berthed on Nigeria’s socio-political and spiritual harbor has refused to go away - if ever it will. Sanusiphobia is the condition.

I was first drawn to Sanusi Lamido Sanusi by the repetitive nature of his name which was similar to mine in the wide expanse of ABU’s intellectual promise. Daily Trust and Weekly Trust were the twin darlings of every northerner after the fall of New Nigerian Newspapers. The quality of print, layout and content were good enough to match their southern dominated rivals in the Newspaper arena. Their crop of good writers and great columnists among whom were Aisha Umar Yusuf , Habu Dawaki (an excellent motivational writer cum speaker), Aliyu Tilde, Sam Nda-Isiah (now publisher of Leadership) Adamu Adamu and his then “…Definitions in Humour”, Garba-Deen Muhammed and his “Barkbyte”, Mohammed Haruna, Al-Bint’s Diary co. were such a delight to read. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s articles appeared from time to time and I was always pleasantly amazed at this Lagos banker who wrote so well. The banker wasn’t just discussing balance sheets and risk management, he was writing on Islam as well form the depth of scholarship. He wrote not just on economics alone but on politics, good governance, philosophy, law, public policy, international relations, history, etc. He was, I must confess, too deep for my interests at the time so I never really paid scrutinizing attention to his writings beyond the superficiality of a procrastinating young chap. Now I wished I had devoured his articles way back.

I would later be amazed at Sanusi’s intervention on the adultery case of Amina Lawal in an article which he titled: “Amina Lawal: Sex, Pregnancy and Muslim Law”. It was somewhere around the time that my enquiry led me to the discovery of the scholar, banker and philosophical Sanusi as a student of knowledge who actually went in search of further understanding of his religion is Sudan. It was a scholarly pursuit for a blend of not just economics and Islam but of this world and the one to come. After all Islam taught all muslims to seek knowledge- all kinds of beneficial knowledge. But the press continually emphasized his Islamic studies and sharia degree for obvious reasons. That he read and later taught economics in ABU was secondary.

Sanusi would come to limelight as it were upon the expiration of Chukwuma Charles Soludo‘s term at the CBN. The politics of whether or not to appoint him by Yar’adua played out surreptitiously and all sorts of theories were born. To those who thought Soludo was the best thing to have happened after Adam Smith, they argued that his consolidation exercise was such an ingenious move that should have earned him the Nobel Prize and another term to do greater things in CBN. To others, the risk manager extraordinaire who had held sway at First Bank and contributed in no small measure in seeing that she was not caught in the bursting bubble of the global credit crunch had something exceptional about him. I thought so too. But then how did northerners survive in the southern dominated banking industry I had wondered. If Sanusi could be such respected risk manager and could hold on through the long haul and eventually make the MD of First Bank (the first northerner to be so appointed since its inception in 1894) then he had to be something else. And something else he was.

However, to me, like a couple of other fashion enthusiasts, Sanusi’s trademark bow ties sold him off as an eccentric. But it didn’t stop at the bow ties. His widely white striped suits sold him off as unconventional. They weren’t simply the type of plain suits you saw on stylishly suave and trendy bankers; and even at that they weren’t your normal suit cuts. They seemed like a combination of vested pine stripe zoot suits and a safari jacket all rolled up in one.

Back then as a “freshman” / “Jambite” in ABU, that name that resembled mine; that kept dropping those rich articles had made a subconscious impression. The name Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had such great resonance with me. A couple of years after ABU, thanks to the internet, my readings would lead me to Gamji where Sanusi and a host of other northern intelligentsia among others whose articles did make and those that could not make it to mainstream newspapers were published and neatly archived. It was there that I came across “Buharism: Economic theory and political economy” - an ex-ray of the political economy of General Muhammadu Buhari’s twenty (20) month rule as Head of state. The article was both a scholastic and economic autopsy; and indeed a political intervention.

By the time it was announced that Sanusi would succeed Soludo, the press had successfully created an image of a Sharia man who was to be feared for his Islamic bent. Suspicions were awakened by all and sundry; the northern roots of Sanusi were also stoked to present him as another backward malam who had no business being in banking in the first place let alone head the CBN. It was during his screening at the senate that Sanusi shut his critics and haters up (both genuine and conditioned) with his sterling performance. It was brutally frank; impressive and such a rude awakening for the hate -feeders or hate-fed and cynics. His oratorical display was amazing, his diction impeccable. He was and still is a delight to watch and listen to.

By all accounts; going by Sanusi’ impressive outing in the NASS, the doubting thomases had seen a refined gentleman, a scholar and banker who understood his brief; different from the creation of the press. Here was a fearless man already picking holes in his would-be boss’ 7 point agenda when he pointed to the superfluity of them and called for their right-sizing! And who else but Sanusi would be so daring and blunt?

Great expectations were thus born and “everybody” seemed to go to bed with the comforting assurance that a round peg had been found for a round hole. Sanusi did not disappoint. He soon went into the morgue and dug out the corpses like the risk expert he was. The banks were terribly stressed as we would discover; and contrary to what prophet Soludo had declared as our insularity from the global financial meltdown, Sanusi rescued the banks. But more so was that he saved the lives of depositors who might have died if the banks had suddenly collapsed.

From Oceanic to Intercontinental to Finbank et al, Chief executives were exposed. They ran helter skelter looking for straws to clutch at. True to type the press went to work; to do what they knew how best. Conspiracy theories were reborn among which were that Sanusi was on a revenge mission directed at Erastus Akingbola of Intercontinental bank. They claimed that both men’s paths had crossed on a bitter note and Sanusi as a governor of CBN was using his office to exact his pound of flesh. I don’t know if same could be said of Cecilia Ibru and others but the inanity of those postulations are that the critics underplayed the reality of the stressed nature of the banks and the excesses of their Chief executives.

On the other hand, the conspiracy theorists and the press raised the ethnic flag. They claimed that Sanusi was playing the ethnic champion in trying to destroy the banks southerners had built; and in a country where the twin lenses with which virtually everything is viewed are religion and ethnicity, it made a lot of sense in some quarters. But then are the northerners not the most under-banked people in Nigeria? Are they not the poorest in Nigeria by aggregate? If Sanusi had looked the other way and taken all that prophet Soludo said about our impermeability to the global financial crisis and the banks had foundered, it wouldn’t have been the north or northerners who would have suffered it the most. It would have been the bulk of the importer exporter barons, the Alaba international dons, the Aba and Arianrin merchants, the ICAN unlimited men and women who provide the bulk of the human resource capital of the banks, insurance and allied financial services. How many northerners actually keep their money in the bank? How many are actually bankers in comparison with the other ethnic majors? So in reality Sanusi saved their monies, their jobs and their lives. He did the job he was appointed to do by the Federal Government yet he was the ethnic bigot! He didn’t remove Erastus Akingbola and replace him with a Modibbo nor did he remove Cecilia Ibru and replace her with a Safiyya; he did whatever he did in conjunction with the CBN board amongst who are men and women of diverse faiths and ethnicities.

Then came the issue of Islamic banking and its gargantuan criticisms. All attempts to make Nigerians understand that it was even Soludo, a Christian, as CBN governor not Sanusi, who actually set the stage for Islamic banking fell on deaf ears. That it was a banking system successfully in operations in Europe and other parts of the western world did not make sense to those looking for the bad. So long as Islam had been added to the equation it had to be fought tooth and nail. And then came the press with the “aha I told you Sanusi is an Islamic fanatic with an agenda to Islamize Nigeria! He sacked our CEOs, has introduced Islamic banking and then gradually he’ll turn Nigeria into an Islamic republic!” Trust Nigerians they jumped onto the bandwagon of unfounded hate and criticism and called Sanusi all sorts of names. Interestingly CBN’s deputy governor Tunde Lemo is not just a Christian he is a reverend. Sanusi is not Sheikh Sanusi; he is addressed as just Mallam (a northern appellation for Mr) and I ever wonder the kind of minced meat the Nigerian press would have made of him if he bore that appellation “Sheikh”. In all of these turbulent waters, Sanusi’s sack has been called for by those who feel he is acting out a religious cum ethnic script as well as those who are just outrightly cynical and bereft of objectivity.

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi would make headlines again upon his investiture as the Danmaje of Kano. Sanusi is of royal descent. He is a prince of the Kano’s ruling dynasty; son to Muhammadu Sanusi, the eleventh emir of Kano. But then something tragic had happened before the turbaning/investiture could take place. On 3rd June 2012, Dana aircraft crashed into a building at Iju-Ishaga, Lagos killing all 153 passengers on board. CBN lost ten (10) of its staff in the tragedy. The president declared three (3) days of national mourning for the victims. Sanusi’s investiture had already been scheduled for June 8 2012 and by then the three days of national mourning was over. Sanusi obliged the emir of Kano Alhaji Ado Bayero and was so turbaned. A section of Nigerians mostly non-northerners and non-muslims were enraged. They felt Sanusi was insensitive to have in the midst of the tragedy that befell a whooping ten officers of the CBN still find time to attend to the drama in Kano! “How cruel” they thought. But in truth Sanusi is a Muslim and a northerner. Being a CBN governor would not stop him from praying five times a day neither would it stop him from speaking Hausa or eating tuwon masara or wearing gari/babanriga or alkimba or changing his name simply because some people do not like muslims or northerners.

In Islam, if the critics had bothered to educate themselves, death even though solemn and melancholic, is seen as the end of one life and the continuation of another. Muslims do not mourn past three days save a woman mourning her husband (who does so for four months and ten days). The seven days and forty days addition to other deaths, the sadaqa and fidda’u are later day innovations brought into the fold of Islam. It was with the prism of self rather than the other that Nigerians viewed the marriage of Maimuna Ayene’s brother, Ndako Mijindadi, at whose behest Maimuna was visiting Nigeria and perished in the plane crash with her husband, four kids, sister, mother in-law and two other relatives (one of the saddest tales of that crash). The couple were muslims and they had not done anything wrong within the sphere of Islam. Similarly, Sanusi had not violated the laws of Islam or those of Nigeria; nor had he those of CBN but the cynical press and uninformed people went to town calling Sanusi names. Interestingly, the judging publics also belong to faiths, cultures, and hold idiosyncrasies that take pride in “celebrating death” for which they feast, drink, party, indulge in spending sprees to thank God for a life well spent!
But the drama was far from being over. Sanusi’s colleagues at the CBN requested him to drop by in his royal regalia so they could catch a glimpse of the newly turbaned Danmaje. He obliged them to the opprobrium of the Nigerian press and countless number of Negro-Europeans who partly thought that African culture was such a boring waste of time. How a man greatly educated (schooled at Kings College Lagos, ABU Zaria, International University of Khartoum, Sudan), as widely travelled, as exposed, as polished and as “civilized” as this condescend to wearing such traditional costume to the Central bank of Nigeria? But then for all the years Sanusi wore his eccentric bow ties and off- the- trend suits, he was seen as a gentleman! Shouldn’t we openly declare the European conquest over since they have conquered us in our heads and minds? Shouldn’t Europe and America just leave us alone with the comforting belief that we have long gone past the point of return; and that we will do their bidding forever and ever? How true the words of Kwame Nkrumah “A State in the grip of neo-colonialism is not [a] master of its own destiny”. And by the way don’t men and women in the NASS wear their native dresses to NASS? Don’t even bankers and other workers wear traditionals to work on Fridays? Does President Jonathan not wear his south –south regalia all of the time? If Soludo had visited CBN with a horn in hand and a red feathered cap it would have been normal; if Fashola had gone to Alausa in his “Eyo” apparel it would have further put Lagos on the tourist map but Sanusi’s crime is that he is both a northerner and a Muslim at the same time so he is criticized by those who know so much but truly know so little- how sad.

