Written by Tinuola Ayanniyi Monday, 16 August 2010
FORMER President Ibrahim Babangida, on Saturday, stated that the position of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on zoning was ambiguous and had not cleared anything.
Babangida, speaking with journalists in Abuja, said the party's decision giving President Goodluck Jonathan the go ahead to contest the presidency and at the same time maintaining the zoning arrangement was ambiguous.
“Nigerians have commonsense; they know what to do at the appropriate time about the issue,” the former president stated.
Speaking on the nomination of candidates within the PDP, Babangida noted that politics was about choice and expressed a strong belief that final decision lay with the people. “I don’t believe in selection. PDP should let members pick their desired standard-bearer,” he stated.
On the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, Babangida reiterated that the annulment was a collective decision, adding that Nigerians should not forget that the late Chief MKO Abiola was his intimate friend and he would not do anything to hurt a friend.
He noted that the South-West, where the late Chief Abiola came from had many sophisticated politicians, who he believed had forgiven him after apologising on the issue.
Explaining why he wants to run for president, Babangida stated that 17 years after he left government, most of the good things and policies he left had been reversed and he believed, he was needed to put the country back to the path of greatness.
He said that over the last 17 years he had gained more experience and that this would enable him to govern the nation better than he did before.
Tactically indicting the past administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Babangida revealed that what the government earned in eight years was more than what past administrations earned, put together, and as such, should have done better than it did.
Babangida, who sought media support for his desire to contest for the presidency in next year's election, said: ``Our country needs an experienced and tested leader.’’
He said that he wanted to become the president because he had ``a lot of new policies that will drive Nigeria's plural society under a new federal system that will cater for the needs of the various nationalities for equity and unity.’’
On the Okigbo report, Babangida said that it did not state that he was engaged in financial impropriety.
“Given my wealth of experience and decades of leadership study, plus the urgent need to confront the challenges of our national lives, I believe the time is ripe for me to serve our people as a civilian president with your kind support, cooperation and understanding,’’ he said.
Babangida said that he had informed former heads of state of his intention to vie for the highest political office in the country.
He also promised to send a formal letter to President Jonathan on his ambition.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
OBJ, S/West PDP govs parley on 2011
Written by Olayinka Olukoya, Abeokuta Monday, 16 August 2010
AHEAD of the 2011 general election, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Sunday, met with governors elected on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to discuss the ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan, to contest the coming election.
The meeting, held behind closed door for almost two and a half hours, was attended by governors of Oyo, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala; his Ogun State counterpart, Chief Gbenga Daniel; Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State and Mr Segun Oni of Ekiti, with the former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Agagu.
An insider source had earlier informed the Nigerian Tribune that the issue of whether or not Jonathan should contest the presidential election was extensively discussed, while final decision had not be taken over the matter.
Obasanjo, clad in Ankara and blue cap to match, briefed newsmen, saying that the meeting was just a consultative meeting at the request of the PDP governors, to meet on some issues concerning the party in preparation for the elections.
“At the request of PDP governors in the South-West, we decided to hold a consultative meeting among ourselves. I, as the chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the party and they as the leaders of the party in their respective states and, of course, former governor of Ondo State, Dr Agagu, is the leader of the party in Ondo State.
“Since the PDP has resolved the issue of zoning and people are gearing up for declaring and showing their hands and all of that, we decided to hold a preliminary meeting to put our heads together in the South-West as a party and as a component, a dynamic and vibrant component of the PDP in the country and we are going to have another meeting in due course,” he said.
He said they were concerned about the polity of the country and the way forward for the party in the coming elections, adding that the issue of zoning had been laid to rest by the leadership of the party at its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Abuja, on Thursday, last week.
The former president said that the next meeting would accommodate a lot of representation from the South-West, adding that Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State was aware that a meeting would be held in his Abeokuta residence.
“When we have the next meeting, there will be representatives and heavy representatives from all the states of the South-West. This, as I said, is a consultative meeting and in a consultative meeting, you have few people,” he added.
On the crisis over the ownership of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Obasanjo said the issue had been resolved finally, adding that Governors Oyinlola and Alao-Akala, at no point in time, fought over the matter.
“We have resolved that. They never fought. They have had argument and discussion; this time we have had final argument and discussion,” he said.
AHEAD of the 2011 general election, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Sunday, met with governors elected on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to discuss the ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan, to contest the coming election.
The meeting, held behind closed door for almost two and a half hours, was attended by governors of Oyo, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala; his Ogun State counterpart, Chief Gbenga Daniel; Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State and Mr Segun Oni of Ekiti, with the former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Agagu.
An insider source had earlier informed the Nigerian Tribune that the issue of whether or not Jonathan should contest the presidential election was extensively discussed, while final decision had not be taken over the matter.
Obasanjo, clad in Ankara and blue cap to match, briefed newsmen, saying that the meeting was just a consultative meeting at the request of the PDP governors, to meet on some issues concerning the party in preparation for the elections.
“At the request of PDP governors in the South-West, we decided to hold a consultative meeting among ourselves. I, as the chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the party and they as the leaders of the party in their respective states and, of course, former governor of Ondo State, Dr Agagu, is the leader of the party in Ondo State.
“Since the PDP has resolved the issue of zoning and people are gearing up for declaring and showing their hands and all of that, we decided to hold a preliminary meeting to put our heads together in the South-West as a party and as a component, a dynamic and vibrant component of the PDP in the country and we are going to have another meeting in due course,” he said.
He said they were concerned about the polity of the country and the way forward for the party in the coming elections, adding that the issue of zoning had been laid to rest by the leadership of the party at its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Abuja, on Thursday, last week.
The former president said that the next meeting would accommodate a lot of representation from the South-West, adding that Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State was aware that a meeting would be held in his Abeokuta residence.
“When we have the next meeting, there will be representatives and heavy representatives from all the states of the South-West. This, as I said, is a consultative meeting and in a consultative meeting, you have few people,” he added.
On the crisis over the ownership of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Obasanjo said the issue had been resolved finally, adding that Governors Oyinlola and Alao-Akala, at no point in time, fought over the matter.
“We have resolved that. They never fought. They have had argument and discussion; this time we have had final argument and discussion,” he said.
DARK SUNDAY: 40 die in Lagos auto crash •Another 2 in Edo accident
Written by Olalekan Olabulo, Adelowo Oladipo and Uchechukwu Olisah Monday, 16 August 2010
NO fewer than 40 people were feared burnt to death on Sunday and scores of others severely injured in a multiple auto accident that occurred at the Lagos end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Over 30 vehicles were involved in the accident that occurred around Otedola Estate and it completely crippled movement of vehicles on the expressway. Fifteen of the vehicles got completely burnt.
An articulated vehicle, otherwise known as trailer, loaded with sugar, while descending the bridge that links the old Lagos Toll Gate to Berger Bus Stop, reportedly had a failure and rammed into a stream of vehicles on the busy road.
Some of the eyewitnesses, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune, however, blamed the accident on the roadblock mounted on the expressway by men of the Nigeria Police.
The blood of the victims flowed on the expressway and sympathisers rained curses and abuse on men of the Nigeria Police.
A five-year-old boy and his mother were among those who lost their lives in the accident, while those who jumped down from the bridge were all injured.
The Nigerian Tribune gathered that the unmarked truck was heading towards Ibadan, when it ran into the barricade in the middle of the road and attempts by the driver to halt the vehicle were futile, forcing him to ram into the vehicles in front of him.
One of the buses hit by the truck reportedly went up in flames before the affected vehicles in turn caught fire.
Seventeen passengers of an 18-seater bus and another 13 passengers from another 18-seater bus were carrying the people who got burnt in the road carnage.
The accident scene almost became riotous, as some people threw various objects at every police van that attempted to stop at the scene of the accident.
Fadipe Rasak, the assistant director in charge of the Lagos State Fire and Safety Services, while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, stated that his office got a call around 11:30 on Sunday morning about the accident.
He also added that it took his men some time to put out the fire as efforts were initially made to see if some of the trapped victims of the involved vehicles could be rescued.
He stated that some of the rescued victims of the accident were taken to different hospitals for treatment.
A survivor, Nike Abidogun, told the Nigerian Tribune that she had joined a bus from Ketu to Mowe and that her vehicle had got hooked in traffic “caused by a police checkpoint,” when the trailer crashed into a long queue of vehicles.
Another survivor, Isaac Ejivwevwo, who lost his Toyota RAV 4 in the accident, corroborated Abidogun’s view when he declared: “I was close to the policemen, when the trailer lost control and began to hit all the vehicles before one of them caught fire.”
Bolaji Bello, who claimed to have taken one of the survivors of the accident to an unnamed hospital in the area, stated that he had gone to refuel his vehicle when he saw a young girl jumping from the top of the bridge.
He stated that the young girl was unconscious at the time she was taken to the hospital, with every likelihood that she might have broken some bones in her body.
There were conflicting reports on the identities of the policemen that reportedly caused the accident.
While some of the eyewitnesses claimed that they were men of the Rapid Response Squad, others stated that they were from Isheri Police Station.
Efforts to speak with the spokesman of the Lagos State police command were futile as calls to his mobile phone lines were not answered.
Also, on Sunday, two persons died in a road accident at Obadan, on the Benin-Auchi road.
The accident, in which a male and female died, involved two commercial buses with registration numbers XP 548 JJJ and XA 522 EHR.
The autocrash reportedly occurred when one of the buses, in the process of dangerously overtaking another vehicle, collided with another bus coming from the opposite direction.
The bodies of the dead victims of the accident were said to have been deposited at Our Clinic Hospital mortuary in Benin City.
The Edo State Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) boss, Mr. Henry Olatunji, who confirmed the development on Sunday, described the crash as unfortunate, saying the accident could have been avoided if the drivers had followed defensive driving techniques.
He cautioned road users against reckless driving, just as he said the command had embarked on special patrols tagged 'Operation Eagle Eye', to curb the excesses of road users.
NO fewer than 40 people were feared burnt to death on Sunday and scores of others severely injured in a multiple auto accident that occurred at the Lagos end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Over 30 vehicles were involved in the accident that occurred around Otedola Estate and it completely crippled movement of vehicles on the expressway. Fifteen of the vehicles got completely burnt.
An articulated vehicle, otherwise known as trailer, loaded with sugar, while descending the bridge that links the old Lagos Toll Gate to Berger Bus Stop, reportedly had a failure and rammed into a stream of vehicles on the busy road.
Some of the eyewitnesses, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune, however, blamed the accident on the roadblock mounted on the expressway by men of the Nigeria Police.
The blood of the victims flowed on the expressway and sympathisers rained curses and abuse on men of the Nigeria Police.
A five-year-old boy and his mother were among those who lost their lives in the accident, while those who jumped down from the bridge were all injured.
The Nigerian Tribune gathered that the unmarked truck was heading towards Ibadan, when it ran into the barricade in the middle of the road and attempts by the driver to halt the vehicle were futile, forcing him to ram into the vehicles in front of him.
One of the buses hit by the truck reportedly went up in flames before the affected vehicles in turn caught fire.
Seventeen passengers of an 18-seater bus and another 13 passengers from another 18-seater bus were carrying the people who got burnt in the road carnage.
The accident scene almost became riotous, as some people threw various objects at every police van that attempted to stop at the scene of the accident.
Fadipe Rasak, the assistant director in charge of the Lagos State Fire and Safety Services, while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, stated that his office got a call around 11:30 on Sunday morning about the accident.
He also added that it took his men some time to put out the fire as efforts were initially made to see if some of the trapped victims of the involved vehicles could be rescued.
He stated that some of the rescued victims of the accident were taken to different hospitals for treatment.
A survivor, Nike Abidogun, told the Nigerian Tribune that she had joined a bus from Ketu to Mowe and that her vehicle had got hooked in traffic “caused by a police checkpoint,” when the trailer crashed into a long queue of vehicles.
Another survivor, Isaac Ejivwevwo, who lost his Toyota RAV 4 in the accident, corroborated Abidogun’s view when he declared: “I was close to the policemen, when the trailer lost control and began to hit all the vehicles before one of them caught fire.”
Bolaji Bello, who claimed to have taken one of the survivors of the accident to an unnamed hospital in the area, stated that he had gone to refuel his vehicle when he saw a young girl jumping from the top of the bridge.
He stated that the young girl was unconscious at the time she was taken to the hospital, with every likelihood that she might have broken some bones in her body.
There were conflicting reports on the identities of the policemen that reportedly caused the accident.
While some of the eyewitnesses claimed that they were men of the Rapid Response Squad, others stated that they were from Isheri Police Station.
Efforts to speak with the spokesman of the Lagos State police command were futile as calls to his mobile phone lines were not answered.
Also, on Sunday, two persons died in a road accident at Obadan, on the Benin-Auchi road.
The accident, in which a male and female died, involved two commercial buses with registration numbers XP 548 JJJ and XA 522 EHR.
The autocrash reportedly occurred when one of the buses, in the process of dangerously overtaking another vehicle, collided with another bus coming from the opposite direction.
The bodies of the dead victims of the accident were said to have been deposited at Our Clinic Hospital mortuary in Benin City.
The Edo State Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) boss, Mr. Henry Olatunji, who confirmed the development on Sunday, described the crash as unfortunate, saying the accident could have been avoided if the drivers had followed defensive driving techniques.
He cautioned road users against reckless driving, just as he said the command had embarked on special patrols tagged 'Operation Eagle Eye', to curb the excesses of road users.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
FG pursuing wrong economic policies -Sanusi •Laments suspension of NERC Board
Written by Leon Usigbe, Abuja Thursday, 29 July 2010
CENTRAL Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido, says the Federal Government is not pursuing the right economic policies and, therefore, no amount of reform in the banking sector could revive the economy.
He also observed that the about N500 billion yearly subsidy on petroleum was discouraging investments in refineries apart from piling up debts for future generations of Nigerians to pay.
The apex bank’s boss, who made the assertion in an interview with State House correspondents just before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja, on Wednesday, also regretted the suspension of the Board of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), which, he said, had left the power sector without a regulatory body.
According to him, “we are spending N500 billion subsidies on petroleum products and nobody will invest in refineries if they believe that their business model is predicated on government subsidy. We are borrowing N500 billion on subsidies every year, we are borrowing money and we are leaving future generation to pay the debt and the benefits of these subsidies are far outweighed by the long-term cost to the economy.”
Sanusi, who spoke of efforts to recapitalise the banks and improve their balance sheets, pointed out that the capital market was recovering as government was making progress with reforms.
However, he observed that “the reality is that the government is not pursuing the right economic policies and nothing in the banking reform will fix the economy, unless you fix policy and I say this as an adviser to the government.”
He added that “what is happening is that there is a difference between the real sector and the financial sector of the economy. We are doing what we need to do on the banking system and the banking system is stabilising and with the Asset Management Corporation (AMCON) and once we recapitalise the banks it will improve the balance sheets of bank and the banks will be back up.
“The capital market, as you can see, has been recovering and the government continues to make progress as far as the reforms are concerned. Having said that, the financial system does not live in isolation, you have got to fix the issues of the economy and the CBN is not responsible for that.
“You have an economy in which you do not have power. If you don’t have electricity you cannot attract investors; you cannot improve production. We don’t have power, because the reforms that ought to have carried out in four years have not been done. We keep talking and talking and talking and we have not yet created the right environment and we don’t even have a regulator for power,” Sanusi noted.
Speaking specifically on power, he regretted that the NERC Board, which was suspended last year, was yet to be reactivated thereby denying the power sector of a regulatory agency.
“There is a regulatory agency, NERC, but the commission has been suspended for how many years? It’s not functioning. And how can you have a sector like power when you don’t have a regulator? It has been suspended for how many years?” he wondered.
He also advocated the deregulation of electricity as he noted that the current tariff charged in the country was too low and unsustainable.
“I am saying we have got to have a regulator; we have got to have good input for gas pricing. It will encourage investments, deregulate electricity prices, this N7 is a myth because nobody gets power at that price. Ghana is paying N22. If we increase it to N22 and you increase gas prices, investments will come into power. We have not done. That is the issue,” he declared.
CENTRAL Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido, says the Federal Government is not pursuing the right economic policies and, therefore, no amount of reform in the banking sector could revive the economy.
He also observed that the about N500 billion yearly subsidy on petroleum was discouraging investments in refineries apart from piling up debts for future generations of Nigerians to pay.
The apex bank’s boss, who made the assertion in an interview with State House correspondents just before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja, on Wednesday, also regretted the suspension of the Board of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), which, he said, had left the power sector without a regulatory body.
According to him, “we are spending N500 billion subsidies on petroleum products and nobody will invest in refineries if they believe that their business model is predicated on government subsidy. We are borrowing N500 billion on subsidies every year, we are borrowing money and we are leaving future generation to pay the debt and the benefits of these subsidies are far outweighed by the long-term cost to the economy.”
Sanusi, who spoke of efforts to recapitalise the banks and improve their balance sheets, pointed out that the capital market was recovering as government was making progress with reforms.
However, he observed that “the reality is that the government is not pursuing the right economic policies and nothing in the banking reform will fix the economy, unless you fix policy and I say this as an adviser to the government.”
He added that “what is happening is that there is a difference between the real sector and the financial sector of the economy. We are doing what we need to do on the banking system and the banking system is stabilising and with the Asset Management Corporation (AMCON) and once we recapitalise the banks it will improve the balance sheets of bank and the banks will be back up.
“The capital market, as you can see, has been recovering and the government continues to make progress as far as the reforms are concerned. Having said that, the financial system does not live in isolation, you have got to fix the issues of the economy and the CBN is not responsible for that.
“You have an economy in which you do not have power. If you don’t have electricity you cannot attract investors; you cannot improve production. We don’t have power, because the reforms that ought to have carried out in four years have not been done. We keep talking and talking and talking and we have not yet created the right environment and we don’t even have a regulator for power,” Sanusi noted.
