₦airaland Forum

Nigeria Is Experiencing Financial Crisis, Says Edo Governor Adams Oshiomhole
By SaharaReporters, New York

The inability of the Nigerian Government to meet its financial obligations to state governments has been described as a recipe for national disaster which can lead to serious security challenges.

Making this assertion during a press briefing in Benin-City, Thursday, Edo State Governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, said the country was experiencing financial crisis as most states could not pay the salaries of their workers.

Following the Nigerian Government's inability to pay monthly allocation to states, Mr. Oshiomhole implored the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to pay into the Federation Account the over N2.3 trillion it was owing it.

He said the corporation was insincere with Nigerians as it could not reveal the number of barrels of crude oil it was refining daily.

“I don’t know if the federal government is broke but I know there is serious crisis and it is unprecedented in the history of this country. For the first time since 1999, allocations can no longer come as at when due to states. I have been involved in trying to understand what the reasons are and I have not seen anything yet. Whether we use the word broke or you deny the word broke, the truth is that there is financial crisis in Nigeria which has very serious national security implications.

“Because when states can’t pay salaries, federal government can’t pay salaries as at when due, and you can’t pay your contractors and your contractors will begin to retrench their workers, that is recipe for national disaster. So, I am hoping that NNPC should wake up and meet its obligation to the federation account otherwise, the integrity of government is at stake.

"If I can’t keep my promise, federal government can’t keep its promise, all other governors can’t keep their promises, the Nigeria electorate will be so disillusioned and it will be a disaster. So I am hoping that NNPC recognises that it cannot be business as usual and they have few cases to answer as far as I am concerned," the governor said.

According to him, “Two years ago, it was about the kind of money we were spending on subsidy. In no time following series of probes and enquiries by the National Assembly and by the presidency they have since discovered the kind of money they stole as regards subsidy, all the people that conspired with them and I believe the EFCC is dealing with that.

"But just as we are dealing with that, now we begin to hear about the theft of our crude oil such that what is accruing to the Federation Account is not enough to meet budgetary provision. As you know, this year’s budget was based on $79 per barrel, that is about 2.4, 2.5million barrels per day. Now the news is that contrary to all the forecast, nothing is getting better.

"And it is sad that we are not doing enough to change things for the better, the challenge of government in any part of the world is to deal with the issues. If the economy is not doing well, you do certain things differently and recover. Well it is no more a matter for debate that we are 10 months into the new year and oil has performed very well, selling between $105 and $110 per barrel throughout 2013, which means that if we have budgetary provision of $79, we ought to have a surplus of about $30, which should be in the crude oil account. But rather than having this surplus we are witnessing a situation where Federal Allocations no longer come as at when due, and states can’t pay salaries.

“In Edo State like the rest of other 35 states, part of our July allocation has not been paid. About one-third of our August allocation has not been paid and nothing has been paid for September allocation. And it is the first time since 1999 that this thing is happened. The explanation by NNPC is completely watery. They collect 455,000 barrels per day for domestic refinery, but they also agreed that the refineries are not working, that the very best they cannot refine more than 100,000 barrels per day, so the question is what you are doing with the balance of 355,000?

"So, why will you run business like that, you take 455,000 barrels a day to refine, even when your refineries are not working. Okay whether the refineries did it, where is the money? If you multiply $109 by 455,000 barrels per day, you will imagine the kind of money NNPC ought to be paying into the federation account. And from some of the figures that have been thrown around, NNPC is owing the federation account over N2.3 trillion. And Edo State has a share of that amount that will run into several billions of naira.

“But last month, many states could not pay salaries, but in Edo State we were able to pay. Even the federal government could not pay salaries; I think they paid July salaries around August 14. But we paid August salaries in August."