Still not yet out of the woods, Sanusi had recently taken a radical step towards restructuring the naira with the introduction of the N5000 note and the conversion of lower denominations to coins-. The call for his sack hasn’t been as pronounced as on this occasion. The move until its recent suspension by the President has been seen in many quarters as pro-IMF, pro-elite and largely anti people with the fears that inflation would rise and the naira would lose its value. But then those who had been sponsoring write ups against Sanusi; disguising themselves as “Renaissance Professionals” from the early days of the banking tsunami and all those who just want the man sacked have found their voices once again. They are calling for his head once again for daring to propose a restructuring of the naira. I must however clarify that until its suspension, I hadn’t been personally convinced of its merits and I have criticized his methods in online fora. However, we should learn to criticize based on the issues and leave the person’s religion and ethnicity out of it. Unfortunately, that is what the Nigerian press needs to do to stay in business.

No doubt Sanusi has had his fair share of blunders and controversies chiefly among which, in my opinion, was his donation to Kano’s bomb blast victims. Boko Haram had devastated many parts of the north before Kano; and the argument that Kano recorded the singular highest casualty in one strike does not hold water. The belated donation to Suleja’s victims did not absolve him. It was, for me, an afterthought and all unnecessary courtship with controversy. That ground didn’t seem neutral. The fact that he is from Kano, its Prince, and one with a media induced baggage of religious and ethnic leaning should have stopped him from even giving that donation a second thought. In Nigeria, such mis-steps are never forgotten. Never mind that the press never mentioned the precedence set by Joseph Sanusi who as CBN governor made similar a donation to Ikeja bomb blast victims of 2002. “It is hard to see the good in people when you’re only looking for the bad”. Imagine this tweet I came across: “what is more disturbing is your endorsement of Sanusi's destruction of banking sector with his jihad"! Another referred to him as a Boko Haram in CBN. Dele Momodu has recently written of him in his article “The Bully called Sanusi” calling him everything including a good material for a dictator. What could be more preposterous?

I am also not his spokesman. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi can do more to defend himself. But by my assessment, Sanusi is a patriot. He is not an ethnic bigot; and he is not an Islamic fanatic (whatever that means). He is a great and rare public servant. He loves his country, his religion and his culture and that does not make him any less human than those who care less about theirs. He sure has his short comings but he is only human. He hasn’t asked that the staff of CBN to take the oath of Muslim belief – the Kalimatus shahada or follow him to mosque. He hasn’t asked CBN staff to speak Hausa or eat tuwon masara with him. He hasn’t asked Tunde Lemo, his deputy, to stop being a Reverend so what is it with Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s critics? Islamophobia , Arewaphobia or just Sanusiphobia?

Aliyu Bala Aliyu
Masters Student, Public and International Affairs,
University of Lagos
email: aliyubala.aliyu@gmail.com
blog: www.illuminationzz.
twitter: @AliyuBalaAliyu



http://saharareporters.com/article/islamophobia-arewaphobia-or-sanusiphobia

Governor Yuguda's In Law In Bauchi Kidnapped by Gunmen
Posted: September 24, 2012 - 18:37
Posted by siteadmin

caption: Governor Isah Yuguda
By SaharaReporters, New York
Less than twenty four hours after a suicide bomber killed and injured several churchgoers in Bauchi, a group of unidentified armed men abducted Mohammed Sade, the in-law to the governor of Bauchi State, Isah Yuguda, early this morning as he left a nearby Mosque in the troubled township.

Mr. Sade who is popularly known as "Usama" is married to the governor's niece. The unidentified gunmen killed one of his guards before taking Mr. Sade to an unknown destination.

Usama was formerly the governor's driver but now occupies the powerful position of chairman of the body in charge of fertilizer distribution for farmers in the state.

In the last election, Usama was said to be part of the political organization used by the governor to rig elections in the state.

Since the kidnapping of Sade, no ransom request or other contact has been made with the family. The region has been victim to a number of bold attacks in recent days including a bombing of a Catholic church yesterday in an attack that killed at least six people. Security agencies put the number of dead at 4 persons.

Governor Yuguda is currently in New York as part of President Jonathan's delegation to the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly.


http://saharareporters.com/news-page/governor-yugudas-law-bauchi-kidnapped-gunmen

The Bully Called Sanusi
22 Sep 2012
Views: 19,567

By Dele Momodu


Fellow Nigerians, please permit me to borrow the cliché that “whatever has a beginning must have an end.” This is the only way I can describe what seems to be an end to Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s reign of recklessness and authoritarianism at the Central Bank of Nigeria. Even if he remains in office till 2014 when his tenure mandatorily expires, he has already waltzed his way into a cul-de-sac. The reason is very simple. Sanusi appears to be a poor student of Nigerian history; otherwise, he would have known that whenever Nigerians are hailing the disciplinarian father of a recalcitrant child, the same people always turn around to ask if he wants to kill his own baby. The attention span of an average Nigerian is short and limited. Nigerians are a people perpetually in search of new heroes. We are a people so confused about what we want, whether democracy or militocracy. Many years of debilitating military interventions and interregnum have turned us into victims of acute psychological impairment.

That must be the reason many of us often deify those we believe can help us punish, or even kill, our enemies. But our romance with kill-and-go administrations is always short-lived. A good example was when the Shehu Shagari government was terminated in 1983 by Mohammadu Buhari and Babatunde Idiagbon, Nigerians spilled into the streets like locusts to celebrate their victory over a most profligate ruling party known then as the National Party of Nigeria. Many prominent members of NPN were hounded into prison, house arrest and exile. Jubilant Nigerians even saw nothing wrong with the despicable attempt to crate Alhaji Umaru Dikko alive and the abortive “mission impossible” to smuggle him back to Nigeria. We tend to love and promote selective justice and injustice. We support whichever is more convenient at any particular time.

The same Nigerians flooded the streets when the man with the toothy smile, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida did his own coup and sent Buhari and Idiagbon into premature retirement. Yet Babangida did the exact opposite of what Buhari did by giving a human face to dictatorship and inviting prominent Nigerians to serve in his government. He garnished his solid team with a few social critics and freed the Buhari captives from arbitrary incarceration. Babangida did not end it there, he forced open the dreaded cells of the then National Security Organisation where political detainees were tied down and lived like animals. Sympathetic Nigerians thanked the new benevolent ruler and embraced him warts and all. Buhari and Idiagbon simply melted into oblivion.

Sooner than later, Babangada started his transition games and started dribbling Nigerians with the dexterity and foxiness of the legendary Maradona and his infamous ‘hand of God’. He shifted the goal posts several times while the game was on. He even transfigured, without the benefit of elections or any referendum, into a civilian President and held the whole nation spellbound. He banned and unbanned potential candidates at will in a classic case of chess whilst keeping a straight poker face all the time. Nigerians watched in utter amazement, helplessness and befuddlement as someone played them like Ping-Pong. Meanwhile, it was alleged that under Babangida, corruption stank to high heavens. The chief critic at the time was General Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Aremu Obasanjo who called IBB all manner of unprintable names.

To cut a bad story short, an election was conducted on June 12, 1993, and the presidency was won by Chief Moshood Abiola but was annulled by General Babangida for reasons yet to be disclosed till this day. In the middle of this higgledy-piggledy, a contraption called the Interim National Government was hurriedly packaged and Chief Ernest ‘Degunle Shonekan was made its Head. That government lasted only a few months when the maximum ruler with dark goggles, General Sani Abacha arrived on the scene and sacked the ING with automatic alacrity, and everyone scampered into safety without as much as a whimper.

If IBB loved to smile like a beautiful bride, Abacha was the exact opposite as a gloomy groom. His mien was something else and everyone feared him with utter trepidation. He took over the liability of June 12 and appropriated the mandate to himself. Those who challenged him soon found their ways into prisons or on the road to Golgotha. Two of Nigeria’s most powerful army Generals of all times, General Obasanjo and Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua who tried to monkey with Abacha were both roasted like chicken in Abacha’s gulag. While Obasanjo was lucky to stay alive and live to tell the tale, Yar’Adua was very unfortunate, as he died in prison and was silenced forever. The winner of the election MKO Abiola and his wife Kudirat died under different circumstances. Other pro-democracy activists suffered various collateral damages, including death.

Is it not strange that the powers-that-be in their wisdom sooner than later thought it fit to invite General Obasanjo to take over the mandate that should have been that of Abiola? The man who made it all happen was Babangida who had been publicly scandalised many times by the same Obasanjo. It is also interesting that Obasanjo would later block the same Babangida who helped him back to power when the man wanted to stage a comeback. The drama also became a theatre of the absurd when General Mohammed Buhari also came back on the scene after quitting power since 1985. He’s been contesting permanently since 2003 and he’s yet to give up. The same Nigerians who called him the wicked tyrant are the same people saying he’s the best man for the task of changing Nigeria for the better no matter how old and weak he may have become since leaving power 27 years ago.

This is my summary of Nigeria’s history that Sanusi failed to read or possibly chose to ignore. A good student of Nigerian history would always try to check when the market is over and the traders must close shop and go home. Sanusi did not understand this and behaved as if he was the de facto President of Nigerian. He had cashed in on the weakness of the Jonathan administration to run his own parallel government and haul insults at anyone who dared to challenge him. He neither spared the executive nor the legislative arms of government. He went meandering from one controversial policy to the other and bullied everyone into submission. If he didn’t know other things, he understood the magnitude of our docility and took full advantage of it. It was always obvious to discerning minds that Sanusi is a man of tall ambitions who was willing to do anything to achieve his aims and goals. He spent money on outlandish projects and anything that caught his fancy and ran a personal fiefdom.

