The problem with Ohanku road

In the heat of Okezuo Abia 2015 campaigns, Ohanku road in Aba, which is in a terrible state, was among the roads that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu used, while appealing for votes of our people in the area. He promised to begin reconstruction of the road within his first 100 days in office.

True to his promise, immediately after he was sworn-in, he instructed engineers at the Abia State Ministry of Works to do the assessment that will enable the state commence work on Ohanku road Aba.

Shortly after, the Management of Herbertech Nigeria Ltd came to see the Governor with a powerful delegation at the Governor's Lodge in Aba.

Their mission: to inform the Governor that they have a subsisting contract on Ohanku road from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). They provided documents to substantiate their claims.

Herbertech Nigeria Ltd pleaded with the Governor to speak to NDDC management to pay them so that they will move to site and do the job.

When the management of NDDC, led by the former Acting Managing Director, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, paid a courtesy visit to Governor Ikpeazu at the Government House in Umuahia, the issue of Ohanku road and payment to the contractor handling the road was discussed extensively, and the commission promised to pay their contractor-Herbertech Nigeria Ltd.

As it stands, ABSG can't go into the road. All we can do is to plead with NDDC to pay Herbertech Nigeria Ltd so they can move to site.

Bearing in mind the recent change in management at the commission, there may have been unavoidable delays in the processing of payments. But I spoke with a senior management staff of Herbertech Nigeria Ltd and was told that their request for payment was approved in December 2016. Give and take, they're hoping for actual payment in February.

For us in Abia, we understand the plight of our people on that road, and would have loved to send one of our best contractors to the road, but you now know the story and trouble with Ohanku road. Therefore, let us be patient with the contractor-Herbertech Nigeria Ltd and NDDC, in the hope that they will do the needful.

That is the trouble with Ohanku Road.

*Enyinnaya Appolos, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, writes from Isiko.

PRESIDENT JOHN MAHAMA'S CONCESSION SPEECH AS A PRACTICAL LESSON TO LEADERS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA:
BY SIR DON UBANI: KSC, JP
OKWUBUNKA OF ASA
11TH DECEMBER, 2016.
Man is one creature that is endowed with intelligence but, in most circumstances, refuses to learn.
An intelligent man that is deficient in wisdom, finds it difficult to take maximum advantage of his intelligence.
A wise man does not wait to be taught bitter lessons of life through his own mistakes and failures.
He rather learns from the mistakes and misfortunes of others. A rare combination of intelligence and wisdom makes him learn fast.
With my experience in government and governance, I have, over the years, drawn some conclusions, one of which is that a President, Governor, Minister, Commissioner or even a local government council chairman is an administrative cum social prisoner.
Some critics may quickly misunderstand me or inject extraneous interpretations to my assertion which, however, would not, in any way, vitiate the veracity of my stand.
A Governor, for instance, is strictly guided by protocol. There are well trained and remunerated government officials whose duty is to cautiously lead him on a slippery rope of dos and donts.
Strict adherence to protocol brings about limitations in interaction between the Governor and the governed.
Even if the Governor is so liberally disposed that he would want access to be given to whoever desires to see him, his protocol officers, knowing that if any thing untoward results out of the visit they are the ones to be held accountable, would throw spanner into the wheel.
The aftermath of this protocol essentialism is that the Governor or President becomes withdrawn from the masses. Even though he may not be described as a recluse or hermit, the fact remains that he has lost his former and cherished close contact with his erstwhile friends.
However, being determined to live up-to his electioneering promises, he clings almost dependently to the retinue of his aides and confidants.
These aides automatically become his ears and eyes. Whatever piece of information they bring to him is what he takes to be real.
If they tell him that the masses are full of praises for him, whether it is true or even the opposite, that is what the President or Governor would take.
Unfortunately, 85%, if not more, of his coterie are not given to altruism. They are there to amass wealth and massage their personal ego.
They are not even bothered whether their Principal would be able to make a second tenure. Their interest only lies in what they can make in the Governor's first tenure.
In order to get the Governor or President emotionally attached to them, they become sycophants, flattering him in such a manner that others who do not do same are perceived as enemies.
Just to make sure their boss is properly caged in their prison, they employ the weapon of gossip and character assassination against persons they think, if allowed close, could tell the Governor or President the true picture of things as perceived by the commoners out there.
Even friends of the helmsman who assisted in his struggle to get to his present position are deliberately painted black and dangerously portrayed as potential enemies.
The Veranda boys, as Genevieve Kanu in her book, Nkrumah, The Man, would call these abnormally voracious aides, would do any thing to detach their employer from sensibilities of the people.
Ironically and interestingly, these fair weather friends are usually the first to abandon the man they succeeded in holding hostage.
President John Mahama of Ghana is the latest self-discovered prisoner of aides and confidants.
As an incumbent President, he had, on 7th December, 2016 contested for a second tenure on the platform of his Party; National Democratic Congress.
Nana Akufo-Addo, on his own, sought for his country's Presidency, riding on New Patriotic Party.
Unknown to President Mahama, the Ghanaian electorate had lost confidence in his administration and were only praying to manage to be alive to prove to Mr President that he can not have his cake and eat it.
He failed woefully in the election while Nana Akufo-Addo emerged victorious.
In his concession speech, he congratulated his victorious opponent. He accepted responsibility of his Party's failure and attributed his misfortune to his failure to choose men and women who could have guided him through the path of truth and reality instead of surrounding himself with mere opportunists and sycophants.
It is my wish that African leaders can quickly learn from John Mahama's experience.
Getting people who have the capacity to criticize proposals internally and strongly but respectfully draw attention to lapses in an administration could have served as an elixir to President John Mahama.
Okwubunka of Asa.

FARE THEE WELL, FIDEL CASTRO!
BY SIR DON UBANI; KSC, JP
OKWUBUNKA OF ASA
26TH NOVEMBER, 2016
[i][/i][i][/i]A new lexicon, to some of us, has, of late, emerged in the register of advertisement. It is mainly associated with online marketing.
E-advertisers now talk of Black Friday in their bid to cajole potential buyers into visiting their online shops for possible patronage.
By a simple explanation, Black Friday is a specific Friday when customers are lured to believe that they would be offered very attractive rebates by advertising shops, even to the extent of 90%.
How this plays out is what I do not know as I have not checked it out.
My own Black Friday was yesterday; Friday 25th November, 2016 which marked the end on earth of the Cuban revolutionary icon and statesman, Barr Fidel Castro at the ripe age of 90.
Fidel Castro represented brilliance, discipline, altruism, integrity, courage, transparency, patriotism and humanity.
For the many years he served his people of Cuba as President, it was evident he had no skeleton in his cupboard. He did not believe in material acquisition but devoted all his time to advance the welfare of Cubans.
Out of sagacity and prudence, he was able to manage his country's purely agrarian economy to such an assuring extent that at any given time, Cuba had a favourable balance of trade.
When he realized that age and time were no more on his side and there was need to appoint a successor, due to patriotism, he did not appoint any of his children. He rather choose his brother, Raul, whom he believed was the most committed to Cuban revolutionary ideals.
As a courageous military tactician, Fidel Castro did not allow himself to be cowed down by the military might of the United States of America and strongly and victoriously mobilized his people in defence of Cuba against America in 1958.
Fidel Castro has kicked the bucket but not without leaving legacies that leaders, the world over, who really want to advance the course of their people, could leverage on.
Adieu General Fidel Castro!
Adieu A Man of Selfless Service!!
Sir Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa
Executive Director Centre For Equity & Eradication Of Rural Poverty.

Getting Ondo Governorship Election Right:
By Sir Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa
25th November, 2016
Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well. The growth of democracy in Nigeria has been having it's own challenges.
Due to the peculiar experience associated with it, Nigeria's brand of democracy has remained too long a learning process.
If the Nigerian Military had spared it the required breathing space after independence, Nigeria's democracy would, by now, have done away with the stage of elementary learning and limitless tutelage.
Be that as it is, stakeholders in Nigeria's politics owe it a duty to guarantee the growth and stability of democracy in their fatherland.
Come to think of it, if, as a people, we fail to put our house in order, we should not expect people from another country or clime to address our challenges.
For Nigeria to go beyond her present state of backwardness and abject penury, her leaders must start looking at issues from an altruistic point of view. Selfishness and crave for momentary personal gains must be put behind, not only by the leaders but also by the citizenry.
The Ondo governorship election scheduled to hold tomorrow; Saturday 26th November, 2016 has thrown a fundamental challenge to Nigeria's central leadership.
The situation in Ondo provides a platform for measurement and evaluation of a combination of patriotism, integrity and statesmanship supposedly inherent in the Buhari administration.
If his government is parochial and self-centred, it would go ahead with tomorrow's election in Ondo state, not wanting to take cognizance of the legal limitations associated with the election should it hold tomorrow.
A President of Nigeria's status, as Buhari is, by all standards, should radiate and exhibit statesmanship. This means what should be of utmost concern to him at any given time is the overall interest of his country and the citizens. Emphasis should not be placed on what his Political Party would achieve as against the health of the country.
At any given time, the President has to be mindful of the fact that he swore to an oath to defend the constitution of Nigeria and to protect the lives and property of his fellow citizens.
The extant electoral acts guiding elections in Nigeria dictate that names of candidates for elections should be made known publicly for not less than two weeks before the election proper.
It was only day before yesterday (Wednesday) that the Appeal Court reinstated Barr Jegede Eyitayo (SAN) as the legitimate governorship candidate of the Peoples' Democratic Party.
On this alone, allowing the election to hold tomorrow means a deliberate but avoidable resort to dangerously arming enemies of democracy to work successfully against the result of the election if it does not go their way.
Besides, a candidate in such a high calibre election as governorship should originate and submit the names of his Party's agents to the Independent National Electoral Commission quite on time.
As at last Wednesday when the Court of Appeal restored justice, the list of PDP agents submitted to INEC was the one drawn up by Chief Ibrahim Jimioh, the usurper.
As a law-abiding citizen of Nigeria, I strongly believe that what is worth doing, is worth doing well.
Therefore, in the overall interest of our democracy, which unfortunately and sadly is still qualified as nascent, let Ondo governorship election be postponed, even if it would be for a week.
This, where it is not anticipated in our laws, could be another doctrine of necessity.
Sir Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa
Executive Director Centre For Equity & Eradication of Rural Poverty.

THE ELECTORAL TRIUMPH OF DONALD TRUMP. BY SIR DON UBANI, OKWUBUNKA OF ASA.
13TH NOVEMBER, 2016
Each time a victory is recorded in any field of endeavour, there is always the temptation for individuals, including the ones that were vehemently opposed to the subject of victory, to turn round to lay claims of absolute belief in the struggle.
This is why many critics only take post victory solidarity writings or speeches with a pinch of salt. This is more so in sub-saharan Africa where the trend is survival of the fittest.
In this part of the world, no body wants to be a loser. This is why truth is perceived as disrespect, disloyalty and for one to succeed within the societal frame-work, one has to be a pathological liar and a ruthless opportunistic sycophant.
I consider the above preamble necessary because of the sensitivity of this discourse.
Prior to this write-up, including the declaration of Mr Donald Trump as President-elect of the United States of America, I had not written any piece on the American Presidential election. I did not even bother myself predicting who would win or lose.
I, however, had a strong opinion on one of the major contestants; Mr Donald Trump.
About the middle of March 2016, I had gone to see the Abia State Commissioner for Works, Mr Eziuche Ubani, in his office at Umuahia but was told he was on his way to the office and, so, I decided to wait a little.
While I was in his reception, some persons, a good number of whom I did not know except a fairly-complexioned tall young man who is a Personal Assistant to Abia State Commissioner for Sports; Chief Chinwe Nwanganga, were discussing the chances of either Mrs Hillary Clinton or Mr Donald Trump becoming the next American President, a successor to incumbent President Barack Obama.
I remember all of them predicting the victory of Mrs Clinton as given.
According to them, every consideration favoured the female presidential candidate of the Democratic Party. Besides, opinion poll, all over the United States of America and the world over, projected her as a winner.
At the risk of sounding lonely, ignorant, unpopular and even stupid, I boldly told them that Mr Trump was 'my candidate'. This assertion spontaneously attracted cold surprises from them.
One of them who, in sharp reaction to my declaration, said he had lived for about thirty years in the USA wondered why a man of my height in the society could make such a statement.
He went further to elucidate his stand by saying that Mexicans, Arabs, Muslims and Blacks that indisputably constitute a very high percentage of the American population would, no doubt, effectively use their votes to guarantee the electoral failure of Mr Donald Trump. He concluded by describing Trump as a racist.
In order not to be seen as one who would make a claim without being able to substantiate it or, at least, give reasons behind such a claim, I told them my support for Trump arose from the facts that he was able to pronounce that the Muslim gangs parading as ISIS and Boko Haram are terrorists and should be seen, perceived and treated as such. To me, this was not only a bold statement but very apt, assuring and timely.
Again, were I part of the American electorate, I would have unmistakably voted for Donald Trump, irrespective of Party affiliation, because of his stated policy on immigration. He made it clear that America would no longer be a loose country for all manner of immigrants.
As long as I am concerned, respect should be accorded Mr Trump for taking the bull by the horn over this statement.
It is an open secret that Nigeria, for instance, has more natural resources than the USA.
Unfortunately and regrettably, Nigeria remains one of the most undeveloped countries of the world, with a high percentage of her citizens being afflicted by abject penury.
The irony of our situation is that Nigerian leaders and the bourgeoisie who do not have an American green card would think they have not arrived.
Corruption that is euphemism for Nigerian leaders is engineered by our leaders' penchant for extravagant display of affluence in foreign countries, especially the United States of America.
If our leaders in Nigeria could discipline themselves a little and develop positive interest in the affairs of their father land, we would have no need thinking of American green card.
May God strengthen President-elect; Donald Trump, to live up-to his election promises.
Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa.