Power Not Substitute For
Blood, Gumi Warns
Jonathan
October 1, 2013 - 18:55 —
siteadmin
By SaharaReporters, New
York
Sheik Ahmad Abubakar
Gumi today in his
comment marking
Nigeria’s 53rd
independence anniversary
warned President
Goodluck Jonathan that
power is not a substitute
for blood.
He also said that the best
Jonathan can do in 2015
is to organize free and
fair election and go in
peace, rather than be
deceive by power
mongers at all cost.
Gumi in a statement said,
“Today Tuesday is another
milestone in the history
of the nation Nigeria. The
mere survival of Nigeria
as a unified entity is the
only successful story in
the 53 years of its
independence. Like Boko
Haram, Nigeria can only
boast of its success on its
survival. We see despite
heavy fatalities and
injuries of thousands of
people and the grounded
economic life of the north
east, the purported Boko
Haram leader can only
boast on his ability to
prove he is still alive. Just
like Boko Haram, Nigeria
is real but unrealistic,
naïve and self-
annihilative. Why? Just
because those that lead
the two phenomena are
dehumanized of all
human sensibilities. They
trade blood for power!
According to the fearless
cleric, Jonathan is
economical with truth
regarding security issues,
“Two years ago, regarding
the 1st of October 2010
Abuja bombing that killed
12 innocent Nigerians,
carried out by the
terrorist organization
M.E.N.D, President
Jonathan exonerated
them and tried to
castigate the northern
politicians inferring to
IBB. A new strategy never
known in Nigerian politics
came in to play i.e. by
calling a dog a bad name
to hang it. Then IBB was
foreseen as the most
formidable obstacle to
deny Goodluck power.
They forgot IBB left the
power to save Nigerian
blood. This the best deed
of IBB Nigerians should
not betray.Yes, from the
onset, Mr. Goodluck was
apparently in a struggle
to grab power and to
cling to power even if that
is at the cost of innocent
Nigerian lives. Well it
turned out that his
people were the culprits.”
He continued that “after
his ascension to power
and the affect of strategic
replacements in the
Nigerian security
apparatus that favored
the South South and
South East regions, the
‘Boko Haram’ bombings
became incessant,
powerful and more
sophisticated. Bombings
in Sokoto, Daura, Kano,
Kaduna, Zaria, Maiduguri,
Abuja, Damaturu, Bauchi,
etc. in fact the whole
northern region was
virtually on fire. ‘Boko
Haram’ a ragtag group of
peasant al-majiris were
then abruptly well-
equipped to carry out
highly sophisticated
military like -clandestine
operations. It is to
insinuate that they were
triggered as a reaction of
the northern region to
reject Jonathan’s rule.
This is the calling a dog a
bad name to hang him
strategy again. This time
not against individuals
but a whole region and
religion. Then Azazi and
Yakowa died abruptly.
The bombings also
suddenly abated to a
halt.”
Gumi, who also argued
that recent killings are
new tactics, said,
“gradually a new strategy
sets in. Massive killings of
civilians in villages,
schools and road sides by
unidentified people or
recently workers
squatting in uncompleted
buildings by security
agents. All happening in
states supposed to be
either under state of
emergencies or the
capital city where security
alert is at the optimum.
Gen. Shuwa was gunned
down and murdered
under the very eyes of his
army guards that didn’t
react. And no military
panel to investigate the
killing of such a national
hero that fought to keep
Nigeria one was
officiated. And you dare
say the military now is
demoralized and also
paralyzed by its own
mechanism. In brief,
these killings in Nigeria
from the 1st October
2010 to date are largely a
script play and a plot
unfolding. In it, even
some of the active
accomplices like the naïve
almajiris are not aware
they are pawns. “In
Nigeria today nobody is
safe. Anybody can be
attacked and killed, or
framed up and arrested.
You see or hear of law
and order is only in books
and the compromised
newspapers and media.
Journalism is dead, justice
in the court of law is
absent, intellectuals are
neutralized, and the
populace is largely left
poor and uneducated.
Mr. Jonathan has only
one option left for him.
Let him conduct a free
and fair election in 2015.
From PDP primary
elections to the national
elections. Let him not be
deceived by those wolves
that want to push him to
his expiration for their
corrupt lifestyles. Mr.
Jonathan should know
that power is no
substitute for blood i.e.
you cannot spill other
people’s blood to stay in
power and remain
flourishing. You should
ask Assad about that. You
can call Sisi in Egypt and
ask him about that. The
psycho-trauma is enough
to finish one’s life.
“Please Mr. Jonathan, if
Nigerians don’t want you
please go in peace.
My advice to Nigerians is
that the struggle in
Nigeria is wrongly termed
religious or ethnic. It is
all about a clique who
wants to monopolize
money and power. The
day Nigerians reclaim
their government,
military and resources,
that day they will realized
that boko haram, MEND,
OPC and also the so
called ‘influential’
religious organizations
are all hijacked for the
same goal by this clique
to perpetuate the status
quo. As for Islam, I can
speak for. Islam calls for
peaceful co-existence,
progress, mercy and
compassion on all
humanity. "And We have
not sent you but as a
mercy to the world."
Q21/107

kAi.who want die.