I must confess that when Mallam Sanusi started his highly-controversial tenure at CBN, on June 4, 2009, I saw through the smokescreen of his vengeful mission very early in the day, and warned many of those jumping up like frogs thinking a Messiah had finally landed on our shores to take caution. While acknowledging his academic brilliance, I was duly worried about his unbridled radicalism. He did everything in the extreme and lacked the tolerance to persuade others. In the process, he stepped on too many toes and acted like he was beyond control. He fought for total autonomy for the CBN and campaigned vociferously against any form of audit by anyone of his actions as CBN Governor. He thus became a loose cannon and a sword of Damocles against his foes. His word was law as everyone feared his tempestuous outbursts.

You must give it to him, Sanusi is a princely and charming man. He’s the type that most ladies would see and curtsey. He loves attention and attracts it almost effortlessly. He would have done so well as a Nollywood actor or a music superstar. It is strange how a man of such sartorial tastes ended up in banking and not showbiz. The profession he chose was traditionally reserved for taciturn and conservative characters and not for vainglorious and adventurous rabble-rousers. His major weakness was his sharp tongue. He could almost raise the dead with it.

Sanusi had managed to capitalise on the kill-and-go mentality of most Nigerians to win sympathy for his dangerous annihilation of his enemies without caring for the stray bullets that may hit innocent bystanders. In other to catch a few rats, Sanusi chose to set fire to the whole village. He needed to disguise his real intentions and motives by taking on an entire institution and sacking otherwise brilliant bankers in the process. Some innocent people had their eventful careers terminated by a rampaging bull that was goaded on by a neurotic society and a vindictive population. It was so tragic that the warnings of a few of us fell on the deaf ears of those who were more interested in the extra-judicial crucifixion of those perceived as rogue bankers. Nigerians allowed themselves to be mesmerised and hypnotised and hoodwinked by a quintessential bully in search of victims to devour.

Sanusi’s eloquence and debonair presence made it possible for many of his unwary admirers to get carried away by his sophistry. But they didn’t need to look too far to realise that his combative approach would soon go up in smoke like others before him. Perhaps, he would have fared better as a military dictator than as a sanitary inspector in the cesspool of banking mess. The game he played was too hot to handle and for too long. He should have known that one way or the other anyway, the chicken must come home to roost. And bullies always have their terminal dates. This is because, according to Wikipedia, “a bully is a constant harasser of the weak.” A bully argues his victims into submission through intimidation and name calling.

Wikipedia explains further that a bully is usually arrogant and narcissistic and by bullying others, he feels empowered. He suffers from “personality disorders, quickness to anger, use of force, addiction to aggressive behaviours, engaging in obsessive or rigid actions…well-planned and orchestrated attempts at character-assassination…” It explains that a bully cannot exist or thrive without the active connivance “of a large group of relatively uninvolved bystanders.” It is the ability of the bully to create the illusion of a support base from the majority that propels him to instil the fear of God into people and prevent them from speaking out against him. This is palpable in Sanusi’s case as no member of the economic team or the Institute of Bankers could openly speak up against the excesses of this man. Even our President appeared to have been clearly subdued; the reason he quickly assented to a foolish experiment. Bullies exert and expand their power when they see the unwillingness of anyone to challenging or taking them on because they depend largely on mob action.

Wikipedia puts it succinctly: “When the bully encounters no negative response from observers, it provides social approval for the bullying and encourages continuation of the behaviour.” Most people ignore bullies because they are not in any present danger themselves, or may feel that there’s no point becoming the next victim, so better to keep mute. But there is never a guarantee that anyone can escape the bully, as General Obasanjo must have discovered when Sanusi referred to him as “a poor economist.”

I believe three things ended Sanusi’s regime of fear. The first is that he did not gauge the mood of his ubiquitous mob who did not subscribe to his N5,000 note misadventure. If he read their lips, he would have known he was on his own and would have avoided the risk of dancing naked in the market place. And the second was his attempt to stylishly rubbish a former President and Commander-in-Chief, Olusegun Obasanjo. No matter the degree of the seeming cold war between Obasanjo and his estranged godson, President Goodluck Jonathan, no one would allow Sanusi get away with such sauciness while he’s still a public servant.

The last straw is the rumour of Sanusi’s Presidential ambition which he has since denied. But denial or not, the Jonathan crew would never close their two eyes again where Sanusi is concerned, and he has become a potential enemy and a marked man whose wings must be clipped.

He should have realised that a child who buys a pair of shoes for his limping father must be ready to listen to the dark tales of his lineage.
By his own feathers, Sanusi is now smitten! That is how the cookies always crumble.


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/the-bully-called-sanusi/125634/

Phrank Shaibu and Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan

Senators challenge Tinubu for seeking Senate scrapping
September 23, 2012 by John Alechenu and Oluwole Josiah 156 Comments

Senate President, David Mark and Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal


A broad spectrum of senators has excoriated the leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, for advocating the scrapping of the Senate in order to reduce the huge cost of governance in the country.

Tinubu, a former member of the Senate had at a public forum last week in Abuja, argued that it would be better to allow the House of Representatives represent the people since its members were closer to the grassroots.

He had said, “We have kept complaining about the cost of governance and the recurrent expenditure. But we have never examined the structural problem of even the constitution that we are operating.

“Why do we need two Houses of the National Assembly, whereas the House of Representatives representing the smaller constituencies is enough in the same number of population?

“Why not get rid of the Senate for a slim and better legislative activity? Let us start examining that.”

Senegal had on Thursday passed a law scrapping its Senate, a move that will result to $16m savings annually.

But in separate interviews with Sunday Punch, the senators questioned Tinubu’s logic, and stressed that his wife was a serving senator.

Besides, his party, the ACN has 17 senators in the red legislative chamber.

The Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP, Cross River Central) who fired the first salvo, said Tinubu’s logic would not fly in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country like Nigeria.

He argued that the multiplicity of ethnic nationalities meant that minority rights must be protected for democracy to function.

Ndoma-Egba said, “What is the logic behind a bicameral legislature? It is adopted in a heterogeneous society.

“The Senate is a representation based on equality.

“If you scrap the Senate, then you have denied the minorities proper representation.”

Tinubu’s suggestion runs contrary to the logic of bicameral legislature.

“In Senegal, although they are multi ethnic, they are religiously homogenous. It is not the same with the situation with Nigeria.

On the issue of the cost of governance, the total budget of the National Assembly is N150billion, which is just 3per cent of the national budget.

“It is a fraction of what we have spent on fuel subsidy which is now over N2trn; it is a fraction of what is yet to be accounted for in the pension’s funds. So, 3 per of the national budget cannot be the problem.

“Tinubu is free to make a proposal for constitution changes, but we are yet to see any submission to that effect.”

Also, Senator Thomson Sekibo (PDP, Rivers East), the former governor of Lagos State, needed to get his facts right before making such suggestions.

He noted that there were other areas of waste which government needed to deal with.

Sekibo said, “Scrap the Senate? Except of course he is calling for the scrapping of the legislature as a whole, in which case we will be talking of another form of government not democracy, because the legislature is what separates true democracy from other forms of government.

“I think that he (Tinubu) has not put his facts in proper perspective if he is comparing us with Senegal.

“We settled for a bi-cameral legislature which has worked successfully in most democracies of the World after exhaustive consultations.

Senator Ita Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom North-East), expressed shock and wondered why a former senator with a wife also in the senate would voice such suggestion.

He said, “It is unfortunate that this is coming from him (Tinubu), because he is a senator and his wife is a serving senator.

“I will not be quick replying him. I think it is an issue of constitutional amendment if he makes a submission to the National Assembly.”

But an ACN senator, Olugbenga Obadara (ACN, Ogun Central), was cautious in his response. He noted that the country was in a democracy; therefore, anybody was free and should be allowed to air his or her views.

He said, “Tinubu is our leader and he has the democratic right to speak on any national issue and should be allowed to do so.

“We cannot deny the fact that he loves this country like every one of us.

“If he speaks on any issue, it should be looked at on its merit especially now that we are in the process of amending the Constitution.”

Senator Enyinanya Abaribe, though acknowledged Tinubu’s right to air his views, he noted that Nigeria was not Senegal where the President had the right to sack the senate.

Consequently, he said, “We have a constitution,” just as he advised him to present his position “to the National Assembly for consideration.

In an analysis of the 2010 budget for example, Nigeria Country Director, ActionAid, Dr. Hussaini Abdu noted that: The “Senate is to spend N270million on retreat.

“This brings to an average of N2.5m per senator for the retreat and it further brings it to N500,000 per day for each of the senators. (For a five-day retreat). Senate is to spend N15bn on sitting allowances and honorarium in the 2010 budget.

“Also, the Senate is to spend N1.2bn; on computer materials and supplies.”

Not less than N150bn was provided in the budget for the National Assembly this year; this include the capital and recurrent expenditures for both houses, which comprised 109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives.

http://www.punchng.com/news/senators-challenge-tinubu-for-seeking-senate-scrapping/

The Punch - Nigeria's Most Widely Read Newspaper

23rd September, 2012

Bakare, Utomi, Fawehinmi berate Jonathan for fuel protest comment

September 23, 2012 by Leke Baiyewu 177 Comments

Some of the leaders of the January anti-subsidy removal rally in Lagos have described President Goodluck Jonathan as insincere over his claim that the mass protest against the removal fuel subsidy was sponsored by a political class in the state.

The leaders, who spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH, include the Convener, Save Nigeria Group, Pastor Tunde Bakare; political economist, Prof. Pat Utomi and the first son of the late human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Mohammed.

Jonathan had last Tuesday exhumed the controversy, when he alleged that the mass action, tagged; Occupy Nigeria, and organised by civil society groups, was manipulated by an unnamed class of people.

He had said, “Look at the demonstrations back home; look at the areas these demonstrations are coming from, you begin to ask, are these the ordinary citizens that are demonstrating? Or are people pushing them to demonstrate?

“(During) The demonstration in Lagos, people were given bottled water that people in my village don’t have access to. People were given expensive food that the ordinary people in Lagos cannot eat. So even going to eat free alone attracts people.

“They go and hire the best musicians to come and play and the best comedian to come and entertain. Is that demonstration? Are you telling me that that is a demonstration from ordinary masses in Nigeria who want to communicate something to government?

“I believe that that protest in Lagos was manipulated by a class in Lagos and was not from the ordinary people.”