TIME TO ADDRESS INSECURITY IN OUR DEAR COUNTRY, NIGERIA:
BY SIR DON UBANI
OKWUBUNKA OF ASA
FMR INFOR COMMR, ABIA STATE
6TH NOVEMBER, 2016
Students of history may not easily forget that one of the major reasons why many empires collapsed in the ancient of days was insecurity within the polity.
Internal insecurity could be brought about by many factors. The factors may include but not limited to tribalism, nepotism, sectionalism, favouritism, discrimination based on religion or reckless acts of impunity.
When in 2002, Mohammed Yusuf founded his religious organization that would later metamorphose into the presently-dreaded terrorist group known as Boko Haram, no Nigerian had ever imagined that such an organization would end up as a national headache to the people and governments of Nigeria.
Boko Haram had, as at early 2015, taken over many communities in the North-east of Nigeria, especially in such states as Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
The situation was so bad that the terrorist group had, with ease, dismantled the Nigerian flag and in its place hoisted theirs in many communities in the North-east.
When the group started initially, their main target was any thing associated with Christianity. Hence churches in the North of Nigeria were randomly attacked, with deadly consequences.
The objective of the group was to declare an Islamist state of their own. Boko Haram means western civilization is evil.
According to the group, any thing done to liberate themselves and the people of the areas in which they operated from Christians and adherents of western civilization, no matter how outrageous, was not only a step in the right direction but an act that would earn them automatic entry to heaven where they would be 'served by seven virgins'.
In a nutshell, the insecurity in the North-east was brought about by islamist fundamentalism and gross irresponsibility.
Yet, the North-east challenge has led to a waste of the country's dwindling resources, running into billions of dollars of United States of America. Still, there is hardly any day one or two deaths are not recorded over there.
As at December 2015, the Federal Government had given the impression that the insurgents had been defeated and annihilated. This claim, however, appears to be far from the truth.
Organized offensives are still being launched by the Boko Haram insurgents.
The latest was that of yesterday, Saturday 5th November, 2016 when a troop of gallant men and officers of the Nigerian Army was tactfully ambushed by a gang of insurgents at Gamboru-Ngala in Borno State.
The outcome of that aggression was the untimely and most sorrowful death of Lt Col Mohammed Abu Ali and four other soldiers.
Col Ali, it would be recalled, was the officer, then a Major, that fought very patriotically and gallantly to liberate Baga, an extreme North-eastern territory after Mongonu, less than twenty kilometres away from Doro, very close to Lake Chad in Born State from the Boko Haram in 2015. That feat had earned him a command promotion from the rank of a Major to that of a Lieutenant Colonel by the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Burutai.
This young Nigerian Army officer and the four anonymous soldiers have been unpatriotically forced to have their lives and career cut off in the prime of their lives because of insincerity and inconsideration in our national leadership.
As if what is happening in the North-east is not enough to arrest national attention, Fulani herdsmen, suspiciously and sophisticatedly armed to the teeth, became, for no other reason than religion, a heartlessly destructive Nigerian equivalence of the supporter of APC operating in Darfur.
The Fulani herdsmen have as their targets, farmers and Christians in the North-Central, South-East, South-South and South-West of Nigeria.
These terrorists in disguise have killed more than ten thousand Christian farmers in the afore-mentioned geo-political regions since their kinsman, General Muhammadu Buhari(rtd), emerged as Nigeria's President.
Yet, the Buhari administration has no clear-cut strategy to even curb the excesses of his kinsmen, not to talk of bringing the menace to a halt.
Rather, what Nigerians are fed with on a daily basis is the administration's protection of Fulani herdsmen against cattle rustlers.
Known to every Nigerian of, at least, average enlightenment, the mother of all insecurity is here with us.
It is happening in the Niger Delta Region of the country, the economic base of Nigeria. The youths of the region are fed up with the many decades of economic exploitation of their region.
They feel rightly frustrated that wealth from their region has unilaterally been used to develop Abuja, from a thick forest to a first class metropolitan city. Yet, their region remains the most neglected and undeveloped.
They have, therefore, risen to the challenges of their time. They are unequivocally and unconditionally demanding for restructuring of the Nigerian federation. They want the re-introduction of fiscal federalism as it was stipulated in the 1963 Republican Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is euphemism for resource control.
In the absence of that, they want to go their separate ways. Meanwhile, they have vowed to paralyse the economy of Nigeria. They have made bold their threats. The economy, being mono-cultural and dependent only on petroleum from the Niger Delta region, has consequently collapsed and gone into recession.
Fourty-six years after the Nigerian/Biafran war, the youths of the South-East are clamouring for an independent State of Biafra.
According to them, their grievance emanates from deliberately calculated marginalization of their region by the Nigerian government.
Their claim, not withstanding, many believe that many governors who have ruled in the South-East since 1999 till date failed woefully to make judicious and transparent use of the allocations and resources that accrued to their states for optimal development.
As a social activist and writer, I strongly think that insecurity in Nigeria can be easily, meaningfully
and effectively be addressed through restructuring.
Any federation that is devoid of fiscal federation is not a true federation. Power and wealth are too centralized in Nigeria and this is why corruption, laxity, ineptitude and inefficiency have become our trade mark.
Whoever is opposed to restructuring of Nigeria is not a true and patriotic citizen of this country and must surely have a hidden agenda.
Don UBAN; KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa
Executive Director
Centre for Equity & Eradication of
Rural Poverty.

TIME TO SAVE PDP FROM ALLI MODU SHERIFF'S EMBARRASSMENT CONTINUES:

As I was trying to state earlier, both prevailing economic and political circumstances in today's Nigeria indicate that Nigerians are willing to return to their former place of abode, the PDP.

Unfortunately, leaders of our Party appear not to know what their problem is and how to put their acts together.

Political calculations should be devoid of sentiments of any sort.
Currently-speaking, the main problem confronting the PDP is the infiltration of the Party by Senator Alli Modui Sheriff. The man is on a mission to destroy the Party.

Any leader of PDP that thinks that the problem emanating from the inordinate ambition of Sheriff can be solved on a round table conference is only being naively simplistic.

Sheriff is taking undue advantage of the gullibility of some judges in the country to pull the wool over the eyes of many PDP leaders.

That the Independent National Electoral Commission has announced Jimoh Ibrahim of Sheriff's so-called faction as the Party's governorship candidate for the 26th November,2016 election in Ondo State is a clear indication that Sheriff is leveraging on the inexperience of majority of current PDP leaders.

As one of the Conveners of this Party in Abia State and by extension Nigeria, I urge our leaders to arise above sentiments and naivety and fight this battle to a conclusive end. The best and only way to address this menace is to be painstakingly meticulous in handling it conclusively in the court, terminating at the Supreme Court.


Sir Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa
1998 Convener of PDP

Apugo, APC Chieftain Arraigned, Remanded In Prison

Apugo pleaded not guilty to the charges prompting the prosecution led by Joshua Saidu to apply for a trial date while praying that the defendant be remanded in prison custody pending trial.



Sahara Reporters




The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC today Tuesday October 11, 2016 arraigned a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Prince Benjamin Benedict Apugo before Justice Osiagor of the Federal High Court, Umuahia Abia State on a three count charge bordering on obtaining N36.000,000.00 by false pretence.

Apugo pleaded not guilty to the charges prompting the prosecution led by Joshua Saidu to apply for a trial date while praying that the defendant be remanded in prison custody pending trial.

But the defence counsel, R.M Udechukwu (SAN) pleaded with the court to allow the accused to continue with the administrative bail granted him by EFCC. He had unsuccessfully argued against the arraignment of his client based on a purported pending appeal, challenging the jurisdiction of court.

The court however granted the defendant bail in the sum of N10,000,000.00 (Ten Million Naira Only) and two sureties in like sum. The two Sureties, the court insists, must be senior civil servants not less than deputy director with one of them having a landed property within Umuahia metropolis who must deposit the title documents with the court registrar.

The judge further directed that both counsel, together with the court registrar, shall also verify the sureties and ordered Chief Apugo to be remanded in prison custody pending fulfilment of bail conditions.

Earlier, Apugo had stormed the court with several security vehicles and not less than six armed mobile policemen from the Special Protection Units of the Nigeria Police, a development prompting the judge to demand that they move out of the court premises citing security concerns.

Chief Apugo’s arraignment was sequel to his arrest on Friday September 30, 2016 by EFCC following a warrant issued by the court which considered his numerous attempt to evade taking a plea on the charge preferred against him. He was alleged to have fraudulently sold six (6) plots of land valued at N36.000,000 (Thirty Six Million Naira Only) belonging to the Nigeria Railway Cooperation located at Umunwulari Nkata Ibeku layout, Planning Scheme Umuahia.

The matter has been adjourned to 17th and 18th November for trial.

EFCC arrests Uche Ogah in Lagos court premises
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday morning picked up the President of Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited, Mr. Uche Ogah, on the premises of a Lagos State Magistrates’ Court in Tinubu, Lagos Island.
Ogah was arrested as soon as he stepped out of the courtroom after the forgery charges filed against him by the Police were withdrawn.
Ogah, who was declared winner of the last governorship election in Abia State by Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court in Abuja on June 27 was, on June 16, arraigned by the Police for alleged forgery.
But the police on Monday morning withdrew the charges.
When the case was called, the Police prosecutor, Henry Obiazi, told the presiding magistrate, Mrs. Kikelomo Ayeye, that he had the instruction of the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to withdraw the charges against Ogah and his co-defendants.
“I am instructed by the IGP to withdraw this case, as the issue is pending with the SFU,” Obiazi said.
The charges were consequently struck out by the court.
But as soon as Ogah stepped out of the court room, he was arrested by the waiting EFCC operatives who drove him away in their van.
A source at the EFCC said the commission had received a petition from the complainant in the case against Ogah.
The source said Ogah was being interrogated, adding that others would also be invited.
The other defendants in the charge which the Police withdrew against Ogah were his company, Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited; and an ex-employee of United Bank for Africa, Deji Somoye.
The defendants were accused of conspiring with some persons still at large to forge a Memorandum of Understanding between Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited and Mut-Hass Petroleum Limited sometime in March 2011.
Ogah and some other persons still at large were alleged to have forged the signature of one Mrs. Bridget Adeosun.
The charges read, “That you, Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited, Uche Ogah, and others at large sometime in March 2011 at Ikeja, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire among yourselves to wit: forgery.
“That you, Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited, Uche Ogah, and others at large, on the same date, time, place and in the aforementioned magisterial district, did forge the signature of one Mrs. Bridget Adeosun and a document known as MoU between Mut-Hass Petroleum Limited and Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited, with an intent that it may be in any way used or acted upon as genuine.
“That you, Deji Somoye, United Bank for Africa and others still at large, sometime in August 2011, at UBA regional office, Palmgrove, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did knowing that Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited designed to commit an offence, failed to use all reasonable means to prevent the commission or the completion of the crime.”
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty; after which they were admitted to bail in the sum of N200,000 each, with one surety each in like sum.
http://punchng.com/efcc-arrests-uche-ogah-outside-
lagos-courtroom/

INCONCLUSIVE ELECTIONS UNDER PROF MAMOOD YAKUBU, THREATS TO NIGERIA'S DEMOCRACY:
The nomination of Prof Attahiru Jega as Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, by former President Goodluck Jonathan at exactly 12.43pm on June 8, 2010 was seen as a step in the right direction.
In the first instance, the nomination was a manifestation of the liberal administrative policy of the Jonathan's administration. As Nigeria's President of Southern extraction, picking a core northern moslem as Chairman of INEC at a time when he had not exhausted his constitutional eligibility for another tenure, meant that Goodluck Jonathan was more concerned with the unity of Nigeria than his electoral chances. Jonathan was broadminded and exceptionally patriotic. Nigeria's history, no matter whatever surreptitious attempts some persons might be doing to tarnish his image, when critically written, would hold him in very high esteem.
On emergence as Nigeria's President in 2015 and following the expiration of the tenure of Prof Jega, Muhammadu Buhari had the responsibility of nominating a new Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission.
Unlike Goodluck Jonathan, true to his natural inclination to parochialism, sectionalism and religious discrimination, he sought for and nominated a core northern moslem for that very sensitive position. His choice was Prof Mahmood Yakubu from the North-East State of Bauchi.
Since Yakubu became Chairman of INEC, he has conducted many elections, with each of them being suspiciously and inexplicably declared inconclusive.
To add salt to injury, there are many vacant legislative positions that have been deliberately left unfilled for quite a long time running.
This situation can only be explained by the fears of the INEC Chairman that should elections be conducted to fill such vacancies, the Party of the President, All Progressives Congress, would lose. A typical example is in Rivers State.
On very rare occasions when Yakubu's INEC manages to reconduct elections that had earlier been declared inconclusive, the results are manipulated to reflect victory for an unpopular APC Candidate. What happened recently in Imo-North(Okigwe) Senatorial rerun serves as a pointer to what I am talking about.
Edo governorship election had been fixed for Saturday 10 September, 2016. But because it was clear that the Candidate of the Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP, Ize Inyamu, was set to emerge victorious at the polls, conflicting signals became the order of the moment.
Firstly, the Police and Department of State Service had to conspire against the election by injecting the fear that Book Haram, by intelligence, had planned to attack Edo State should the election take place on the 10th.
What an unintelligent intelligence! If intelligence had revealed that a terrorist gang President Buhari had repeatedly boasted of having decimated had planned to attack on the day of election in a state very far from the North-East traditional enclave of Book Haram, even if it is only twenty-four hours to the election, does it mean that the plurality of security apparatus in Edo State alone, not talking of the whole of South-South, would be incapable of bringing the rag-tag hunger-devastated Book Haram to its knees in less than three hundred minutes. I cry for my beloved country!
The alarmist propaganda would later take another dimension. As if oblivious of the so-called reason the Police and DSS had earlier given, the APC concocted its own watery propaganda. This time, the election had to be deferred to Saturday, 24 September, 2016 because PDP had imported thousands of thugs into Edo State to help the Party win the election. They pointed accusing fingers at both Governors Ifeanyi Okowa and Nyesome Wike of Delta and Rivers, respectively. What an idiotic way of reasoning and propagating!
Next Saturday is the election. Questions that may be asked include but not limited to, (1) Is Mahmood Yakubu's INEC ready for the conduct of the election?, (2) Is the Electoral Umpire sincere to handle the election?, (3) Will the election be different from others, so far, conducted by Yakubu by being conclusive? and(4) Will Prof Mahmood Yakubu be willing to pronounce PDP Candidate winner if he wins the election?
The Peoples' Democratic Party in Abia State, while urging PDP in Edo State to go all out convincing and persuading the electorate in Edo State to vote for her candidate also wishes to remind Prof Mahmood Yakubu that he has a date with history.
If he tows the line of honour and does what is just and right, history would place him in a very adorable space but where he allows his sense of honour to be beclouded by ethnic and religious bigotry, history would not fail to capture him as one that unwarrantedly and avoidably injured Nigeria's march towards consolidation of her democracy.
Sir Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa
State Publicity Secretary
PDP, Abia State.