Speaking specifically on power, he regretted that the NERC Board, which was suspended last year, was yet to be reactivated thereby denying the power sector of a regulatory agency.
“There is a regulatory agency, NERC, but the commission has been suspended for how many years? It’s not functioning. And how can you have a sector like power when you don’t have a regulator? It has been suspended for how many years?” he wondered.
He also advocated the deregulation of electricity as he noted that the current tariff charged in the country was too low and unsustainable.
“I am saying we have got to have a regulator; we have got to have good input for gas pricing. It will encourage investments, deregulate electricity prices, this N7 is a myth because nobody gets power at that price. Ghana is paying N22. If we increase it to N22 and you increase gas prices, investments will come into power. We have not done. That is the issue,” he declared.
NUC threatens to withdraw LAUTECH’s licence •Gives Oyo, Osun 2 weeks to resolve crisis •About 20 varsities may be closed down
Written by Clement Idoko and Emmanuel Adeniyi Thursday, 29 July 2010
THE National Universities Commission (NUC) has threatened to withdraw the operational licence of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Ogbomoso, if, within two weeks, the management of the institution is unable to resolve the crisis rocking the university.
NUC Executive Secretary, Professor Julius Okojie, who handed down the ultimatum in Abuja while speaking at the Mock-Institutional Accreditation Coordination meeting, on Wednesday, called on Governors Adebayo Alao-Akala and Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Oyo and Osun states to resolve the crisis amicably or lose the licence of the university.
The university is jointly owned by Oyo and Osun state governments but has been at the centre of controversy in the last few months over ownership, leading to the dissolution of its Governing Council by the Osun State governor.
The NUC boss was particularly worried that the crisis was coming at the time the commission was oiling its machinery for the conduct of Institutional Accreditation of the 104 universities in the country, adding that the commission had concluded arrangements to begin a pilot scheme of the exercise in six selected universities across the country by next month.
Okojie lamented that as a result of the crisis, students could not go to the university for post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (post-UTME) test, while lecturers too were no longer teaching, adding that NUC was worried about who the vice chancellor of the university is at the moment.
In the same vein, former NUC Executive Secretary and Chief Trainer of the institutional accreditation, Panel, Professor Peter Okebukola, speaking at the meeting on the proposed institutional accreditation expected to take off before the end of the year, revealed that about five per cent of the 104 existing universities in Nigeria would be closed down by the NUC.
According to the instrument designed for the Institutional Accreditation, which is going to be the first of its kind in the country, universities that score 40 per cent would be placed in F category, indicating that it has failed and would be denied accreditation while those that score between 40 and 49 would be placed on probation for one year to allow them to remedy their deficiencies.
Also, the institutions that score 80 per cent and above would be rated A+ and granted full accreditation for a 10-year lifespan, but those that score 70-79 will fall under A category, even though they would as well enjoy a 10-year lifespan of full accreditation.
Other categorisations include 50-54 per cent, C; 55-59 per cent, C+; 60-64 per cent, B; 65-69 per cent, B+ and would be granted Interim Accreditation for three and five years; full accreditation for eight years respectively.
Okebukola had explained that the institutional accreditation, which would be exhaustive, would be conducted in relation to the set minimum standards, including, institutional vision, mission and strategic goals, governance and administration, resources, quality of teaching, research and learning infrastructure, efficiency and effectiveness, extension service and consultancies, transparency, financial management, stability and general ethos.
“There are some universities in Nigeria that look like glorified secondary schools, but all of them would disappear when the exercise takes off fully. In 2006 when the World Bank and United Nations Education, Social and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) organised a world conference on institutional accreditation, it was reported that in Chile, as a consequence of institutional accreditation, 36 universities were closed permanently,” he said.
He said the polity in the nation’s universities system would be boosted if the institutional accreditation was sustained.
“We must continue to move in the direction whereby only the fittest will survive in a world of polity in the higher education,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Osun State government has warned against attacks on its citizens working in LAUTECH, Ogbomoso, while calling on Oyo State to embrace peace.
A statement issued by the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Niyi Owolade, said the warning had become necessary, following reports of attacks on the office of the acting registrar of the institution, Mr Olusegun Ojo, by some agents of the Oyo State government.
The statement added that the Attorney-General had been informed that certain persons claiming to be officials of the university had locked up the office of the acting registrar, the only principal officer of the university from Osun State.
Owolade called on security agencies to protect lives and property of all Osun State indigenes in Ogbo-moso, while assuring staff and students of the school of the commitment of the state government to ensuring peace in the university.
However, barely two days after Governor Oyinlola dissolved the governing council of LAUTECH and announced the appointment of Professor J. O. Ojerinde as the new acting vice chancellor of the institution, the appointee has rejected the offer, hinging his decision on irregular process of the appointment and personal reasons.
Oyinlola had, on Monday, announced Professor Oje-rinde, an indigene of Oyo State, as a replacement for Professor Nassar Olanre-waju, who was appointed by Governor Alao-Akala.
The governor, prior to the announcement of the acting vice chancellor, had criti-cised the decision of the Oyo State government to disengage Osun State from the joint ownership of the institution, as well as the removal of the erstwhile vice chancellor, Professor Benjamin Adeleke, by Governor Alao-Akala.
In a letter, entitled Re: Appointment as Acting Vice Chancellor, LAUTECH Ogbo-moso, addressed to the Osun State governor, a copy of which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune, Professor Ojediran thanked Governor Oyinlola for considering him worthy for the position, but said he was not ready to take it up.
“I humbly and with gratitude refer to your letter, Ref: EG/OSGH/105 of July 26, 2010 on the above subject matter. I thank your Excellency for your considerations and for counting me worthy of such great and enviable position.
“However, I regret to inform you of my inability to take up the position for two important reasons viz: 1, the process of appointment appears irregular, 2, I feel constrained in accepting the appointment also for very personal reasons,” the letter read.
Meanwhile, the Osun State government has stressed that the appointment of Professor Ojediran as the acting vice chancellor by Governor Oyinlola was normal and regular as enshrined in the edict that set up the university.
It also said it would not allow illegal persons and bodies to run the affairs of the university jointly owned by Oyo and Osun states.
A statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Oyinlola, Mr Lasisi Olagunju, in a reaction to reports of Ojediran declining to act as vice chancellor, said the state government understood the circumstances under which he was made to decline to act, two days after he got the appointment letter.
The statement said asking the deputy vice chancellor of the university to act as the vice chancellor was an administrative procedure made automatic by the university’s statutes, adding that with the decision of Ojediran, on Wednesday, the university no longer had a legal vice chancellor to oversee its affairs.
Olagunju added that it was in an effort to avoid usurpers claiming the vice chancellorship of the university that the policy makers of the institution made it clear that the deputy vice chancellor should act as vice chancellor whenever the latter proceeded on leave or was otherwise unable to function for whatever reason.
THE National Universities Commission (NUC) has threatened to withdraw the operational licence of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Ogbomoso, if, within two weeks, the management of the institution is unable to resolve the crisis rocking the university.
NUC Executive Secretary, Professor Julius Okojie, who handed down the ultimatum in Abuja while speaking at the Mock-Institutional Accreditation Coordination meeting, on Wednesday, called on Governors Adebayo Alao-Akala and Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Oyo and Osun states to resolve the crisis amicably or lose the licence of the university.
The university is jointly owned by Oyo and Osun state governments but has been at the centre of controversy in the last few months over ownership, leading to the dissolution of its Governing Council by the Osun State governor.
The NUC boss was particularly worried that the crisis was coming at the time the commission was oiling its machinery for the conduct of Institutional Accreditation of the 104 universities in the country, adding that the commission had concluded arrangements to begin a pilot scheme of the exercise in six selected universities across the country by next month.
Okojie lamented that as a result of the crisis, students could not go to the university for post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (post-UTME) test, while lecturers too were no longer teaching, adding that NUC was worried about who the vice chancellor of the university is at the moment.
In the same vein, former NUC Executive Secretary and Chief Trainer of the institutional accreditation, Panel, Professor Peter Okebukola, speaking at the meeting on the proposed institutional accreditation expected to take off before the end of the year, revealed that about five per cent of the 104 existing universities in Nigeria would be closed down by the NUC.
According to the instrument designed for the Institutional Accreditation, which is going to be the first of its kind in the country, universities that score 40 per cent would be placed in F category, indicating that it has failed and would be denied accreditation while those that score between 40 and 49 would be placed on probation for one year to allow them to remedy their deficiencies.
Also, the institutions that score 80 per cent and above would be rated A+ and granted full accreditation for a 10-year lifespan, but those that score 70-79 will fall under A category, even though they would as well enjoy a 10-year lifespan of full accreditation.
Other categorisations include 50-54 per cent, C; 55-59 per cent, C+; 60-64 per cent, B; 65-69 per cent, B+ and would be granted Interim Accreditation for three and five years; full accreditation for eight years respectively.
Okebukola had explained that the institutional accreditation, which would be exhaustive, would be conducted in relation to the set minimum standards, including, institutional vision, mission and strategic goals, governance and administration, resources, quality of teaching, research and learning infrastructure, efficiency and effectiveness, extension service and consultancies, transparency, financial management, stability and general ethos.
“There are some universities in Nigeria that look like glorified secondary schools, but all of them would disappear when the exercise takes off fully. In 2006 when the World Bank and United Nations Education, Social and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) organised a world conference on institutional accreditation, it was reported that in Chile, as a consequence of institutional accreditation, 36 universities were closed permanently,” he said.
He said the polity in the nation’s universities system would be boosted if the institutional accreditation was sustained.
“We must continue to move in the direction whereby only the fittest will survive in a world of polity in the higher education,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Osun State government has warned against attacks on its citizens working in LAUTECH, Ogbomoso, while calling on Oyo State to embrace peace.
A statement issued by the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Niyi Owolade, said the warning had become necessary, following reports of attacks on the office of the acting registrar of the institution, Mr Olusegun Ojo, by some agents of the Oyo State government.
The statement added that the Attorney-General had been informed that certain persons claiming to be officials of the university had locked up the office of the acting registrar, the only principal officer of the university from Osun State.
Owolade called on security agencies to protect lives and property of all Osun State indigenes in Ogbo-moso, while assuring staff and students of the school of the commitment of the state government to ensuring peace in the university.
However, barely two days after Governor Oyinlola dissolved the governing council of LAUTECH and announced the appointment of Professor J. O. Ojerinde as the new acting vice chancellor of the institution, the appointee has rejected the offer, hinging his decision on irregular process of the appointment and personal reasons.
Oyinlola had, on Monday, announced Professor Oje-rinde, an indigene of Oyo State, as a replacement for Professor Nassar Olanre-waju, who was appointed by Governor Alao-Akala.
The governor, prior to the announcement of the acting vice chancellor, had criti-cised the decision of the Oyo State government to disengage Osun State from the joint ownership of the institution, as well as the removal of the erstwhile vice chancellor, Professor Benjamin Adeleke, by Governor Alao-Akala.
In a letter, entitled Re: Appointment as Acting Vice Chancellor, LAUTECH Ogbo-moso, addressed to the Osun State governor, a copy of which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune, Professor Ojediran thanked Governor Oyinlola for considering him worthy for the position, but said he was not ready to take it up.
“I humbly and with gratitude refer to your letter, Ref: EG/OSGH/105 of July 26, 2010 on the above subject matter. I thank your Excellency for your considerations and for counting me worthy of such great and enviable position.
“However, I regret to inform you of my inability to take up the position for two important reasons viz: 1, the process of appointment appears irregular, 2, I feel constrained in accepting the appointment also for very personal reasons,” the letter read.
Meanwhile, the Osun State government has stressed that the appointment of Professor Ojediran as the acting vice chancellor by Governor Oyinlola was normal and regular as enshrined in the edict that set up the university.
It also said it would not allow illegal persons and bodies to run the affairs of the university jointly owned by Oyo and Osun states.
A statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Oyinlola, Mr Lasisi Olagunju, in a reaction to reports of Ojediran declining to act as vice chancellor, said the state government understood the circumstances under which he was made to decline to act, two days after he got the appointment letter.
The statement said asking the deputy vice chancellor of the university to act as the vice chancellor was an administrative procedure made automatic by the university’s statutes, adding that with the decision of Ojediran, on Wednesday, the university no longer had a legal vice chancellor to oversee its affairs.
Olagunju added that it was in an effort to avoid usurpers claiming the vice chancellorship of the university that the policy makers of the institution made it clear that the deputy vice chancellor should act as vice chancellor whenever the latter proceeded on leave or was otherwise unable to function for whatever reason.
After Bakassi, Cameroun moves to claim Obudu •It’s an empty threat -Cross River govt
Written by Oluwole Ige, Calabar Thursday, 29 July 2010
STILL basking in the euphoria of the ceding of Bakassi Peninsula to it through the World Court ruling at The Hague in 2002, indication has emerged that Cameroun has perfected plans to claim the ownership of Obudu Cattle Ranch Resort in Obanliku Local Government Area of Cross River State.
However, the Cross River State government has described such claims as an empty threat, saying “it can never happen, because it is a day dream.”
Reacting to the development in Calabar, on Tuesday, the Director-General of the Cross River State Border Communities Development Commission (SBCDC), Mr Leo Aggrey, said the matter was still considered an unsubstantiated rumour by the state government.
According to Aggrey, “the Camerounians are threatening to take over the Obudu Ranch Resort, the Cross River State tourism haven. This is quite surprising and we are not treating this matter with levity. I have already forwarded a memo to the state governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, concerning this new threat.”
He, however, described the development as an “empty threat” as anything serious on that would have been decided at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague ‘’as was the case with the oil-rich Bakassi.’’
Aggrey, who noted that the nation’s loss of Bakassi to Cameroun was painful in terms of potential revenue from the area and the displacement of Nigerians resident in the area, maintained that “the state government would not fold its arms and allow Obudu Cattle Ranch to be illegally claimed again.”
On Bakassi, Mr Aggrey said the state government had continued to accord priority attention to the needs of the displaced Bakassi people in respect of their plight, stating that a number of projects had been outlined for them to cushion the effects of their relocation.
The DG said although the State Emergency Management Agency(SEMA) had addressed certain needs of the displaced persons, a lot more needed to be done to assuage them, stressing that his commission had outlined areas of priorities and needs that the government was poised to address for the displaced.
‘’Bakassi matter is a creation of the partition for Africa. And the Cross River State government is very passionate about the Bakassi people and the boundary areas of the state,’’ Aggrey added.
STILL basking in the euphoria of the ceding of Bakassi Peninsula to it through the World Court ruling at The Hague in 2002, indication has emerged that Cameroun has perfected plans to claim the ownership of Obudu Cattle Ranch Resort in Obanliku Local Government Area of Cross River State.
However, the Cross River State government has described such claims as an empty threat, saying “it can never happen, because it is a day dream.”
Reacting to the development in Calabar, on Tuesday, the Director-General of the Cross River State Border Communities Development Commission (SBCDC), Mr Leo Aggrey, said the matter was still considered an unsubstantiated rumour by the state government.
According to Aggrey, “the Camerounians are threatening to take over the Obudu Ranch Resort, the Cross River State tourism haven. This is quite surprising and we are not treating this matter with levity. I have already forwarded a memo to the state governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, concerning this new threat.”
He, however, described the development as an “empty threat” as anything serious on that would have been decided at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague ‘’as was the case with the oil-rich Bakassi.’’
Aggrey, who noted that the nation’s loss of Bakassi to Cameroun was painful in terms of potential revenue from the area and the displacement of Nigerians resident in the area, maintained that “the state government would not fold its arms and allow Obudu Cattle Ranch to be illegally claimed again.”
On Bakassi, Mr Aggrey said the state government had continued to accord priority attention to the needs of the displaced Bakassi people in respect of their plight, stating that a number of projects had been outlined for them to cushion the effects of their relocation.
The DG said although the State Emergency Management Agency(SEMA) had addressed certain needs of the displaced persons, a lot more needed to be done to assuage them, stressing that his commission had outlined areas of priorities and needs that the government was poised to address for the displaced.
‘’Bakassi matter is a creation of the partition for Africa. And the Cross River State government is very passionate about the Bakassi people and the boundary areas of the state,’’ Aggrey added.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
2011: S/South endorses Jonathan •Pressure on Northern govs to dump zoning
Written by Bolaji Ogundele, Dipo Laleye, Isaac Shobayo, Leon Usigbe and Idowu Samuel Tuesday, 27 July 2010
POLITICAL stakeholders in the South-South region on Monday unanimously endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2011 presidential election just as it called for the support of the North and other geopolitical zones.
In a 13-point communiqué read by Professor Julius Ihonvbere at the end of a one-day summit with the theme “Dynamics of the 2011 Presidential Election in Nigeria – The South-South Perspective,” the South-South urged President Jonathan to immediately declare his intentions to the Nigerian people.
The communiqué noted that the Nigerian constitution gave full rights to President Jonathan to aspire to the position of the president, arguing that the zone, in spite of its enormous contributions to the country’s GDP, was yet to produce a president in 50 years of Nigeria’s existence.
While acknowledging the resolutions of the Northern Political Summit in Kaduna State recently, the summit commended them for patriotism and commitment to fair play.
The communiqué acknowledged the efforts of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua (GCFR) at repositioning the country by entrenching due process, rule of law and fight against corruption, saying their support for President Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo was to enable them to actualise the late president’s reform agenda.
The South-South stakeholders expressed confidence in President Jonathan’s resolve to give Nigerians credible electoral reforms, by appointing a world-acclaimed social crusader, Professor Attahiru Jega, as the country’s electoral umpire, and called on all Nigerians to support the full implementation of the Justice Uwais Committee recommendation which includes total independence of INEC.
The summit particularly acknowledged the power sector agenda of President Jonathan, his crusade against corruption, historic achievement in the improvement in the country’s foreign reserves and his efforts at ensuring security for all Nigerians.