In his reaction through a text message to our correspondent, Bakare alleged that the President back-stabbed the masses, that had influenced his emergence as late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s successor.

He said, “One word is sufficient to define the president’s thoughtless comment – bunkum. I hope he and his handlers understand the full meaning of the word. In case they don’t, he should supply the names of the imaginary sponsors.

“It is indeed true that the people that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. Human memory can be so fickle. Otherwise, how can the same President Jonathan, who benefited from the civil protests that birthed the “doctrine of necessity” which cleared the way for him to become the acting president, now turns around to blaspheme the same process that once benefited him.”

Also reacting, Utomi, in an interview argued that there was nothing wrong with a protest against an anti-people policy of a government, even if it was sponsored.

He said, “I don’t know if anything is wrong, where the protest was sponsored. If the president understands politics and democracy, then he will know that political parties can organise and mobilise the masses for protests or public awareness campaigns. These are tools and vehicles of politics.

“I can equally be referred to as a sponsor of the protest because I led the professional bodies, which held a rally in Ikoyi, Lagos. The President should know that the political parties can organise public or mass action against a government that is not doing the right thing.”

Similarly, Mohammed said civil society groups were ready to take to the streets again, if government failed to fulfil its promises to the people.

He said, “The President does not understand governance or care about the feeling of the people. How can any government increase the pump price when it is obvious that the economy of the common man depends on petrol?

“Nigeria has what it takes to be one of the greatest countries of the world but for lazy and incompetent leadership. The government should think of the masses.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/bakare-utomi-fawehinmi-berate-jonathan-for-fuel-protest-comment/

Jonathan is insensitive to citizens’suffering, says ACN
Posted by: Our Reporter Posted date: September 21, 2012 In: News | comment : 3

THE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday lashed out at the President for what it described as his insensitivity to the suffering of ordinary citizens.

The party said he is blinded by power to know what goes on around him.

In its reaction to President Goodluck Jonathan’s condemnation of last January’s fuel hike protests as sponsored by the opposition, the party in a statement in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary. Alhaji Lai Mohammed, wondered how a President who enjoys everything free at the expense of tax paying Nigerians can insult the sensibility of suffering Nigerians on their right to protest an “unjust” fuel hike.

According to ACN, the President’s attack on Nigerians who resisted the imposition of unjust price hikes and the organisers clearly portrays him as a President who is hostage to his thoughts and one completely out of touch not only with ordinary Nigerians but also with universal trends, because in Egypt during the Spring protests, in Thailand when the Red Shirts took over Bangkok, in the the United States of America during the Occupy Wall Street, protesters were fed and provided with water blankets and medicine.

“It may interest President Jonathan and his minders that those involved in the January fuel hike protests were lawyers, doctors , businessmen, bankers journalists, artistes, the clergy and other accomplished Nigerian professionals from all walks of life.To claim that this class of Nigerians were lured to the protest ground because of a bottle of water and food is to say the least not only uncharitable but also a reflection of the shallowness of the thought process of the President’s advisers and handlers, the party said.

“In conclusion, the party admonished Nigerians not to be bullied into submission by a government who is always too ready to find a scapegoat for its incompetence and to be ever ready to protest and speak out against any unfair and unjust government decision, and if Jonathan’s government feels uncomfortable with this, it should organise its own solidarity protests and supply the rented crowd truckloads of water and expensive food.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/jonathan-is-insensitive-to-citizenssuffering-says-acn/

Advocates of disunity want to be rulers of ‘tiny islands’ – Jonathan
On September 20, 2012 · In News 9:35 pm

BY Joseph Erunke

ABUJA—President Goodluck Jonathan declared, Thursday, that he will not be cowed into submission by people he referred to as militants, noting that those who were promoting the balkanisation of the country along ethnic lines only want to be leaders in their proposed territories, which he described as ‘tiny islands.’

The President, who spoke in Abuja at a national summit and rally entitled Labour for Peace, Unity and Development, organised by the national leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, said Nigeria must be jealously protected to remain one and indivisible.

He added that anything to the contrary would be a major threat to, not only the unity of people, but the African continent.

President Jonathan admitted that Nigeria was passing through turbulent period in its history, but expressed optimism that the development would not translate into disintegration.

President Jonathan said: “For you to move a modern society, there must be peace. Even in those days, for a king to move a kingdom forward, there must be peace. I listened to the guest lecturer, who talked about balkanising and cannibalising Nigeria and I think those who are thinking that way want to be kings in tiny Islands.

“Those saying they want their own nation, which is Igbo nation, Yoruba nation and the rest are people who want to be kings in a tiny island, and they will not get it because Nigeria will not divide. I am committed to moving Nigeria forward and will not submit to any antics.”

Insisting that Nigeria must remain one indivisible entity in spite of the multi-dimensional problems it was going through, the president said it was only when every citizen commits himself to the Nigerian project by giving peace a chance that development can take place.

He decried the latest attacks on telecommunication masts in some parts of the country, saying “no matter what we think has been eroded, in contemporary society, there must be peace for development. For a nation to develop, the first thing you talk about is communication power.

“Now, in the Northern parts, communication power has been threatened because of insecurity; there is no way that will not impact on the economy. For us to move with the modern society there must be peace.”

We need peace if we must develop this country.

“No matter what we feel might be our modest achievements, without peace, development would not be possible. We must put in place strategies to win this economic war: by paying special attention to home-grown strategies of confronting our challenges. This gathering should provide a refreshed thinking to Nigeria unity.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/09/advocates-of-disunity-want-to-be-rulers-of-tiny-islands-jonathan/

The story of Bakassi peninsula
On September 20, 2012 · In Special Report 3:10 am 2

By NOWA OMOIGUI
Nowa Omoigui undertakes an historical excursion into the agreements on Bakassi dispute and asserts that the Obong of Calabar voluntary signed a treaty of protection with the British in 1884 who eventually ceded it to Germany

ORIGINS of the Dispute: When the Obong of Calabar signed a “Treaty of Protection” with Britain on September 10, 1884, Britain agreed to “extend its protection” to the Obong and his Chiefs. The Obong agreed and promised to refrain from entering into any agreements or treaties with foreign nations or Powers without the prior approval of the British Government.


That is, he signed away his Kingdom as a British protectorate. This type of subterfuge was carried out with many of our ancestors. All of this was before “Nigeria” was created.

Note too that unlike agreements between metropolitan powers these so called protectorate agreements with African Kingdoms did not have precise definitions of boundaries. On November 15, 1893, Britain and Germany defined their boundaries in Africa, supplemented by another agreement on March 19, 1906. These covered British and German Territories from Yola to Lake Chad.

In 1900, 1903 and 1906, key declarations made – and militarily enforced – which created the colonies of ‘Northern Nigeria’ and ‘Southern Nigeria’ (inclusive of the Colony of Lagos). the Obong of Calabar was neither consulted nor did he resist.

This was all conducted between metropolitan powers and they understood what they were doing. “Protectorates” became “Colonies”. Note the difference. In 1913, Britain – for the colonies of “Southern” and “Northern” Nigeria – and Germany – for “Kamerun” – reached an agreement on their border from Yola to the Sea.

Agreement on their border

The first of these agreements was signed in London on March 11, 1913 titled: “(1) The Settlement of the Frontier between Nigeria and the Cameroons, from Yola to the Sea and (2) The Regulation of Navigation on the Cross River”.

The second was signed at Obokum on April 12, 1913 by Hans Detzner, representing Germany, and W. V. Nugent, representing Britain. It addressed the precise demarcation of the Anglo-German Boundary between Nigeria and Kamerun from Yola to the Cross River. There were eight accompanying maps.

For Bakassi (also spelled Bakasi) peninsula in particular, the Germans were interested in shrimps and an undertaking that Britain would not seek to expand eastwards.

The British were interested in uninterrupted and secure sea lane access to Calabar, a key trading post. Since the Germans already had the option of using Douala environs as a port, they conceded the “navigable portion” of the offshore border to Britain. In exchange, Britain conceded the Bakassi peninsula proper to Germany. In other words, to get Germany’s cooperation not to threaten access to Calabar, Bakassi peninsula was conceded by Britain.

The Obong did not resist. Note that “Nigeria” did not yet exist. This was long before General Gowon was born. In January 1914, “Nigeria” was created by amalgamation.

Neither the Obong nor any other traditional ruler, Emir, or Chief anywhere in “Nigeria” was consulted about it let alone its borders. As was the practice then, it was done for British economic reasons – to extend the railway system of “Northern Nigeria” to the sea and to use excess tax revenues – derived from spirits – from “Southern Nigeria” to correct a budget deficit in “Northern Nigeria”. British and German maps of “Nigeria” from January 1914 clearly show Bakassi peninsula in Kamerun. There was no resistance from the Obong of Calabar or his people or any other native “Nigerians” for that matter.

The First World War broke out in 1914. In 1916, Britain invaded German Kamerun. Among the Nigerian troops and carriers fighting for Britain were natives of Nigeria, including some from present Cross- River State. At the end of the war, all German territories were divided between France and Britain by the Treaty of Versailles.

The League of Nations placed them under British or French mandate. The boundaries between British and French mandated Kamerun was defined by the Franco-British Declaration of July 10, 1919 by Viscount Milner, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Henry Simon, the French Minister for the Colonies. In this agreement Bakassi and the rest of what became known as “British Cameroons” were placed under British mandate and administered coterminous with “Nigeria” but not actually merged. The old 1913 border was retained.

To codify this further, another agreement was signed December 29, 1929 and January 31, 1930 between Sir Graeme Thomson, Governor of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, and Paul Marchand, Commissaire de la République Française au Cameroun.

This Declaration was ratified and incorporated in an Exchange of Notes on January 9, 1931 between the French Ambassador in London and the British Foreign Minister. Again, maps from that period show the Bakassi peninsula within “British Cameroons”, not the “Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria”. Neither the Obong nor his people, nor any other “native Nigerians” protested. General Gowon was born a few years later.

Trusteeship agreements

The Second World War broke out in 1939. Native Nigerians also fought for Britain. After the war, the British and French League of Nations mandates over the Southern and Northern Cameroons and Cameroun were replaced by trusteeship agreements under the new United Nations – approved by the General Assembly on December 13, 1946.

These UN agreements re-ratified the prior borders as codified by the previous Anglo-German and Anglo-French agreements. Maps from that period show Bakassi peninsula in the Cameroons, not the real Nigeria.

On August 2, 1946 Britain divided the Cameroons into two, called “Northern Cameroons” and “Southern Cameroons”. The 1946 ‘Order in Council’ contained detailed provisions describing the border separating these two regions, now conveniently administered from colonial Nigeria – but not part of it.