ago
President Goodluck Jonathan
yesterday denied signing an
agreement with governors elected
on the platform of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) to spend
one term in office.
He challenged those who have the
pact to produce the document.
The President spoke last night
during a Presidential media chat –
his fifth since his election in 2011-
aired on national television.
Jonathan also spoke on various
topics in the two-hour live
programme in which he fielded
questions from five journalists in
the studio. He also took questions
sent by some Nigerians.
He also spoke on the ongoing
university teachers’ strike which is
nearing the 90th day, the Boko
Haram activities and the
controversy over the death or
otherwise of its leader Abubakar
Shekau, oil theft, the state of the
economy, corruption and the sack
of some minister, among others.
Jonathan said: “I did not sign
agreement with anybody; if I had
signed an agreement, they would
have shown you.
“What I said in Ethiopia was that
should Nigerians agree to a single
term of seven years, I would not
be part of it so that they would
not say I canvassed it in order to
spend 12 years in office.
“A lot of people are misinforming
Nigerians. I was in Addis Ababa
when I advocated for this single
tenure. I said if we look at the
politics of Nigeria, especially now
that the country is just
developing…in terms of the
political evolution, we started the
First Republic, it collapsed, the
Second Republic collapsed, the
Third Republic collapsed. This is
the very first time that we have
stayed.
“So, I said if we look at the way we
go about our politics, to be
productive, definitely if a
president a tenure of seven years
of one term without any
interference, he must be
productive more than even in the
so-called eight years. I advocated
for that, people would say the
president, having completed the
late President Yar’Adua’s tenure
and another four years that make
it five years, want to serve for
another seven year single tenure,
that would make it 12 years.”
“If Nigerians agree to that single
tenure, I believe it will be more
productive for the country
because I am thinking more about
the
country. I did not say oh, Jonathan
is or not going to contest election.
I discovered that the concept of
the single tenure which I was
advocating at that time, it was
when I was interfacing with some
Nigerians in Addis Ababa, that
some said I signed an agreement.
They should show you the
agreement.”
On his 2015 ambition, Jonathan
said it is too early to declare.
He said: “We have laws in this
country and our electoral laws
regulate political activities. It gives
the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) time
frame to declare campaign open.
“My declaring early will create
more problems for the system
than solving it. A lot of people
have been holding meetings
silently but have you heard any of
them coming out to say I want to
be president or governor?”
On Boko Haram, Jonathan said it
was not caused by poverty. He
insisted that poor people cannot
afford the weapons used by the
sect.
When asked if Boko Haram’s
leader Abubakar Shekau is dead or
alive, Jonathan said: “I do not
know whether he (Shekau) is dead
or alive. I do not know him and
have never seen him before. You
cannot have clear information on
security operation.
“If he was talking regularly in the
past and suddenly stopped, there
should be speculations.”
On the cademic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) strike, the
President said politics had crept
into so many things. He said: “We
have agreed on all issues, except
transferring government’s assets
to the university.
“Until we get to that level where
universities that claim to be
autonomous are autonomous in
funding and other areas, we will
still face similar challenges.
“The earned allowances which the
lecturers are talking about are
supposed to be paid from the
Internally Generated Revenues
(IGR) of the universities. The
Federal Government cannot close
all other departments because we
want to solve ASUU problem.”
Jonathan wondered why state
universities’ lecturers should join
those in the federal universities to
embark on strike.
He said: “Is it Federal Government
that will provide infrastructure for
state universities when we say we
are in a federation? ASUU strike is
very unfortunate because the
union knows we are committed to
revamping the infrastructure.”
The President also spoke on
revenue, saying the monthly
meetings to share allocation were
not necessary.
He chided those who said the
country was bankrupt, wondering
why people play politics with
serious issues.
Jonathan said: “How can someone
say Nigeria is bankrupt? What are
the yardsticks used when Nigeria
currently has the highest Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa.
If Nigeria is bankrupt, investors
will remove their money
overnight.
“We should be mindful of what we
say as citizens. Despite all political
interests, we must take our
country first when making
statements.”
Appealing to ASUU to suspend the
strike, he said the government’s
commitment to make changes is
total but that everything cannot
be done overnight.
He said: “ We set up a team,
technical team, they visited all the
universities, all the hostels
including the toilets that we had in
the hostels, they took
photographs and videos records
and when it was present to the
executive council, I said it must be
presented to the governors.
“So , I asked the Vice President
that during the National Economic
Council meeting with the
governors, the Finance Minister is
a member, the Planning Minister,
Chief Economic Adviser to the
President and the Central Bank
Governor, the report should be
presented.
“The report was on Federal
Universities and states, we did not
go to the private universities and
we saw the enormous
responsibilities that we have as a
nation; the Vice-President could
not recognise where he learnt his
Architecture.
“I believe we can say there is
misunderstanding; definitely,
politics has come into so many
things that we do, some we
observe that the way we do
certain things I have a feeling that
something else is happening, they
may be saying something
different.
“Anybody who talked about
Nigeria being broke is just playing
politics with the issue, we should
be mindful of what statement we
make.”
He said Boko Haram did not start
in 2009 and that because it was
not handled properly at the initial
stage, it became cancerous.
He denied the allegation that the
sack of ministers has anything to
do with the aggrieved governors.
On privitasation, he said: “There is
no selective privatisation, you
cannot privatise everything the
same day.”
On power, he said: “We are not
talking about how many
megawatts. That is not the issue,
because. When we generate and
you do not have the capacity to
evacuate, then you have done
nothing.
“As at the time we were talking
about megawatt, we couldn’t
even have done more than 5500
megawatts, but We are taken the
whole chain, including the
privatisation of Gencos and
Discos.”
He said those criticising the
Petroleum Ministry are those who
want to get oil blocks or lift oil
and are not able to do so.
“They will complain. Most of the
stories are based on perception.
Some of the stories are ‘molue’
stories. We are now paying a little
less than a Trillion.”
On oil theft, he said: “When
something starts in a very small
way, if it is not checked it will
result in what we are seen now. I
can assure you that we will get it
under control. Government is also
working with other heads of
states outside Nigeria. There is no
reason why you should accept
stolen crude oil. It is not done by
poor people.”

jim Iyke delivered in scoan.just watched it live emmanuel.tv

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unical dropout.

can you video or record him,or better can you tell him to his face.we will be of help

the truth makes you free.

this is a lie

no wonder the catholic Church pulled out of the association.

honestly even nongraduate presidents will never appoint a thug,barely literate as education minister
nigeria don suffer.

these people are very wicked.i have said evil people are running nigeria
imagine this woman o

people decieving people

i am happy akpabio has been told he is a fraud

chei the man has made it for life.at least the settlement is up to 25milliom

he has destroyed akwa ibom,thats why, forget about the noise of uncommon transformation,time will tell. its all about.media hype and organised propaganda.