The summit resolved as follows:
“To work assiduously and in unison with other geopolitical zones in Nigeria to ensure the country remains one, indivisible, secular entity, where all peoples, irrespective of ethnicity, religion, party affiliation, of equal rights and privileges as enshrined in the Nigeria Constitution.
“Summit recognises that it is time to collectively transcend primordial sentiments and dispositions in the conversations of national affairs in order to build strong, viable and democratic blocs for peace and progress. The South-South can only make progress when the leaders, communities and constituencies unite, work together, strategise together and speak with one voice.
“The summit acknowledges and commends the efforts of the governors of the South-South region towards bringing development and unity to the region.
“The summit appreciates and acknowledges the enormous efforts and contributions our detribalised and great democrat, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua (GCFR) at entrenching due process, the rule of law and fight against corruption for peace in the Niger Delta region through the amnesty
programme, reforms in the power and energy sector, as well as electoral reforms, as well as giving a level playing field for all politically-inclined Nigerians to attain their aspirations.
“The summit, however, notes with deep sorrow and regrets that the inevitable call of nature could not allow our late president to accomplish these reformatory agenda.
“Arising from the above, the summit resolves to support the winning team of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR) and Vice-President, Mohammed Namadi Sambo (GCON) in their quest to take the reform agenda to a logical conclusion for the benefit of all Nigerians.
“Summit believes in President Jonathan’s resolve to give Nigerians credible electoral reforms, which began by appointing a world-acclaimed social crusader and defender of equity, honesty and integrity, Professor Attahiru Jega, the country’s new chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and calls on all Nigerians to support the full implementation of the Justice Uwais Committee recommendation which includes total independence of INEC.
“Summit notes with delight, the power sector agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan, his crusade against corruption, the historic achievement in the improvement in our foreign reserves and his earnest practical efforts at ensuring practical security of all Nigerians at home and in the disapora.
“In addition, summit acknowledges and commends the untiring efforts of Mr. President to reposition Nigeria and rekindle the confidence of the international community in Nigeria’s political system.
“Summit acknowledges and fully appreciates the resolutions of the recently held Northern Political Summit in Kaduna and urges all Nigerians to support President Goodluck Jonathan in the onerous task providence has bestowed on him to move Nigeria forward beyond 2011.”
“Summit commends the Northern Political Summit for their patriotism, clear vision, commitment to fair play and justice and undiluted appreciation of the rights and liberties of all Nigerians.
“Summit believes in the incontrovertible position of the Nigerian constitution that gives full rights to President Goodluck Jonathan above all other considerations to aspire to the position of the president at the 2011 elections, more so, the zone, in spite of its enormous contributions to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP), is yet to produce a president or head of state in the 50 years of Nigeria’s existence as a sovereign nation.
“Summit hereby unanimously calls on Dr Jonathan to openly declare his interest in the 2011 presidential election without further delay, while assuring him of total and undiluted support of the entire South-South, summit calls on all other geopolitical zones, organisations, communities and constituencies to support quest to deepen, widen and consolidate democracy by supporting Jonathan for president,” the communiqué read.
Meanwhile, as the Northern Governors’ Forum meet today in Kaduna, to decide on the zoning formula of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), indications have emerged that the governors are under intense pressure to reject the zoning formula.
Their position is crucial to the political future of President Jonathan, who has not declared whether he will run for the 2011 elections or not.
At their last meeting, the governors could not make a decision on the zoning issue, but they resolved that they should go back to their states to consult with the elders in their domain and reconvene today for a final push on the matter.
However, the Niger State government has said it will abide by the decision of the forum when they meet in Kaduna today.
He also said in Minna, on Monday, that zoning or no zoning, Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu would contest the 2011 goverorship election.
Director, Media and Publicity to the Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdulkhadir, said the people of Niger State had expressed their preference for zoning to be retained, adding that “our decision cannot be binding on the majority.
“We will follow the decision of the majority,” Abdu-khadir said.
He said the decision of Governor Aliyu to contest, “zoning or no zoning,” was informed by the fact that the people had told him to continue in office beyond 2011 and the governor himself was prepared to continue to serve the people.
At a mass rally in Kontagora, last year, Governor Aliyu was endorsed as the PDP candidate for the 2011 election.
The governor, last month, forwarded his letter of intent to the PDP secretariat.
The state PDP had already zoned the governorship of the state to Niger East senatorial district, the area of the incumbent governor.
Ahead of today’s meeting in Kaduna, the Plateau State coordinator of President Goodluck Jonathan Support Group, Mr Bulus Dareng, has said nothing would make the state and the entire North-Central change their position on zoning.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune in Jos, Dareng, who said Plateau State had since made its position known on zoning through its governor, Jonah Jang, added that various stakeholders in Plateau State had, at different fora, equally frowned on zoning.
He said the recent pronouncement of Ambassador Yahaya Kwande that Plateau State was in support of zoning was just a ploy to deceive the country, adding that the people of the state had spoken and declared their support for President Jonathan to contest in 2011.
“There is nothing like monolithic North any more. What some people call the North is just 19 independent states capable of taking decision individually. We are talking of democracy, the myth of the North is no longer there and nobody has a blank cheque for the North,” he said.
According to him, the group canvassing for zoning in the North was speaking for itself, not for the North as a whole. If you check their backgrounds, its members were those who wanted the status quo to be maintained for their selfish interest.
“Those who want the status quo maintained are the ones behind zoning, they want to keep recycling themselves to the detriment of the common man and we have matured enough as a nation to abandon zoning.
“Anybody who is still talking about zoning in these modern times does not wish the country well,” he said.
Dareng advised former heads of state, General Ibrahim Babangida and General Muhammadu Buhari, to stay away from politics and play an advisory role, adding that it was morally wrong for them to be scheming to become president again.
Meanwhile, the Good-luck Nigeria Group (GNG), has written to the Northern Governors’ Forum, explaining why its members should support the call to do away with the zoning policy of the PDP and pave the way for Jonathan to run in the 2011 presidential election.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, on Monday, its national coordinator, Mr Cyril Ezeani, said the group was uncomfortable with the apparent opposition of sections of the North to the possible participation in the election by President Jonathan.
He said the North should realise that it was no longer monolithic and wondered why those who claimed to be speaking for the region on the issue believed they had the mandate of the entire region.
The group argued that the presence of President Jonathan today in the seat of power was by providence, which, it said, had “given us once in-a-million-years opportunity to get things right in this country.”
It added that “the current shadow boxing over the zoning of political offices by persons and groups who try to present themselves as speaking for the North is ill-advised, retrogressive and designed to embarrass the majority of our northern brothers and sisters who see no merit in the incoherent clamour of a vocal few.
“The primary concern of all well-meaning Nigerians today is to be part of a new Nigeria that places higher national interest above temporary political contrivances which only emphasise the things that divide us, undermine trust and a feeling of oneness,” he said.
The GNG further observed that the zoning in PDP, which some people in the North were clamouring for, had been virtually non-existent, as it had been violated since 1999.
“We should also ask which North is insisting on zoning. There are three geopolitical zones in the so-called North and Nigerians would like to know whether it is the North-East, North-West or North-Central that is said to be talking.
“Nigerians will also be interested to find out if there has been a conference of the North at which a vote was taken and some people were thereafter mandated to make their position known to other Nigerians.
“Our group will not raise any issues if the North that is insisting on ‘zoning’ is a purely imaginary entity, existing as a figment of some people’s imagination.
“It is not within our purview to question the contents of anyone’s imaginative faculty.
“We shall only observe that there are northern members of other political parties besides the PDP and the growing pretence that there is some monolithic North which has taken a position on key national issues is a delusion for which some people need a quick and lasting cure.
“We are here to assure the world that there is no such entity and no such consensus,” the group declared.
POLITICAL stakeholders in the South-South region on Monday unanimously endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2011 presidential election just as it called for the support of the North and other geopolitical zones.
In a 13-point communiqué read by Professor Julius Ihonvbere at the end of a one-day summit with the theme “Dynamics of the 2011 Presidential Election in Nigeria – The South-South Perspective,” the South-South urged President Jonathan to immediately declare his intentions to the Nigerian people.
The communiqué noted that the Nigerian constitution gave full rights to President Jonathan to aspire to the position of the president, arguing that the zone, in spite of its enormous contributions to the country’s GDP, was yet to produce a president in 50 years of Nigeria’s existence.
While acknowledging the resolutions of the Northern Political Summit in Kaduna State recently, the summit commended them for patriotism and commitment to fair play.
The communiqué acknowledged the efforts of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua (GCFR) at repositioning the country by entrenching due process, rule of law and fight against corruption, saying their support for President Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo was to enable them to actualise the late president’s reform agenda.
The South-South stakeholders expressed confidence in President Jonathan’s resolve to give Nigerians credible electoral reforms, by appointing a world-acclaimed social crusader, Professor Attahiru Jega, as the country’s electoral umpire, and called on all Nigerians to support the full implementation of the Justice Uwais Committee recommendation which includes total independence of INEC.
The summit particularly acknowledged the power sector agenda of President Jonathan, his crusade against corruption, historic achievement in the improvement in the country’s foreign reserves and his efforts at ensuring security for all Nigerians.
The summit resolved as follows:
“To work assiduously and in unison with other geopolitical zones in Nigeria to ensure the country remains one, indivisible, secular entity, where all peoples, irrespective of ethnicity, religion, party affiliation, of equal rights and privileges as enshrined in the Nigeria Constitution.
“Summit recognises that it is time to collectively transcend primordial sentiments and dispositions in the conversations of national affairs in order to build strong, viable and democratic blocs for peace and progress. The South-South can only make progress when the leaders, communities and constituencies unite, work together, strategise together and speak with one voice.
“The summit acknowledges and commends the efforts of the governors of the South-South region towards bringing development and unity to the region.
“The summit appreciates and acknowledges the enormous efforts and contributions our detribalised and great democrat, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua (GCFR) at entrenching due process, the rule of law and fight against corruption for peace in the Niger Delta region through the amnesty
programme, reforms in the power and energy sector, as well as electoral reforms, as well as giving a level playing field for all politically-inclined Nigerians to attain their aspirations.
“The summit, however, notes with deep sorrow and regrets that the inevitable call of nature could not allow our late president to accomplish these reformatory agenda.
“Arising from the above, the summit resolves to support the winning team of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR) and Vice-President, Mohammed Namadi Sambo (GCON) in their quest to take the reform agenda to a logical conclusion for the benefit of all Nigerians.
“Summit believes in President Jonathan’s resolve to give Nigerians credible electoral reforms, which began by appointing a world-acclaimed social crusader and defender of equity, honesty and integrity, Professor Attahiru Jega, the country’s new chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and calls on all Nigerians to support the full implementation of the Justice Uwais Committee recommendation which includes total independence of INEC.
“Summit notes with delight, the power sector agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan, his crusade against corruption, the historic achievement in the improvement in our foreign reserves and his earnest practical efforts at ensuring practical security of all Nigerians at home and in the disapora.
“In addition, summit acknowledges and commends the untiring efforts of Mr. President to reposition Nigeria and rekindle the confidence of the international community in Nigeria’s political system.
“Summit acknowledges and fully appreciates the resolutions of the recently held Northern Political Summit in Kaduna and urges all Nigerians to support President Goodluck Jonathan in the onerous task providence has bestowed on him to move Nigeria forward beyond 2011.”
“Summit commends the Northern Political Summit for their patriotism, clear vision, commitment to fair play and justice and undiluted appreciation of the rights and liberties of all Nigerians.
“Summit believes in the incontrovertible position of the Nigerian constitution that gives full rights to President Goodluck Jonathan above all other considerations to aspire to the position of the president at the 2011 elections, more so, the zone, in spite of its enormous contributions to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP), is yet to produce a president or head of state in the 50 years of Nigeria’s existence as a sovereign nation.
“Summit hereby unanimously calls on Dr Jonathan to openly declare his interest in the 2011 presidential election without further delay, while assuring him of total and undiluted support of the entire South-South, summit calls on all other geopolitical zones, organisations, communities and constituencies to support quest to deepen, widen and consolidate democracy by supporting Jonathan for president,” the communiqué read.
Meanwhile, as the Northern Governors’ Forum meet today in Kaduna, to decide on the zoning formula of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), indications have emerged that the governors are under intense pressure to reject the zoning formula.
Their position is crucial to the political future of President Jonathan, who has not declared whether he will run for the 2011 elections or not.
At their last meeting, the governors could not make a decision on the zoning issue, but they resolved that they should go back to their states to consult with the elders in their domain and reconvene today for a final push on the matter.
However, the Niger State government has said it will abide by the decision of the forum when they meet in Kaduna today.
He also said in Minna, on Monday, that zoning or no zoning, Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu would contest the 2011 goverorship election.
Director, Media and Publicity to the Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdulkhadir, said the people of Niger State had expressed their preference for zoning to be retained, adding that “our decision cannot be binding on the majority.
“We will follow the decision of the majority,” Abdu-khadir said.
He said the decision of Governor Aliyu to contest, “zoning or no zoning,” was informed by the fact that the people had told him to continue in office beyond 2011 and the governor himself was prepared to continue to serve the people.
At a mass rally in Kontagora, last year, Governor Aliyu was endorsed as the PDP candidate for the 2011 election.
The governor, last month, forwarded his letter of intent to the PDP secretariat.
The state PDP had already zoned the governorship of the state to Niger East senatorial district, the area of the incumbent governor.
Ahead of today’s meeting in Kaduna, the Plateau State coordinator of President Goodluck Jonathan Support Group, Mr Bulus Dareng, has said nothing would make the state and the entire North-Central change their position on zoning.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune in Jos, Dareng, who said Plateau State had since made its position known on zoning through its governor, Jonah Jang, added that various stakeholders in Plateau State had, at different fora, equally frowned on zoning.
He said the recent pronouncement of Ambassador Yahaya Kwande that Plateau State was in support of zoning was just a ploy to deceive the country, adding that the people of the state had spoken and declared their support for President Jonathan to contest in 2011.
“There is nothing like monolithic North any more. What some people call the North is just 19 independent states capable of taking decision individually. We are talking of democracy, the myth of the North is no longer there and nobody has a blank cheque for the North,” he said.
According to him, the group canvassing for zoning in the North was speaking for itself, not for the North as a whole. If you check their backgrounds, its members were those who wanted the status quo to be maintained for their selfish interest.
“Those who want the status quo maintained are the ones behind zoning, they want to keep recycling themselves to the detriment of the common man and we have matured enough as a nation to abandon zoning.
“Anybody who is still talking about zoning in these modern times does not wish the country well,” he said.
Dareng advised former heads of state, General Ibrahim Babangida and General Muhammadu Buhari, to stay away from politics and play an advisory role, adding that it was morally wrong for them to be scheming to become president again.
Meanwhile, the Good-luck Nigeria Group (GNG), has written to the Northern Governors’ Forum, explaining why its members should support the call to do away with the zoning policy of the PDP and pave the way for Jonathan to run in the 2011 presidential election.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, on Monday, its national coordinator, Mr Cyril Ezeani, said the group was uncomfortable with the apparent opposition of sections of the North to the possible participation in the election by President Jonathan.
He said the North should realise that it was no longer monolithic and wondered why those who claimed to be speaking for the region on the issue believed they had the mandate of the entire region.
The group argued that the presence of President Jonathan today in the seat of power was by providence, which, it said, had “given us once in-a-million-years opportunity to get things right in this country.”
It added that “the current shadow boxing over the zoning of political offices by persons and groups who try to present themselves as speaking for the North is ill-advised, retrogressive and designed to embarrass the majority of our northern brothers and sisters who see no merit in the incoherent clamour of a vocal few.
“The primary concern of all well-meaning Nigerians today is to be part of a new Nigeria that places higher national interest above temporary political contrivances which only emphasise the things that divide us, undermine trust and a feeling of oneness,” he said.
The GNG further observed that the zoning in PDP, which some people in the North were clamouring for, had been virtually non-existent, as it had been violated since 1999.
“We should also ask which North is insisting on zoning. There are three geopolitical zones in the so-called North and Nigerians would like to know whether it is the North-East, North-West or North-Central that is said to be talking.
“Nigerians will also be interested to find out if there has been a conference of the North at which a vote was taken and some people were thereafter mandated to make their position known to other Nigerians.
“Our group will not raise any issues if the North that is insisting on ‘zoning’ is a purely imaginary entity, existing as a figment of some people’s imagination.
“It is not within our purview to question the contents of anyone’s imaginative faculty.
“We shall only observe that there are northern members of other political parties besides the PDP and the growing pretence that there is some monolithic North which has taken a position on key national issues is a delusion for which some people need a quick and lasting cure.
“We are here to assure the world that there is no such entity and no such consensus,” the group declared.
Nigeria’s system may collapse -Jonathan
Written by Dipo Laleye, Minna Tuesday, 27 July 2010
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan on Monday warned that “unless Nigeria retraces its steps and takes the right steps very soon, the system will collapse.”
President Jonathan was particularly concerned about the high level of corruption, illegal acquisition of wealth and non-payment of taxes by Nigerians; issues he argued could lead to the collapse of the system.
In a message to the 4th National Diaspora Conference, which opened in Minna, Niger State, he said that Nigeria could not continue to deceive itself when the country was not producing but depending on imports for its day to day needs.
“We must pay our taxes and stop relying on petrol money,” President Jonathan said in the address read by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed.
“Change is a must, the time is up” he added, stressing that, “Nigeria is genuine; Nigeria is not fake; those who are not genuine, those who are fake will definitely be shown the way out.”
President Jonathan challenged Nigerians to cultivate the habit of “doing things correctly” so that foreigners could be attracted to the country, adding that without the necessary environment, “the brightest brain will be an idol of sympathy.”
In his response to the criticism that had greeted the plan by the government to celebrate the nation’s 50th Independence, President Jonathan said the country had every cause to celebrate because “we have survived despite our diversities and we should celebrate our survival.”
He urged Nigerians in the diaspora to join the government in revamping the nation, saying that what they were able to do in a foreign land should be done at home for the overall growth of the national economy and the country in general.