In 1954, the Secretary of State for the Colonies issued a legal order defining the border between Nigeria’s “Eastern region” and the “Southern Cameroons.” Bakassi Peninsula was in the “Southern Cameroons”, distinct from the Eastern region and the Calabar province and maps from that period show this very clearly. General Gowon had not yet joined the Nigerian Army.

Neither the Obong nor his people nor any other native Nigerians protested. In March 1959, the UN asked Britain to clarify the wishes of the people living in Northern and Southern Cameroons trusteeship territories in the run up to the “independence” of Nigeria and Cameroun. Maps from that period show Bakassi peninsula in the Cameroons, not the real Nigeria.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/09/the-story-of-bakassi-peninsula/

South-West Regional Integration Far Outweighs Mimiko's Ambition Posted by Joe Igbokwe in Joe Igbokwe on September 17, 2012

South West Nigeria is well known for progressive politics and it did not start today. It dates back to early 40s and 50s in the days of Zik of Africa and Chief Obafemi Awolowo until the unfortunate event on the floor of the Western House in 1951. Time and space will not permit me to tell the full story of the events of 1951 that rendered nugatory our progressive politics and struggles to build a Nigeria of our dream.Even though the great Zik returned to Enugu to join his kiths and kin ,Progressive politics continued in the South West Nigeria.



Today no one ethnic group or zone will say that it is better than South West ,Nigeria. Is it in terms of education? Is it in terms ofwealth? Is it economy? Is it religious tolerance? Is it market? Is it in terms of good schools or hospitals? Is it good roads? Is it politics? Is it in terms of management of anything? Is it in terms of the press in Nigeria(both print and electronic) Is it commerce and industry? 80percent of the nations industry are based in the South West. Is it the growth of Churches? 80percent of founders of the great Churches in Nigeria are from South West.90percent of the nation's imports come through South West. I can go on and on but there is no need to continue to do so. The point i am making is that South West has led the opposition in Nigeria since independence and yet they are far more better than other zones in Nigeria in terms of anything. If i wanted to be strict, i would say that the economy of all other zones in Nigeria put together may not surpasse the economy of South West Nigeria. I stand to be proved wrong with emperical evidences.

This is the reason why the forthcoming elections in Ondo State is very crucial and very strategic to South West Nigeria and to the Action Congress of Nigeria. It is difficult if not impossible to talk about regional integration in the South West without the late Chief Micheal Adukunle Ajasin's Ondo State - the symbol of progressive politics in the days of the locusts.

For record purposes, the late Chief Ajasin, the former civilian governor of Ondo State was the Chiaman of NADECO, the opposition platform that chased IBB, Shonekan, Abacha and Abdulsalami Abubakar out of power to make way for this current civilian dispensation. Many may have forgotten how the late General Abacha deployed the late Commander Onyearugbulam ,the thenMilitary Administrator of Ondo to buldoze his way to Ajasin's home to harrass and intimidate the old man. Onyearughulam led a contingent of military personels to Ajasin's peaceful home unannounced to repress, oppress and suppress the leader of the opposition as a way of bringing down the entire opposition.Did Abacha succeed? The rest is now history!

It is on record that our own Chief AJasin never recovered from this onslaught. He died as a result of shock from Onyearugbulem's brigandage. I am telling this story today just to remind those who are key players in Ondo politics of the events of yesteryears. For the 13 years a combination of IBB,Shonekan,Abacha and Abdulsalami Abubakar declared war against the Yoruba nation, nobody heard the voice of Segun Mimiko, the governor of Ondo State today. He saw but he kept quiet. He did not join his kinsmen to fight the commom enemy. He did jion his kith and kin to cry against the injustice being meted out to his people. He maintained the culture of silence. But a story that must be told never forgives silence.

South West or Yoruba nation is too important than the ambition of one man called Segun Mimiko. South West Regional Integration is far more important than the ambition of one man called governor Segun MImiko. Segun May be pretending to be in the Labour Party but in actions, and deeds and in body language, he is PDP. Dan Iwuanyanwu, the Chairman LP has just received a National Honour from President Jonathan and as political historians we in ACN understand the game very well. The PDP has purchase CHief Dan Iwuanyanwu with National Award and as events unfold in NIgeria very soon, Nigerians will appreciate what we are saying. Mimiko betrayed our leaders in ACN by biting the fingers that fed him. He will pay for this in the fullness of time.

Come October 20 2012 I urge the wise people of Ondo State to vote out Segun Mimiko and usher in Mr Rotimi Akeredolu(SAN) as GOvernor. Ondo State must be returned to the great family where they belonged originally. Regional Integration in the South West Nigeria is one of the biggest project in NIgeria today and Ondo State cannot afford to be in isolation. Like every other good thing in Nigeria, the regional integration going on in the South West is being copied by other zones in NIgeria. Ondo State cannot afford to be left behind in this serious business Mimiko or no Mimiko.

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/joe-igbokwe/south-west-regional-integration-far-outweighs-mimikos-ambition.html

Multi-billion naira ‘Odili Bridge’ collapses in Port Harcourt
Ini Ekott
Published: September 17,2012

Thousands of commuters in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, endured a second day of horrendous traffic gridlock after a barely seven-year old overpass, constructed by the administration of indicted former governor, Peter Odili, caved in on Sunday.

Cars tailed into several kilometers, around the Aba road expressway area, on Monday snaking their ways through mandatory diversions occasioned by the collapse of the Airforce junction bridge.

There were no reports of casualties, residents of the city said on Monday.

But the failed facility immediately sparked calls for the arrest of the builders, Bulletin Construction Company, and rekindled a national outrage that has haunted Mr. Odili’s post-office life, years after he was indicted for fraud by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

“We find it shocking and embarrassing that a bridge which was commissioned in 2005, barely 7 years ago and constructed by Bulletin Limited could give way in a most disturbing fashion and at the heart of our city causing untold hardship and risk of danger for road users of the ever-busy Eliozu/Air-Force axis of Port Harcourt,” Organizing for Rivers, a nongovernmental network in the state said on Monday.

The group, represented by its Executive Director, Oraye Franklyn, called for the arrest and prosecution of the contractor and the supervising engineers from the Rivers State Ministry of Works, a sentiment that rang across blogs and the internet on Monday.

Road users constantly fed in images and updates from the traffic onto the web. A large number of blogs detailed the story with criticisms of the former governor, Mr. Odili.

Trekking around

A resident of Port Harcourt told PREMIUM TIMES that the gridlock is “horrifying” and had forced many to trek kilometers since there were no commercial cars about.

“People are just trekking everywhere,” said Ike Barry, a private sector worker.

The failed project stands as a stark reminder of the often dismal projects state and federal governments deliver after channeling huge sums into them.

Mr. Odili hurriedly handed the multi-billion naira project in 2005, at the twilight of a two-term governorship spell that the EFCC said was characterized by high wired fraud and stealing, totaling over N100 billion.

The commission, under former chairman Nuhu Ribadu, said preliminary investigations unearthed several phoney and inflated contracts that cost several billions.

At the center of it all, the commission said in a letter to former president Olusegun Obasanjo, that a figure named Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, ran contracts for the state government from the failed gas turbine project to purchase cars running into billions of naira.

“From the investigation thus far,” Mr. Ribadu said in the letter, “it is abundantly clear that the Rivers State Governor, Dr. Peter Odili, is using Mr. Arumemi-Ikhide and his Rockson Engineering Company Ltd as a front and a crony for the systematic looting of the treasury of the Rivers state Government.”

The investigation is said to have partly played a role in Mr. Obasanjo’s last minute opposition to Mr. Odili’s presidential ambition in 2007.

The former governor, who now lives in Abuja, secured an unprecedented perpetual injunction against prosecution by the EFCC.

Meanwhile, a recent River State legislation entitles Mr. Odili, as a former governor, to a raft of state-paid life benefits including cars, houses in choice areas in Port-Harcourt and Abuja, and a retinue of aides.

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/100540-multi-billion-naira-odili-bridge-collapses-in-port-harcourt.html

Unpatriotic Nigerians behind fuel subsidy protest – Jonathan
On September 19, 2012 · In News 12:31 am 4

BY BEN AGANDE
ABUJA—President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday blamed last January’s protest over the removal of fuel subsidy in Lagos on manipulation by certain Nigerians who wanted the retention of the status quo of corruption in that sector.

He spoke at the 52nd Independence anniversary lecture with the title, Nigeria: Security, Development and National Transformation where the former President of Ghana, John Kufour, identified imbalance in development as the bane of the security situation in Nigeria.


From Left: Vice President Namadi Sambo; President Goodluck Jonathan; and former Ghanaian President John Kufour, at the 52nd Independence Anniversary Lecture In Abuja On Tuesday (18/9/12).NAN Photo

According to President Jonathan, the situation where citizens abuse the privileges guaranteed by government as detrimental to the development of the state was worrisome, noting that because of the interest of 2015, the media were being used to abuse the privileges of the Freedom of Information Act to the point of overheating the system.

The President said: “The key issue we are discussing is about peace and development and of course we all know that there is no way you can talk about development when you have a lot of crisis. In fact some people make more money when there is crisis and when there is crisis it is like a country is in a state of emergency, anything goes.

“Crisis is one aspect but generally if there is no peace, it is extremely difficult for the ordinary people to survive though big players in the economy may survive. Ordinary citizens having small and medium enterprises cannot come out to do business during crisis and of course it affects the economy. So you must have peace to develop.

“Peace is one of the cardinal marks of a leader. In the monarchy in the olden days, the king had maximum power but for your kingdom to be stable you must have the military strength. So without stability of any state we cannot develop.

“I agree totally with President Kufour who really gave us the break down of the kind of security situation that we have.

“When you talk of insecurity of using bombs and guns to kill people that has been described as physical security but in terms of social security, food security, health and the justice system, all have to do with the security of the individual.

“But I believe what we face in Nigeria though not peculiar to us, one of our greatest problems is what I described as political security. Government can continue to provide physical security but also very important is the political security. When you have unending political conflicts in Nigeria, the country cannot develop.

“I believe political security is a big issue. There is this axiom that the pen is mightier than the sword. The sword is used to kill and destroy but what we use the pen to do is also very critical. When you have society with these unending political conflicts on the media whether print, electronic or social media, it brings a lot of insecurity to the system and some times people begin to doubt your government.