PRESS RELEASE - It started like a
joke. After the State Governors
elected their leader, Rt. Hon.
Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers
State, in a vote of 19 to 16,
defeating Gov. Jonah Jang of
Plateau State to retain his position
as Chairman of the Nigeria
Governors’ Forum (NGF), PDP
under Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and
their collaborators in
government preferred the defeated
candidate. They improved on this
when they engineered five
members of the Rivers State House
of Assembly to attempt to impeach
the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Dan
Amaechree, in a House of 32
members with the intention of
reconvening few hours later to
impeach the Governor. If not for
the swift intervention of the
National Assembly, they might have
succeeded in achieving their
devilish aim without minding the
consequences.
These enemies of democracy did
not stop there; they organised and
stoned visiting Northern Governors
on a solidarity visit to their Rivers
State counterpart, not minding the
consequences.
They went ahead to illegally
suspend a sitting Governor (Rt.
Hon. Amaechi) against the spirit of
the PDP Constitution, soon
following it with the suspension of
Gov. Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto
State for not picking the calls of the
tyrannical National Chairman of the
party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. As if
this was not enough, they went
ahead to suspend Senator Andy
Uba for winning the Anambra State
PDP Governorship Primaries just
because they preferred another
aspirant. And then from nowhere
they suspended PDP’s former
National Vice Chairman, Dr. Sam
Jaja!
Not yet satisfied, these enemies of
democracy had the guts to remove
the names of Governor Murtala
Nyako and that of one of the
founders of PDP, former Vice
President Atiku Abubakar, from the
delegates list of Adamawa State for
their failed Special National
Convention. Haba! What type of
politics is this? And these people
still want us at our ages to keep
quiet and allow them to shave our
heads while we do nothing! God
forbid!
Against the spirit of the
Constitution of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria that clearly stipulates
freedom of association for
Nigerians – even the freedom of
factionalisation of a political party
as stated by the Independent
National Electoral Commission
(INEC), our people are being
hounded in various states of the
Federation. In flagrant and outright
breach of the Constitution and
abuse of the rule of law, today our
National Secretariat remains sealed
by the Police. To add insult to our
injury, our Rivers State Secretariat
just opened for business has also
been sealed by the Police, who
claim to be acting on orders from
above. What is more, the Police
also last night barred Gov. Amaechi
and his guests (about 120 mainly
former Speakers in the country)
from entering the Governor’s
Residence through the private gate
of the state Government House,
Port Harcourt. And we still claim
that we are in a democratic society!
Surely, even the days of Abacha
were not like this!
Indeed, General Sani Abacha must
be lamenting in his grave that
Nigerians wrongly abused him
considering the high degree of
impunities being encouraged in a
democratic set up, with the Police
being used as a tool to haunt
political opponents.
We are however consoled that while
the G34 that gave birth to PDP was
born during the dark days of
Abacha, today a new PDP is being
given birth to and is determined to
legally and constitutionally fight
these impunities being perpetrated
by false democrats in our country.
The removal of our candidates
from the Federal Executive Council
(FEC)
No matter the flimsy excuses being
given by the Federal Government
over the sack of nine of our
candidates from the Federal
Executive Council (FEC), the truth of
the matter is that these innocent
Ministers were sacked because they
were either nominated by us or
sympathetic to our cause.
We are aware that these Ministers
had been under surveillance and
denied the necessary tools to work
with – in short; they were
programmed to fail immediately
they were indentified with us.
Sadly, these innocent Ministers
have been sacked while the most
corrupt Ministers whose atrocious
activities are well known to
Nigerians are retained. The most
pitiable case of these sacked
Ministers is that of our mother, the
Minister of Housing, Ms Amal
Pepple, whose crime was
approaching Mr. President to plead
with him, even kneeling down to
beg him to forgive Gov. Amaechi
for whatever sins he is assumed to
have committed against him.
We wish to assure these victimised
Ministers that their travails are
temporary. They have nothing to be
ashamed of; their fate is in the
hands of God and their future is
very bright. Therefore, rather than
being sad, they should count
themselves lucky for being part of
the struggle to salvage our party
and country from the hands of
opportunists who are using a
political party which they do not
know how it was formed to torment
and haunt the founders of the party
and their supporters.
We urge former Heads of State,
Religious Leaders, Our Royal
Fathers, Civil Society Activists and
all men of goodwill to intervene
before these misguided elements
plunge this Nation into anarchy.
This Country belongs to all of us
and we can no longer sit and watch
an over ambitious cabal intoxicated
by power brazenly inflict needless
pain on us on a daily basis.
We urge our supporters to continue
to exercise patience and avoid the
temptation to meet force with force
so as not to play into the hands of
our enemies. We also urge all
Nigerians to intensify prayers for
God to touch the hearts of our
leaders so that these dark days of
General Abacha during which
people are haunted for expressing
their views may be cut short
Long live PDP!
Long live Nigeria!!!
Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze,
National Publicity Secretary, New
PDP