Niger State governor, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, in an address, observed that over $10 billion was remitted to Nigeria annually by Nigerians in the diaspora, saying with the situation, it was possible to float diaspora bonds “as financial tool to bridge the financing gaps in the country.”
Aliyu told the banking sector in the country to take advantage of the ongoing banking and financial sector reforms by the Central Bank of Nigeria to sanitise its operations so as to earn the confidence of Nigerians in the diaspora.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the Diaspora, Honourable Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in a goodwill message delivered at the event, said a bill providing for the establishment of a National Diaspora Commission had been passed by the House.
She added that the bill had now been sent to the Senate for similar action before it would be sent to the president for his assent.
Dabiri-Erewa stated that the proposed commission, when established, would not be bogged down by bureaucratic bottlenecks of the ministry as it would, to a large extent, be made autonomous.
A communiqué is expected at the end of the conference on Wednesday.
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan on Monday warned that “unless Nigeria retraces its steps and takes the right steps very soon, the system will collapse.”
President Jonathan was particularly concerned about the high level of corruption, illegal acquisition of wealth and non-payment of taxes by Nigerians; issues he argued could lead to the collapse of the system.
In a message to the 4th National Diaspora Conference, which opened in Minna, Niger State, he said that Nigeria could not continue to deceive itself when the country was not producing but depending on imports for its day to day needs.
“We must pay our taxes and stop relying on petrol money,” President Jonathan said in the address read by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed.
“Change is a must, the time is up” he added, stressing that, “Nigeria is genuine; Nigeria is not fake; those who are not genuine, those who are fake will definitely be shown the way out.”
President Jonathan challenged Nigerians to cultivate the habit of “doing things correctly” so that foreigners could be attracted to the country, adding that without the necessary environment, “the brightest brain will be an idol of sympathy.”
In his response to the criticism that had greeted the plan by the government to celebrate the nation’s 50th Independence, President Jonathan said the country had every cause to celebrate because “we have survived despite our diversities and we should celebrate our survival.”
He urged Nigerians in the diaspora to join the government in revamping the nation, saying that what they were able to do in a foreign land should be done at home for the overall growth of the national economy and the country in general.
Niger State governor, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, in an address, observed that over $10 billion was remitted to Nigeria annually by Nigerians in the diaspora, saying with the situation, it was possible to float diaspora bonds “as financial tool to bridge the financing gaps in the country.”
Aliyu told the banking sector in the country to take advantage of the ongoing banking and financial sector reforms by the Central Bank of Nigeria to sanitise its operations so as to earn the confidence of Nigerians in the diaspora.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the Diaspora, Honourable Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in a goodwill message delivered at the event, said a bill providing for the establishment of a National Diaspora Commission had been passed by the House.
She added that the bill had now been sent to the Senate for similar action before it would be sent to the president for his assent.
Dabiri-Erewa stated that the proposed commission, when established, would not be bogged down by bureaucratic bottlenecks of the ministry as it would, to a large extent, be made autonomous.
A communiqué is expected at the end of the conference on Wednesday.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Reps set to recall Melaye, other suspended lawmakers •As Speaker apologises to students
Written by Idowu Samuel, Abuja
MEMBERS of the House of Representatives, who are sympathetic to 11 of their colleagues, suspended for the rest of the legislative year, have commenced moves to recall them through a House pardon, the Nigerian Tribune has gathered.
Female members of the House, who initiated the move, have been lobbying their male counterparts to put pressure on the House leadership on the need to pardon Honourable Dino Melaye and other members of his group, who are currently serving a suspension imposed on them by the House.
The lawmakers are intervening because of the harsh political realities, staring the suspended lawmakers in the face, especially the possibility that they may not be able to seek re-election in the 2011 general poll.
Honourable Fatimat Raji Rasaki, who is the Vice Chairman, House Committee on Women Affairs, led the group of members of the House, pleading for the return of the suspended lawmakers, especially one of the female legislators, Honourable Doris Uboh, whom she said was manhandled by the sergeant-at-arms during the fracas that broke out on the floor of the House about two weeks ago.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Dimeji Bankole, had, on Monday, alluded to this, when he raised the hope on the possible recall of the lawmakers.
Bankole had visited the City Royal Secondary School, Nyanya, Abuja, to apologise to students of the school, who witnessed the fracas in the House of Representatives, during their excursion and told correspondents that the issue of the suspended lawmakers was being reconsidered.
Moral Prefect of the school, David Sunday, had, in his opening remark during the Speaker’s visit, urged the House leadership to imbibe the spirit of humility as demonstrated by the speaker, who came to beg the students for forgiveness, urging members of the House to allow peace to reign and forgive the lawmakers who were suspended.
He said he believed that the visit of the speaker to the school would not be in vain, but would result in a peaceful atmosphere in the House by forgiving all the lawmakers who were suspended.
Honourable Bankole, while responding said, “it is a wonderful idea and we would consider it. Well, we are adults and we have the responsibility of managing ourselves and I can assure you that we will come up with amicable resolution.”
He told the students that the lawmakers were suspended for the crisis in the House because of their alleged failure to adhere strictly to the rules of the House, noting that the fracas in the House would have been averted had the affected legislators conducted themselves in an orderly manner and in line with the rules of the House and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which they swore to uphold.
He said: “I came to apologise to the students, who were in the House of Representatives on the particular day that we are talking about. I also want to use the opportunity to explain to you that there are laws in this country that are to be obeyed.
“All laws are to be obeyed and I believe that in your school here, you also have your own laws, whereby if you have complaints you can go and report to your teachers. You should never take the rules or the laws into your own hands, because when you do that it leads to chaos.
“On that particular day, I believe a few of our colleagues flouted the rules of the House, and actions were taken based on the rules of the House.”
He advised the students to always obey the rules of the school since, according to him, their failure to do so might predispose them to breaking the laws of the nation, when they got out of schools, and which might expose them to punishments.
He described a school as a learning ground, where corrections were made, stressing that there was no excuse that any of the suspended lawmakers could put up for their disorderly conduct before being suspended, having sworn to obey the constitution and the rules of the House.
MEMBERS of the House of Representatives, who are sympathetic to 11 of their colleagues, suspended for the rest of the legislative year, have commenced moves to recall them through a House pardon, the Nigerian Tribune has gathered.
Female members of the House, who initiated the move, have been lobbying their male counterparts to put pressure on the House leadership on the need to pardon Honourable Dino Melaye and other members of his group, who are currently serving a suspension imposed on them by the House.
The lawmakers are intervening because of the harsh political realities, staring the suspended lawmakers in the face, especially the possibility that they may not be able to seek re-election in the 2011 general poll.
Honourable Fatimat Raji Rasaki, who is the Vice Chairman, House Committee on Women Affairs, led the group of members of the House, pleading for the return of the suspended lawmakers, especially one of the female legislators, Honourable Doris Uboh, whom she said was manhandled by the sergeant-at-arms during the fracas that broke out on the floor of the House about two weeks ago.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Dimeji Bankole, had, on Monday, alluded to this, when he raised the hope on the possible recall of the lawmakers.
Bankole had visited the City Royal Secondary School, Nyanya, Abuja, to apologise to students of the school, who witnessed the fracas in the House of Representatives, during their excursion and told correspondents that the issue of the suspended lawmakers was being reconsidered.
Moral Prefect of the school, David Sunday, had, in his opening remark during the Speaker’s visit, urged the House leadership to imbibe the spirit of humility as demonstrated by the speaker, who came to beg the students for forgiveness, urging members of the House to allow peace to reign and forgive the lawmakers who were suspended.
He said he believed that the visit of the speaker to the school would not be in vain, but would result in a peaceful atmosphere in the House by forgiving all the lawmakers who were suspended.
Honourable Bankole, while responding said, “it is a wonderful idea and we would consider it. Well, we are adults and we have the responsibility of managing ourselves and I can assure you that we will come up with amicable resolution.”
He told the students that the lawmakers were suspended for the crisis in the House because of their alleged failure to adhere strictly to the rules of the House, noting that the fracas in the House would have been averted had the affected legislators conducted themselves in an orderly manner and in line with the rules of the House and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which they swore to uphold.
He said: “I came to apologise to the students, who were in the House of Representatives on the particular day that we are talking about. I also want to use the opportunity to explain to you that there are laws in this country that are to be obeyed.
“All laws are to be obeyed and I believe that in your school here, you also have your own laws, whereby if you have complaints you can go and report to your teachers. You should never take the rules or the laws into your own hands, because when you do that it leads to chaos.
“On that particular day, I believe a few of our colleagues flouted the rules of the House, and actions were taken based on the rules of the House.”
He advised the students to always obey the rules of the school since, according to him, their failure to do so might predispose them to breaking the laws of the nation, when they got out of schools, and which might expose them to punishments.
He described a school as a learning ground, where corrections were made, stressing that there was no excuse that any of the suspended lawmakers could put up for their disorderly conduct before being suspended, having sworn to obey the constitution and the rules of the House.
Salary increase may cause inflation -MPC •As external reserves decline by $25bn •Declining reserves not a problem -CBN
Written by Samuel Ibiyemi and Gbola Subair, Abuja
THE Monetary Policy Committee has said that the proposed salary increase for the civil servants had the tendency of increasing inflationary pressure on the economy, just as the apex bank said the declining external reserves posed no threat to the Nigerian economy.
Governor of CBN, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, addressing a press conference after the 71st Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, on Monday, stated that the down trend in the domestic price level could be attributed to a number of factors, including the continuing underperformance of the monetary aggregates with the associated constraints demand, adequate food supply, stable exchange rates and improvement in the availability of petroleum resources, amongst others.
Notwithstanding this, the MPC reiterated its earlier position on the threat of inflationary pressure arising from several factors, including the effect of salary increase in the civil service and the rising food prices against the backdrop of famine in neighbouring Niger Republic.
However, the apex bank has reiterated the readiness of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to continue to monitor price developments, with a view to taking appropriate measures to stem any inflationary threat and ensure that the downside risk of inflation growth was minimised.
The CBN governor said the external reserves were $34 billion in 2008, but went down to $9 billion in 2009, thus showing a decline of $25 billion.
With $9 billion external reserves, the CBN governor said this could finance imports for 16 months, adding that there was no cause for alarm on the development.
According to him, Nigeria should count itself lucky for the external reserves, citing the example of the United States, whose external reserves could only finance imports for three months.
Explaining the reason for the declining reserves, Mallam Sanusi said Nigeria’s external reserves swelled up when oil price was about $140 per barrel and a daily production of about 2 million barrels per day, adding that with oil price as low as $40 per barrel, nothing short of declining external reserves should be expected.
Reviewing the domestic economic conditions in the first quarter of 2010, the CBN boss said the year-on- year headline inflation declined to 11.0 per cent in May 2010 from 12.5 per cent in April and 11.8 per cent in March.
Similarly, the CBN governor said core inflation fell to 8.8 per cent in May 2010, from 9.8 per cent in April and 9.5 per cent in March.
He said the capital market was still showing some signs of recovery as the all-share index increased from 20,827.17 in December 2009 to 25,554.35 as of June 23, 2010.
In the same vein, he said market capitalisation equities increased by 24.9 per cent from N4.98 trillion to N6.28 trillion over the same period.
The number of deals, volume and value of shares traded, according to him, also increased by 16.34, 19.23 and 100 per cent respectively.
On the global scenes, the committee noted that market anxiety over the fiscal position of several European area countries was posing new challenges for the world economy, even as global economic recovery remained fragile
To address the weak fiscal position, Mallam Sanusi said governments in these countries had started unwinding the fiscal stimuli by cutting spending.
However, he said such cut in government’s spending might have serious implications for growth and employment and might lead to a double dip recession, with possible effects on the global economy.
The Federal Government recorded $25 billion shortfall in foreign exchange earnings from oil and non-sector in 2009, as inflation dropped to 11 per cent at the end of May 2010.
This is also as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced plans to retain Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at six per cent and projected 7.74 per cent as overall gross domestic product (GDP) for 2010.
Sanusi, at the end of MPC meeting in Abuja, on Monday, said the drop in external reserves to $37.63 billion on June 23 was as a result of the shortfall of $25 billion in the nation’s foreign exchange earnings in 2009.
He blamed the steady fall in foreign exchange earnings on low oil prices and crisis in the Niger Delta.
However, Sanusi said the MPR would remain unchanged at six per cent as a result of the stability in exchange rate and continuing under-performance of monetary aggregates since the beginning of the year.
According to him, developments in interest rates structure indicated that the retail lending rates were still relatively high, though they were declining.
Similarly, he noted that the weighted average savings rate dropped marginally to 2.92 per cent in May 2010 from 3.36 per cent in December 2009, while the consolidated deposit rates declined to 3.30 per cent in May 2010 from 6.13 per cent in December 2009.
He added that the spread between the average maximum lending rate and the consolidated deposit rate widened to 19.27 per cent in May 2010 from 17.34 per cent in December, 2009
THE Monetary Policy Committee has said that the proposed salary increase for the civil servants had the tendency of increasing inflationary pressure on the economy, just as the apex bank said the declining external reserves posed no threat to the Nigerian economy.
Governor of CBN, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, addressing a press conference after the 71st Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, on Monday, stated that the down trend in the domestic price level could be attributed to a number of factors, including the continuing underperformance of the monetary aggregates with the associated constraints demand, adequate food supply, stable exchange rates and improvement in the availability of petroleum resources, amongst others.
Notwithstanding this, the MPC reiterated its earlier position on the threat of inflationary pressure arising from several factors, including the effect of salary increase in the civil service and the rising food prices against the backdrop of famine in neighbouring Niger Republic.
However, the apex bank has reiterated the readiness of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to continue to monitor price developments, with a view to taking appropriate measures to stem any inflationary threat and ensure that the downside risk of inflation growth was minimised.
The CBN governor said the external reserves were $34 billion in 2008, but went down to $9 billion in 2009, thus showing a decline of $25 billion.
With $9 billion external reserves, the CBN governor said this could finance imports for 16 months, adding that there was no cause for alarm on the development.
According to him, Nigeria should count itself lucky for the external reserves, citing the example of the United States, whose external reserves could only finance imports for three months.
Explaining the reason for the declining reserves, Mallam Sanusi said Nigeria’s external reserves swelled up when oil price was about $140 per barrel and a daily production of about 2 million barrels per day, adding that with oil price as low as $40 per barrel, nothing short of declining external reserves should be expected.
Reviewing the domestic economic conditions in the first quarter of 2010, the CBN boss said the year-on- year headline inflation declined to 11.0 per cent in May 2010 from 12.5 per cent in April and 11.8 per cent in March.
Similarly, the CBN governor said core inflation fell to 8.8 per cent in May 2010, from 9.8 per cent in April and 9.5 per cent in March.
He said the capital market was still showing some signs of recovery as the all-share index increased from 20,827.17 in December 2009 to 25,554.35 as of June 23, 2010.
In the same vein, he said market capitalisation equities increased by 24.9 per cent from N4.98 trillion to N6.28 trillion over the same period.
The number of deals, volume and value of shares traded, according to him, also increased by 16.34, 19.23 and 100 per cent respectively.
On the global scenes, the committee noted that market anxiety over the fiscal position of several European area countries was posing new challenges for the world economy, even as global economic recovery remained fragile
To address the weak fiscal position, Mallam Sanusi said governments in these countries had started unwinding the fiscal stimuli by cutting spending.
However, he said such cut in government’s spending might have serious implications for growth and employment and might lead to a double dip recession, with possible effects on the global economy.
The Federal Government recorded $25 billion shortfall in foreign exchange earnings from oil and non-sector in 2009, as inflation dropped to 11 per cent at the end of May 2010.
This is also as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced plans to retain Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at six per cent and projected 7.74 per cent as overall gross domestic product (GDP) for 2010.
Sanusi, at the end of MPC meeting in Abuja, on Monday, said the drop in external reserves to $37.63 billion on June 23 was as a result of the shortfall of $25 billion in the nation’s foreign exchange earnings in 2009.
He blamed the steady fall in foreign exchange earnings on low oil prices and crisis in the Niger Delta.
However, Sanusi said the MPR would remain unchanged at six per cent as a result of the stability in exchange rate and continuing under-performance of monetary aggregates since the beginning of the year.
According to him, developments in interest rates structure indicated that the retail lending rates were still relatively high, though they were declining.
Similarly, he noted that the weighted average savings rate dropped marginally to 2.92 per cent in May 2010 from 3.36 per cent in December 2009, while the consolidated deposit rates declined to 3.30 per cent in May 2010 from 6.13 per cent in December 2009.
He added that the spread between the average maximum lending rate and the consolidated deposit rate widened to 19.27 per cent in May 2010 from 17.34 per cent in December, 2009
Forgive us, Bankole pleads with students over brawl
By Ini Ekott and Festus Owete
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, yesterday apologised to students of City Royal School, Nyanya, who witnessed clashes at the chamber a fortnight ago.
Mr. Bankole, who visited the school at the outskirts of Abuja, told hundreds of students and staff of the institution who gathered at the school’s auditorium on Monday morning that, “I want to use this time to apologise to you over what happened. It should not have happened,” he said.
Witnesses to a Sordid Drama
Seventy of the students witnessed the lawmakers’ scuffle on June 22, after arriving for the routine student visits to the National Assembly.
They watched from the over-arching gallery as the Speaker’s order for the suspension of 11 members who accused him of corruption, which rapidly leapt the session into chaos, during which members fought openly and were stripped and ejected.
The suspended lawmakers said Mr. Bankole and his officials have misappropriated N9 billion of the House’s 2009 capital budget, and asked for his removal.
Back in their school that Tuesday morning, the students were told such violent disputes occur elsewhere, the Girls Prefect, Roseline Odoh, recalled. They were, however, tutored that the key lays with the reason for the rift, and not the rift itself.
“It was very painful to us,” said Ms. Odoh. “We later got to know that it happens in other parliaments, but that it depends on why they fight.”