HEART-BROKEN EBERE WABARA AND HIS INFANTILE OUTBURSTS:
Prior to 2014, I did not have any need for exchange of words or any form of communication with the pipsqueak called Ebere Wabara.
As a formidable member of former Governor T A Orji's media team, I was vigorously at the forefront of projecting and defending that administration.
When former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu took it upon himself to be disparaging T A Orji's administration, being a prominent part of that government, I did not need any person to tell me that an attack on the governor was an attack on all members of the cabinet, including me.
Probably, other members of the cabinet did not see it from the perspective I saw it.
I, therefore, rose with vigour to counter attack Orji Uzor Kalu. After all, I knew and still know his antecedents. He is the man that laid the foundation of mis-governance and underdevelopment of Abia State.
When I started debunking the spurious claims and accusations of Orji Kalu, he had to hire an ill-mannered mercenary and exploiter in the person of one Ebere Wabara, who knows and does only one thing, insult people.
No body should blame Ebere Wabara for always serving as an unfortunate conveyor of abuses and insults.
I make this plea because of a true revelation of Ebere Wabara's circumstance of birth and adoption.
A young lady from Etim Ekpo, a local government area in the present Akwa-Ibom State that is very close to Azumini-Ndoki in Ukwa-East local government area of Abia State, had had a lecherous relationship with a man from Ogoni who lived along the bank of the Azumini Blue River and whose occupation was tapping of palm-wine and distilling of local dry gin called kaikai, ekpetesi, kinkana or ogogoro.
Unknown to this lady from Etim Ekpo, the man she was serving his sexual desires was married with children.
When she gave birth to a baby boy in the creeks of the Blue River, the palm-wine tapper simply abandoned both mother and child and no one could establish any trace of him.
The lady, knowing that no body would accept her bastard son at home,out of frustration, quietly and secretly took the baby to the bank of the river close to the main road, on the western side and abandoned him there in the wee hours of the night and ran away to an unknown destination.
It was by providence that late Chief Wabara of Umugor was told of the bastard and he directed that he be picked up and brought to him.
When he was brought to the chief, he said he would show him mercy by adopting him. Mercy in Igbo language is Ebere. Chief Wabara named the baby Ebere and he grew up to be Ebere Wabara.
As a human-being, he has heard this degrading and dehumanizing story of his and that that is why he expresses venomous bitterness against the people of South-South in his write-ups. Ebere Wabara should, therefore, be sympathized with instead of being vilified each time he rains abuses on highly respected gentlemen. His peculiar background renders him a sadist and does not allow him any restraint in insulting people. Ebere Wabara only knows and has the register of insult.
The first time Ebere Wabara launched his missile at me was on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 when, on page 50 of Daily Sun, he cowardly used the pseudo name, Chijioke Ogbonna, to ask, Who the hell is Don Ubani?
True to his background as an abandoned but adopted bastard, he was full of invectives against me.
Before long, he came up with another attack on me, using the same Sun newspaper but in that edition, he absurdly attempted pairing me up with Senator Emma Nwaka. He foolishly tagged both of us as attack dogs of Governor T A Orji.
Ebere Wabara has not relented on his attacks on me. Recently, to be specific, on page 16 of Daily Sun of Monday, September 5, 2016 Ebere Wabara, once again, out of his circumstantial state of frustration, attacked me under the caption, T A Orji's hacks(1): Don Ubani (1).
Naturally I had to respond to the falsehood that was his write-up. Every Abian would readily attest to the fact that Orji Uzor Kalu was a very corrupt governor. There was no financial crime he did not commit against Abia State.
The Sun newspapers he has today was courtesy of the unrestrained looting of the state. He even was shameless to publicize his ownership of Slok Airline and shipping line. Orji Uzor Kalu was voraciously heartless in looting the wealth of Abia State.
Before he became a governor in 1999, kalu was not a millionaire. He lived in a rented apartment in Lagos. His office at No 7 J K Randle, Lagos was on rent. His mother's one-storey building at Igbere was just modest. Orji, his mother and his siblings were living as tenants at Aba until 1992 when Orji got money as a member of the House of Representatives on the platform of defunct National Republican Convention, NRC and bought a set of four two bedroom bungalows at Nweke Street in Aba from a man called Black Moore.
Orji kalu, being an insatiable kleptomaniac, became suspiciously and questionably stupendously rich over night just because he became a governor. Out of the hallucination that he would become a President of Nigeria, he built what he calls a presidential palace in his Igbere village.
Orji Uzor Kalu rendered Abia State almost perpetually wrecked. The havoc Orji Uzor Kalu's governance cost Abia State will take many decades of extra prudent management of resources before the state could be pulled out of the woods.
It was not only that Orji Uzor Kalu was milking the state dry, his mother and siblings never allowed any second to pass by without mounting very damaging exploitations on the resources of the state.
Ebere Wabara that is paid peanuts to protect, defend and project Orji Uzor Kalu, whose rule put Abia State in a very perilous economic situation, was not there when some of us made it possible for Orji to be governor.
Many of us who made Orji governor left him after 2003 election.
Since we left Orji in 2003, he has contested elections four times and four times has he failed. We were his think tank.
When we left, purely on principle and patriotism, nincompoops like Ebere Wabara became his advisers. The only thing they have is insult and that is why Kalu has scored zero over four since 2007.
Not tired of using the Sun newspaper which Orji Kalu embezzled Abia State fund to establish in his name, Ebere Wabara, on page 35 of the paper's edition of Friday, September 9, 2016, under the caption, Ubani's Vitriolic On Kalu, The Sun and Wabara, completely showed he is both porous and immature.
Ebere Wabara, without knowing it, admitted that members of the Wabara's family that picked him from his spot of abandonment by the western bank of the Blue River, indeed brutally killed two police men on investigation and wickedly buried them in a shallow grave at Umuogor.
Ebere Wabara, boasting with impunity characteristic of a bastard, justified the killing of the two police men by saying that 'a court of competent jurisdiction had ruled that we should be compensated by the police for aggravated lawlessness and unprecedented rascality'.
Ebere Wabara has no remorse, whatsoever, that his family members murdered, in cold blood, two innocent patriotic police men on duty, untimely forcing their wives into widowhood and their children fatherlessness.
Rather, he takes pride in stating that the family that adopted him took undue advantage of the numerous loopholes in our legal cum judicial system to turn the case against the police, even to the very unjust and sad extent of asking the police to pay compensation despite loosing two of their own. What an irony!
In his reaction to the fact that he has failed to erect a building, even if it is a hut, in his village of adoption, Ebere quickly took to lies. He falsely claimed to own a house in Surulere, Lagos.
Ebere Wabara, due to amnesia,forgot that the day he was arrested in Lagos, he had climbed down from his apartment upstairs in the dilapidated unpainted building he lives in in a shanty in Lagos to fetch water.
Ebere Wabara, in the same reaction childishly and spuriously boasted of his 'wife' having shopping malls.
Again, I sympathize with Ebere Wabara for resorting to hyperbole. What he claims to be shopping malls owned by the lady he has been hibernating with for some years but has failed to pay her bride price because none was paid on her Etim Ekpo mother, is a poorly-stocked kiosk his concubine operates through the wall of the fence of the yard where they live.
Except he survives the quit notice given him by his landlord, Ebere Wabara's self-imagined 'shopping malls' would stay behind as he roams about the shanties of Lagos.
Despite Ebere Wabara's poor upbringing, I still thank him for his nuisance value which has been enabling me to get my crumbs of the Orji Uzor Kalu loot of eight years. Each time Ebere Wabara uses a page or half to pour aspersions on me in the Sun Newspaper, I always feel elated because by so doing he has unknowingly given me an opportunity to have a share of an insignificant part of the Abia State fund which Orji Uzor kalu stole for years, though negatively.
Ebere Wabara is a very unprogressive analogue person. He said he hates social media platforms and has nothing to do with them.
Lest I forget, Ebere Wabara only managed to escape being imprisoned because of his atrocities when he worked briefly in a new generation bank.
In as much as I expect Ebere Wabara to devote another page of our common but looted heritage, Sun newspaper, to me, I wish to state very categorically that I have closed the chapter on Ebere Wabara, at least , in sympathy with his circumstances of birth.
Sir Don Ubani, KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa
Fmr Commr For Information & Strategy
Abia State

Subsidy Scam: Uche Ogah refunds N1.2b, likely to be arrested this week

Embattled oil marketer and president of Master Energy Limited, Mr Uche Ogah, has refunded N1.2b to the federal government through the Economic and financial crime commission (EFCC) out of the total of N5.5b he illegally siphoned from the NNPC.

Mr Ogah who is also facing criminal charges of fraud and forgery in Lagos is said to be desperately seeking to compromise Supreme Court judges to rule in his favor in the Abia Governor tax appeal he filed in order to acquire immunity from prosecution as the EFCC has uncovered more sleaze involving him and his company Master Energy.

In a 2012 investigative report by Premium Times highlighting a massive N382b subsidy fraud the report named Master Energy among companies duping Nigerians. Part of the report published on the 16th of August 2016 reads:

The scale is huge; the method daring and unprecedented. The plot seems like one in a James Bond movie as unscrupulous Nigerian businessmen scripted an unbelievable heist.

It was a grand deceit, never seen in Nigeria’s history. To benefit from the 2011 fuel subsidy largesse, the oil companies “manufactured” fictional oil ships (vessels) they claimed traversed seas and oceans of the world carrying imaginary petrol, with Nigeria the final destination of the product, the Technical Committee set up by the Federal Government discovered.

For supplying this phantom product to Nigeria, the seven companies involved pocketed a princely N13 billion naira from the 2011 fuel subsidy payments, the committee’s report, secured by PREMIUM TIMES, stated.

Some other companies, not wanting to create fictional vessels, decided to space- travel existing ones; such that real vessels, which were definitely in countries like China and UAE, discharged petrol into storage depots in Nigeria at the exact time they were in those other countries. The 11 companies involved in this category of fraud pocketed N21 billion from the 2011 subsidy payments, the report stated.

On Wednesday, October 19, 2011, a vessel, MT Zhen Star, purportedly arrived in Nigerian waters. The 58,000 metric tonnes of petrol contained in the vessel was owned by two companies: Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited; and Caades Oil and Gas Limited.

In the presence of PPPRA officials, DPR officers, naval officers, customs, and so on, Masters discharged 28,000 metric tonnes from the vessel, while Caades discharged 10, 000 metric tonnes of petrol. While the former collected N2.9 billion as subsidy for this import, the latter got N1 billion.

The irony however is that the vessel, MT Zhen Star, does not exist and no fuel was imported. The two companies, with the complicity of the stated public officials, successfully duped Nigeria of N3.9 billion.

While commenting on this fraudulent transaction, the technical committee, headed by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, stated that “the subsidy on this transaction must have been wrongly paid since MT Zhen which was supposedly used could neither be located on the Lloyds List intelligence nor anywhere on the West African Coast.”

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/96716-exclusive-nigerias-biggest-oil-fraudsters-the-worst-subsidy-scam-ever.html

It will be recalled that a minister of the Redeemed Christian Church, Pastor Bridget Adeosun, recently took Uche Ogah, Master Energy and officials of UBA Plc to court over the fraudulent forgery of her signature in an MOU and the criminal conversion of her petroleum product supply contract using a fraudulent account opened in the name of her company at UBA by Mr Ogah and his accomplices.

Abia Pilot investigation indicate that Mr Uche Ogah recently unsuccessfully attempted to settle the fraud matter out of court by offering Mrs Adeoosun two hundred million Naira (N200,000,000.00) to withdraw the matter. Unknown to him, the case file has already been handed over to EFCC to pave way for his prosecution at a high court.

Observers believe that Mr Ogah's desperate efforts at bribing the judges of the Supreme Court to rule in his favor is not unconnected to various scams perpetuated by him and his company Master Energy, which is also a front for a former secretary to the government of the federation. With a financial war chest of $4m already deployed to compromise Supreme Court judges, it is believed that the only way Mr Uche Ogah will escape jail is by acquiring immunity as a governor. Previously, he was shielded from prosecution by the former SGF who allegedly received 40% of every subsidy payment to Master Energy in addition to the money he made from his other deals already being investigated by the EFCC. The position of Abia Governor will also provide Mr Ogah the needed financial rehabilitation to refund the remaining N4.31b and escape trial for the forgery and fraud case in Lagos.