They are spies of the opposition -
Presidency Sources
The battle between the Old PDP
and the New PDP has taken another
dimension with the breakaway PDP
accusing President Jonathan of
sacking ministers sympathetic to
their course. This was contained in
a press statement received via e
mail on
Friday Morning from the National
Publicity Secretary of New PDP,
Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze.
According to Eze “No matter the
flimsy excuses being given by the
Federal Government over the sack
of nine of our candidates from the
Federal Executive Council (FEC), the
truth of the matter is that these
innocent Ministers were sacked
because they were either
nominated by us or sympathetic to
our cause”.
The New PDP spokesman further
stated that ”We are aware that
these Ministers had been under
surveillance and denied the
necessary tools to work with – in
short; they were programmed to
fail immediately they were
indentified with us. Sadly, these
innocent Ministers have been
sacked while the most corrupt
Ministers whose atrocious activities
are well known to Nigerians are
retained”.
Lamenting the disgrace of Mama
Pepple, the New PDP spokesman
said that “The most pitiable case of
these sacked Ministers is that of
our mother, the Minister of
Housing, Ms Amal Pepple, whose
crime was approaching Mr.
President to plead with him, even
kneeling down to beg him to forgive
Gov. Amaechi for whatever sins he
is assumed to have committed
against him”.
Regarding the high handedness of
the old PDP, The New PDP likened
it to the days of Dictator Sanni
Abacha. According to Eze ” Against
the spirit of the Constitution of
Nigeria that clearly stipulates
freedom of association for
Nigerians – even the freedom of
factionalisation of a political party
as stated by INEC, our people are
being hounded in various states of
the Federation. In flagrant and
outright breach of the Constitution
and abuse of the rule of law, today
our National Secretariat remains
sealed by the Police”.
“To add insult to our injury, our
Rivers State Secretariat just opened
for business has also been sealed
by the Police, who claim to be
acting on orders from above. What
is more, the Police also last night
barred Gov. Amaechi and his guests
(about 120 mainly former Speakers
in the country) from entering the
Governor’s Residence through the
private gate of the state
Government House, Port Harcourt.
And we still claim that we are in a
democratic society! Surely, even the
days of Abacha were not like this!”
“Indeed, General Sani Abacha must
be lamenting in his grave that
Nigerians wrongly abused him
considering the high degree of
impunities being encouraged in a
democratic set up, with the Police
being used as a tool to haunt
political opponents”
Giving reasons why PDP suspended
some of their members Eze stated
that "Illegally suspend a sitting
Governor (Rt. Hon. Amaechi)
against the spirit of PDP
Constitution, soon following it with
the suspension of Governor Aliyu
Wamakko of Sokoto State for not
picking the calls of the tyrannical
National Chairman of the party,
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
As if this is not enough, they went
ahead to suspend Senator Andy
Uba for winning the Anambra State
PDP Governorship Primaries just
because they preferred another
aspirant. And from nowhere they
suspended PDP’s former National
Vice Chairman, Dr. Sam Jaja!"
"Not yet satisfied, these enemies of
democracy had the guts to remove
the names of Governor Murtala
Nyako and that of one of the
founders of PDP, former Vice
President Atiku Abubakar, from the
delegates list of Adamawa State for
their failed Special National
Convention. Haba! What type of
politics is this? And these people
still want us at our ages to keep
quiet and allow them to shave our
heads while we do nothing! God
forbid!!"
Sources within the presidency said
that the sacked ministers are
disloyal to President Jonathan.
According to one of them who
pleaded anonymity, the sacked
ministers failed to stick to the
president in his moments of travail
and as such does not deserve a
space around him. He warned that
though Jonathan is ready for
reconciliation, he will not harbor
spies and fifth columists within his
ranks. He asked the affected
ministers to show gratefulness to
the president for the opportunity
and reaffirmed that their
replacement will be politicians that
will take on the rebel governors in
their home state the way Wike is
doing in Rivers State.
Obinna Akukwe