Mr. Bankole said the crisis was caused by a breach of legislative process.
“Let me explain to you why it happened”, he began. “It happened because some of us decided not to obey our set down rules. In every society, and in every organisation, there are rules that guide people, just as there are rules in this school. On this particular day, I believe a few of our colleagues flouted the rules of the House.
Why law and order broke down
“If you take the law into your hands, then you face the consequences,” Mr. Bankole stressed.
“And this is the best time to start learning to respect rules, before going out to join the larger society; otherwise, you may end up just like you saw that day.”
The students urged the Speaker to lead the return of peace to the deeply troubled chamber, and called for the reinstatement of the 11 affected members.
“We want to ask from you that this great mind in you, let it be in all the members of the House. We pray that peace will dwell in the House and most importantly, all those who have erred will equally be forgiven,” the school’s Moral Prefect, David Sunday, requested.
Mr. Bankole said the idea was “wonderful” and will be considered.
“It is the request, a wonderful idea, and we would consider it. We are adults and we have responsibilities of managing ourselves as leaders, and I can assure you that we would come to amicable resolution,” he promised.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, yesterday apologised to students of City Royal School, Nyanya, who witnessed clashes at the chamber a fortnight ago.
Mr. Bankole, who visited the school at the outskirts of Abuja, told hundreds of students and staff of the institution who gathered at the school’s auditorium on Monday morning that, “I want to use this time to apologise to you over what happened. It should not have happened,” he said.
Witnesses to a Sordid Drama
Seventy of the students witnessed the lawmakers’ scuffle on June 22, after arriving for the routine student visits to the National Assembly.
They watched from the over-arching gallery as the Speaker’s order for the suspension of 11 members who accused him of corruption, which rapidly leapt the session into chaos, during which members fought openly and were stripped and ejected.
The suspended lawmakers said Mr. Bankole and his officials have misappropriated N9 billion of the House’s 2009 capital budget, and asked for his removal.
Back in their school that Tuesday morning, the students were told such violent disputes occur elsewhere, the Girls Prefect, Roseline Odoh, recalled. They were, however, tutored that the key lays with the reason for the rift, and not the rift itself.
“It was very painful to us,” said Ms. Odoh. “We later got to know that it happens in other parliaments, but that it depends on why they fight.”
Mr. Bankole said the crisis was caused by a breach of legislative process.
“Let me explain to you why it happened”, he began. “It happened because some of us decided not to obey our set down rules. In every society, and in every organisation, there are rules that guide people, just as there are rules in this school. On this particular day, I believe a few of our colleagues flouted the rules of the House.
Why law and order broke down
“If you take the law into your hands, then you face the consequences,” Mr. Bankole stressed.
“And this is the best time to start learning to respect rules, before going out to join the larger society; otherwise, you may end up just like you saw that day.”
The students urged the Speaker to lead the return of peace to the deeply troubled chamber, and called for the reinstatement of the 11 affected members.
“We want to ask from you that this great mind in you, let it be in all the members of the House. We pray that peace will dwell in the House and most importantly, all those who have erred will equally be forgiven,” the school’s Moral Prefect, David Sunday, requested.
Mr. Bankole said the idea was “wonderful” and will be considered.
“It is the request, a wonderful idea, and we would consider it. We are adults and we have responsibilities of managing ourselves as leaders, and I can assure you that we would come to amicable resolution,” he promised.
2011: Jonathan, IBB take battle to London
THE battle for the soul of Nigeria’s Presidency come 2011 has become more intense as both President Goodluck Jonathan and former Military President, Ibrahim Babangida drafted their field workers to London to continue their subtle campaigns towards the next general election.
Under the guise of Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary celebration, President Jonathan’s foot soldiers stormed the Queen’s City of London last week for a two-day jamboree, which discerning minds understood to be in furtherance of his campaign for the next general election as a way of marketing their principal to the international community.
However, Babangida would not be deceived either as he also promptly drafted his ‘boys’ to London almost at the same time.
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, had led 18 PDP governors and other bigwigs of the party to London to showcase Nigeria’s achievements of 50 years of self government, where he featured on some television and radio programmes and spoke on the many gains of Jonathan presidency for Nigeria.
The programme was held at the Groovesnor Hotel, Park Lane, London.
Dr Nwodo also explained the irrelevance of zoning in the polity, arguing that the country could not afford to sacrifice merit on the altar of zoning.
The London trip, according to sources, was more of international political campaign than the anniversary celebration which the ordinary man was made to believe it was meant for.
On Babangida’s side, sources close to his Minna Hill Top Mansion told Sunday Tribune on condition of anonymity that the ex-military ruler could not buy such a simple dummy, hence he directed his men to proceed on a trip to London and counter whatever negative campaign the pro-Jonathan group might be selling to the outside world about his ambition.
It was also learnt that the barrage of criticisms trailing the N10 billion set aside for the anniversary celebration was being orchestrated by anti-Jonathan elements, who felt that the allocation was nothing but a campaign fund for President Jonathan.
The source, who attempted to debunk any impression that IBB ‘boys’ were in London on a counter mission, said there was nothing to counter as each group was there to market its ‘product’.
Since the emergence of President Jonathan and the possibility of his contesting the 2011 presidency, opinion had been divided along North/South divide, with many northern groups rooting for the retention of the zoning arrangement to allow one of their own to emerge in 2011 as president.
Within a spate of one week, two groups had staged rallies in Bauchi in support of Jonathan and the other to counter his ambition.
While the North East Progressive Forum would want the PDP zoning arrangement to remain, another group by the name, Goodluck Jonathan Movement (GJM), held its own rally to canvass support for President Jonathan.By Wale Adele
Under the guise of Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary celebration, President Jonathan’s foot soldiers stormed the Queen’s City of London last week for a two-day jamboree, which discerning minds understood to be in furtherance of his campaign for the next general election as a way of marketing their principal to the international community.
However, Babangida would not be deceived either as he also promptly drafted his ‘boys’ to London almost at the same time.
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, had led 18 PDP governors and other bigwigs of the party to London to showcase Nigeria’s achievements of 50 years of self government, where he featured on some television and radio programmes and spoke on the many gains of Jonathan presidency for Nigeria.
The programme was held at the Groovesnor Hotel, Park Lane, London.
Dr Nwodo also explained the irrelevance of zoning in the polity, arguing that the country could not afford to sacrifice merit on the altar of zoning.
The London trip, according to sources, was more of international political campaign than the anniversary celebration which the ordinary man was made to believe it was meant for.
On Babangida’s side, sources close to his Minna Hill Top Mansion told Sunday Tribune on condition of anonymity that the ex-military ruler could not buy such a simple dummy, hence he directed his men to proceed on a trip to London and counter whatever negative campaign the pro-Jonathan group might be selling to the outside world about his ambition.
It was also learnt that the barrage of criticisms trailing the N10 billion set aside for the anniversary celebration was being orchestrated by anti-Jonathan elements, who felt that the allocation was nothing but a campaign fund for President Jonathan.
The source, who attempted to debunk any impression that IBB ‘boys’ were in London on a counter mission, said there was nothing to counter as each group was there to market its ‘product’.
Since the emergence of President Jonathan and the possibility of his contesting the 2011 presidency, opinion had been divided along North/South divide, with many northern groups rooting for the retention of the zoning arrangement to allow one of their own to emerge in 2011 as president.
Within a spate of one week, two groups had staged rallies in Bauchi in support of Jonathan and the other to counter his ambition.
While the North East Progressive Forum would want the PDP zoning arrangement to remain, another group by the name, Goodluck Jonathan Movement (GJM), held its own rally to canvass support for President Jonathan.By Wale Adele
Action Congress gets new name
By Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji
The Action Congress (AC) yesterday resolved to change its name to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), following a successful merger talk with the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Democratic Peoples Party (DPP). Lai Mohammed, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, said this yesterday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during a meeting of the party national working committee held with members of the Ogun State Chapter, adding that the colour of the new party will be green-white-blue.
“The merger parties have resolved to use the platform of (the) Action Congress, and to make it a national party that will cut across. We have, therefore, resolved to change the name now to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN),’ Mr Mohammed said.
He added that the broom logo of the AC will still remain its identification, while the Action Congress has been mandated to write officially to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with the parties’ resolution on the merger attached.
A technical committee has also been put in place with an enlarged meeting scheduled for July 13. “It is good for us; our membership now cuts across,” Mr Mohammed said.
The Action Congress (AC) yesterday resolved to change its name to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), following a successful merger talk with the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Democratic Peoples Party (DPP). Lai Mohammed, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, said this yesterday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during a meeting of the party national working committee held with members of the Ogun State Chapter, adding that the colour of the new party will be green-white-blue.
“The merger parties have resolved to use the platform of (the) Action Congress, and to make it a national party that will cut across. We have, therefore, resolved to change the name now to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN),’ Mr Mohammed said.
He added that the broom logo of the AC will still remain its identification, while the Action Congress has been mandated to write officially to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with the parties’ resolution on the merger attached.
A technical committee has also been put in place with an enlarged meeting scheduled for July 13. “It is good for us; our membership now cuts across,” Mr Mohammed said.
Monday, June 21, 2010
N9bn scam: EFCC probes Bankole, others •House of Reps riddled with corruption scandals -Waziri •Reps ’ll take decisive action today -Leadership
Written by Lanre Adewole and Idowu Samuel, Abuja
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Monday, began investigation into the alleged N9 billion scam rocking the House of Representatives, moments after the pro-probe members submitted a petition and documents on the alleged scam to it.
Commission’s boss, Mrs. Farida Waziri, reportedly set up a six-man panel to investigate the allegations contained in the lawmakers’ petition and the panel, according to sources within the commission, had commenced work.
The panel, Nigerian Tribune learnt, will start by analysing issues raised in the petition in relation to the evidence contained in the documents made available by the group of lawmakers known as ‘The Progressives’.
While receiving the petition from the lawmakers, Waziri noted that the House of Representatives was fast becoming a permanent habitation for corruption scandals and had decided to investigate the fresh allegations of corruption against the leadership of Speaker Dimeji Bankole, even if the group did not file in any petition.
She added that the leadership of the House would be thoroughly investigated and those found culpable would be brought to justice, while saying that the lower chamber of the National Assembly would be sanitised.
The Progressives, led by Honourable Dino Melaye, are accusing the Speaker of misappropriating the N9 billion capital vote for the House for 2008.
Said Waziri: “It is my pleasure to meet you; you are welcome to the EFCC’s headquarters. I am delighted to have distinguished Honourable members. I read in the papers just like any other Nigerian that a petition was coming and would be presented personally by Honourable members.
“And this morning, I saw an advert in ThisDay newspaper and with the Secretary of the commission we were going through and we discussed it. I was just sending for the Director of Operations that we didn’t even have to wait for you to bring in a petition before we look into it. We will look into this.
“And I was talking of setting up a committee of diligent and loyal and hard-working officers to look at this when I was told that you were around.
“We will receive this petition and we will look at it critically with professionalism and we will do our own. And whoever is responsible or is found wanting will be brought to justice.
“The law, as we say, is no respecter of persons. Nobody is above the laws of the land; everybody is equal before the law. And this is what we have been preaching and this is what we have been trying to do. I am particularly happy when people discover that something is wrong, economic crimes wise, and they take it upon themselves to expose and to bring it to our attention.
“We have been crying out loud that fighting corruption and economic crimes is not the exclusive preserve of the EFCC and ICPC, it is everybody’s fight, and it is every Nigerian’s fight.
“This is our country as you stated, we don’t have any other country, we have just Nigeria. And there is no place like home. Even those of you that have gone out, you can compare and see that home is home and that there is no place like home.
“We will be pained when our country is being run down, as a result of massive corruption. I am in a position to say because as I sit here, I know what goes on and I feel so much pain.
“A lot of Nigerians are trooping to India to seek for medical help. Just yesterday, India was categorised like us. Nigerians are trooping to Ghana to take our children to schools there. And this is a big shame, we cannot continue like this.
“And that was why when I got so desperate, I said may be the only thing is to get a law like death penalty just like the Chinese. They are many like us and the death penalty is working.
“Some Nigerians really hate Nigeria. If Nigeria was a human being, you can imagine Nigeria would not exist today. Nigeria is so battered. I am talking of various cases we are handling like Siemens, Halliburton, Daimler, and Wilbros. All these cases give us very, very bad image and a bad name that foreign investors are even scared to come in and do anything with us.
“They said when they come to do business with Nigeria, Nigerian officials must demand for bribes. When they pay, they go back there and American law is waiting for them and so what do they do.
“We have to look inward and do something. Whatever it is that anyone can do, we have to salvage our nation.
“For the National Assembly, the House of Representatives in particular, I have been worried, I think most Nigerians have been very concerned, because there have been scandals upon scandals in that House.
“And that is the bastion of democracy and the hope for the common man. And all the citizens that sent you or voted you there, they feel that you are there to protect them.
“But when we have issues all the time, starting from Salisu Buhari’s certificate, Etteh’s matter, the car scam and now, I mean, it is something that is worrisome.
“I think with this step you have taken and the action that will follow, you need to sanitise the House of Representatives and make it like any other House anywhere in the world, make it a beauty of democracy. I am sure that you have travelled to other Houses and parliaments.
“The other day, there was a fight also and chairs were flying in the House of Representatives. Was it not so?
“When you talk of the body of principal officers, we will swing into action and you will see what we are doing.
“I thank you and I wish other Nigerians will not sweep anything under the carpet, it won’t help anyone. If you know or feel that something is wrong somewhere, bring it to our attention and help us to fight this war.
“It is very tasking, it is very dangerous, very, very tedious, but we have to do it. And what is worth doing at all is worth doing well.”
Meanwhile, the leadership of the House, on Monday, said it would leave no stone unturned towards addressing the corruption allegation, adding that the activities of the “Progressives,” led by Honourable Melaye, would not impair the unity in the House.
The House Leader, Honourable Tunde Akogun, who stated the position of the leadership on the rumblings in the House, occasioned by the allegations against the speaker, added that the House would take a decision on the issues at stake at today’s plenary session.
He said after the House decision, peace and tranquillity would return, which, he said, had more challenging responsibilities lying ahead of it.
“As we resume today, you will find out that we are more united as ever before. I have not seen a member who has shown interest in setting aside his primary responsibility to pursue matters not relevant to the progress of the House.
“So we are focused and determined to continue to play the roles that we were elected to play as members of the House of Representatives.
“I cannot predict the decision that we will take today on what we have been reading in the newspapers while we were away, but the truth of the matter is that, the leadership does not have a crisis that it cannot resolve.
“All I can plead now is for Nigerians to allow us to take a decision which, in my view, will return the House to the path of progress,” he said.
Akogun made this statement in an interview with House correspondents, against the backdrop of a petition filed by members of the “Progressives” against the speaker before the EFCC.
Honourable Melaye had alleged that the speaker mismanaged N9 billion being capital vote for the House of Representatives for 1999 and 2010 and had called on the leadership to account for the said money.
Earlier in the day, members of the House from Kogi State, from where Dino hails, held a meeting which lasted more than two hours to take a stand on what they referred to as “the recent activities of their colleague,” although they could not reach a consensus at the end of the meeting.
The Kogi caucus of the House, led by Honourable Atai Aidoko, had held a closed door meeting with the leaders of the House on the same issue, as members said they would address the media today to relay their stand on the activities of Melaye and his group.
In the same vein, the leadership had held meetings with different caucuses of the House on the developments in the House, with the expectation that each of the caucuses would declare their stand on the development before the resumption of House session today.
A prominent member of the “Progressives,” Honourable West Idahosa, had earlier alleged plans by the House leadership to suspend all the members, based on the allegations they had levelled against the speaker, adding that he and his colleagues would resist any move aimed at suspending anyone of them.
The Minority Leader of the House, Honourable Muhammed Ali Ndume, had, last week, dismissed plots by members of the “Progressives” to remove Bankole as speaker, saying that the leadership of the House had tolerated the aggrieved members for so long and was no longer prepared to allow them any more space.
He had told the media that the House would not hesitate to wield the big stick against members found culpable of denting the image of the House for no reason, although he had also called members of the “Progressives” to repent by retracing their steps before the House took a decision.
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Monday, began investigation into the alleged N9 billion scam rocking the House of Representatives, moments after the pro-probe members submitted a petition and documents on the alleged scam to it.
Commission’s boss, Mrs. Farida Waziri, reportedly set up a six-man panel to investigate the allegations contained in the lawmakers’ petition and the panel, according to sources within the commission, had commenced work.
The panel, Nigerian Tribune learnt, will start by analysing issues raised in the petition in relation to the evidence contained in the documents made available by the group of lawmakers known as ‘The Progressives’.
While receiving the petition from the lawmakers, Waziri noted that the House of Representatives was fast becoming a permanent habitation for corruption scandals and had decided to investigate the fresh allegations of corruption against the leadership of Speaker Dimeji Bankole, even if the group did not file in any petition.
She added that the leadership of the House would be thoroughly investigated and those found culpable would be brought to justice, while saying that the lower chamber of the National Assembly would be sanitised.
The Progressives, led by Honourable Dino Melaye, are accusing the Speaker of misappropriating the N9 billion capital vote for the House for 2008.
Said Waziri: “It is my pleasure to meet you; you are welcome to the EFCC’s headquarters. I am delighted to have distinguished Honourable members. I read in the papers just like any other Nigerian that a petition was coming and would be presented personally by Honourable members.
“And this morning, I saw an advert in ThisDay newspaper and with the Secretary of the commission we were going through and we discussed it. I was just sending for the Director of Operations that we didn’t even have to wait for you to bring in a petition before we look into it. We will look into this.
“And I was talking of setting up a committee of diligent and loyal and hard-working officers to look at this when I was told that you were around.
“We will receive this petition and we will look at it critically with professionalism and we will do our own. And whoever is responsible or is found wanting will be brought to justice.