The current investigation of the subsidy loot was triggered by a petition to EFCC by B. I. Murtala & Co., had petitioned the EFCC, accusing top NNPC and PPMC officials of “abuse of office, economic sabotage, illegal diversion of petroleum products, illicit enrichment and corruption as well as criminal conspiracy”

Full details of the recoveries made so far are available through http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/210292-fuel-sales-nnpc-tinubu-adenuga-otedola-others-owe-nigerian-govt-n86-4-billion.html

PROF BEN NWABUEZE'S LEGAL OPINION ON UCHE OGAH'S DESPERATION INCONTROVERTIBLE: Many of us that are not lawyers but have been used to questions that stem from equity, natural justice and morality had had our conviction that Uche Ogah's conspiracy against Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, Ph.D, capitalizing on the professional indiscipline and moral debasement and gullibility of one Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, was like one hitting one's head against a brick wall. In the first instance, except for the unprecedented level of corruption that Okon Abang symbolizes, no sound-minded judicial officer can ever contemplate sacking a duly elected governor of a state merely on the unsubstantiable allegation of false information on his tax papers. This is more so when it was beyond every reasonable doubt that the governor in question had been a public servant in the payroll of the state just before resigning to contest the governorship election of December 8, 2014. The simple implication of the truth above is that Governor Ikpeazu had had his taxes deducted from his earnings by government even without his consent under the common system of Pay As You Earn, PAYE. On the other hand, which does not apply to Governor Ikpeazu, even if the Governor had not been a public servant, no sane judge should ever gamble with the tenure of an elected governor, relying on an originating summons which does not allow the defendant, in this case Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, a legal window of bringing witnesses to help him defend the preposterous allegations against him. A matter as grave as irresponsible conspiracy to remove a governor, should have been initiated through a writ of summons. But because Okon Abang had collected billions of naira from Uche Ogah and those he had agreed to contract the fortunes of Abia State to, he became blindfolded by stupidity of incomparable order. It should not be forgotten that the Supreme Court had earlier upheld the election of Governor Ikpeazu in his case originating from Alex Otti's quest to turn the collective will of Abia electorate. We must applaud the wisdom of Hon Justice Ambrose Alagoa of the Federal High Court, Owerri Division, who sharply and unequivocally contradicted the spurious judgment of Okon Abang. The same commendation goes to Justice Ahuchaogu of Osisioma High Court, whose judicial intervention saved Abia State from sliding into bloody anarchy. As we all know, Prof Ben Nwabueze is one of Nigeria's most erudite authorities in law. In his write-up titled Violations And Abuses Of Judicial Due Processes In The Unseemly Governorship Tussle In God's Own State of Abia State, Prof Ben Nwabueze descended heavily on Okon Abang. He only stopped short of dismissing him as putridly corrupt and professionally incompetent. The Peoples' Democratic Party in Abia State salutes the professional dexterity and courage of the doyen of Nigerian law, Prof Ben Nwabueze, for speaking the naked truth and speaking at the appropriate time. The Party is also grateful to the Justices of the Appeal Court that allowed justice to prevail by turning down the reckless show of judicial irresponsibility that was inherent in the Okon Abang's show of shame. More importantly, PDP thanks the Judiciary for saving Abia State from a situation, the highlight of which would have been a total breakdown of law and order in the state, that would have amounted to an unmitigated disaster with a casualty toll too high to be counted and quantified, especially in Aba zone, the home of the Ukwa/Ngwa people. No doubt, the scenario could have been more than twenty times cataclysmic than what happened in the days of Osisikankwu. PDP in Abia State would not cease thanking God for using the Judiciary to restore the confidence of the people, the absence of which unquenchably could have left the people with no other option than resorting to self help and every other act of tremendous barbarism and incivility. Don Ubani, KSC, JP Okwubunka of Asa State Pub-Sec PDP, Abia State

WHAT MY FRIEND UCHE AGUORU REFUSED TO UNDERSTAND:
In his lengthy response to my post captioned, Uche Ogah and the vanity of wisdom, my good friend and literary critic, Uche Aguoru, posited that I was being unfair to Uche Ogah, who inordinately wants to usurp the governorship seat of Abia State through the back door, by taking side in what he falsely portrays as intra Party squabbles.
To put it more succinctly, Aguoru argued that as the State Publicity Secretary of PDP in Abia State, I should adopt neutrality in the unwarranted, greed-inspired and unjustifiable litigations of Uche Ogah against the Party's equity, justice and popularity enthroned 2015 governorship candidate and governor of the state, Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, Ph.D.
My friend, Uche Aguoru, the name-sake(Ogbo) of Uche Ogah, most probably because of anticipated interest should the impossible be possible, failed to realize that on that 8th day of December, 2014 when Uche Ogah did not only fail in the Abia State PDP governorship primaries at Umuahia Township Stadium but disrespectfully and disloyally refused to sign the result of the primary election and walked out on the Party, that was the day he set himself against the leadership of the Party in the State.
In the first instance, Uche Ogah, if he were a true indigene of Abia State, should have appreciated and respected the Abia Charter of equity, by virtue of which he should have known that he had no basis contesting the governorship of the state in 2015.
In addition, intelligence, both overt and covert, has steadily and convincingly revealed that Uche Ogah, out of his natural desperation, has concluded arrangements and his assurances obtained to decamp to the All Progressives Congress.
Such a desperate and unreliable character does not deserve feelings of neutrality.
As the chief spokesman and image-maker of my Party in Abia State, Uche, you know that I am also charged with the responsibility of intelligence and counter-intelligence.
There is no way I can be neutral when Uche Ogah's hidden agenda is to destroy my Party.
Uche, I am sure if you were in my shoes, you would take more stern steps to protect this interest that is collectively Abian.
Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa
State Pub-Sec
PDP, Abia State

UCHE OGAH AND VANITY OF WISDOM

The biblical very wise king Solomon made us to understand that after spending lots of time and energy acquiring knowledge as to become, may be, the wisest man in the universe, he ironically realized the whole acquisition only amounted to vanity. In fact he described it as mere vanity upon vanity. It is, therefore, not surprising that man has continued to show imperfection even in matters that ordinarily would require the application of common sense. After the judgment of the Appeal Court in Governor Okezie Ikpeazu versus Uche Ogah, in which the learned Justices gave very sound, perfect and convincing reasons why Uche Ogah can not be governor in the circumstance of his political quest, many patriotic indigenes of Abia State had thought that Dr Uche Ogah, a man associated with knowledge, would have displayed altruism, patriotism and restraint by appreciating and accepting the reality, both moral and legal, of the verdict. No patriotic son,daughter or lover of the state ever imagined that Uche Ogah would proceed further with his litigation. At this juncture, it must be borne in mind that Uche Ogah's litigation is not against Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, Ph.D as a person but, whether we admit it or not, against the state. For any person that is sincere, this assertion is a statement of fact and does not require any explanatory note. It has just been made known that Uche Ogah has gone to the Supreme Court on a fourty-two grounds of appeal against the judgment of the learned Justices of the Appeal Court in favour of Governor Ikpeazu. Constitutionally-speaking, Uche Ogah is entitled to exercise his fundamental human right. The questions that we must not fail to ask are;(1) what does Uche Ogah intend to achieve by heading to the Supreme Court?(2) does he, at all, know that there is an opportunity cost to the good people of Abia State by his litigations? (3) does he ever think that injustice can triumph over injustice and(4)why is he neck-deep in desperation? PDP in Abia State, for the umpteenth time, advises Uche Ogah to consider the collective interest of Abia State and retrace his steps, except it is true that he has reached an understanding with the All Progressives' Congress. Don Ubani; KSC, JP Okwubunka of Asa State Pub-Sec PDP, Abia State

RIDICULOUS POSTS BY UCHE AGUORU AND NKEMDIRIM C OGBONNA:
The Facebook is one innovation that, no doubt, has made communication very easy. Once you are able to recharge your system, you can be sure of a platform that enables the world hear your opinion on any given subject. It is a very commendable development.
Like it is known, what ever has merits also has some demerits. In the case of the Facebook, its disadvantage arises from the fact that it has no mechanism for restraint.
Any person or group that wishes to rain abuses on his Governor or President can use the Facebook uninhibited to achieve his mission.
Among the posts that I read on the Facebook today were two different write-ups separately by one Uche Aguoru and Nkemdirim C Ogbonna. Both of them wrote on Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu of Abia State.
The first was that of Uche Aguoru while the second was by Nkemdirim C Ogbonna.
In my right of choice, I want to start with that by Ogbonna.
Though his post appeared lengthy, the synopsis of it all was that the lead counsel of Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu in Ikpeazu versus Uche Ogah appeal, Chief Wole Olanipekun, assisted Governor Ikpeazu to convey billions of Abia State money to the Justices of the Appeal Court and, thereafter, personally wrote the verdict that the Justices read in favour of the appellant, the Governor.
This is a clear case of what my late icon in journalism, Dele Giwa, would simply have dismissed as infantile dethronement of reason.
This cheaply and porously-fabricated unsubstantiable propaganda can only arise out of a deep well of paucity and contagious draught of reason.
Why on earth, other than absurdity, would a human-being in this twenty-first century resort to such abnormally low level of reasoning and still make such bestiality public. Is this not both ridiculous and pitiable? Let me leave Nkemdirim C Ogbonna on this rhetorical note.
On the post by Uche Aguoru, a commentator who has never hidden his hatred, disdain and contempt for Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, I wish to recall that coincidentally, not quite long ago, two of us had written separately on the verdict of the Appeal Court in Okezie Ikpeazu versus Uche Ogah.
While I took time to adumbrate the points I, though a layman, had considered germane that the Justices of the Appeal Court must have taken into consideration before granting Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu his requests, Uche Aguoru frowned at the verdict by the Appeal Court Justices as failing to address what only he knows to be the crux of Uche Ogah's suit. He claimed the Justices based their judgment on technicalities.
After reading his, I drew his attention to my write-up in which I had argued that it would have amounted to a very dangerous breakdown of law and order for a court to predicate its sack order on a democratically elected governor on an originating summons.
As a reasonably well exposed lay man and writer, I agreed with the learned Justices of the Appeal Court that a grave matter such as sacking the Peoples' Governor should have come only through a Writ of Summons in which case the defendant would have had ample opportunity to defend himself.
The law does not confer on a judge the right to Approbate and reprobate. That was what the Hon Justices of the Appeal Court professionally and bluntly made Justice Okon Abang to realize.
In his post today, Uche Aguoru personally and deliberately told the world that his main business is abusing and insulting Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.
Why this agenda should be his driving force is what I think only a multitude of erudite Professors of morality, ethics, demeanour psychology and even law could explain.
Uche Aguoru wrote, among other things, that 'an average Abia civil servant within the past one year and four months can hardly afford three squarely meal and carter for his family adequately because our political system paired us with incompetent, careless, lazy, inept and clueless leader whose only quality is equity and he has succeeded in drawing the state back to the days that one will not wish to remember, crime and criminality that left Abia is now an every day story across the state.....'.
As the State Publicity Secretary of the Peoples' Democratic Party in Abia State, any attack on the Governor and Leader of my Party is an attack on my office. I know I have enough shock absorbers not only to give adequate protection to my Governor and Leader but also ample arsenal to launch deadly counter offensives.
That Peoples' Democratic Party in Abia State is known for her peaceful disposition should not be misconstrued for weakness. If the Party is pushed to the wall, we would be capable of returning hell for fire.
On what basis should this Uche Aguoru describe Governor Ikpeazu as incompetent, careless, lazy, inept and clueless?
Is it in education? Do his sponsors and he not know that Governor Ikpeazu obtained his terminal degree, Ph.D, below the chronological age of thirty? How many people in his domain achieved this feat.
An individual that suffers from ineptitude and laziness can not achieve this uncommon record.
No incompetent leader can initiate the reconstruction of sixty-five roads and commission thirty-five within the first twelve months of his administration.
Can a clueless leader bring about innovation in the dynamics of infrastructure? It is on record that Governor Ikpeazu's initiative brought about the introduction of cement technology in Abia State.
Aguoru wrote about relapse of insecurity in Abia State. Mischievously, he refused to state that Governor Ikpeazu has continuously equipped the Security Agencies in the State with the required logistics.
Not long ago, two notorious kidnap kingpins were arrested in Aba, one from Ibinanta Igbere and another from Item, both in Bende Local Government Area. Before one would say Jack Robinson, Aguoru and his sponsors would say that the Governor's kinsmen are the brains behind kidnapping, a moribund tactics of tarnishing the image of an unjustifiably hated people.
Whatever Aguoru and his sponsors' mission is, a time comes in a people's defence of injustice when a line has to be drawn.
The unjustifiable insult on the office of the Governor of Abia State has reached a crescendo where that line should be drawn.
Who does not know that economic recession brings with it a lot of untoward experiences.
When the British Government suffered it about 1912 -1915, it led to the British Colonial Government amalgamating the Northern and Southern Protectorates of Nigeria, just to reduce cost.
An insult to the Governor is an insult to the Party. Lest the traducers of Governor Ikpeazu forget, this recklessness could ignite geo-ethnic tsunami in the State, especially in Aba zone. The man that named his dog after Buhari narrowly escaped from irate northern indigenes in Ogun State.
A stitch in time, saves nine.
Don Ubani, KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa
State Pub-Sec
PDP, Abia State.