“For example when we were contesting election we promised it will be free and fair. I was convinced I must do that even if I will lose the election. After our election in 2007, even the presidents in our neighbouring West African states were finding it difficult to congratulate us because the observers felt the election was not properly done. That hounded us even when we travelled out and I promised myself that if I have the opportunity to preside over election, I will do something different even at my expense at least for the sake of the country. And we did that but unfortunately, though there were crises in some parts of the country, observers felt the election was reasonably free and fair compared to others. But immediately after that election, not quite six months, the kind of media hype that started hitting us made us to stop and ask where is this coming from?

“I said I did not just come out from the blues to contest the election, I was deputy governor for six and half years, I was a governor for one and half years, I was a vice president, and before election, I was the president up to April when the elections were conducted, people knew me. So within this period including when I even acted, if I was that bad would people have voted for me? So for Nigerians to have voted for me overwhelmingly that means there must have been something they were expecting and definitely six months would have been too short to pass any valid judgement. But the media condemned me.

The media abuse use of FOI Act

“And I believe it is not just the media. When we talk about the Boko Haram, we have political Boko Haram, religious Boko Haram and criminal Boko Haram. So also in the media, you have the professional media and the political media. That is why I talk about the political media. Because of the interest of 2015 whatever you do is immaterial, the government must be brought down. And that mentality cuts across most African countries and even outside Africa.

“So addressing insecurity is critical in developing African states. When you have this unending political conflict, especially in a country like Nigeria that is highly religious and with high ethno-tribal sentiments, it becomes very potent to even create a lot of problems for government.

“So I will plead with us as Nigerians that whenever we elect government into power at whatever level, at least for the sake of the country we should allow the government to work before going into unnecessary overheating of the system.

Advises Nigerians against overheating the polity

“When you talk of providing infrastructure whether power or water, there is nothing you can use the magic wand to provide for the preople. It takes time to build your personal house, it must take a good number of days not to talk of infrastructure like power in a country like Nigeria and with the challenges we have.

“I believe our greatest problem is political conflict. For a typical politician, the day you win election is the day you start the next election.

“So as government we are committed to creating the enabling environment. I’m quite pleased with the way President Kufour spoke on the issue of transformation. I agree that the leader must be the key actor for transformation but those who will implement are the citizens. For instance, during the election, we advocated one man one vote, we were totally committed and I said it that nobody should rig election for me. But Nigerians believed that we were sincere and because they knew we were sincere, that took the life of its own. No I don’t need to go and preach again.

“We have monitored elections in Edo and other places, nobody wants to compromise with his vote. It is government that created that environment but it is not government that will enforce it, it is the citizen.

“That is why we are a bit worried that sometimes when government creates the environment, whether economic, social or even the media, how the citizens use those privileges matters so much.

“Take the media environment for instance, we signed the Freedom of Information bill into law, it became the Freedom of Information Act, but are we using it in the way we are supposed to use it? Are some of us not abusing the privileges? The media environment that should have helped our transformation agenda are being used negatively, these are some of the issues we need to address.

“The way Nigerians challenge and abuse me, yes the president has enormous power but if you use that enormous power to some extent you will look like a dictator. In a democratic setting, you want to create an environment where people can create their opinion and that is why people are allowed to talk freely and demonstrate. But are we doing so properly”.

Responding to the January subsidy protest, the President said “the citizens were right, in a way they maybe right, in a way they were also misinformed. If you had followed the last Earth Summit in Brazil, about two countries came out to condemn the issue of subsidizing hydro carbon all over the world. They stated that subsiding hydro carbon does not bring development?

“Look at the demonstrations back home, look at these areas this demonstrations are coming from, you begin to ask, are these the ordinary citizens that are demonstrating? Or are people pushing them to demonstrate.

Nigerians are being manipulated

“Take the case of Lagos, Lagos is the critical state in the nation’s economy, it controls about 53 per cent of the economy and all tribes are there. During the demonstration in Lagos, people were given bottled water that people in my village don’t have access to, people were given expensive food that the ordinary people in Lagos cannot eat. So even going to eat free food alone attracts people. They go and hire the best musician to come and play and the best comedian to come and entertain, is that demonstration? Are you telling me that that is a demonstration from ordinary masses in Nigeria who want to communicate something to government?

“For me, if I see somebody is manipulating anything I don’t listen to you but when I see people genuinely talking about issues I listen. I am hardly intimidated by anybody who wants to push any issue he has. I believe that that protest in Lagos was manipulated by a class in Lagos and was not from the ordinary people.

“Government everywhere must create environment for development and transformation, so I agree the lead must come from the government but the people must be the implementator if we must transform our country.”

Earlier in his lecture, the former President of Ghana, Kufour, said, “Naturally, imbalanced development that involves horizontal inequalities is an important source of conflict and that is costing Nigeria the opportunity to be the giant nation that it can and should be.”

He said the continued stay of government in office is dependent on its delivery of security and development.

He observed that despite their diversity, Nigerians as individuals are proud, intelligent, industrious and entrepreneurial regretting however that this resourcefulness had not yet impacted fully on the nation or to the rest of the continent which expects Nigeria to become a major growth pole.

Kufour said: “The challenge is to accelerate the pace of development by using the Nigerian Constitution as a nursery ground for producing leaders who are national in outlook and with a missionary zeal to transform this nation.

“This will help to mold the contending ethnic and religious groups into harmony and help to remove the perceived mutual distrust among them.

“Leaders so emerging would not be limited to championing the causes of their home state, tribe or religious group, but rather focus on deeds and pronouncements which convincingly and positively impact on the entire citizenry of the federal republic.

He added that, “Nation building is the systematic evolution of the political, economic, social and cultural well-being of all the component parts of the state.

“Indeed the transcendent factor should be the common citizenship of all the stakeholders no matter the tribe, gender, religion, economic or social status as your Constitution stipulates.”

Kufuor identified history, tribe and religion as factors that conspired to put a major stumbling block in the path of Nigeria’s destiny.

Kufour canvasses national identity for Nigeria

He advocated the cultivation of a national identity based on shared values, tradition, history and aspirations.

He said Nigerians should develop a high national consciousness where they consider themselves first as Nigerians before anything else.

He added that those in leadership should also share in the vision of one nation and one people.

The former president said political leadership must collaborate with businesses, public organisations and institutions to ensure that public security is guaranteed to maintain a stable environment for development of both the people and the state.

“If there is no security, there is no liberty and if there is no liberty, life is not meaningful and society reverts back to the law of the jungle i.e. the survival of the fittest and man’s primary objective of forming a state is defeated,” he added.

The Secretary to Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, said the lecture markd another critical milestone among programmes of independence.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/09/unpatriotic-nigerians-behind-fuel-subsidy-protest-jonathan/

Jonathan Begs PDP Governors To Donate Money To Book Launch Of Party Chairman, Bamanga Tukur
Posted: September 18, 2012 - 03:28
Posted by siteadmin

President Goodluck Jonathan has pleaded with governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party to donate money to the book launch of the party’s chairman, Dr. Bamanga Tukur.

But his appeal may be ignored by the governors.

The President was surprised that the governors, who were in Abuja to have a meeting with him on Saturday evening, refused to turn up for the book launch, which was done to celebrate Tukur’s 77 birthday.

Of the the 23 PDP governors, on three actually showed up for Tukur’s birthday party, which was attended by President Jonathan. The governors that were in attendance were Patrick Yakowa(Kaduna) Alhaji Isa Yuguda (Bauchi) and Chief Theodore Orji (Abia).

Despite that, and to the surprise of Mr. Jonathan, a majority of the governors who had stayed away from the book launch turned out for the evening meeting with him.

Among those who only turned up for the meeting were Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Danbaba Suntai (Taraba) and Godswill Akpabio(Akwa Ibom).

When the President was greeting them at the Villa, he told them one after the other: “You can’t escape o. You are not free. You must donate to the book launch.”

Rather than give him any commitment, the governors just laughed loudly. Our correspondent gathered that the governors have vowed not to donate any money to their party’s chairman, who has grown increasingly unpopular.


http://saharareporters.com/news-page/jonathan-begs-pdp-governors-donate-money-book-launch-party-chairman-bamanga-tukur

Ibori $15 Million bribe: EFCC Secretly "Detains" Andy Uba For 8 Hours-PREMIUM TIMES
Posted: September 18, 2012 - 14:08
Posted by siteadmin

By Idris Akinbajo
The Senator representing Anambra South in the Nigerian Senate, Andy Uba, was on Monday held for 8 hours and questioned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over his role in the Ibori $15 million bribe.

Mr. Uba, sources at the commission say, was questioned on his role in the bribe and his relationship with Chibuike Achigbu, the man who swore an oath to owning the bribe money.

Mr. Uba’s interrogation follows an earlier questioning by the EFCC of the lead counsel to Mr. Achigbu, Adeniyi Akintola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria; and Mr. Achigbu himself.

Mr. Achigbu, who identified himself as a businessman with interests in diverse fields, had through his counsel swore to an affidavit that he was the true owner of the bribe money, which he claimed he raised from business colleagues for the Peoples Democratic Party.

The businessman also filed an application in court seeking to retrieve the money, being claimed by both the Federal Government and the Delta State Government; an application he later withdrew.

Mr. Achigbu claimed in his affidavit that it was a phone call he received from the Senator a few days before filing his suit that convinced him of the ownership of the bribe money. He said he gave the money to Mr. Uba in 2007 in order for the Senator to clear the source from the EFCC.

He also claimed in the affidavit that the Senator, based on their discussions, was ready to attest to everything he swore to in his (Mr. Achigbu’s) affidavit.

Mr. Uba has however publicly denied the businessman. He stated that his house was only used by the then Delta State Governor, James Ibori, for the deal with the former EFCC Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu. Mr. Ibori allegedly offered the bribe to Mr. Ribadu in April 2007, at Mr. Uba’s house, while the money was received on behalf of Mr. Ribadu by the current EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, who was then the Director of Operations of the Commission.

Lawyers and civil society groups insisted that the EFCC investigates both the Senator and Mr. Achigbu for their roles in the bribery scandal. An Abuja Magistrate Court also last week ordered the Inspector General of Police to investigate both men about their roles in the bribe payment. The police boss is to report to the court on September 26 on the outcome of its investigations.

Mr. Uba could not be reached for comments as his telephone was switched off.
The EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said he had no information about the interrogation. He promised to find out the details and get back to us.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/ibori-15-million-bribe-efcc-secretly-detains-andy-uba-8-hours-premium-times

Andy Uba is former domestic assistant to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo

Oando Energy Resources Lists on Toronto Stock Exchange

14 Sep 2012

Oando Plc Thursday announced that it had completed the reverse takeover of Oando Energy Resources Incorporated (OER), formerly known as Exile Resources Incorporated with the listing of the company’s shares on Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).