“The law, as we say, is no respecter of persons. Nobody is above the laws of the land; everybody is equal before the law. And this is what we have been preaching and this is what we have been trying to do. I am particularly happy when people discover that something is wrong, economic crimes wise, and they take it upon themselves to expose and to bring it to our attention.
“We have been crying out loud that fighting corruption and economic crimes is not the exclusive preserve of the EFCC and ICPC, it is everybody’s fight, and it is every Nigerian’s fight.
“This is our country as you stated, we don’t have any other country, we have just Nigeria. And there is no place like home. Even those of you that have gone out, you can compare and see that home is home and that there is no place like home.
“We will be pained when our country is being run down, as a result of massive corruption. I am in a position to say because as I sit here, I know what goes on and I feel so much pain.
“A lot of Nigerians are trooping to India to seek for medical help. Just yesterday, India was categorised like us. Nigerians are trooping to Ghana to take our children to schools there. And this is a big shame, we cannot continue like this.
“And that was why when I got so desperate, I said may be the only thing is to get a law like death penalty just like the Chinese. They are many like us and the death penalty is working.
“Some Nigerians really hate Nigeria. If Nigeria was a human being, you can imagine Nigeria would not exist today. Nigeria is so battered. I am talking of various cases we are handling like Siemens, Halliburton, Daimler, and Wilbros. All these cases give us very, very bad image and a bad name that foreign investors are even scared to come in and do anything with us.
“They said when they come to do business with Nigeria, Nigerian officials must demand for bribes. When they pay, they go back there and American law is waiting for them and so what do they do.
“We have to look inward and do something. Whatever it is that anyone can do, we have to salvage our nation.
“For the National Assembly, the House of Representatives in particular, I have been worried, I think most Nigerians have been very concerned, because there have been scandals upon scandals in that House.
“And that is the bastion of democracy and the hope for the common man. And all the citizens that sent you or voted you there, they feel that you are there to protect them.
“But when we have issues all the time, starting from Salisu Buhari’s certificate, Etteh’s matter, the car scam and now, I mean, it is something that is worrisome.
“I think with this step you have taken and the action that will follow, you need to sanitise the House of Representatives and make it like any other House anywhere in the world, make it a beauty of democracy. I am sure that you have travelled to other Houses and parliaments.
“The other day, there was a fight also and chairs were flying in the House of Representatives. Was it not so?
“When you talk of the body of principal officers, we will swing into action and you will see what we are doing.
“I thank you and I wish other Nigerians will not sweep anything under the carpet, it won’t help anyone. If you know or feel that something is wrong somewhere, bring it to our attention and help us to fight this war.
“It is very tasking, it is very dangerous, very, very tedious, but we have to do it. And what is worth doing at all is worth doing well.”
Meanwhile, the leadership of the House, on Monday, said it would leave no stone unturned towards addressing the corruption allegation, adding that the activities of the “Progressives,” led by Honourable Melaye, would not impair the unity in the House.
The House Leader, Honourable Tunde Akogun, who stated the position of the leadership on the rumblings in the House, occasioned by the allegations against the speaker, added that the House would take a decision on the issues at stake at today’s plenary session.
He said after the House decision, peace and tranquillity would return, which, he said, had more challenging responsibilities lying ahead of it.
“As we resume today, you will find out that we are more united as ever before. I have not seen a member who has shown interest in setting aside his primary responsibility to pursue matters not relevant to the progress of the House.
“So we are focused and determined to continue to play the roles that we were elected to play as members of the House of Representatives.
“I cannot predict the decision that we will take today on what we have been reading in the newspapers while we were away, but the truth of the matter is that, the leadership does not have a crisis that it cannot resolve.
“All I can plead now is for Nigerians to allow us to take a decision which, in my view, will return the House to the path of progress,” he said.
Akogun made this statement in an interview with House correspondents, against the backdrop of a petition filed by members of the “Progressives” against the speaker before the EFCC.
Honourable Melaye had alleged that the speaker mismanaged N9 billion being capital vote for the House of Representatives for 1999 and 2010 and had called on the leadership to account for the said money.
Earlier in the day, members of the House from Kogi State, from where Dino hails, held a meeting which lasted more than two hours to take a stand on what they referred to as “the recent activities of their colleague,” although they could not reach a consensus at the end of the meeting.
The Kogi caucus of the House, led by Honourable Atai Aidoko, had held a closed door meeting with the leaders of the House on the same issue, as members said they would address the media today to relay their stand on the activities of Melaye and his group.
In the same vein, the leadership had held meetings with different caucuses of the House on the developments in the House, with the expectation that each of the caucuses would declare their stand on the development before the resumption of House session today.
A prominent member of the “Progressives,” Honourable West Idahosa, had earlier alleged plans by the House leadership to suspend all the members, based on the allegations they had levelled against the speaker, adding that he and his colleagues would resist any move aimed at suspending anyone of them.
The Minority Leader of the House, Honourable Muhammed Ali Ndume, had, last week, dismissed plots by members of the “Progressives” to remove Bankole as speaker, saying that the leadership of the House had tolerated the aggrieved members for so long and was no longer prepared to allow them any more space.
He had told the media that the House would not hesitate to wield the big stick against members found culpable of denting the image of the House for no reason, although he had also called members of the “Progressives” to repent by retracing their steps before the House took a decision.
Fresh troubles for Ogbulafor •As ICPC slams another 17-count corruption charge on ex-PDP chairman
Written by Tunde Oyesina, Abuja Tuesday, 22 June 2010
THE Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), on Monday, brought fresh charges against former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, and two others charged with defrauding the Federal Government of about N104 million via contract awards.
However, the court, presided over by Justice Ishaq Bello, struck out the names of Henry Ikoh and Emmanuel Bosah, who were mentioned in the original charge.
The rest of the accused were arraigned afresh and they all pleaded not guilty to the 17-count charge preferred against them by ICPC. Upon arraignment, counsel for the accused, Joe Gadzama (SAN), and Chief Awa Kalu (SAN), made oral bail applications for their clients, Ogbulafor and Emeka Ebila respectively.
Ogbulafor’s counsel asked the court to grant bail to the accused, since they did not try to flee after they were granted bail in the original 16-count charge and that the same terms and conditions should apply pending the hearing and determination of the case.
The plea was not objected to by ICPC counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), and it was accordingly granted by the court, which adjourned the matter till July 14, 2010 for trial and hearing of a pending motion by Gadzama, seeking to quash the charge against Ogbulafor.
Immediately after Henry Ikoh, formerly the third accused, was discharged, he told newsmen in front of the court premises that he would now pursue his governorship ambition in Abia State on the ticket of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Bosah, who is now deceased and Ikoh were discharged following the absence of their names in the amended charge.
Apart from Ogbulafor, other accused whose charges are subsisting are Emeka Ebilah and Jude Nwokoro.
In the original charge, the accused were granted bail in the sum of N5 million with two sureties each in like sum.
In his ruling on bail applications then, the trial judge, Justice Ishaq Bello said, “I hereby order accelerated hearing.”
The original charges include: “That you Vincent Ogbulafor (M), Emeka Ebilah (M) and Emmanuel Bosah (M), in the month of March 2001, being public officers, to wit; Minister in charge of Special Duties, secretary/member of the National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC) and Director, Budget Implementation, Federal Ministry of Finance respectively, did use your positions to confer corrupt advantage upon yourselves by fraudulently receiving for yourselves through a proxy, Henry Ikoh, the sum of N82,631,03.41 from the Federal Government of Nigeria in the name of a company, Henchriko Nigeria Ltd, as payment for a fictitious contract purportedly executed for the Federal Government of Nigeria and you thereby committed an offence contrary to, and punishable under Section 19 of the Corruption Practices and Related Offences Act 200.”
“And That you Vincent Ogbulafor (M), Emeka Ebilah (M) and Emmanuel Bosah, in the month of March 2001 or thereabout did conspire to use the NEIC contract verification panel to verify a fictitious contract purportedly executed on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria by a company known as Henchrico Nigeria Ltd and received for yourselves the sum of N82,631,031 as payment for the aforesaid contract and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 26 and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Act 2000.
The third count reads: “That you Vincent Ogbulafor(M), Emeka Ebilah (M) and Emmanuel Bosah, in the month of March 2001 being public officers, to wit; Minister in charge of Special Duties, secretary/ member of the National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC) and Director, Budget Implementation, Federal Ministry of Finance respectively, did use your positions to confer corrupt advantage upon yourselves by fraudulently receiving from the Federal Republic of Nigeria the sum of N11,519,906,25 through a proxy, Chris Abuajah, in the name of a company, DHL Consultants, as payment for a fictitious contract purportedly executed on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria by the aforesaid company and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26 and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Act 2000.”
In addition, count four reads: “That you Vincent Ogbulafor(M), Emeka Ebilah (M) and Emmanuel Bosah, in the month of March 2001 or thereabout did conspire to use the NEIC contract verification panel to verify a fictitious contract purportedly executed on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria by a company known as DHL Consultants and received for yourselves the sum of N11,519,906.25 as payment for the aforesaid contract and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26 and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Act 2000.
THE Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), on Monday, brought fresh charges against former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, and two others charged with defrauding the Federal Government of about N104 million via contract awards.
However, the court, presided over by Justice Ishaq Bello, struck out the names of Henry Ikoh and Emmanuel Bosah, who were mentioned in the original charge.
The rest of the accused were arraigned afresh and they all pleaded not guilty to the 17-count charge preferred against them by ICPC. Upon arraignment, counsel for the accused, Joe Gadzama (SAN), and Chief Awa Kalu (SAN), made oral bail applications for their clients, Ogbulafor and Emeka Ebila respectively.
Ogbulafor’s counsel asked the court to grant bail to the accused, since they did not try to flee after they were granted bail in the original 16-count charge and that the same terms and conditions should apply pending the hearing and determination of the case.
The plea was not objected to by ICPC counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), and it was accordingly granted by the court, which adjourned the matter till July 14, 2010 for trial and hearing of a pending motion by Gadzama, seeking to quash the charge against Ogbulafor.
Immediately after Henry Ikoh, formerly the third accused, was discharged, he told newsmen in front of the court premises that he would now pursue his governorship ambition in Abia State on the ticket of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Bosah, who is now deceased and Ikoh were discharged following the absence of their names in the amended charge.
Apart from Ogbulafor, other accused whose charges are subsisting are Emeka Ebilah and Jude Nwokoro.
In the original charge, the accused were granted bail in the sum of N5 million with two sureties each in like sum.
In his ruling on bail applications then, the trial judge, Justice Ishaq Bello said, “I hereby order accelerated hearing.”
The original charges include: “That you Vincent Ogbulafor (M), Emeka Ebilah (M) and Emmanuel Bosah (M), in the month of March 2001, being public officers, to wit; Minister in charge of Special Duties, secretary/member of the National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC) and Director, Budget Implementation, Federal Ministry of Finance respectively, did use your positions to confer corrupt advantage upon yourselves by fraudulently receiving for yourselves through a proxy, Henry Ikoh, the sum of N82,631,03.41 from the Federal Government of Nigeria in the name of a company, Henchriko Nigeria Ltd, as payment for a fictitious contract purportedly executed for the Federal Government of Nigeria and you thereby committed an offence contrary to, and punishable under Section 19 of the Corruption Practices and Related Offences Act 200.”
“And That you Vincent Ogbulafor (M), Emeka Ebilah (M) and Emmanuel Bosah, in the month of March 2001 or thereabout did conspire to use the NEIC contract verification panel to verify a fictitious contract purportedly executed on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria by a company known as Henchrico Nigeria Ltd and received for yourselves the sum of N82,631,031 as payment for the aforesaid contract and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 26 and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Act 2000.
The third count reads: “That you Vincent Ogbulafor(M), Emeka Ebilah (M) and Emmanuel Bosah, in the month of March 2001 being public officers, to wit; Minister in charge of Special Duties, secretary/ member of the National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC) and Director, Budget Implementation, Federal Ministry of Finance respectively, did use your positions to confer corrupt advantage upon yourselves by fraudulently receiving from the Federal Republic of Nigeria the sum of N11,519,906,25 through a proxy, Chris Abuajah, in the name of a company, DHL Consultants, as payment for a fictitious contract purportedly executed on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria by the aforesaid company and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26 and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Act 2000.”
In addition, count four reads: “That you Vincent Ogbulafor(M), Emeka Ebilah (M) and Emmanuel Bosah, in the month of March 2001 or thereabout did conspire to use the NEIC contract verification panel to verify a fictitious contract purportedly executed on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria by a company known as DHL Consultants and received for yourselves the sum of N11,519,906.25 as payment for the aforesaid contract and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26 and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Act 2000.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Zoning: Nigerians to decide -Jonathan •North unites against President •Names IBB, Atiku, Ciroma, Ogbeh on committees to deliver presidential ticket
Written by Idowu Samuel, Leon Usigbe and Dare Adekanmbi
Monday, 21 June 2010
“At the appropriate time, I will tell Nigerians if I am contesting or not. I will also make my position known on zoning. I will encourage public debates on zoning and get to hear the views of Nigerians.”
FOR the first time since the issue of zoning sparked a chain of reactions in the build-up to the 2011 presidential election, President Goodluck Jonathan, on Sunday, said he would subject the issue to public debate and feel the pulse of Nigerians at the appropriate time.
He also said he would announce to Nigerians if he would contest next year’s election as president in the fullness of time, strengthening his rumoured presidential ambition in the election.
The president made the revelations at his maiden presidential media chat, during which he fielded questions from media executives from select media organisations.
Jonathan, who was non-commital on the issue of zoning, said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), at a meeting during the rule of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo had not made any categorical standpoint on the thorny issue.
“I was in that meeting, representing my governor then, who was away from the country. The meeting extended till about 4.00 a.m. the following day. The party did not make a categorical position on the issue of zoning.
“At the appropriate time, I will tell Nigerians if I am contesting or not. I will also make my position known on zoning. I will encourage public debates on zoning and get to hear the views of Nigerians. If I will contest, I will pick forms and, of course, the PDP will sell forms to would-be aspirants,” he said.
“If I declare now that I am contesting, then, all the governors who are incumbents who want to contest will begin to declare,” the president added.
On his nomination of Professor Attahiru Jega as chairman-designate of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Jonathan assured Nigerians that Jega would swing into action once the Senate confirmed his nomination.
He added that Nigerians should not wait for a perfect person as INEC umpire, promising that the body would not be limited by funds in the bid to ensure credible polls next year.
“We are waiting for the Senate to clear him after which he will be expected to swing into action.
Assuming I am going to contest, I will declare my intention close to the release of INEC timetable. If I won’t contest, I won’t pick form.
“Most of the governors have not declared their intention because the new INEC boss has not started work and released a timetable for the 2011 elections,” he said.
He reiterated his determination to ensure that the coming elections enjoyed credibility, insisting that the votes of every Nigerian must count.
“Our elections have been largely controversial. We are ready to conduct elections that will give our leaders credibility. The United States and other group have promised to help us in this area,” Jonathan added.
Asked how he hoped to get the PDP governors and chieftains of the party to join in the crusade for credible elections, Jonathan replied that he had stressed the need for rigging-free polls.
On three occasions he had addressed national stakeholders of the party during which he reiterated that votes must count.
While saying that he was not the only advocate of free and fair elections, he pointed out that the new PDP chairman, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, was a stronger advocate of the campaign, urging INEC to cancel controversial polls.
“The new PDP chairman shares the vision too. He is a stronger advocate for free, fair elections. The governors are not expected to make much pronouncement on the issue.
“INEC should be able to cancel controversial elections, though some laws hinder this. The language of “capture” as being used by members of our party does not connote rigging. It is a political vocabulary.
“If I want Nigerians to follow a particular course of action, I only need to set machinery in motion to make Nigerians follow it,” Jonathan said.
On the 7-point agenda by his late predecessor, Umaru Yar’Adua, President Jonathan said the believed the blueprint would not interest Nigerians any more.
He said he had been advised by eminent leaders who had visited him when he acted as president to evolve pragmatic steps that would put the nation’s economy on the path of recovery.
Said Jonathan: “I don’t think the 7-point agenda will interest Nigerians. Budget is wholistic, hence, every area of our economy should function. I would not suffer Nigerians about any recitation on 7-point agenda.”
Agaisnt the background of the enormous power not codified in any known law in Nigeria which the former first lady, Turai Yar’Adua, wielded during the grave illness of her husband, Jonathan said he would not encourage wives of elected public officers to be ‘powerful’.
Jonathan, who also condemned god-fatherism, added that he would have been fingered as contributing to the death of ex-President Yar’Adua if he had forcibly visited him when he was brought back from Saudi Arabia.
“If I had forced my way and something happened, there would have been insinuations that I contributed to the eventuality,” he added.
When told that Chief Obasanjo and Theophilus Danjuma had been touted as his godfathers, he replied “it is okay if they call them my godfathers. I interact with elders, all past presidents and traditional rulers.”
On the public outcry that greeted the clamour for increase in quarterly allowances by members of the National Assembly, the president said he did not have power over the lawmakers.
“Only RMFAC can query the amount of allowance enjoyed by elected political public office holders. I recall that the head of that body once said that Nigerian president is the least paid in the world. The president at that time said the time was not appropriate for an increase in the allowance and salary.”
He, however, pledged to discuss the issue with the lawmakers, saying that Nigerians should not misrepresent the lawmakers’ overhead for allowance.
Jonathan also condemned the spate of kidnapping in the country, especially in the South-East and promised to expose those behind the act.
“Security is a major concern and it is becoming terribly embarrasing. Kidnapping is becoming a big industry; lawyers are involved in negotiating for kidnappers. By the time we arrest the big people involved, they will know we are serious. Kidnapping makes Nigeria worse than South Africa,” he said.
The president also reaffirmed his commitment towards ensuring stable electricity supply in the country, adding that leakages in the government had thwarted efforts geared towards the provision of uninterrupted power supply.