Yes, Patience Jonathan is my
Jesus Christ – Bipi
SEPTEMBER 14, 2013 BY
CHUKWUDI AKASIKE
3 Comments
Mr. Evans Bipi
Mr. Evans Bipi is the member
representing Ogu Bolo State
Constituency in the Rivers State
House of Assembly. In this
interview with CHUKWUDI
AKASIKE, he speaks on his role
in the crisis rocking the Rivers
State House of Assembly.
Some people have described
Rivers State House of Assembly
as animal kingdom, how do you
feel about this, especially as a
principal actor in the whole
crisis rocking the Assembly?
I feel bad and I really feel sad,
but this is a nation where the
Press has freedom of speech. It
is a democratic setting. Based on
the past incident, one can call it
animal kingdom, but it is not. We
are there to correct all the
anomalies. Whatever that is not
good is not good. We are there
to point out to the governor that
this is not good, this is good, do
this, don’t do this so that we can
form a good government.
Why did you instigate a fight in
the House of Assembly?
How? Where are the video clips
that showed that I was the
person that instigated the fight?
Where are the clips? They have
nothing to hold; they are
drowning. They are looking for a
way to drag everybody into the
matter. Right now, they have
nothing to hold. We are in a
democracy where we are allowed
to impeach anybody when there
is an impeachable offence. At my
level, how would I go and start a
fight. It is only somebody who is
about to fall that will want to
react.
Have you ever been trained in
the art of boxing, karate, or
wrestling?
No! We are all human beings and
we can be doing one form of
exercise or the other. I am not
into karate or taekwondo. It is
not possible.
Why do you call the President’s
wife mummy? Are you in any
way related to her?
Have you forgotten that she is
from Okrika? So, whoever
attains the position of the First
Lady, what would you call the
person? You call her mummy.
She is the mother of the nation
and she is the mouthpiece of
Okrika people. She is the mother
of Okrika people. So, every
Okrika person calls her mummy.
But you are from Ogu Bolo. Is
Ogu Bolo near Okrika, why she
hails from?
Ogu Bolo is Okrika. They are all
Okrika people. It is like Ikwerre
and Obio/Akpor; they are all
Ikwerre. It is only the local
government areas that split
them. So, as an Okrika woman,
who has risen up to that
position, everybody calls her
mummy.
Is that why you also call her
your Jesus Christ on earth?
What is her role in your life?
People are misinterpreting this
Jesus Christ on earth. Let me say
this. Man is God to man; it is in
the Bible. You must not see God;
you will see God through
somebody. God said, see me
through Jesus Christ. That is why
we are seeing God through Jesus
Christ. This woman (Patience
Jonathan) is everything in my life.
She made me what I am today.
Are you talking about politics?
Politically and otherwise; I can
say it anywhere. I can say she is
my Jesus Christ because she has
made me who I am today. That
is the truth and I can defend that
anywhere. Babangida’s wife was
from Delta State. Her people
called her mummy. Yar’Adua’s
wife is from Katsina, all the
people from Katsina call her
mummy. Even Governor Rotimi
Amaechi’s wife, the people call
her mummy. When a woman
attains such level, everybody
calls her mummy. It is a form of
respect to her. But to me, my
mummy (Patience Jonathan) is
special because she brought me
up to this level.
What made you think that five
members can impeach the
Speaker out of 32 members of
the House of Assembly?
Point of correction, we were not
five. I have told you this before.
Five members cannot impeach
the Speaker and five cannot
impeach the governor. Why is
Amaechi afraid and going to
court to stop us from
impeaching him? If we were five,
Amaechi wouldn’t have gone to
court. He (Amaechi) knew that
we were not five because he
could no longer trust the people
he perceived to be his
supporters. Again, there was no
time we thought of impeaching
Amaechi. If he thought we
wanted to impeach him, which
means he had come to know that
there was an impeachment or he
has come to understand that
there is a new Speaker and the
recognition stands. But there has
never been any plan to impeach
him, but rather I am ready to
work with him. It is not true. You
can’t even dare going to discuss
with President Jonathan that you
want to impeach Amaechi
because he (Jonathan) is a man
that does not want to hear such
thing. He will not even allow you
to end your discussion. He is a
peaceful man.
You were seen in a video clip
almost snatching an AK 45 rifle
from a policeman, what did you
want to do with the rifle?
What happened was that after
Chidi Lloyd used the mace to hit
my colleague, he ran away, then
the governor came, supervised
the beating of my colleague. So, I
was running after him (Rotimi
Amaechi). That policeman now
used the gun to hit me. Take a
look at my hand. So I dragged
the rifle in anger. I don’t know
how to shoot. I was only trying
to ask him why he used the gun
to hit me. I was only trying to let
him know that what he did was
bad. Why did he stop me from
going after the governor? I was
going to meet the governor to
tell him that coming to the
House to supervise the beating
of my colleague was not good.
How do you feel when some
people call you impersonator?
I feel very sad that they call me
impersonator. But those who say
I am impersonating, they are not
also sitting, I am not also sitting.
If I am impersonating, then you
should go and sit, let the whole
Rivers people see if they will not
stone and drive them out. The
beauty of it is that they are not
sitting, I am not also sitting. I
am waiting for the National
Assembly to decide since they
said they had taken over. They
have three months and this will
soon elapse. Because we are not
sitting, Amaechi has gone to
extend the tenure of Obio/Akpor
Caretaker Committee, which is
our own duty, my own duty as
the Speaker, Rivers State House
of Assembly. I have said it is
illegal. He (Amaechi) does not
know what he is doing. If you say
the National Assembly has taken
over, you wait and let the
National Assembly extend the
tenure of the caretaker
committee. He should have
waited for the National Assembly
to come and not extending the
tenure of the caretaker
committee himself.
Some people see you as a thug
and cultist. How do you feel
about this?