With this feat, Oando Group has become the only company in Nigeria with three trans-border listings - the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and the TSX.


Top executives of Oando Plc as well as directors and management of Oando Energy Resources, led by Messrs Wale Tinubu and Omamofe Boyo, Group Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officer, respectively, last Wednesday rang the bell to open trading on the TSX to mark the formal listing of the company on the TSX.


Tinubu and Boyo received the commemoration plaque and certificate of listing from the Senior Vice President of the TSX, Mr. Ungad Chadda.


As consideration for the acquisition, OER issued 100,339,052 post-consolidated common shares to Oando, of which 75,254,289 post-consolidated common shares, representing 75 per cent of the post-consolidated common shares issued to Oando are in escrow.
Oando Energy Resources has subsequently obtained approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange to list its common shares and warrants on the TSX under the symbol OER.


In connection with the acquisition, the following changes were made to the board of directors of OER: Ahmed Said resigned as a director of OER, Stanley Bharti resigned as chairman and Tony Henshaw resigned as Chief Executive Officer.


In addition, Jubril Adewale Tinubu was appointed Director and Chairman of OER, John Orange was appointed director, Omamofe Boyo was appointed director; Olapade Durotoye was appointed Chief Executive Officer, while Adeola Ogunsemi was appointed Chief Financial Officer.


Commenting on the new development, Tinubu said: “We are excited that the reverse take-over is complete and that the TSX has given its approval for the listing of OER.


“This platform is expected to enable capital raising to meet OER’s immediate strategic objectives of growth in the upstream sector. Although Oando Plc will initially own 94.6 per cent interest in OER, the listing opens up the opportunity to present OER to a new world of investors with the distinct appetite for E&P investments.”


The reversed takeover was preceded by the acquisition by OER of equity interests in certain entities in the upstream exploration and production division of Oando Plc.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/oando-energy-resources-lists-on-toronto-stock-exchange/124965/
L-R: Christopher J.F. Harrop, Director, Oando Energy Resources, Omamofe Boyo, Deputy Group Chief Executive, Wale Tinubu, Group Chief Executive, both of Oando PLC and Pade Durotoye, CEO, Oando Energy Resources during the listing of Oando Energy Resources – first Nigeria’s indigenous oil and gas company on the Toronto Stock Exchange, on Wednesday, September 11, 2012 in Toronto Canada.

Time to Give President Jonathan a Bear Hug By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo
Posted: September 11, 2012 - 23:54
Posted by siteadmin


Columnist: Correct Me If I Am Right By Rudolf Okonkwo

We, Nigerians, are funny people. When it is convenient, we like to compare ourselves to unserious countries like the United States. But when it is inconvenient, we compare ourselves with serious countries like Gabon.

Like many of you, I, too, saw that picture of that Florida pizza shop owner who gave President Obama a bear hug. That hug, when November 6th comes, may be the most singular factor that lifted President Obama over the threshold against Mitt Romney.

Unlike all you pessimists who think that such a thing cannot happen in our own part of the world, I beg to differ. According to my shrink, a man like our dear President who has been complaining of being the most hated and criticized president in the world is actually crying out for a hug- any kind of hug. So the desire is already there. What is missing is, who will bell the cat?

By now it is clear to all of us that what we have been doing has not worked. Our criticism of the president all these years has not yielded any fruit. Instead it has hardened the heart of the president and those of the people around him. They are beginning to ignore us. When they don’t want to ignore us they preempt us with an attack. Deep down, they are desensitized to our whining.

I will give you one simple example. On January 1, 2012, when the president announced the removal of the so-called oil subsidy, he said that, “to save Nigeria, we all must be prepared to make sacrifices.” It was not a long time ago. But we seem to have forgotten. The removal of the subsidy increased the prices of goods and services for all Nigerians. But look at what happened to the President’s travelling pattern. Before the election in April, he went to London in February for a Somali conference. After the election his rate of travel exploded.

Here is an incomplete snap shot of his travels after he was sworn into office on May 29. On June 6, he was in South Africa. On June 21, he was in Brazil. On June 26, he was in Brussels. On July 30, he was in Trinidad and Tobago. On July 31, he was in Jamaica. On August 9, he was in Ghana. On August 22, he was in Senegal. On September 3, he was in Ethiopia. On September 9, he was in Malawi. On September 10, he travelled to Botswana. And by next Thursday, he will be in the United States.

And you all know what happens whenever he gets to the United States- here, Obama commends him. This time, Obama may invite him to be a special guest at his inauguration for a second term, the same way he invited Bola Tinubu to the Democratic Party Convention. Wink, wink. Do you blame President Jonathan for having affinity for people and places where he is loved? To our own embarrassment, we all saw the picture of the president planting cassava in Malawi. Have you seen the president plant cassava in Maiduguri before? Didn’t you all feel ashamed of yourselves when you saw that picture? Chances are that when he comes to New York next week, he may plant Nigeria’s greatest product in New York soil- crude oil.

I have since concluded that we are literally chasing the only president we have out of the country. Whatever we have been doing has not worked. Beneath that reckless smile boils a lava of anger. It is time to try something new. I propose that we spoil the president with love.

Our new paradigm shift should be this- it is not about the president. It is about us. If there is anyone who is clueless in this relationship it must be us. If there is anyone who failed to deliver, it is us. Trust me, this is not a radical idea. It doesn’t even rise up to what is called social engineering.

To win an election, presidential candidates seduce the people. But after the election it is the job of the people to seduce their president. How a president deals with the people that elected him depends on how much seduction the people can use to rock the world of their president.

We dream of our president seducing us but it is our job to learn how to seduce our president. We need to learn how to play our part. And we need to learn it now. And it starts with a hug, bear hug for President Jonathan.

Here are some Top Ten Ways by which we can give President Jonathan a bear hug.

10.) Instead of taking embarrassing pictures of crumbling Lagos-Ore-Benin road and posting them online for the world to see, we rename the whole stretch of the road the Goodluck Jonathan Highway. Heck, he won’t let a highway named after him go into disrepair.
9.) Rather than call him clueless, we all should call him an intelligentsia.
8.) Commission Bruce Onobrakpeya to paint his official portrait with a promise that it will grace the wall of Aso Rock for 1000 years.
7.) Ask our Nobel laureate to edit the president’s collected speeches for worldwide publication.
6.) When any Nigerian abroad is going home, decree that each of them must buy the president a nice pair of shoe.
5.) Rather than publish debilitating pictures of our hospitals online, name at least one major hospital in every local government area Goodluck Jonathan hospital. Mandate all hospitals and maternities in Nigeria to at least name the first male child born each day Goodluck Jonathan.
4.) Bring peace to Maiduguri by simply renaming it Jonathanstan.
3.) Create a software that tracks money laundering and name it Jonathan.
2.) Rather than take embarrassing pictures of crumbling schools and posting them online for the world to see, we rename one school in every local government area after Goodluck Jonathan. Lo and behold, he won’t let a school named after him to remain in disrepair.
1.) Keep the president in Abuja by renaming the city, Jonathanville.

Once we are done, we mandate all newspapers in the country to publish each day, on their front page, how many people died on Goodluck Jonathan Highway and Goodluck Jonathan hospitals.

This is a not reverse psychology. This is just a hug- a bear hug, if you will. After all, a hug by any other name is still a hug.

Please correct me if I’m right
http://saharareporters.com/column/time-give-president-jonathan-bear-hug-rudolf-ogoo-okonkwo

Ibori: My Coverage of The Confiscation Of Assets Case By Ayo Faleti
Posted: September 10, 2012 - 14:53

James Onanefe Ibori is serving 13 years in UK prison for money laundering

By Ayo Faleti
Done with my commitments at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics Games, I took time off today to attend the Ibori hearing at the Southwark Crown Court. Today’s session was related to the ‘Confiscation of Assets’ case, following trial and conviction.

The case which was to start at 10:00am did not actually begin until 10:20am; call this African time for an African convict, if you like. Contrary to initial speculations, the convict, Odidigbogborigbo James Onanafe Ibori, was not in court. He was represented by his counsel. The case was heard by the same judge who convicted Ibori some months ago. When it finally got underway, the hearing lasted all of 15 minutes.

crucial issues that came up can be summarised as follows:



• Ibori has changed his representation since the last hearing. This can be seen as a cost-cutting measure on his part. The judge commented on the stupidity cum absurdity of the composition of Ibori’s defence team, in judge’s words, ‘a silk, leading a silk and then a junior, only to plead guilty at the end’. A needless waste of funds obviously, but then the odidigbogborigbo is not known to be a prudent man, is he? Today, he was represented by a single solicitor.



• One of his accomplices, who himself had been convicted and serving term, has expressed his intention to challenge his conviction based on the subsequent revelations relation to the corruption of some within the Metropolitan Police. He is going to try and quash his conviction on the basis that the Police set-up itself was compromised.



• Ibori has been granted leave to challenge his Sentence (note, not his conviction, which is a done deal) in court. He has been sentenced to 13 years in Her Majesty’s prison and he will be looking to reduce this significantly using the malfeasance of the police as an excuse and also drawing on any political clout he may still have.



• The prosecution requested the judge to grant permission for the confiscation of assets hearing to be further delayed. This is due to Ibori’s lack of cooperation in with the prosecution in agreeing on a mutually acceptable ‘Declaration of Assets List’. The list Ibori is prepared to append his signature to is missing two properties in the United States, valued at several millions of pounds, which the prosecution is reasonably convinced belongs to Ibori and which the convict is denying ownership of. The defence is against any further delay, as according to them, the law is clear that the confiscation of assets hearing should be within six months of conviction (barring exceptional circumstances), the deadline of which is passed already.



• The judge heard both arguments and found that the delay is due to Ibori’s lack of sincerity and cooperation in the compilation of his declaration of assets. We all know that the odidigbogborigbo does not do sincerity that much, especially when it comes to the rule of law.



The judge in granting the request of the prosecution for a delay in hearing the confiscation of assets case stated that the case is a very complex one with many twists and turns. The case which is supposed to be completed by April 2013 will now be concluded in August 2013, with the real possibility of it spilling into early 2014; all depending on the level of cooperation from the odidigbogborigbo of Africa.



My personal high point of the hearing came when the defence, referring to Ibori as a high-profile prisoner, claimed that any delay in the hearing further extends Ibori’s inconvenience, insinuating a breach of his rights. I just cannot understand how ‘inconveniencing’ Ibori in anyway can be a bad thing. I wonder how this supposed inconvenience of Ibori squares with the sordid reality of the poor and dispossessed of Delta State who, as a direct result of Ibori’s robbery, dies routinely from poorly maintained roads, hospitals and other utilities. All considered, that Ibori is being inconvenienced must be a good thing indeed.