“Electricity generation and distribution must be privatised. Government can concentrate on tramsmission and may even involve consultants at a point in time,” he said.
Meanwhile, political juggernauts from the North, who converged on Abuja, last week, for deliberations on the 2011 presidential election, have now drawn a battle line with President Jonathan on his reported plan to contest the next presidential election, in spite of the reported zoning arrangement in the PDP.
The North is suggesting that since it yielded to popular clamour for zoning before the return to democracy in 1999 by conceding the presidency to the South through former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the idea of zoning has since become a norm and convention in the Nigerian political setting, a reason the late president, Umaru Yar’Adua, got the presidency in 2007 after Obasanjo’s two terms in office.
It argued that any plan to jettison the existing zoning arrangement in the current political circumstances would boomerang and then leave the North with no option but to fight its cause outside the zoning principle.
Against this background, the North had decided to put its house in order, to prevent Jonathan from taking the presidential slot.
The northern leaders, who met in Abuja, have, therefore, resolved to first reconcile all its war generals, including those who had declared ambition to run in the 2011 presidential election, for the purpose of fighting to get the next presidential slot.
Those to be reconciled, according to the plan, included General Ibrahim Babangida; General Muhammadu Buhari; General Aliyu Gusau; Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau.
The North is equally keen on drafting all northern governors, its representatives in the Senate and House of Representatives, all political appointees, irrespective of party affiliations and traditional rulers into the battle to present the next president in 2011.
The northern intelligentsia have, to this effect, constituted three committees, including planning and strategies, contact and mobilisation and media and publicity, with notable eggheads in the North as members, even as presidential aspirants, including General Babangida and former Vice-President Abubakar are heads of sub-committees.
Operating on the aegis of Northern Political Elders Forum, the political juggernauts, in a communiqué released on Saturday and made available to the Nigerian Tribune, stressed that the issue of zoning was a principle that must be adhered to by the PDP.
“That the North is calling on politicians and other stakeholders to respect political agreements and allow the principle of zoning to run its full course should not be construed as weakness on its part.
Northerners have all it takes to win free and fair elections without special arrangements.
“The call to respect the principle of zoning is on the grounds of principle and not targeted at speculated aspiration of President Jonathan in 2011. That zoning will, for the foreseeable future, serve the best interest of Nigeria and its political stability, at least in the short and medium terms.
There would have been no need for special political arrangement to concede power to the South in 1999 if Nigerians were ready to accept their presidents to come, perpetually, from any part of the country.
“That, in practice, zoning as a political mechanism to stabilise the country since 1999 has applied to every political office in Nigeria at all levels. We must be certain that we are ready, as a nation, to jettison the practice at all levels before we throw it overboard or set in motion a process that may lead to avoidable chaos and anarchy in the land,” the communique read.
According to the communiqué, signed by Dr Iyiorcha Ayu, the planning and strategy committee has Professor Ignatius Ayua as chairman, while Dr Abuba-kar Mohammed, Professor Yakubu Mukhtar, Dr Sule Bello, Senator Davis Iornem, Professor Nuhu Yaqub, Dr Junaid Mohammed, Alhaji Usman Alhaji, Basher Yusuf Ibrahim, Farouk B. Farouk, Omar Shittien, Professor Maxwell Gidado and Senator Salisu Ibrahim Matori are members.
Members of the contact and mobilisation committee include Mallam Adamu Ciroma (chairman), General Ibrahim Babangida, General I.M. Wushishi, Major-General David Jemibewon (rtd), Chief Audu Ogbeh, Dr Iyiorcha Ayu, Ambassador Yahaya Kwande, Alhaji Sha’aba Lafiagi, Professor Daniel Saror, Mr Patrick Adaba and Alhaji Mohammed Hassan (Ciroman Keffi).
The North-East members of the committee has Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Dr Shettima Mustafa, Alhaji Mohammed Bello Kirfi, Professor Saad Abubakar, Ambassador Yarima Abdullahi, Senator Abubakar Mahdi, Professor Isa Mohammed, Alhaji Dahiru Bobbo and Alhaji Yakubu Tsala.
The North-West members of the contact committee include Alhaji M.D. Yusuf, Aliyu Shinkafi, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, Senator M.T. Liman, AVM Hamza Abdullahi, Alhaji Magaji Dambatta, Major-General Mohammed Magoro (rtd), Senator Garba Ila Gada, Alhaji Yahaya Abdulkarim and Alhaji Usman Alhaji.
Those who constitute the media and publicity committee include Alhaji Magaji Dambatta, chairman; Chief Audu Ogbeh, Alhaji Sani Zangon Daura, Mallam Mohammed Haruna, Mallam Bukar Zarma, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Gusau and Zubairu Dada.
Monday, 21 June 2010
“At the appropriate time, I will tell Nigerians if I am contesting or not. I will also make my position known on zoning. I will encourage public debates on zoning and get to hear the views of Nigerians.”
FOR the first time since the issue of zoning sparked a chain of reactions in the build-up to the 2011 presidential election, President Goodluck Jonathan, on Sunday, said he would subject the issue to public debate and feel the pulse of Nigerians at the appropriate time.
He also said he would announce to Nigerians if he would contest next year’s election as president in the fullness of time, strengthening his rumoured presidential ambition in the election.
The president made the revelations at his maiden presidential media chat, during which he fielded questions from media executives from select media organisations.
Jonathan, who was non-commital on the issue of zoning, said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), at a meeting during the rule of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo had not made any categorical standpoint on the thorny issue.
“I was in that meeting, representing my governor then, who was away from the country. The meeting extended till about 4.00 a.m. the following day. The party did not make a categorical position on the issue of zoning.
“At the appropriate time, I will tell Nigerians if I am contesting or not. I will also make my position known on zoning. I will encourage public debates on zoning and get to hear the views of Nigerians. If I will contest, I will pick forms and, of course, the PDP will sell forms to would-be aspirants,” he said.
“If I declare now that I am contesting, then, all the governors who are incumbents who want to contest will begin to declare,” the president added.
On his nomination of Professor Attahiru Jega as chairman-designate of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Jonathan assured Nigerians that Jega would swing into action once the Senate confirmed his nomination.
He added that Nigerians should not wait for a perfect person as INEC umpire, promising that the body would not be limited by funds in the bid to ensure credible polls next year.
“We are waiting for the Senate to clear him after which he will be expected to swing into action.
Assuming I am going to contest, I will declare my intention close to the release of INEC timetable. If I won’t contest, I won’t pick form.
“Most of the governors have not declared their intention because the new INEC boss has not started work and released a timetable for the 2011 elections,” he said.
He reiterated his determination to ensure that the coming elections enjoyed credibility, insisting that the votes of every Nigerian must count.
“Our elections have been largely controversial. We are ready to conduct elections that will give our leaders credibility. The United States and other group have promised to help us in this area,” Jonathan added.
Asked how he hoped to get the PDP governors and chieftains of the party to join in the crusade for credible elections, Jonathan replied that he had stressed the need for rigging-free polls.
On three occasions he had addressed national stakeholders of the party during which he reiterated that votes must count.
While saying that he was not the only advocate of free and fair elections, he pointed out that the new PDP chairman, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, was a stronger advocate of the campaign, urging INEC to cancel controversial polls.
“The new PDP chairman shares the vision too. He is a stronger advocate for free, fair elections. The governors are not expected to make much pronouncement on the issue.
“INEC should be able to cancel controversial elections, though some laws hinder this. The language of “capture” as being used by members of our party does not connote rigging. It is a political vocabulary.
“If I want Nigerians to follow a particular course of action, I only need to set machinery in motion to make Nigerians follow it,” Jonathan said.
On the 7-point agenda by his late predecessor, Umaru Yar’Adua, President Jonathan said the believed the blueprint would not interest Nigerians any more.
He said he had been advised by eminent leaders who had visited him when he acted as president to evolve pragmatic steps that would put the nation’s economy on the path of recovery.
Said Jonathan: “I don’t think the 7-point agenda will interest Nigerians. Budget is wholistic, hence, every area of our economy should function. I would not suffer Nigerians about any recitation on 7-point agenda.”
Agaisnt the background of the enormous power not codified in any known law in Nigeria which the former first lady, Turai Yar’Adua, wielded during the grave illness of her husband, Jonathan said he would not encourage wives of elected public officers to be ‘powerful’.
Jonathan, who also condemned god-fatherism, added that he would have been fingered as contributing to the death of ex-President Yar’Adua if he had forcibly visited him when he was brought back from Saudi Arabia.
“If I had forced my way and something happened, there would have been insinuations that I contributed to the eventuality,” he added.
When told that Chief Obasanjo and Theophilus Danjuma had been touted as his godfathers, he replied “it is okay if they call them my godfathers. I interact with elders, all past presidents and traditional rulers.”
On the public outcry that greeted the clamour for increase in quarterly allowances by members of the National Assembly, the president said he did not have power over the lawmakers.
“Only RMFAC can query the amount of allowance enjoyed by elected political public office holders. I recall that the head of that body once said that Nigerian president is the least paid in the world. The president at that time said the time was not appropriate for an increase in the allowance and salary.”
He, however, pledged to discuss the issue with the lawmakers, saying that Nigerians should not misrepresent the lawmakers’ overhead for allowance.
Jonathan also condemned the spate of kidnapping in the country, especially in the South-East and promised to expose those behind the act.
“Security is a major concern and it is becoming terribly embarrasing. Kidnapping is becoming a big industry; lawyers are involved in negotiating for kidnappers. By the time we arrest the big people involved, they will know we are serious. Kidnapping makes Nigeria worse than South Africa,” he said.
The president also reaffirmed his commitment towards ensuring stable electricity supply in the country, adding that leakages in the government had thwarted efforts geared towards the provision of uninterrupted power supply.
“Electricity generation and distribution must be privatised. Government can concentrate on tramsmission and may even involve consultants at a point in time,” he said.
Meanwhile, political juggernauts from the North, who converged on Abuja, last week, for deliberations on the 2011 presidential election, have now drawn a battle line with President Jonathan on his reported plan to contest the next presidential election, in spite of the reported zoning arrangement in the PDP.
The North is suggesting that since it yielded to popular clamour for zoning before the return to democracy in 1999 by conceding the presidency to the South through former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the idea of zoning has since become a norm and convention in the Nigerian political setting, a reason the late president, Umaru Yar’Adua, got the presidency in 2007 after Obasanjo’s two terms in office.
It argued that any plan to jettison the existing zoning arrangement in the current political circumstances would boomerang and then leave the North with no option but to fight its cause outside the zoning principle.
Against this background, the North had decided to put its house in order, to prevent Jonathan from taking the presidential slot.
The northern leaders, who met in Abuja, have, therefore, resolved to first reconcile all its war generals, including those who had declared ambition to run in the 2011 presidential election, for the purpose of fighting to get the next presidential slot.
Those to be reconciled, according to the plan, included General Ibrahim Babangida; General Muhammadu Buhari; General Aliyu Gusau; Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau.
The North is equally keen on drafting all northern governors, its representatives in the Senate and House of Representatives, all political appointees, irrespective of party affiliations and traditional rulers into the battle to present the next president in 2011.
The northern intelligentsia have, to this effect, constituted three committees, including planning and strategies, contact and mobilisation and media and publicity, with notable eggheads in the North as members, even as presidential aspirants, including General Babangida and former Vice-President Abubakar are heads of sub-committees.
Operating on the aegis of Northern Political Elders Forum, the political juggernauts, in a communiqué released on Saturday and made available to the Nigerian Tribune, stressed that the issue of zoning was a principle that must be adhered to by the PDP.
“That the North is calling on politicians and other stakeholders to respect political agreements and allow the principle of zoning to run its full course should not be construed as weakness on its part.
Northerners have all it takes to win free and fair elections without special arrangements.
“The call to respect the principle of zoning is on the grounds of principle and not targeted at speculated aspiration of President Jonathan in 2011. That zoning will, for the foreseeable future, serve the best interest of Nigeria and its political stability, at least in the short and medium terms.
There would have been no need for special political arrangement to concede power to the South in 1999 if Nigerians were ready to accept their presidents to come, perpetually, from any part of the country.
“That, in practice, zoning as a political mechanism to stabilise the country since 1999 has applied to every political office in Nigeria at all levels. We must be certain that we are ready, as a nation, to jettison the practice at all levels before we throw it overboard or set in motion a process that may lead to avoidable chaos and anarchy in the land,” the communique read.
According to the communiqué, signed by Dr Iyiorcha Ayu, the planning and strategy committee has Professor Ignatius Ayua as chairman, while Dr Abuba-kar Mohammed, Professor Yakubu Mukhtar, Dr Sule Bello, Senator Davis Iornem, Professor Nuhu Yaqub, Dr Junaid Mohammed, Alhaji Usman Alhaji, Basher Yusuf Ibrahim, Farouk B. Farouk, Omar Shittien, Professor Maxwell Gidado and Senator Salisu Ibrahim Matori are members.
Members of the contact and mobilisation committee include Mallam Adamu Ciroma (chairman), General Ibrahim Babangida, General I.M. Wushishi, Major-General David Jemibewon (rtd), Chief Audu Ogbeh, Dr Iyiorcha Ayu, Ambassador Yahaya Kwande, Alhaji Sha’aba Lafiagi, Professor Daniel Saror, Mr Patrick Adaba and Alhaji Mohammed Hassan (Ciroman Keffi).
The North-East members of the committee has Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Dr Shettima Mustafa, Alhaji Mohammed Bello Kirfi, Professor Saad Abubakar, Ambassador Yarima Abdullahi, Senator Abubakar Mahdi, Professor Isa Mohammed, Alhaji Dahiru Bobbo and Alhaji Yakubu Tsala.
The North-West members of the contact committee include Alhaji M.D. Yusuf, Aliyu Shinkafi, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, Senator M.T. Liman, AVM Hamza Abdullahi, Alhaji Magaji Dambatta, Major-General Mohammed Magoro (rtd), Senator Garba Ila Gada, Alhaji Yahaya Abdulkarim and Alhaji Usman Alhaji.
Those who constitute the media and publicity committee include Alhaji Magaji Dambatta, chairman; Chief Audu Ogbeh, Alhaji Sani Zangon Daura, Mallam Mohammed Haruna, Mallam Bukar Zarma, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Gusau and Zubairu Dada.
Electricity generation hits 3,759.9MW •PHCN targets 4,000MW by July •FG approves special welfare package for electricity workers
Written by Samuel Ibiyemi, Lagos Monday, 21 June 2010
IN the pursuit of the 6,000 megawatts unrealised target of December 2009 by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) as a result of inadequate gas supply, electricity generation, for the first time in six months, peaked at 3,759.9 megawatts on Sunday.
The achievement of PHCN is coming at a time that President Goodluck Jonathan approved an enhanced welfare package for electricity workers in the country to strengthen their commitment towards achieving the administration’s ambition of 6,000 megawatts by December 31, 2010.
Minister of State for Power, Mr Nuhu Somo Wya, who dropped this hint at the weekend while addressing the workers during his tour of Shiroro Hydro-Electric Power Station in Shiroro, Niger State, said the package was to encourage and motivate the workers so as to double their efforts in the current drive to resolve once and for all, the perennial power crisis plaguing the nation.
Electricity generation data obtained from PHCN headquarters show that the addition of over 500MW was made possible by the recent rehabilitation initiated by the administration of President Jonathan and improvement in water level of hydro-electric power stations located at Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro. For instance, four units at Kainji contributed 269MW, three units at Jebba produced 248MW and three units at Shiroro 400MW.
In the case of gas-fired power stations, 622 MW was generated by four units at Egbin, Delta II -453MW, Sapele-169MW, Afam VI of Shell- 446MW, Okpai of Agip- 453MW, Omotosho-66.1MW, Omoku – 31.7MW and Olorunsogo-73.3MW.
The data revealed that there was no contribution from Geregu Power Station on Sunday as a result of two units that tripped off early in the morning due to high frequency. There was also no contribution from the Independent Power Stations (IPPs) located at Trans Amadi in Rivers State and Ibom, in Akwa Ibom State. At Jebba hydro-station, two units on annual maintenance programme did not generate electricity on Sunday.
“We hope to achieve 4,000mw during the first week of July for the first time in the history of electricity generation in Nigeria by the time we receive additional 200mw from Afam VI of Shell and resumption of generation by units at Egbin and Jebba undergoing annual maintenance,” the senior official said.
Wya, however, said verification and audit would soon commence and would be carried out before effecting the payment, adding that government would, through the process, ensure that all workers received their full entitlements.
The minister told the workers that he visited the power station on the instruction of President Jonathan to assess the challenges on the ground and to assure them that the Federal Government appreciated what they had been doing.
He expressed delight that the Shiroro hydro-power complex had been generating at 75 per cent installed capacity since inception and described the achievement as “no mean feat.”
Wya told the workers that the country was proud of them and commended the managerial skill of the Chief Executive Officer of the station, Mr Dauda Abdul Aziz.
The minister, who visited every crane of the complex, expressed satisfaction at the devotion of all the members staff who, he said, spent 24 hours at their duty post to ensure that the country had electricity.
Wya said the government had made electricity generation and supply its priority and, therefore, would not leave anything to chance to ensure that the sector ran smoothly.
The minister told the workers that President Jonathan assumed the leadership of the sector not only to personally pilot its activities, but also to guarantee the closeness of the workers to the government.
“All the stakeholders in the power sector, from the Bureau of Public Procurement; Bureau of Public Enterprises; finance and water ministries and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have been constituted to the Presidential Action Committee on Power to ensure that nobody is left out in the movement for new Nigeria engineered by a rejuvenated power sector,” Wya said.
He urged them to continue what he called their good industrial relations with the host communities, adding that essential needs of the Shiroro community had been captured in the 2010 budget.
In his response, the chairman of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Saba Mohammed, pledged the union’s preparedness to raise their efficiency to 200 per cent as part of their national service.