Well, that is always the case,
when you react to something,
they call you names, when you
fold your hands, they call you
woman. That is what some
people call Jonathan then. When
you react, they will say that you
are a military man. Just because
I reacted, they say I am a thug, I
am a cultist. Well. God knows. All
those around me know that I am
not a thug, I am not a cultist. I
came from a Christian family and
I am an Anglican. There is no way
I will join cult, there is no way to
be a thug. One day, the whole
nation will know that I am not a
thug. What they are portraying
me to be because they have
money is not what I am.
But we saw some thugs inside
the chambers of the House the
day the incident happened.
They said that some were your
supporters that you invited
into the chambers of the
House. How true is that?
That is a fallacy. They are not
saying the truth to the world; it
is another way of tarnishing my
image or painting me black. If I
have thugs, Chidi Lloyd would
not have walked away. I did not
invite any thug and I did not
invite any cultists.
How do you feel as a lawmaker
fighting on the floor of the
House?
If you look at the clips, I was
not the one; it was Chidi Lloyd.
After the impeachment, he
reacted and tried to defend his
position in the House because we
impeached him alongside with
Speaker. The impeachment
angered him and made him
(Lloyd) to hit Chinda with the
mace. I was not there and I
believe that after Chinda, the
next person that would have
been hit was me. I was only
being alert. It (free-for-all) is
part of democracy. It happened
in the National Assembly, it
happened in Kogi State, it
happened in Lagos State; Rivers
State is not an exception.
Is that why you used
taxpayers’ money to fly
Michael Chinda abroad over a
fight that had nothing to do
with the welfare of the people
of the state?
That is why we condemned the
act of Chidi Lloyd as barbaric.
For him to have used a mace on
not just a fellow lawmaker, but
his own brother; they are from
the same community, it is
barbaric and we condemn it.
Considering the incident in the
House, would you warn your
children against fighting?
Of course, I will definitely warn
my children against fighting. But
my children will not run away
from a woman. There is no way a
man will run away because of a
woman. I will always tell them to
defend themselves at any given
time. But I will tell them not to
fight. They should run away from
trouble, run away from fighting,
run away from anything crisis,
demonstration, but they should
not run away because of a
woman.
How did you explain your role
in the brawl that took place in
the House of Assembly to your
family?
Well, I told my wife and children
that if not for God, that mace
Chidi Lloyd used would have hit
me. I was the target, but it was
God that diverted his (Lloyd)
attention to his own brother,
Michael Chinda. So, my wife and
children knelt down and thanked
God for not making me to be a
victim. We prayed and my wife
also thanked God for it. So, I
guard against fighting. The truth
is that fighting is not good, but
always fight against injustice.
But some people would still
insist that the fight was for
personal gain and not for the
people of Rivers.
The fight was for the people of
Rivers. If I represent my
constituency, M.O. Chinda
represents a constituency,
former Speaker represents a
constituency. If what should be
for my constituency is not given;
the whole projects are not given,
are my people not part of Rivers
people? They are part of Rivers
people and they are being denied
their constituency project. They
are being denied of their sons’
allowances and this is what I
would have used to rehabilitate
them. The allowances are for
human empowerment. So, we
were fighting for Rivers people.
You have continued to call
Amachree a former speaker.
Could you throw more light on
why you describe him in that
manner?
I earlier told you that Amachree
was duly and respectfully
impeached. I have the clerk of
the House; I have the sergeant-
at-arm. The sergeant-at-arm he
(Amachree) used to present the
supplementary budget is a fake
one. We are even taking him to
court for impersonation. I have
been made the Speaker of Rivers
State House of Assembly,
Amachree is not contesting it. He
has not taken me to court. If he
says I am impersonating, he
should take me to court and let’s
dig it out there. I will bring all
the available papers around me.
He is saying I am impersonating
and I am an impostor, he should
take me to court and let me
prove that I am the Speaker. I
have all the documents with me.
I want to use this medium to
warn Amachree not to be telling
people that he is the Speaker. He
should know that he has been
impeached and he is no longer
the Speaker, Rivers State House
of Assembly. Anywhere he goes
and answers Speaker, I will get
him arrested and take him to
court.
What exactly are the issues
you have against Amaechi?
I, for, one, do not have issues
against Amaechi. I am only
correcting Amaechi in certain
areas he was going astray such
as his interference in our
legislative functions, using
money in executing projects that
were not budgeted for, taking
loans without stating what the
money was meant for, non-
payment of allowances of
honourable members; I am a
victim. For some time now, my
allowances have been seized. The
allowances of those he
(Amaechi) perceived to be his
enemies have not been paid for
the past six months. Another
point is the interference of his
wife in our constituency projects.
She (Amaechi’s wife) took my
constituency project. My
constituency project is ESI, which
is Amaechi’s wife’s pet project.
Another issue is the refusal of
the governor to accept the PDP
executive officers in the state. He
came to power through the court
and the court also gave order for
Felix Obuah to take over, but
Amaechi did not accept it. The
illegal removal of Obio/Akpor
Local Government Council
chairman is still an issue. There
was no due process; there was
no petition on the floor of the
House. He conspired with the
‘former’ Speaker to remove the
chairman, vice and 17 councillors
of Obio/Akpor Local Government
Area and swore in a caretaker
committee the same day. It is
not done. Again, he (Amaechi)
refused to explain the position of
the aircraft owned by Rivers.
There are many issues and I am
only correcting him. So, I
personally don’t have any issue