It is clear that Ibori intends to use this leave granted to him to challenge his sentence. It is also clear that at this stage in the case, political considerations may have a significant influence on the eventual outcome of the process. The nightmare scenario is that Ibori walks free from prison after this challenge on the basis of time already served. The dream scenario is that the length of his sentence is increased; the wish of the vast majority of Nigerians is that Ibori, and his kind, should be hauled into jail and the keys thrown away, at the very least. More appropriately, these common rogues, euphemistically called big men in Nigeria, richly deserve to be summarily shot, a bullet in the back of the head. This will be just reward for their monumental crimes against humanity, of the very worst hue.



In this particular case of James Ibori, a question that troubles my mind is this, ‘who takes possession of all these assets to be confiscated after trial?’ It will be wrong for the UK Treasury to take possession of these assets, as the ‘real’ owners are known; they are the long-suffering masses and citizens of the Delta State of Nigeria. However, we are all aware that Ibori installed his cousin as his successor in Delta State’s government house. Will it not amount to an exercise in futility, to confiscate assets from Ibori on the one hand, and handover same assets to his cousin on the other hand? This is the conundrum that even the law may not be able to resolve.



In my lifetime, I have watched as time-honoured values were trampled underfoot in Nigeria and a reign of impunity installed. The proverbial genie is out of the bottle and it is near impossible to put it back. Ibori is only one, albeit a significant one, in the roll-call of common rogues masquerading as leaders in Nigeria. Ibori’s asset declaration is the subject of a see-saw in a London court at a time when the sitting president of Nigeria said he does not give a damn about declaring his assets as stipulated by the law.



In the last thirty years or so, Public servants everywhere in the country have developed a penchant for ostensibly living above their legitimate means and no one dares ask questions. We all know these people. They are our uncles, aunties, neighbours, fathers, mothers, church/mosques fellow worshippers. They claim God’s blessings when they know and we know that their so-called blessings have nothing to do with God and everything to do with crime and brigandage. What started on the fringes in the seventies and eighties has now been mainstreamed, it is now ubiquitous! Everyone who is in the right position is in on it. In the dock at the Southwark Crown Court is James Ibori, but it could easily have been any of about two million public servants, politicians and fake contractors loitering the corridors of public buildings everywhere in Nigeria. This is why it is hypocritical to be overtly judgmental about Ibori. His trial presents nothing more than a comic relief for the suffering tribes of Nigeria; fundamentally nothing is going to change for the better in Nigeria as a result of the Ibori case. This, unfortunately, is the reality of Nigeria; a land of no tomorrow!



Ayo Faleti

London, UK.

http://saharareporters.com/article/ibori-my-coverage-confiscation-assets-case-ayo-faleti

Non-prosecution of Okupe is endorsement of corruption, says ACN
By Our Reporter 38 minutes ago
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Dr. Okupe

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has described as official endorsement of corruption the attempt by the Presidency, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Benue State government and the Economic and Finanicial Crimes Commsion (EFCC) to treat as a civil matter, the case relating to the non-implementation of the N2.3 billion rural contract awarded to Dr Doyin Okupe ‘s company Value Trust Limited by the Benue State Government.

In a statement in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said this is a case which raises serious legal and financial issues that must necessarily warrant the intervention of the EFCC in terms of investigating the allegation of financial impropriety levelled against the Presidential aide if the government wants it to be taken seriously on its war against corruption.

The party said on several occasions in the past, the EFCC had proffered criminal charges against individuals and companies who received money for the purpose of the execution of contracts awarded to them and who failed or refused to fulfil the contract and Dr Doyin Okupe’s case is not different from any of these.

In the face of the obvious attempt by the Presidency, the PDP and the EFCC to sweep this case under the carpet, the ACN sees the need to present once again unadorned, the facts of this case to the public,which are as follows:

“Value Trust, a company in which Dr Doyin Okupe serves as chairman received N886.8 million as mobilisation from the Benue State government out of the contract sum of N2.3 billion to build 230 kilometres of rural road and failed to execute the contract.”

‘’This non-performance of the contract after having collected N886.8 million mobilisation fee is a clear cut situation where the provisions of the law relating to obtaining money under false pretence should be invoked and the EFCC must treat this incident in the same manner as it has been treating all other similar cases of obtaining money under false pretences’’, the party said.

‘’Therefore, the stance of both the Benue State Government and the PDP to treat this obvious criminal act with triviality by treating it as a mere civil commercial disagreement that could be summarily resolved between the Benue State Government and Dr Okupe’s company cannot stand as only a court of law can determine the culpability or otherwise of Dr Okupe and his company in the matter, the party explained.

According to the party , it is obvious to even the least discerning observer that Dr Okupe and the Benue State government with the active collusion of the Presidency and the EFCC would like the world to believe that all that happened in a case where the Okupe’s company abandoned a contract after it was paid a whopping sum of N886.8million was a case of mere civil commercial dispute.

The party reminded the Presidency, Benue State government and the EFCC that in all cases where public funds are disbursed to individuals through any contrivance and the purpose for which such disbursement was made is not met, the EFCC had treated such cases as obtaining by false pretences.

“Many bank directors today are being tried for stealing borrowed funds that may not have been utilised appropriately. The oil subsidy cases also merely involve persons who received sums as subsidies without supplying the subsidy product. What is good for the goose should be good for the gander, the EFCC must investigate the allegations against Dr Okupe or they should stop the prosecution of all bank directors and those indicted in the oil subsidy scam, the party added.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/news/60630-non-prosecution-of-okupe-is-endorsement-of-corruption-says-acn.html

Hospitalized Nigeria First Lady Was Misdiagnosed By Presidential Physicians As Mystery Around Ailment Grows
Posted: September 6, 2012 - 19:45
Posted by siteadmin

caption: Dame Patience Jonathan
By SaharaReporters, New York
President Goodluck Jonathan has asked his aides to stop taking questions about the circumstances of his wife, Patience, whose health status and treatment in Germany remains shrouded in mystery.

Presidency sources said the President is not happy with the publicity that her condition has generated in both local and international media which have described her condition variously as severe food poisoning and a burst appendix.

However, SaharaReporters sources in Germany stated that Mrs. Jonathan, who earlier underwent a procedure in Dubai, was misdiagnosed by doctors that initially attended to her at the Aso Rock clinic .

Early last week Mrs. Jonathan was airlifted to Wiesbaden, Germany as her condition grew worse shortly after returning from Dubai and was diagnosed and treated for "food poisoning". Shortly after arriving in Germany, she lost her voice and had to be placed on strong antibiotics, she was only able to speak four days after she was admitted to the hospital in Wiesbaden.

The source would not reveal if Mrs. Jonathan had undergone surgery as reported by some newspapers.

Yesterday, President summoned some of his close aides, and reportedly claimed that he regrets not informing Nigerians earlier about his wife's condition before the story was broken by Saharareporters.

An impeccable source in the Presidential Villa said the President ordered that the issue be left “as it is for now until madam returns from the trip” so that her return could be used to douse public anxiety by claiming that the media had "exaggerated her state of health."

Mrs. Jonathan is recovering in the same hospital, Horst Schmidt Klinik, as did the late president, Umaru Yar'Adua, whose wife led a clique that hijacked power from then Vice President Jonathan by misrepresenting his health condition until he died.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/hospitalized-nigeria-first-lady-was-misdiagnosed-presidential-physicians-mystery-around-ai

EFCC Arrests Kaduna Socialite for Pension Fraud
03 Sep 2012
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By Ike Abonyi in Abuja

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested one Hajiya Fati Mazangari, as part of the ongoing investigation into the pension scam worth billions of naira in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation


Mazangari, who is based in Kaduna and parades herself as a business woman who deals on oil and gas, is the head of a syndicate that scouts for account numbers from people of various background.


A source told THISDAY that “the numbers are communicated to officials of the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation Pension who credit the accounts monthly with pension remittances.


“The money is then withdrawn by the account holders and handed over to Mazangari who has allegedly used some of the proceeds to build a plaza named after her.”


THISDAY gathered that over N1billion has been paid into these accounts with some of the money as recent as July, 2012 despite well publicised investigations into the scam in the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.


“One of the account holders, a youth corps member, had seven accounts and was receiving pension monthly,” the source added. Mazangari is allegedly assisted in the scam by her sons, one of whom is an IT Consultant already on the run while the other is a captain in the Nigeria Army who uses his influence to threaten the account holders to remit the funds to his mother.
EFCC’s spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, when contacted confirmed the recent arrest of the socialite.



He, however, disclosed that she has been released on conditional bail. Uwujaren warned members of the public against giving their account numbers to people without reason. Such action, he added, may cause them to be named as accomplices in the prosecution of such fraud. Necessary measures have since been taken to prevent her from fleeing the country, THISDAY learnt.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/efcc-arrests-kaduna-socialite-for-pension-fraud/123938/

First Lady Patience Jonathan's Health Update: Illness Started In Dubai
Posted: September 3, 2012 - 18:20
Posted by siteadmin

caption: Dame Patience Jonathan
By SaharaReporters, New York
The “food poisoning” condition that landed Mrs. Patience Jonathan in a hospital in Germany reportedly started in Dubai eleven days ago where she had gone to see a doctor because her hands were twitching.

Presidency sources said she had gone to Dubai after the recent African First Ladies Summit in Abuja, an event that imposed an unfamiliar and grueling schedule of meetings and late nights on Mrs. Jonathan, saying she needed some rest.

Her visit to Dubai was explained as a vacation but our sources said it involved a medical procedure, while in Dubai, she reportedly had "food poisoning" alongside her medical doctor, soon after she returned to Abuja last Monday, the emergency broke and she had to be airlifted to Wiesbaden, Germany for food poisoning.

Since SaharaReporters broke the news yesterday, the Presidency has officially kept mum about the First Lady's condition. Despite a media arm recently fortified to give Mrs. Jonathan a more aggressive press presence, it has provided neither denial nor confirmation.

Last night, Ayo Adewuyi, the First Lady’s media aide, told us that he had himself only just returned from vacation, and pleaded for time to respond to our inquiries.

When we called him today to find out if he had found out Mrs. Jonathan’s whereabouts, he confirmed that she was in Germany and pleaded to let him send a press statement regarding the issue. Several hours later, he insisted that he was still working on a statement.

There have, however, been half-hearted denials and spins in some newspapers and blogs claiming that Mrs. Jonathan is only resting, but none of those outlets have provided her location or shed light on her condition.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/first-lady-patience-jonathans-health-update-illness-started-dubai