ABIA AT 25 AND THE WISDOM OF ELDER(PROF) S O IGWE:
As chronology and history have it, Abia State clocked twenty-five years yesterday.
The Governor of the State, Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, Ph.D, being a child of God and one who unequivocally believes in God, marked the state's silver jubilee with a multi-denominational church service at the Michael Okpara Auditorium, Umuahia.
In line with the expectation of the good people of the state, Governor Ikpeazu assured Abians of his administration's commitment to good governance.
He used the opportunity offered by the occasion to itemize some major achievements of his government in areas of infrastructure, education, health, agriculture, commerce, security and other key areas.
Governor Ikpeazu also highlighted his inclination to running an all-inclusive government in which every part of the state is represented.
The Governor was,however, not unmindful of the costly distractions his government had suffered as a result of incessant litigations against him since his emergence as Governor.
One good thing that added to the confidence of Abians yesterday in the Governor was his broad-minded attitude to those who have been unrelenting in their determination to disparage and vilify him.
Unlike what many others in his shoes would have resorted to, Governor Ikpeazu made it clear that God that made it possible through the massive support of Abians for him to be Governor knew he would pass through the experiences he has been going through and concluded that the challenges do not call for vindictiveness.
He made it clear that for the state to occupy its proper position in the comity of states, all hands must be on desk.
Ikpeazu, using the event to unveil the Abia Logo and State Anthem, made it plain that the two symbolize the collective aspirations of the people of Abia State.
He, therefore, offered an olive branch to all those who feel embittered against him and his government to have a re-think and place the collective interest of the state above their own personal or sectional agenda.
At a Banquet hosted by Governor Ikpeazu for a multitude of stakeholders at the Government Lodge, three eminent personalities spoke on behalf of the stakeholders; Chief Uzodinma Okpara for Abia-Central, Sir Don Ubani for Abia-South and Prof S O Igwe for Abia-North.
In his speech, Prof Igwe, a former Vice Chancellor of Abia State University, Uturu and an Elderly Statesman observed that a major problem the Ikpeazu administration has been having in the state is the insincerity of many of those working in his government who, most unfortunately and retrogressively, constitute themselves as obstacles to internal revenue generation in the state.
Now that the erudite elder statesman has courageously blown the lid of the cabal in the Abia revenue generation open; a heartless and ruthless cabal that diverts millions of naira generated internally by so-called revenue agents whose modus operandi dent the good image of Governor Ikpeazu's government, it has become imperative that the revenue machinery which has failed abysmally should be completely reviewed and overhauled to inject the required ingredients of transparency, patriotism, brilliance and altruism.
To leave the machinery as it is, is to allow sentiment to prevail over reason.
Sir Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa
Executive Director
Centre For Equity & Eradication of Rural Poverty.

Dogged By Ill Health, Marital Feuds, Emeka Offor’s Crisis Deepens
The ongoing business crisis facing Emeka Offor, one of Nigeria’s most controversial contractors in recent decades, is far deeper than SaharaReporters revealed last week, a fresh investigation has revealed. Mr. Offor’s financial downfall has led to the closure of his offices in Abuja, his companies’ failure to pay staff salaries for more than a year, and long drawn fights with numerous suppliers and creditors.
by Sahara Reporters, New York
Aug 18, 2016
The ongoing business crisis facing Emeka Offor, one of Nigeria’s most controversial contractors in recent decades, is far deeper than SaharaReporters revealed last week, a fresh investigation has revealed. Mr. Offor’s financial downfall has led to the closure of his offices in Abuja, his companies’ failure to pay staff salaries for more than a year, and long drawn fights with numerous suppliers and creditors. Last week, SaharaReporters had disclosed that the controversial government contractor, who was once frequently described in the media as a major financier of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had fallen on hard times since Muhammadu Buhari became president on May 29, 2015, following his defeat of former President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP in last year’s presidential election.
Sources within Mr. Offor’s family and erstwhile corporate circles disclosed that the hamstrung businessman, who hails from Oraifite in Anambra State, is experiencing serious health challenges and an unprecedented family crisis.
One of Mr. Offor’s cousins told our investigator that the embattled businessman’s eyesight has been deteriorating progressively in recent years, leaving him a step away from blindness. A former corporate aide who had traveled with the businessman in the past revealed that Mr. Offor also has a heart problem as well as a problem with diabetes. “It is possible that it is the diabetes which led to the other complications, including his failing sight,” a medical expert told our correspondent.
Mr. Offor’s home front is probably more in disarray than his health. Last January, his first wife, Nkiru Offor, whom he married in December 1982, as well as her children stormed Mr. Offor’s village of Irefi in Oraifite, Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State, and created mayhem in the near-bankrupt businessman’s palatial country home. Along with her children, Mrs. Nkiru Offor, who resides on Osborne Road in Ikoyi, Lagos, arrived at her husband’s home in Oraifite and chased away all the domestic staff, changed all the door locks, smashed most of the expensive drinks in the house and destroyed all the pictures Mr. Offor took with his third wife, Adaora, a dropout from the Law Department at the Enugu Campus of the University of Nigeria at Nsukka (UNN). The businessman’s wedding to the former law student was celebrated at Oraifite on January 3, 2014, at a lavish ceremony where thousands of iPads were handed out as gifts to hundreds of guests.
“Nkiru came with her children to take physical control of the Oraifite residence because they are afraid that our brother [Mr. Offor] will hand it over to the third wife,” said a close relative of the businessman. He added: “You see, Nkiru had just survived a mild stroke in Lagos. She told some of us that she believes the stroke was a spiritual attack from Sir Emeka Offor and Adaora [Mr. Offor’s third wife] in an attempt to kill her. She also complained that our brother [Mr. Offor] hates her children.”
The source revealed that Chuka, Mr. Offor’s thirty-something year old first son with his first wife, continues to reside in London where he loiters daily because he has no job. The source declared that Mr. Offor had refused all entreaties to employ the young man in one of his companies. “Sir E. [a fond name for Mr. Offor] said Chuka should not work in his companies, claiming his son is not a graduate. And when Nkiru now bought a Range Rover for Chuka, a big fight took place between her and Sir E.”
Mr. Offor’s troubled relationship with his first wife has been exacerbated by the fact that their first daughter has two children out of wedlock for a young man who hails from Ondo State. Several family sources disclosed that Mr. Offor’s first daughter has been living with the father of her children for several years. “The young man wants to marry Sir. E’s daughter, but Sir E. refused to accept him as a son-in-law, insisting that he is above his daughter marrying a man who is not from a very wealthy home.”
But some of Mr. Offor’s relatives said they found the embattled businessman’s aristocratic airs quite laughable. “Was he [Mr. Offor] not a truck driver with a construction company before he made money during the time of Abacha?” one female relative wondered. She added, “Did he pass even one subject when he took his West African School Certificate examination at Abbot Boys Secondary School in Ihiala [Anambra State]?”
Another family member told our correspondent that Mrs. Nkiru Offor, the first wife, is about the only person Mr. Offor fears. Said the source: “When our father died in February and our eldest brother traveled to the village, he slept in a hotel because he could not gain access his house in Oraifite.” The source said Mr. Offor left quietly when he was told what his first wife had done with the locks, including locks of the residence he built overnight for his third wife toward the end of 2013. “Nkiru knows all his dark secrets, so he is careful not to provoke her easily,” said the relative.
Most family members appear to support Mr. Offor’s first wife, despite accusations against her by her husband that she is obsessed with fetish practices. “Even if she is into occult things, we know he [Mr. Offor] introduced her to those practices,” a female member asserted. “So why is he now complaining?” she queried.
SaharaReporters learned that Mr. Offor’s father was the only person who attempted to stop Mrs. Nkiru Offor the day she and her children were smashing and slashing things at his country residence. One family member alleged that Mr. Offor’s feeble father, who had suffered a stroke a few years earlier, got pushed down in the melee. “He [Mr. Offor’s father] soon slipped into a coma in a hospital and died one and a half months later,” said the source.
Some of the family members who spoke to our correspondents made no secret of gloating over Mr. Offor’s financial and other crises. They accused him of bluntlyrefusing to offer financial assistance to most of his siblings and other relatives when he wallowed in immense wealth.
“We strongly believe he belongs to a secret cult to which he swore never to assist family members, including those in desperate need,” one of them stated.
The relatives disclosed that only two members of Mr. Offor’s extended family benefited from his wealth. “The first person was our father who died since February but has yet to be buried because Sir E. is looking for big cash to spend during the burial so he can create the impression that he is still very loaded,” said one relative.
The source said the second member of the family to have benefited from Mr. Offor’s now dwindled wealth “is Onyebuchi whom he put into the Anambra State House of Assembly as a legislator last year, despite protests from voters and stakeholders in our constituency who said the election was not free and fair.”
Two relatives told SaharaReporters that Mr. Offor was close to his late father, but detested his mother because she often questioned his excesses. One family source said the controversial businessman had on several occasions sent his father on trips abroad, but never allowed his mother,who hails from Esanland in Edo State, to travel even to Lagos. Mr. Offor’s deceased father was a police officer, and was once demoted from inspector to sergeant because of a successful petition of bribery against him by Ignatius Nwabueze, the late leader of the Rosicrucian Order in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Bismarck Rewane, one of Nigeria's most respected economists and the chief executive of Financial Derivatives Consulting, has argued that, with the emergence of Mr. Buhari as president, many Nigerian millionaires, especially those enriched by fraudulent government contracts, would soon become ex-millionaires.
Mr. Offor, who has been pushing close friends like former Senate president Ken Nnamani to join the ruling All Progressives Congress in a move to ingratiate himself with President Buhari, may be one of the most dramatic examples of financial catastrophe striking erstwhile profiteers from corrupt contracts. Mr. Offor’s combination of financial woes, marital troubles and crash from political relevance, appear to make Mr. Rewane’s statement very prophetic.
Emeka offor is Uche Ogah's godfather and along with Arthur Eze, Annie Okonkwo, Chris Uba, Hope Uzodinma, Ike Ekweremadu, Tonimas and Anyim Pius Anyim ganged up against Governor Okezie for refusing to share Abia's money with them. Now God is punishing them one by one.
Emerka Offor
Source:Sahara Reporters, New York

THUMPS UP FOR ASA DEVELOPMENT UNION:
I still remember vividly, with nostalgia, the cross fire that followed the infamous annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election that was widely believed to have been won by one of Nigeria's most philanthropic business moguls, late Chief M K O Abiola.
The nullification of that election, popularly referred to as 'June 12',by the then Military President, Gen Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, elicited a lot of reactions, both locally and internationally.
In one of his write-ups, an internationally acknowledged Nigerian business man and renowned captain of industry, late Chief Onwuka Kalu (Interbiz), the Okpuzu of Abiriba, wrote that 'a gunshot has been heard in the compound of the Yorubas and that natural responsibility beckoned at them not to run away but to rise up to the challenge of defending their compound'.
In fairness to the Yorubas and many other progressive minded Nigerians, that abrupt, unilateral and most undemocratic totalitarian decision of the northern military mafia was successfully fought even with their last blood.
At least, Gen Olusegun Obasanjo, who had been earmarked for death on trumped up allegation of treason, emerged from prison to become President.
For any creation God makes, He has His divine purposes.
Asa people in Abia State are a 'minority' group. God, knowing the peculiar challenges that confront the minority vis a vis their relationship with their majority neighbours, divinely endowed the people with a gift that is special and unique.
It is not by accident that Asa, which only by political administration is Ukwa-West, is the only oil-producing area in Abia State.
In 1999, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, being responsive to the pathetic plight of oil-producing areas of the Niger Delta region, initiated an Executive Bill for thirteen percent oil derivation fund to be made available for oil-producing states.
The essence of this legislation was to enable such states use the fund tackle the problems of the oil-producing areas of the state.
In the same vein, the Obasanjo administration brought about an Act creating the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
The Act specifically stated that each of the nine states that constitute the Niger Delta Development Commission shall be represented on the Board of the Commission only by an indigene of that state who hails from an oil-producing area.
In Abia State, the oil company that operates as a drilling company is the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC.
Milienieum Oil Company has a barely visible operational presence in the state.
Both SPDC and Milenieum are present only in Ukwa-West.
The taste of the pudding, they say, is in the eating. Who ever is in doubt of my assertion could take a trip to SPDC office in Port-Harcourt. Just for the asking, the person would be shown the electronic map of SPDC's operations in Abia State on her power point.
The NDDC Act did not state that any state in which the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, has an oil depot shall be included as a beneficiary of the Act. If that had been so, Benue, Kaduna, Lagos and any other state in which there is an oil depot would have been part of the Act.
Since President Muhammadu Buhari nominated the Chairman of All Progressives Party in Abia State, Chief Chidi Nwankpa Enyinna, as Member to represent Abia State on the Board of NDDC and many Asa personalities, including yours sincerely, drawing the attention of the President to the travesty of justice inherent in that nomination, I have received a lot of threats, just for saying the truth.
Unfortunately, those threatening me do not know that I become more encouraged and emboldened to pursue the course of truth and equity when I am threatened.
As I had stated in my first post on this subject-matter, the people of Asa have heard a gun shot in their father's compound. They shall not run but shall wisely, brilliantly, professionally and most courageously defend their collective interest and pride.
As a highly civilized people, Asa people, under the aegis of Asa Development Union, ADU, have gone to court.
We have obtained a restraining expartee order restraining the Federal Government of Nigeria from pitching itself against the law.
The hope of Asa people as a minority is strengthened in the rule of law. We believe we are in a democracy and we strongly believe that the Federal Government of Nigeria will not turn our democracy upside down by desecrating the laws of our land.
I, therefore, commend the erudite leadership of Asa Development Union led by Pastor Ngozi Onwubuko Dike, Ph.D for taking the right steps at the right time.
Don Ubani, KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa
Executive Director
Centre For Equity & Eradication of Rural Poverty