On the minister’s entourage were top management staff in the power sector, including the Managing Director of PHCN/TCN, Mr Hussein Labo; departmental heads and hydroelectric engineering experts, among others.
IN the pursuit of the 6,000 megawatts unrealised target of December 2009 by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) as a result of inadequate gas supply, electricity generation, for the first time in six months, peaked at 3,759.9 megawatts on Sunday.
The achievement of PHCN is coming at a time that President Goodluck Jonathan approved an enhanced welfare package for electricity workers in the country to strengthen their commitment towards achieving the administration’s ambition of 6,000 megawatts by December 31, 2010.
Minister of State for Power, Mr Nuhu Somo Wya, who dropped this hint at the weekend while addressing the workers during his tour of Shiroro Hydro-Electric Power Station in Shiroro, Niger State, said the package was to encourage and motivate the workers so as to double their efforts in the current drive to resolve once and for all, the perennial power crisis plaguing the nation.
Electricity generation data obtained from PHCN headquarters show that the addition of over 500MW was made possible by the recent rehabilitation initiated by the administration of President Jonathan and improvement in water level of hydro-electric power stations located at Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro. For instance, four units at Kainji contributed 269MW, three units at Jebba produced 248MW and three units at Shiroro 400MW.
In the case of gas-fired power stations, 622 MW was generated by four units at Egbin, Delta II -453MW, Sapele-169MW, Afam VI of Shell- 446MW, Okpai of Agip- 453MW, Omotosho-66.1MW, Omoku – 31.7MW and Olorunsogo-73.3MW.
The data revealed that there was no contribution from Geregu Power Station on Sunday as a result of two units that tripped off early in the morning due to high frequency. There was also no contribution from the Independent Power Stations (IPPs) located at Trans Amadi in Rivers State and Ibom, in Akwa Ibom State. At Jebba hydro-station, two units on annual maintenance programme did not generate electricity on Sunday.
“We hope to achieve 4,000mw during the first week of July for the first time in the history of electricity generation in Nigeria by the time we receive additional 200mw from Afam VI of Shell and resumption of generation by units at Egbin and Jebba undergoing annual maintenance,” the senior official said.
Wya, however, said verification and audit would soon commence and would be carried out before effecting the payment, adding that government would, through the process, ensure that all workers received their full entitlements.
The minister told the workers that he visited the power station on the instruction of President Jonathan to assess the challenges on the ground and to assure them that the Federal Government appreciated what they had been doing.
He expressed delight that the Shiroro hydro-power complex had been generating at 75 per cent installed capacity since inception and described the achievement as “no mean feat.”
Wya told the workers that the country was proud of them and commended the managerial skill of the Chief Executive Officer of the station, Mr Dauda Abdul Aziz.
The minister, who visited every crane of the complex, expressed satisfaction at the devotion of all the members staff who, he said, spent 24 hours at their duty post to ensure that the country had electricity.
Wya said the government had made electricity generation and supply its priority and, therefore, would not leave anything to chance to ensure that the sector ran smoothly.
The minister told the workers that President Jonathan assumed the leadership of the sector not only to personally pilot its activities, but also to guarantee the closeness of the workers to the government.
“All the stakeholders in the power sector, from the Bureau of Public Procurement; Bureau of Public Enterprises; finance and water ministries and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have been constituted to the Presidential Action Committee on Power to ensure that nobody is left out in the movement for new Nigeria engineered by a rejuvenated power sector,” Wya said.
He urged them to continue what he called their good industrial relations with the host communities, adding that essential needs of the Shiroro community had been captured in the 2010 budget.
In his response, the chairman of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Saba Mohammed, pledged the union’s preparedness to raise their efficiency to 200 per cent as part of their national service.
On the minister’s entourage were top management staff in the power sector, including the Managing Director of PHCN/TCN, Mr Hussein Labo; departmental heads and hydroelectric engineering experts, among others.
Friday, June 18, 2010
N9b Scam: Bankole To Face Probe If... ––EFCC, ICPC • How Bankole Plans To Douse Tension
Written by Lanre Adewole, Bola Badmus and Idowu Samuel Saturday, 19 June 2010
The two main anti-Corruption bodies in the country on Friday indicated their readiness to probe the fresh alleged N9 billion scam involving the embattled Speaker, House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, once petitions detailing the allegations and evidences are made available by his accusers.
A group in the lower chamber under the aegis of ‘The Progressives’ had accused the Speaker of misappropriating the said sum which was the House of Representatives’ 2009 capital vote.
Bankole had ignored the call on him by the group to resign over the alleged scam, with the spokesperson of the group, Honourable Dino Melaye at a press briefing, disclosing that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) would be petitioned over the matter.
However, about a week after, Saturday Tribune findings at both the anti-corruption commissions showed that the absence of the petition, promised by the group, was the only reason they had not swung into action.
ICPC spokesperson, Mr. Folu Olamiti, told the Saturday Tribune that the commission was waiting for the group’s petition to commence its investigation into the alleged scam.
“We are yet to receive any petition on the alleged scam. Immediately we get the petition, we will swing into action and begin our investigation,” Olamiti said.
His EFCC’s counterpart, Mr. Femi Babafemi, noted that the same issue of petition was responsible for the delay on the commission’s part to commence probe into the matter.
Speaking on the alleged N2.3 billion car scam rocking the leadership of the House of Representatives since last year, Babafemi said Nigerians would soon hear from the commission the outcome of its investigation into the matter.
He noted that the case file was still with the legal unit, adding that “Nigerians will hear from us when we are ready.”
Meanwhile, as the House of Representatives resumes from its current recess on Tuesday, indications have emerged that the 360- member parliament may go into executive session with a view to dousing the tension that has built in the past few days over the allegation.
A group in the House tagged The Progressives led by Honourable Dino Melaye, had accused the Speaker of misappropriating N9 billion capital vote belonging to the House, just as it gave him a seven- day ultimatum to resign his position. The ultimatum expired last Wednesday.
Sources told the Saturday Tribune, on condition of anonymity, that there was strong possibility that the leadership led by Bankole would call for a closed session on Tuesday, rather than having a plenary session, in order to enable it douse the tension already generated in the media and the public by the Melaye group.
According to one of the sources, the Speaker is billed to order a closed session on Tuesday immediately members resume as a way to counter whatever tension and damage the Melaye group might have caused, while drawing attention to how past crisis of such dimension had been handled and resolved.
However, the source, which could not establish the membership strength of Melaye’s group of progressives, denied that any zonal caucus met to throw support for Bankole, saying he could give several names to contact just to establish that caucus meeting was held in the Speaker’s support.
He said what brought about the current crisis in the House was members’ insistence that they needed to know how capital votes belonging to the House was being expended.
“We are not saying we want to share capital vote, have you seen where they share capital vote before? If you share capital vote, you will go to jail. What we are saying is that we want to know how our capital vote is being spent, we want to track it properly now,” a source said.
He said members had not paid much attention to the way the capital budget of the House was being expended in the past.
Another member, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, predicted that Honourable Melaye’s group would fail again in its plot to remove Speaker Bankole except the EFCC intervene decisively in its investigation and possible prosecution of those alleged to be involved in the financial crime.
It has been gathered that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is set to probe the rumblings within the House of Representatives with a view to nipping the breakdown of confidence among members in the bud.
Against this background, the party’s National Secretariat may, any moment from next week, invite members of The Progressives for talks on the allegations they levelled against the Speaker as part of its drive towards probing the crux of problem in the House.
A national officer of the party told Saturday Tribune that the main task before the new national chairman of the party, Chief Okwezilieze Nwodo, would be to tackle the challenges currently posed to the party by addressing the House of Representatives’ issue.
The two main anti-Corruption bodies in the country on Friday indicated their readiness to probe the fresh alleged N9 billion scam involving the embattled Speaker, House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, once petitions detailing the allegations and evidences are made available by his accusers.
A group in the lower chamber under the aegis of ‘The Progressives’ had accused the Speaker of misappropriating the said sum which was the House of Representatives’ 2009 capital vote.
Bankole had ignored the call on him by the group to resign over the alleged scam, with the spokesperson of the group, Honourable Dino Melaye at a press briefing, disclosing that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) would be petitioned over the matter.
However, about a week after, Saturday Tribune findings at both the anti-corruption commissions showed that the absence of the petition, promised by the group, was the only reason they had not swung into action.
ICPC spokesperson, Mr. Folu Olamiti, told the Saturday Tribune that the commission was waiting for the group’s petition to commence its investigation into the alleged scam.
“We are yet to receive any petition on the alleged scam. Immediately we get the petition, we will swing into action and begin our investigation,” Olamiti said.
His EFCC’s counterpart, Mr. Femi Babafemi, noted that the same issue of petition was responsible for the delay on the commission’s part to commence probe into the matter.
Speaking on the alleged N2.3 billion car scam rocking the leadership of the House of Representatives since last year, Babafemi said Nigerians would soon hear from the commission the outcome of its investigation into the matter.
He noted that the case file was still with the legal unit, adding that “Nigerians will hear from us when we are ready.”
Meanwhile, as the House of Representatives resumes from its current recess on Tuesday, indications have emerged that the 360- member parliament may go into executive session with a view to dousing the tension that has built in the past few days over the allegation.
A group in the House tagged The Progressives led by Honourable Dino Melaye, had accused the Speaker of misappropriating N9 billion capital vote belonging to the House, just as it gave him a seven- day ultimatum to resign his position. The ultimatum expired last Wednesday.
Sources told the Saturday Tribune, on condition of anonymity, that there was strong possibility that the leadership led by Bankole would call for a closed session on Tuesday, rather than having a plenary session, in order to enable it douse the tension already generated in the media and the public by the Melaye group.
According to one of the sources, the Speaker is billed to order a closed session on Tuesday immediately members resume as a way to counter whatever tension and damage the Melaye group might have caused, while drawing attention to how past crisis of such dimension had been handled and resolved.
However, the source, which could not establish the membership strength of Melaye’s group of progressives, denied that any zonal caucus met to throw support for Bankole, saying he could give several names to contact just to establish that caucus meeting was held in the Speaker’s support.
He said what brought about the current crisis in the House was members’ insistence that they needed to know how capital votes belonging to the House was being expended.
“We are not saying we want to share capital vote, have you seen where they share capital vote before? If you share capital vote, you will go to jail. What we are saying is that we want to know how our capital vote is being spent, we want to track it properly now,” a source said.
He said members had not paid much attention to the way the capital budget of the House was being expended in the past.
Another member, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, predicted that Honourable Melaye’s group would fail again in its plot to remove Speaker Bankole except the EFCC intervene decisively in its investigation and possible prosecution of those alleged to be involved in the financial crime.
It has been gathered that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is set to probe the rumblings within the House of Representatives with a view to nipping the breakdown of confidence among members in the bud.
Against this background, the party’s National Secretariat may, any moment from next week, invite members of The Progressives for talks on the allegations they levelled against the Speaker as part of its drive towards probing the crux of problem in the House.
A national officer of the party told Saturday Tribune that the main task before the new national chairman of the party, Chief Okwezilieze Nwodo, would be to tackle the challenges currently posed to the party by addressing the House of Representatives’ issue.
PDP Dissolves Nnamani, Masari’s Forum
Written by Leon Usigbe, Abuja Saturday, 19 June 2010
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has dissolved the PDP Reform Forum spearheaded by former Senate President, Ken Nnamani and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Masari, on the grounds that the party’s constitution has no room for the existence of any faction.
However, the decision, which was part of the resolutions reached at the 51st meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) held in Abuja on Thursday, has apparently not been communicated to members of the reformist group as some of its leading figures told Saturday Tribune that they were not aware of the dissolution.
The communiqué from the meeting, which was released in Abuja on Friday, noted that the group members could, however, suggest ideas to the party as individuals.
According to the communiqué, “NEC also considered proposals sent in by a group which calls itself the ‘PDP Reform Forum’ for the amendment of some sections of the PDP constitution. NEC observed that as provided in Article 26 of the PDP constitution, each and every member of the party has the right to make or submit proposals for the amendment of any section of the PDP constitution.
“However, NEC also observed that Article 21 (j) discourages the existence of factions or members belonging to any group under the guise of the party by whatever name called not being one provided for in the PDP constitution.
“Accordingly, NEC resolved that the so-called PDP Reform Forum stands dissolved and held that all members of the party are free to submit proposals for the amendment of the constitution, but not under the name of any forum unknown to the constitution which clearly forbids members from forming factions under whatever name.”
Both Senator Nnamani and Alhaji Masari did not pick their calls when Saturday Tribune reached them, but a prominent member of the group and former member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Mercy Almona-Isei, claimed ignorance of the party decision as she told Saturday Tribune that the party was yet to formally disclose its decision to the Forum.
The communiqué, which was signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Professor Ahmed Rufai Alkali, also announced that the party has granted waiver to Governors Isa Yuguda and Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi of Bauchi and Zamfara States respectively; their deputies and members of the National and state Houses of Assemblies who recently joined the party to enable them contest next year’s elections under the PDP platform.
The waiver is necessary because they have not spent the mandatory two years continued stay in the PDP to make them eligible to contest any election under the party.
Similarly, the party announced that it had reviewed the case of former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha, who was expelled in 2005 and had now readmitted him, saying: “In view of his application to be readmitted into the party, and having fulfilled the conditions set out in Article 10 (iii) of the constitution of the party, NEC, accordingly, approved his readmission into the party.”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has dissolved the PDP Reform Forum spearheaded by former Senate President, Ken Nnamani and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Masari, on the grounds that the party’s constitution has no room for the existence of any faction.
However, the decision, which was part of the resolutions reached at the 51st meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) held in Abuja on Thursday, has apparently not been communicated to members of the reformist group as some of its leading figures told Saturday Tribune that they were not aware of the dissolution.
The communiqué from the meeting, which was released in Abuja on Friday, noted that the group members could, however, suggest ideas to the party as individuals.
According to the communiqué, “NEC also considered proposals sent in by a group which calls itself the ‘PDP Reform Forum’ for the amendment of some sections of the PDP constitution. NEC observed that as provided in Article 26 of the PDP constitution, each and every member of the party has the right to make or submit proposals for the amendment of any section of the PDP constitution.
“However, NEC also observed that Article 21 (j) discourages the existence of factions or members belonging to any group under the guise of the party by whatever name called not being one provided for in the PDP constitution.
“Accordingly, NEC resolved that the so-called PDP Reform Forum stands dissolved and held that all members of the party are free to submit proposals for the amendment of the constitution, but not under the name of any forum unknown to the constitution which clearly forbids members from forming factions under whatever name.”
Both Senator Nnamani and Alhaji Masari did not pick their calls when Saturday Tribune reached them, but a prominent member of the group and former member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Mercy Almona-Isei, claimed ignorance of the party decision as she told Saturday Tribune that the party was yet to formally disclose its decision to the Forum.
The communiqué, which was signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Professor Ahmed Rufai Alkali, also announced that the party has granted waiver to Governors Isa Yuguda and Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi of Bauchi and Zamfara States respectively; their deputies and members of the National and state Houses of Assemblies who recently joined the party to enable them contest next year’s elections under the PDP platform.
The waiver is necessary because they have not spent the mandatory two years continued stay in the PDP to make them eligible to contest any election under the party.
Similarly, the party announced that it had reviewed the case of former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha, who was expelled in 2005 and had now readmitted him, saying: “In view of his application to be readmitted into the party, and having fulfilled the conditions set out in Article 10 (iii) of the constitution of the party, NEC, accordingly, approved his readmission into the party.”
How I Overcame Toronto Certificate Scandal —Tinubu
Written by Kunle Awosiyan, Lagos Saturday, 19 June 2010
Former Governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, has attributed his victory over allegation of certificate forgery to the brilliance and firmness of former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
Tinubu said, at the launching of a book, “Contemporary issues in Nigerian constitutional law,” a series of essays compiled in honour of Osinbajo on Friday, that but for Osinbajo, his political career would have nosedived.
According to Tinubu: “The capability and firmness of Osinbajo in my time of travail made me to triumph against every plan by my detractors to destroy my image and career.”
It will be recalled that the late human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, prosecuted Tinubu over certificate forgery during his first tenure as governor between 1999 and 2003.
However, while speaking as the Special Guest of Honour at the book launch, Tinubu said that he would have been nailed for the offence he did not commit if Osinbajo was not available to defend him.
“Osinbajo brought his knowledge of constitutional law and stood by me even at the time when some of my commissioners were planning to resign from the cabinet. He indulged my politics and allowed it to flourish in the face of detractors,” he said.
He added that Osinbajo was the best decision he ever made in his political career, describing him as the biggest weapon in his political armoury.
“Osinbajo encouraged me to create 37 Local Council Development Areas with his astounding knowledge of constitutional law. I could challenge the Federal Government because of the capability of the professor of law,” Tinubu said.
Former Governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, has attributed his victory over allegation of certificate forgery to the brilliance and firmness of former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
Tinubu said, at the launching of a book, “Contemporary issues in Nigerian constitutional law,” a series of essays compiled in honour of Osinbajo on Friday, that but for Osinbajo, his political career would have nosedived.
According to Tinubu: “The capability and firmness of Osinbajo in my time of travail made me to triumph against every plan by my detractors to destroy my image and career.”
It will be recalled that the late human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, prosecuted Tinubu over certificate forgery during his first tenure as governor between 1999 and 2003.
However, while speaking as the Special Guest of Honour at the book launch, Tinubu said that he would have been nailed for the offence he did not commit if Osinbajo was not available to defend him.
“Osinbajo brought his knowledge of constitutional law and stood by me even at the time when some of my commissioners were planning to resign from the cabinet. He indulged my politics and allowed it to flourish in the face of detractors,” he said.
He added that Osinbajo was the best decision he ever made in his political career, describing him as the biggest weapon in his political armoury.
“Osinbajo encouraged me to create 37 Local Council Development Areas with his astounding knowledge of constitutional law. I could challenge the Federal Government because of the capability of the professor of law,” Tinubu said.
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