with him.
Is it true that Governor
Amaechi is arrogant?
He is arrogant and power drunk.
Some are saying that President
Goodluck Jonathan and his
wife are behind the crisis in
Rivers State. How true is that?
That is a pure fallacy. If
Jonathan’s hand is in Rivers
crisis, the matter would have
been resolved long ago. No
matter how humble he is, if he
has a hand in Rivers problem, by
now, it would have been a thing
of the past. But the President
does not have a hand in this
crisis. You can just imagine how
a governor will come out to
challenge a whole President. If
the President has a hand in this
matter, then it would have been
a thing of the past. The
President has refused to use half
of the powers he has. Don’t
forget that Rivers State is part of
Niger Delta and that President
Jonathan is not from Rivers State
does not mean that he is not
from the zone; he is from the
zone, but he has taken it to be a
family issue and he has said that
Amaechi should go and settle
with his people. Up till this
moment, Jonathan is still looking
for peace. So, he (President
Jonathan) does not have a hand
in the issue. Patience Jonathan
also does not have a hand in the
issue; count them out of it.
Are you saying it is possible to
wish away the leadership
influence of Governor Amaechi
in key areas of Rivers State?
He (Amaechi) has no influence in
the areas. From the Obio/Akpor
issue, you would know that he
has no influence. He dissolved
Obio/Akpor Local Government
Council, but up till now, the
council remains sealed and the
caretaker committee has not
been able to function effectively.
If he (Amaechi) has influence,
Obio/Akpor could have been a
practical example where he could
show his influence. Even in Ogu
Bolo, he has no influence.
The National Assembly has
taken over the duties of the
Rivers State legislature. What
is your position on this?
The National Assembly resolved
to take over the functions of the
State House of Assembly. Fine, I
am not in dispute with that
because the constitution gave
them the power to take over
such areas where there are
crises. But we are talking about
the hasty nature in which they
took over. The former ‘Speaker’
was impeached on the 9th, on
the 10th of the same month,
House of Reps took over. It is
the Senate that played a mature
role; a fatherly role by setting up
a committee and the committee
came, went from the airport to
Government House, wined and
dined with Amaechi, forgetting
the lawmaker, Honourable
Michael Chinda, who was in the
hospital. They (members of the
committee) came back to
interview both parties involved in
the crisis. They did a good work
and it is a good thing. I pray they
resolve the issue.
Who is the Speaker of the
Rivers State House of
Assembly?
Of course, you know that nobody
is contesting it. Since it is not
being contested in the court, I
remain the Speaker of the Rivers
State House of Assembly. The
former Speaker was duly and
respectably impeached. When he
was impeached, the power of
authority was before us, which is
the mace. If there was no
impeachment, why did the
governor come all the way from
Government House to the Rivers
State House of Assembly? Is he a
member of the Rivers State
House of Assembly? Who did he
come to the House to rescue? We
were carrying out an
impeachment process and when
the impeachment had been done,
he (governor) came in to
supervise the beating of Michael
Chinda; one of my colleagues.
So, I remain the authentic
Speaker of Rivers State House of
Assembly. I have not been taken
to court. So, I remain the
Speaker.
Apart from the five lawmakers
in the opposition, who else
voted to impeach Amachree?
That day, if you look at the
register, we were about 23 on
the floor of the House, though
the governor and his people
came and took away the register.
Now, out of 23, about 21 voted
for me. He (Amachree) was
there, Chidi Lloyd was also there.
Do you have the video clip of
members voting on the floor of
the House?
Yes, I have the video clip of
members voting. It is with me. I
will get it for you anytime. Those
he (Amachree) perceived to be
his people are not his people.
You know what happened during
the Governors’ Forum election;
Governor Akpabio thought he
had 19 persons to his side, but
at the election proper, Amaechi
got 19 and the reverse was the
case. He (Amachree) perceived
those people to be his people,
but unknown to him, they were
also parleying with me. They had
an understanding with me and
they all voted for me. He was
embarrassed and flabbergasted
and with that fear, he rushed out
to call Amaechi to come. When
Amaechi came, I was giving my
acceptance speech. Everybody
can attest to it, the whole
Nigeria can attest to it. I was
giving my acceptance speech
when Amaechi came in and he
asked me; my friend, what are
you doing there? And I told him;
is this your office? Amachree
has been impeached and I am
ready to work with you. Some
are saying I want to impeach
him; I am not going to impeach
him, I am ready to work with
Governor Amaechi. He should
accept me as his Speaker and I
will work with him effectively.

this is madness,how on earth can dreams from cokeland be converted to reality,how can any sane person compare fashola to akpabio.who does not know the later is a product of media hype.the ambulance in the pics was bought by the previous regime.there is no hospital owned by state government in uyo federal constituency,the pychiatric school does not exist again as it had been deaccredited.aks with less than 5mil people have collected over, 2trillion in both federal allocation and internally generated funds. in education sector its a disaster the five oldest secondary schools are nothing to write home about.most of the schools are universal basic education and local govt joint account projects.

The governor is building his home after his tenure and you are counting it as an achievement.time will tell

i hope calling for a bloody coup de grace is not treason because its obvious gej desperation for 2015 will put nigeria under

akpabio with over 2trillion,few roads massive noise.my people used to say let the owner of the trap come.

propaganda of a failed regime

abeg,let nigerian film censors board should move fast i know a woman who has destroyed all her clothing and her daughters,after watching one of these.

these killings are we sure there are not innocent men,haba 50 men .