BUHARI'S MISSILES AT DEMOCRACY!
The saying that the leopard does not change its spots remains an incontrovertible truth. It is equally believed that an old woman never gets tired of the dancing steps she knows too well.
After thirteen years of consecutive military rule, 1966-1979, the Nigerian military under General Olusegun Obasanjo, handed power over to a democratic government headed by President Shehu Shagari in 1979.
It should be recalled that Major-Gen Muhammadu Buhari was an active participant in and beneficiary of the military hegemony. He had been a military governor for the North-East and was later made a federal minister in the wealth-compressed ministry of petroleum.
As a natural dictator, Buhari has disdain for democracy. He hates civil rule. He abhors patience for democracy.
There is no perfect sociey in life. All the years, people have learnt through their mistakes or those of others.
If General Buhari had suppressed his hatred for democracy and not overthrown the democratically elected government of Shagari on 31st of December, 1983 by now our democracy would have become stable and stronger.
His regime that lasted up to July 1985 saw Nigerians go through hell. There was deprivation, poverty and hunger in the land. Above all, Nigerians were denied their fundamental human rights. Inspite of the waves of hardship, General Buhari remained adamantly insensitive.
Nigerians heaved a deep sigh of relief when God used General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida to ease him out of power in 1985.
Nigerians know the pedigree of General Buhari as an avowed enemy of democracy and that was why they rejected him in 2003, 2007 and 2011 presidential elections.
It was due to the global economic situation which had affected Nigeria that Buhari and his All Progressives Congress had capitalized upon, with all manner of propaganda of calumny, to deceive vulnerable Nigerians to vote for him in the April 2015 presidential election.
Since the emergence of President Buhari, in less than one year, Nigeria has not been the same. The economy has summersaulted five hundred times down the drain. In fact, despite the high level of propaganda concocted and sold as dummy to the Nigerian people, the Buhari Presidency, having reached its wits end accepted that Nigeria was in the ditch of economic recession.
Aside ineptitude in managing the National economy, the worst trait that the Buhari Presidency has consistently and unrepentantly exhibited is its total disrespect and disregard for the rule of law.
For President Buhari, court verdicts are only subject to his discretion. His government is not under any obligation to obey any court ruling.
Specifically, Buhari, true to the dictator he is, has no tolerance for opposition in democracy. This is sharply in contrast to the era of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
He has not hidden his intent to make sure that the country's major opposition Party, the Peoples' Democratic Party, is nailed into extinction. He wants to achieve this very obnoxious objective by giving undue presidential advantage to a very unpopular factional leader of PDP, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff who is closely related to him by marriage, in the latter's fight against the mainstream of the Party.
Ali Modu Sheriff became an Acting Chairman of PDP only by the decision of the National Executive Committee just to fill the vacant chairmanship position after the resignation of Muazu.
By the Constitution of the Peoples' Democratic Party, National Chairman of the Party shall be elected only by the National Convention.
Interestingly and constitutionally, the Party's National Convention met on May 21, 2016 at Port-Harcourt and appointed a National caretaker Committee headed by Alhaji Ahmed Markarfi.
The Caretaker Committee was asked to conduct a National Convention to elect members of the National Executive Committee within ninety days which expires today. Hence the Party scheduled the Convention to hold today in Port-Harcourt.
It is important to state that to ascertain and guarantee the constitutionality and legitimacy of the resolutions and decisions of the National Convention of May 21, the Party had approached the Federal High Court in Port-Harcourt, presided over by Hon Justice Liman.
The Court clearly ruled that the National Convention was constitutionally and legitimately convened and that all resolutions and actions taken thereof were lawful, legitimate and, therefore, binding.
Sheriff, acting as a mould, appealed against the judgement of Hon Justice Liman.
The Appeal Court has not vacated the ruling. Therefore, the ruling subsists.
Ali Modu Sheriff, propelled by the APC's unhidden agenda to drive PDP into oblivion, approached a judge that has made notoriety his watch-word, Justice Okon Abang of Federal High Court Abuja to obtain an interim injunction restraining the Ahmed Markarfi led Caretaker Executive from holding today's National Convention at Port-Harcourt.
Lawyers tell us that a court judgement takes precedence over an interlocutory injunction, more so when the two courts are of coordinate jurisdiction.
Besides, when two courts of equal authority give two different orders on the same matter, equity, lawyers say, demands that the first order to be given is the one to be adhered to.
It is, therefore, clear that for the Inspector-General of Police to have authorized the seal off of the Shark's Stadium, proposed venue of today's convention in Port-Harcourt, despite the above facts, President Buhari and his APC think the only obstacle on their way to 2019 is the PDP.
But do you know what? They failed woefully today! PDP is made up of very experienced political tacticians and administrators. The Party quietly and almost seamlessly beat Buhari and APC to it.
What was sealed off was only the decorated Shark's Stadium. They could not seal off the Convention itself.
The Convention, therefore, successfully took place at the Rivers State PDP State Secretariat.
Highlights of the Convention were the extension of the tenure of the Senator Ahmed Markarfi led Caretaker Committee by one year while members of the Committee were increased to thirteen.
The PDP in Abia State congratulates the Party on this very successful National Convention. Up PDP!
Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa
State Pub-Sec
PDP, Abia State.

Impartial and timely dispensation of justice is what makes the human society a civilized community. The difference between the wild animal kingdom and the polished human polity lies only in justice.
This is why it is believed that democracy is the best form of government. As it is generally said, a democratic government, no matter how bad it could be perceived, remains, by far, better than any form of government that one could imagine.
The above is because democracy thrives almost seamlessly in the rule of law.
If there was no democracy, the human society would have been a horrible jungle where only the strong would survive.
Beneficiaries of the rule of law must remain eternally grateful to the English Lawyers and Jurists, Henry de Bracton and Edward Coke both of who had originated the principle of the rule of law about 1260 AD and expounded in the 16th century, respectively.
The French legal system which had emphasized the rule of law from a principle it had tagged 'La Principe de Legalite, insisting that the law is King above kings, should also not be forgotten by we, the beneficiaries.
Before a lawyer is appointed a judge, that is transiting from the Bar to the Bench, it is expected that such a person must have been properly schooled and learned in the rudiments of the rule of law.
Simply put, the rule of law is a fundamental legal operational device or mechanism that guarantees harmony between conflicting parties in a society. It assures justice through just and effective regulation and restraint.
Taking cognizance of the fact that man is naturally fallible, the rule of law makes provision for different levels of administration of justice.
In this wise, a citizen who believes he has not been fairly treated in a magistrate court could appeal against an unfavourable judgment at the High Court of Justice.
Depending on his discretion and capability, he could get to the Supreme Court via the Court of Appeal.
Justice is the commonest desire of man and the rule of law has provided enough windows for justice to be seen to be done in human society.
For justice to be appreciated as the soul of the society, judicial officers, especially judges who literally have the 'power of life and death' in their hands, must be detached from the frailties of greed, insatiability, quest for materialism, ineptitude and resort to partiality and vindictiveness.
A Judge that is materialistic can easily set the society on fire simply because of the amount of money he has collected from either a plaintiff or respondent, not minding the balance of justice.
On the 27th of June, 2016 one Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja gave a very unjust, faulty and infamous judgment, in which he ruled to have sacked the duly elected Governor of Abia State, Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, Ph.D due to what he termed false information on his tax documents.
The most ridiculous aspect of his judgment was not the sack order but the unjudicial fiat he issued that the Independent National Electoral Commission should immediately issue the beneficiary of his heavily pecuniarily induced judgment, Uche Ogah, with a certificate of return.
Why should this type of draconian order be issued, with the adverb 'immediately' when Okon Abang knows that the administration of justice provides the Governor with two other windows of appeal above his court?
Again, in a case as sensitive as a suit praying for the removal of a governor, a Governor whose people had not tasted governorship since the history of Nigeria despite being the majority in their State and not withstanding that the Governor was a public servant before resigning to contest the election, the pertinent question is, should a judge, other than due to financial inducement, base his judgment on the strength of an originating summons which does not allow the respondent or accused to have witnesses?
Removing a governor in the above circumstance could be easier said than done. In the first instance, a judge that knows his onions should have directed that the plaintiff/applicant should come by way of writ of summons, in which the respondent/defendant would be given the opportunity to defend the spurious allegation of false information against him.
In that case, the Abia State Board of Internal Revenue which issued the tax document should have been subpoenaed to either own or disown the authorship of the documents.
Because of the huge amount of money Abang had collected from Uche Ogah he desperately turned justice upside down.
Even when it was clear that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu had filed his appeal against Okon Abang's notorious judgment, the judge selfishly refused to realize that he had disgracefully lost jurisdiction to continue with the case. What a shame?
Judges, by their discipline and conduct are a rare gem that naturally attract respect. In the case of Okon Abang, he has so debased himself that he is now stripped off any iota of respect.
In fact, Okon Abang has constituted himself as a ridiculous embarrassment to the Nigerian Judiciary.
Kudos must, however, be given to the Justices of the Appeal Court, headed by Hon Justice Morenike Ogunwumiju, for restoring the image of the Nigerian Judiciary which Okon Abang has been working most irresponsibly to destroy by upholding the election of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.
I must say that by allowing justice to prevail in Governor Okezie Ikpeazu vs Uche Ogah, the Appeal Court had gone thousands of kilometres saving Abia State from the most terrible state of anarchy, lawlessness and mass killing and destruction that would automatically have befallen Abia State, especially in Aba.
Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa
Executive Director
Centre For Equity & Eradication of Rural Poverty.

Revealed: Why Emeka Offor is backing Uche Ogah
...flamboyant businessmen is broke and ready to declare bankruptcy

Facts have emerged why Sir Emeka Offor is among some Igbo businessmen and politicians that joined forces with the embattled oil businessman, Uche Ogah, to trouble and distract the Governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu.

Offor and his cohorts, who are currently on the watch list of the EFCC and ONSA, have agreed to join the All Progressive Congress (APC) with Ogah if they pull through in ousting Governor Ikpeazu.

Offor, who recent reports have shown that he is so broke that he can't even pay salaries of his workers, believes that the way to go is to back Ogah who has agreed to join APC as a way of breaking into the President Muhammad Buhari government where he hopes to get government contracts and also ensure his name is deleted from those to be tried for corruption.

Following several reports by online media sources , including Sahara Reporters, that business man and supporter of Abia Power usurper, Uche Ogah, was broke and in dire financial straits, Abia pilot decided to conduct an independent investigation into the issues raised by the media as summarized in http://.com/high-flying-businessman-emeka-offor-is-now-seriously-broke/

Our investigations have confirmed that indeed Mr Emeka Offor is broke and most of the account given in the report is true.

It will also be recalled that in the heat of the attempted coup in Abia, several insiders mentioned Sir Emeka Offor's name alongside Hope Uzodinma and Annie Okonkwo as major co-conspirators. One blogger reported that Mr Offor in desperation called the Chief Judge of Abia State who is also from Anambra State to swear in Uche Ogah and collect a whooping sum of one million dollars from him. Chief Justice Uzokwe rebuffed him and strongly warned him to stop calling her line. Subsequently, Annie Okonkwo reportedly took over and started calling the Abia CJN who stood her ground that the law must be followed to the letter.

It is believed that Emeka Offor approached Uche Ogah earlier in the year with a scheme to get him Aso Rock support for his desperate dream to become Abia Governor and acquire immunity from prosecution for several criminal cases hanging on his neck at Abuja and Lagos. Uche fell into the trap by sourcing for three million dollars which he handed over to Mr Offor and his accomplice, Annie Okonkwo. The duo were only able to contact factional PDP chairman, Modu Sheriff, who linked them to Justice Abang and a deal was struck with the judge allegedly receiving $1m while the remaining $2m was shared between Emeka Offor, Hope Uzodinma and Annie Okonkwo instead of being used to settle the office of the National Security Adviser as promised by Emeka Offor.

It was this failure of Chief Offor to carry along the office of the NSA that led to the postponement of the coup date from Tuesday June 28th to Thursday June 30th. When Mr Ogah found out that his money has been shared he scrambled to remedy the situation by using a former senate president to contact a lower ranking security official to provide him with DSS personnel through the backdoor. He also made several frantic calls to the aides of President Buhari and promised to give one key presidential aide the sum of five hundred million Naira if he can help him to get the president's support so that the official security of incumbent Governor Okezie Ikpeazu will be withdrawn. The presidential aide who initially accepted the deal later declined to go ahead when he found out that the president and his wife were against executing any illegal action in Abia that will likely lead to loss of thousands of innocent lives.

Workers at Chrome Energy confirmed to Abia Pilot that indeed they only received their December 2015 salary in May 2016. Since then they have not received any other salary. Also workers at EEDC (power distribution company) managed by Emeka Offor are crying over many months of unpaid salaries and told Abia Pilot that they are only surviving on extortion of power subscribers.

It is also confirmed that indeed the flamboyant business man is unable to bury his father who died since February but opted to keep the man at a local mortuary in Anambra State in disregard of the dying wish of the late Pa Offor to be buried as soon as possible if he passes on or else he will deal with any of his children responsible for keeping him long in the mortuary fridge.

After the report of his being broke was published by Sahara Reporters, Emeka Offor told a journalist friend of his who contacted him to approve him to write a denial of the circulating story that it was Prof Barth Nnaji that sponsored the story because of their disagreement on the supply of power by Geometrics to Aba community. He vowed to do everything in his power to destroy Prof Nnaji and his business even if it means losing his power distribution license.

Our reporter made several attempts to reach Sir Emeka Offor through his phone numbers and senior officials of EEDC at Enugu but yet to get a response from him.

Meanwhile judgement at the Appeal Court in the matter between Uche Ogah and the Governor of Abia State is expected early next week. Most neutral observers and lawyers unanimously believe that the court will rule in favor of Governor Ikpeazu.k

Breaking news...

Justice Okon Abang under security surveillance, may be arrested next week

Reports reaching us confirm that Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court Abuja has been placed on security surveillance by security agents and may be arrested next week.

A judiciary source told us that this followed National Judicial Commission (NJC) review of high profile cases involving Justice Okon Abang, with specific reference to the Abia Governorship crises and PDP chairmanship tussle between the Sheriff and Markarfi factions.

The source revealed that after obtaining details of the judgement delivered by Justice Abang in both cases the NJC was baffled that a Judge of a Federal High Court can reach such verdicts without compromising himself. The leadership of NJC decided to quietly alert the security authorities to monitor financial transactions involving the judge and his family members.

Security authorities were said to have traced one million dollars ($1,000,000.00) moved to a bank in the Republic of Chad by a politician known to be close to Abang. Another $200,000.00 was lodged into the same account 2 days before Justice Abang ruled on the intra-party tussle in PDP.

Following the ruling by Justice Abang, PDP National Caretaker Committee circulated a press release signed by the party's spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, accusing him of "deliberately engaging in acts of derailing the country's democracy" and described his ruling as "strange". According the party, "he has penchant for abuse of court processes and actions of legal impunity".

The first money (one million dollars) was said to have been received by Justce Abang around the 24th of June 2016 at a high brow Abuja Hotel from one of the litigants in the Abia Governorship tussle and subsequently moved to Chad using a private jet belonging to the politician involved in both cases.

It would be recalled that the NJC few weeks ago sacked Justice Yinusa and others over the same allegation of bad conduct Abang is now facing. The NJC is awaiting final reports from security agencies before sacking and arresting him.

Meanwhile, a reliable source at the office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) revealed to us that all five Appeal Court panel members handling the Abia Governorship tussle are currently under security surveillance following the discovery that one of the panel members had meetings with Senator Modu Sheriff, Justice Abang, Dr Uche Ogah and Olagoke Fakunle yesterday night at a hotel in Abuja after proceedings of the appeal court was concluded and judgement reserved for an undisclosed date.

The source confirmed that as soon as investigations are concluded the principal actors will be arrested alongside INEC officials, including the Director of Litigation and the commissioner representing the South East, Mr Lawrence Woruku.

President Buhari instructed the office of the national security adviser to set up a special monitoring team to stem corruption in the judiciary which he believes is affecting his anti-corruption war. The President is said to be angry that corruption in the judiciary is making it difficult for him to recover hundreds of billions of Naira looted by key officials of the former PDP-led Government of Goodluck Jonathan.

INEC boils over Uche Ogah's money

As a major fallout of the events at the appeal court yesterday, INEC top brass are now embroiled in war over $1m and 6 Prado jeeps received on behalf of the senior officials of the agency from Uche Ogah by the commissioner representing the south east, Amb Lawrence Nwuruku.

Following the withdrawal of the INEC lawyer from the Appeal Court which ruined a major part of the Uche Ogah plot to become Governor without contesting any election, Mr Nwuruku angrily told the other officials that he will no longer share the money and the vehicles, currently parked at his Ebonyi home, with them as they have failed to deliver. He insisted that he is the only person who delivered and even put his career on the line by going on national television to defend the hasty issuance of certificate of return to Ogah.

The INEC Director of Litigation, according to our source, retorted that it was the stupid haste of Nwuruku that led to the mistake on the issued CoR that failed to capture the actual date the election was won. He insisted that if Nwuruku failed to share the money and the vehicles he will expose him by leaking details of how he received the money from Ogah at Nicon Abuja.

Our reporter discovered that Uche Ogah has been in shock following the direction the proceedings at the Appeal Court followed. He hinged his hopes on INEC and the Ali Modu Sheriff faction of PDP helping to destroy the iron cast appeal of Governor Ikpeazu prepared by Wole Okanipekun SAN.

The appeal court yesterday chased away the lawyer and representatives of Sheriff at the court and adopted the briefs of Onyechi Ikpeazu SAN who is the PDP lawyer that has been representing the interest of Governor Ikpeazu in the matter. The court also forced INEC lawyer to withdraw from the proceedings and ruled to throw away the brief submitted by INEC.

Observers believe that the case of Uche Ogah has effectively been destroyed and he stands near zero chance of surviving the appeal process. According to Barr Ugochukwu Amaraizu who was at the court yesterday, "all the Ogah team who were in court left dejected following the turn of events while those representing Governor Okezie celebrated as they sensed certain victory".

In terms of Road reconstruction t a Orji did well when he was governor of Abia state

When T a Orji was a Governor he did marvelous work in Abia state.

Hon Blessing urges Muslim to reflect on lessons of Ramadan.

The House of Assembly member representing Aba North constituency in Abia state has congratulated Muslim faithful for witnessing yet another Eid-el-fitr celebration urging them to reflect on the lesson of Ramadan.
In her Eid-el-fitr sallah message by her media assistance Ugochukwu Ezenwa , on Tuesday in Aba, Hon Blessing, commended the Muslim faithful for the goodness, perseverance, kindness to neighbours and devotion to Allah which they have demonstrated in the 30 days fasting saying that such enduring attitudes can only engender peace and promote our coexistence as a people.
Hon Blessing ,who enjoined Muslim faithful to sustain this exemplary behavior even after the Ramadan however charged all Nigerians irrespective of beliefs and affiliations to emulate this commendable behavior as demonstrated in the last 30 days by our Muslim brothers to make Nigeria a better place.
“If the love and care for one another and devotion to Allah as demonstrated during this Ramadan can be sustained, Nigeria will not only overcome her present challenges but will compete effectively with other countries of the world in terms of economic growth and rapid development” Hon Blessing said.

Nice one by t a Orji

FAIR WEATHER NIGERIAN POLITICIANS AND DEFECTION. SCRIPTED BY CHIEF (SIR) DON UBANI.

For a proper take-off of this commentary, it is necessary that politics is aptly defined. Philosophers, writers and statesmen of the ancient order had long posited clues on what politics is all about. A deep study of the works of Plato as published in his book; The Republic, Aristotle’s Politics, the works of Confucius and NicoloMachievli’s The Prince implies that politics is a science or an art that basically aims at influencing the thoughts and opinions of others in an organised human community or state as in modern times with the hope of guaranteeing efficient and effective distribution of power, positions and resources in the overall interest of an organized society or state. Many other definitions of politics abound but for the purposes of this essay, it could be advised that this definition be considered appropriate. The resume of this definition is the fact that politics and its practice are human-tailored and human-related. It, therefore, means that whosoever is in politics is there in order to advance the course of his or her people. People, in this context, may not necessarily be attached to the parochial sentiments of ties of consanguinity. It rather has a large concept of humanity, giving room for a wide-spread brother-hood.
Modern day politics is synonymous with democracy which is inseparable from the rule of law. In a truly democratic milieu, individuals take time to study the political, economic and social objectives of the political parties that are operational within their environment before they make up their minds on which one to be registered with as members or to support. In Great Britain, for instance, there are two major political parties; the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. While the conservatives are known to be a right-wing Party the Labour Party is believed to be left-inclined. The conservatives pursue their goals via the process of evolution. Onthe other hand, the Labour Party might be seen as being more of a radical group than the conservatives. The same scenario almost applies in the United States of America that also has two very prominent political Parties; The Democrats and The Republicans. Be it in Britain or The United States of America, each Political Party maintains a uniqueness that clearly distinguishes it from other political parties within its clime.
It is the distinctiveness or exclusivity of the ideology, constitution, manifesto and (or) the programmes of a political Party that elicits interest in Members of the public who, in return, enlist as members or become ardent supporters of such a political party.
The explanation here is that individuals, under good political culture and engagement, embrace membership of a party strictly on the basis of their conviction on the ideology and programmes of the party and not necessarily hinged on what the individuals would stand to gain by way of material benefits from the party when it is in control of power at any level of political administration.
Despite the educational attainment and exposure of the Nigerian politicians, their attitude towards party discipline and steadfastness since Engr. Herbert Macaulay formed the first political party in Nigeria; Nigerian National Democratic Party; N.N.D.P., in 1923 has not been anything to write home about or celebrate. The political history of Nigeria, as long as party membership is concerned, has continuously depicted lack of discipline, patience, commitment, steadfastness and loyalty.
The first time Nigeria recorded a major show of Party indiscipline and lack of consistency in party membership was in 1951 when a good number of yet-to-be-inaugurated elected members of the Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe-led National Council of Nigerian citizens crossed carpet on the floor of the defunct Western Regional Assembly to Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group. Between 1979 and 1983, that was during the second Republic, Chief Akin Omoboriowo, Chief Fagbamigbeand Senator Lai Joseph all of the defunct United Party of Nigeria defected to the National Party of Nigeria. Within the same period, Senator Nathaniel N. Anah of the defunct Nigerian People’s Party also defected to the defunct National Party of Nigeria. A good number of Nigerian politicians, including former Vice-PresidentAtiku Abubarkar who left the People’s Democratic Party to Action Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu who decamped from the Alliance for Democracy to Action Congress and Segun Mimiko who left People’s Democratic Party for the Labour Party and later returned to the People’s Democratic Party, have exhibited inconsistency in Party membership in this fourth republic.
Embarrassingly, the defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan has added another dimension to defection of Nigerian politicians. It has to be recalled that the People’s Democratic Party has been in power in Nigeria for Sixteen years consecutively, from 1999 to 2015. As at 2004, all most every politician that mattered in Nigeria was either a member of the Party or was nursing hope of being a member of the Party. Hardly did one see any Politician contemplate leaving theP.D.P. for the weak opposition Parties that existed then such as, the Action Congress, All Nigerian People’s Party, Convention People’s Party or even the All Progressive Grand Alliance that is still operational.
Now that the People’s Democratic Party has crashed via the defeat of President Jonathan by General Muhammadu Buhari, even those who had publicly vowed to either swim or sink with the Party have incredulously fallen over themselves, moving shamelessly in droves praying to be allowed to defect to the victorious All Progressive Congress. Not a few political observers are astonished by the madness and velocity with which many members of the People’s Democratic Party have been rushing into the winning Party. The volume of traffic of defectors from the Peoples Democratic Party became so alarming that the President-elect; Gen.Buhari got so shocked that he was innocently compelled to inform the drone of defectors that they would be disappointed leaving their Party to his Party simply because their Party failed. If Gen. Buhari was mildly diplomatic in his admonition of defectors from the People’s Democratic Party, the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressive Congress; Alhaji Lai Mohammed, was crudely blunt in telling the defectors that they were not wanted in his Party.
Before going further in this commentary, it would be necessary to state that in both Great Britain and the United States of America, when political parties lose in anelection, their leaders only go back to their drawing board, ask themselves self-revealing questions, acknowledge and appreciate their deficiencies, inadequacies and mistakes and then get themselves re-focused and re-invigorated. It is unheard of that politicians desert their political Parties in either Europe or America on the grounds that their Party lost in an election. To be plain, it would simply amount to a political cum historical anathema.
In the case of Nigeria, it is understandable why politicians quickly abandon their Parties as soon as it is obvious that their parties have failed. Political parties in Nigeria, unlike what happens in the truly democratic world are avenues for state-encouraged looting of the treasury. This is why many Nigerian graduates embrace partisan politics as soon as they come out from school. It is an open secret that if one belongs to a ruling Party either at the Federal or state level, an automatic ticket is believed to have been secured for an uninhibited access to the treasury.
By way of syllogism, since more than eighty percent of Nigerians in politics are deficient in altruism and have an uncommon inclination towards materialism and never allowing due process to be followed in whatever they usually desperately wish to acquire, it would not be unwise to reason that more than ninety percent of members of the People’s Democratic Party that are ‘fleeing’ to the All Progressive Congress are not doing so because they love the Party of the President-elect but are only doing so falsely thinking that the new Party in power would cover all the economic atrocities they had committed against the Nigerian State. In a nutshell, these political prostitutes are just fair weather politicians who believe that for them to be relevant in the political arena, they musts enjoy free access to looting. These fair weather politicians are insensitive to the plight of the masses. They think onlyof what they can grab from the corrupt and loose poli-economic system that Nigeria has operated for years.
Today, Nigerian politics has changed. It is no more business as usual. The masses have become very politically conscious and this accounted for the reason why many hitherto political notables failed woefully to deliver their Parties in their polling units during the elections of March 28, 2015, April 11, 2015 and where there was a supplementary election on April 25, 2015.
All those political betrayers, who have defected from the People’s Democratic Party principally due to their perceived fear of their past crimes against theNigerian state, failed abysmally in their polling booths where they cast their votesduring the last election. The Nigerian masses have scaled and weighed them and have found out that they are mere empty barrels. It now behoves the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party to put its house in order. The leadership should not be worried about those that have left the party for they had no value to add. Many of the party officials who are still in the Party should be evaluated as they are extremely corrupt and their corrupt practices affected the electoral chances of the Party negatively. Those of them trading blames upon blames now could not even deliver their party in their respective booths.
As for what the future holds for the People’s Democratic Party in Nigeria, it must be clearly understood that the chances of the party are very bright. Except Gen.Buhari would change from being the disciplined, selfless, transparent and patriotic Nigerian he had long been known for, the cracks between him and these very evidently corrupt so-called leaders of the All Progressive Congress would not be suppressed or pretended over more than four years. The People’s Democratic Party should be prepared to play robust and constructive opposition. There must be light at the end of the tunnel.

Chief (Sir) Don Ubani; KSC, JP

THE CHALLENGES THAT DR. OKEZIE IKPEAZU WOULD HAVE TO ADDRESS AS GOVERNOR OF ABIA STATE.
SCRIPTED BY CHIEF (SIR) DON UBANI

In the history of the Jews, one learns that time, perseverance and resoluteness can always combine effectively to heal wounds of many decades. After many years of persecution, it was only on November 29, 1947 that the United Nations’ General Assembly passed a resolution for the establishment of a Jewish state of Israel within Palestine. That resolution was known as Resolution 181 of the United Nations.
Though both British government that had a colonial mandate on Palestine and Arab countries were vehemently opposed to the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel, God had to use the forthrightness, diplomatic wizardry and Military confidence of President Harry Truman of the United States of America to make the aspiration of the Jews for a return to their promised land that flows with milk and honey a fait accompli.
The experience of the Jews tells us that no matter how painful a situation might be, no conspiracy, marginalization, deprivation or hardship lasts forever. In the true holiness of God, nature would always guarantee a reprieve for the oppressed.
Like the Jews of the middle- East of Asia, the people of Ukwa and Ngwa had witnessed and become victims of deliberate marginalization, degradation and frustration since Nigeria’s One Hundred and One years of imperialist establishment. Despite being the most highly populated sub-ethnic group within the Igbo Nation and the most economically endowed zone within the South- Eastern boundaries of Nigeria, the travails and woes of the people of Old Aba Division have been unparalleled in the annals of the history of Nigeria, the defunct Eastern Region, the Thirty-Month-Old Biafran Republic that was synonymous with a pogrom agenda against the people of the then Aba province, defunct East- Central State, Old Imo State and Abia State. Not minding that the people are the most accommodating, hospitable and reliable in matters of collective agenda and subordination to leadership, the people of old Aba Division have been the most hated, maligned, degraded, unappreciated and under-rated.
As God would have it, every socio-econo-political suppression has its climax and once any anti- human agenda gets to its peak, God intervenes and reverses the order. Even from within the rank and file of the oppressive jingoists, a replica of the American President, Harry Truman, who came to the rescue of the Jews, could be divinely raised.
For a jinx of one hundred and one years to have been broken, the people of Ukwa and Ngwa, apart from being eternally faithful and thankful to God, would always remember and appreciate Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji, being the Abia equivalence of Harry Truman, who became a divine catalyst in the liberation struggle of the people of Ukwa and Ngwa. If Chief T.A. Orji had hearkened to the voice of his kith and kin of the old Bende geo-political divide, a group that has already governed Abia State consecutively for Sixteen years despite not being as numerous in population as the people of Ukwa and Ngwa and not being equal in the number of registration areas and Local government areas with the latter, he would not have consented to the voice of equity that mildly demanded that power shifted to the Old Aba Division.
To the glory of God, whatever has a beginning definitely would have an end. The many years of political marginalization, economic deprivation and social degradation of the Old Aba Division have been crowned with a meritorious emergence of a quintessential academic, a scholar of note, a consummate administrator and a man whose words, body language and deeds are encompassed in humility of incomparable order; Dr. Okezie Chibuikem Ikpeazu, as first Executive Governor of Abia State of the Old Aba Divisional extraction.
It is, however, very important to note that Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu is coming as governor when, not only Abia State but Nigeria as a whole is at the nadir of economic squalor and collapse. A governor that is coming in at a moment when governments are finding it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to pay their public servants, pensioners, political appointees, address questions of escalating infrastructural decay, cope with the problems of daily increasing youth unemployment, with its attendant youth restiveness and bring themselves to terms with sky-rocketing wave of poverty amongst the Nigerian Citizenry, mainly due to corruption and poor governance, is, indeed, uncompromisingly required to gird up his loins. As at present, the fact is obvious that the economy of Nigeria has nose-dived to a near-zero level due to predictable fluctuations in the global oil sector.
Co-incidentally, both the federal and state governments in Nigeria were recklessly oblivious that a time would come when the oil and gas sectors of the national economy would receive devastating knocks. The people at the helm of affairs abysmally failed to plan for the rainy day and imprudently depended on easy and seamless revenue from the oil and gas sectors of the economy. They were not visionary to use their share of the cheap fund to develop alternative sources of wealth generation. Today, every government in Nigeria is like a mansion covered with darkness in the brightness of a sunny day. This unfortunate development arose only due to profligacy, embezzlement and outright corruption within the leadership echelon.
On assumption of office as a governor on May 29, 2015, Dr. Ikpeazu would have to be very meticulous, prudent and extra vigilant in addressing the herculean task of governance. The first thing he fundamentally has to do is to make a clear choice between strict adherence to the norms and principles of good governance and playing to the gallery. For him to achieve the desired goals of transparent governance, he must be able to call a spade by its name and not merely an instrument of digging.
To start with, taking into consideration the present economic reality in Nigeria in general and Abia State in particular, the Dr. Ikpeazu Administration may have to carefully select the agenda his administration would have to pursue. A five-point agenda may be apt and structurally achievable by the administration. The five areas the administration may have to focus on are; (1) security (2) Infrastructural recovery of Aba (3) Education (4) Agriculture and (5) Integrated structural economic transformation of the state, with improved power supply.
Abia state, if properly co-ordinated and managed, has all it takes to be among the very economically vibrant states within the global economy. On assumption of office, it is advised that the governor would approach the capital market for a bond of thirty billion naira. With this bond, especially if prudently deployed and utilized, his administration would be able to recover the commercial nerve of Abia State, which is Aba, in terms of infrastructure. The truth of the matter is that if Aba could be infrastructurally recovered, the problem of revenue accruable to the state would be meaningfully minimized. It had been said severally on different fora that an infrastructurally-enhanced Aba is capable of generating, at least, three billion naira every two months, as long as the revenue machinery is anchored on transparency and accountability.
Pragmatic agriculture must, of necessity, be given a boost. In this case, mechanised agriculture, which encompasses tractorization, should be encouraged. The people of the state should be made to appreciate that co-operative undertakings are the key to economic development. It is expected that the government of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu would establish effective synergy with the chambers of commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture in the state to bring about an industrial revolution of inexorable magnitude in Abia State, like what has happened and is still happening in China and the Asian Tigers.
In selecting the persons that would work in his administration, considerations need be given to individuals with vision, mission, unstained record of integrity and transparency, knowledge, undiluted loyalty and frankness in assessing issues. They should not be persons with inclination to materialism at the expense of performance and overall credibility. Experience has shown that some government appointees, when given money to execute government projects either handle them higgledy-piggledy or even fail to execute the project at all.
Again, it would be advised that the in-coming government observes budgetary discipline in the management of her finances. In this case, emphasis has to be placed on capital budget. For any state to grow, it should be able to run minimal ratio of sixty percent capital and thirty percent recurrent budget.
In order to stimulate economic developments in the grass-roots, it is imperative that the local government councils have to be allowed to leave up to their constitutional responsibilities.
Finally, the governor-elect is advised to look at his election as a call to service. From the record already available, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu has not been associated with material insatiability in the course of his public engagement, so far, in the state. He is expected to always appreciate the simple fact that many public officials, who converted their positions to sources of looting of the people’s treasury now fail elections even in the polling units where they cast their votes. This, therefore, gives credence to the saying that a good name is better than gold. This also implies that if Dr Okezie Ikpeazu prudently and transparently manages the common wealth of Abia people in his first four years, his second tenure would be a mere formality and the person he would wish to succeed him would not be confronted with animosity and odium of exceptional magnitude.

Nigeria should close down DSTV

XENOPHOBIA IN ITS TRUE PERSPECTIVE SCRIPTED BY CHIEF (SIR) DON UBANI

Globalization, which is a process of interaction and integration among people, companies and governments of different nations driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology, has reduced the world merely to a global village. This means that communication, international trade, immigration and inter-racial association have been made easier than what they were before the advent of globalization.
Though the world had known emigration and immigration long before now, globalization has radically increased the momentum of inter-tribal and inter-racial co-operation.
As would always be appreciated, as no man is an island unto himself, that is how no nation or society can rightly lay claim to isolationist economic independence. This natural phenomenon accounts for the inflow or influx of people of different ethnicities and(or) races into tribes or countries that are not theirs.
The congregation of people of heterogeneous origins into the United States of America is said to be the foundation and strength upon which its development is believed to rank next to none in global context. History has it that Americans, after their eight years of war of Independence or Revolution as it is often called which lasted from 1775 to 1783, resolved to adopt a policy of total and exceptional liberalization in order to move its country to the maximum height of human development. Based on this accommodating mindset of the founding fathers of the American States, every citizen or even immigrant within her geographical boundaries was given maximum encouragement to develop whatever talent or skill he or she possessed to the fullest positive advantage of the American society and humanity in general.
The United States of America came to limelight as ‘the New World’, with excessive imported Black African slaves. Despite its famous liberalization policy, there were early cases of brutal violent discrimination against the blacks, who, the whites, out of racial derogation, overtly discriminated against. The Ku Klux Klan, notoriously known as K.K.K, never hid its extremity of hatred and scorn for the blacks in America whom they disrespectfully referred to as ‘Nigers’. This attitudinal posture would later take a centre stage and become known as xenophobia.
Xenophobia, simply explained, is hatred or animosity that is harboured by a group and, more often than not, violently expressed against another group, driven either by ethnic or racial malice, disdain and(or) dislike.
In contemporary South-Africa, xenophobic attacks by South African youths have become a topical issue. The youths, for more than a fortnight, have been assaulting, maiming, killing and looting the shops and property of immigrant nationals from such countries as Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya and Nigeria.
As the story goes, the youths are reacting restively to a development in which they have suddenly realized that almost every available economic space in their land has been taken over by immigrant nationals, to their extremely suffocating economic isolation and frustration.
They are more worried to realize that even the meanest of house-hold engagements such as cooks, stewards, gardeners, gate-men and others of that category have been usurped by foreigners and, by so doing, relegating them to an uncommon dangerous background.
It took only the consciousness and sensitization of their highly revered Zulu King; Goodwill Zwelithini, for the South-African youths to wake up from their slumber and occupational laxity and non-challance.
Though the approach adopted by the South-African youths is crude and negates the fundamental human rights of these Africans that have been butchered and dispossessed of their hard-earned possessions, one may still sympathize with the South-African youths for being so brazenly out-smarted in their home-land. Any liberal economic policy that reduces indigenous people to mere economic dependents in their land would certainly ignite reactions that may not be far from xenophobia.
It may be apt to point at this juncture that what is happening or has happened in South-Africa has been an age-long feature of global interaction. It was xenophobia that drove Adolf Hitler of the German Nazi Army to annihilate about Six Million Jews in Poland before and during the second world-war.
Many elites may not have forgotten one incident that took place in Kampala; the capital of Uganda, on the 4th of August, 1972. On that fateful day, the President of Uganda; Field-Marshal Idi Amin Dada, had ordered that all Asian nationals living in Uganda be hounded, arrested and deported while their shops were equally ordered to be looted. As time went on, it was discovered that Idi Amin and his fellow Ugandans had been harbouring irrational hatred against the Asians, whom they had perceived as their economic explorers and exploiters.
The Igbo of Nigeria have always been known for their mobility, ubiquity, enterprise, investment and resilience. Because of these nature-inbued characteristics, they are found all over Nigeria. Their individual enterprise and attendant success have always instigated deep tribal sentiments and hate against them in many parts of Nigeria. So far, they are the most hated in Nigeria and this was why when Salman Rushdie, a British Indian, wrote his book; ‘The Satanic Verses’ in 1988, Northern Moslems in the Northern States of Nigeria descended heavily on Igbos in their States and butchered them in their thousands. This was a clear case of xenophobia.
On August 2, 2013, the Executive Governor of Lagos State; Barr Babatunde Fashola, in a commando-like style and in a mist undemocratic manner cargoed Igbos out of Lagos to Onitsha, as if they were common criminals.
In April 2015, the Oba of Lagos; Rilwan Akiolu, told Igbos that had gone to pay him a courtesy visit that any Igbo man or woman who failed to vote for All Progressive Congress in the governorship election would be forced to drown in the Lagos Lagoon.
Again, it is obvious that the action of Governor Fashola and utterance of the Oba of Lagos could not be unconnected with xenophobia.
It must be stated here that xenophobia does not only take place when indigenous nationals hate foreigners in their land. Xenophobia can equally rare its ugly head when stranger elements exhibit the worst form of Odium against their landlords.
A typical example is the situation in Aba where the stranger elements, a good number of who arrived Aba in a very penurious and distressful condition but who, as it were, have been blessed abundantly in Aba, have sworn never to see anything good in the indigenous people of the area. The Aba residents have even gone into an unholy conspiracy against an indigene of Aba who is the governorship candidate of People’s Democratic Party; P.D.P. in Abia State. Their only grouse against the gentle-man is that he is an Ngwa man and as long as they have a right to vote, no Ngwa man should aspire to be governor in a state that is theirs. They now have arrogated the role of God to themselves. No other reason can account for the incomparable hatred stranger elements in Aba have against the Ngwas other than xenophobia.
Still on Abia 2015 governorship election, the voting pattern already exhibited shows a clear case xenophobia. Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, who is from the Ukwa/Ngwa zone of Abia State got his votes mainly from his old Aba zone. Even though it is the turn of the people of Ukwa/Ngwa to produce the governor by this election, the people of old Bende, who have already ruled for sixteen years, still went ahead voting for the brother, Mr. Alex Otti. This is, again, a manifestation of xenophobia.
For the problem of xenophobia to be properly addressed, certain measures must have to be put in place. The first is that countries which nationals migrate in large numbers to other countries should resolve to tackle the problems of corruption and inequity associated with their leadership. This would stem the rate of unnecessary migration. Besides, immigrants or stranger elements should realize that treating their hosts with disdain is capable of igniting situations that could lead to explosion of xenophobia.


Chief (Sir) Don Ubani, Ksc, JP
(Okwubunka of Asa)