Telling the story of failing Nigeria with words in slow motion:
Musa described the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as "the
tragedy of Nigeria," saying "it is the tragedy of democracy in Nigeria."
"PDP did not win a free and fair election, they declared themselves
the winners.
Secondly, the PDP led government has not been able to perform for six
years, and they want to deceive themselves that in the next one and half
years they will make the difference. It is impossible.
PDP is so bankrupt that even the party has no respect for its
constitution.
The President does not respect any constitution of the party, as far
his concerned President Obasanjo is the party.
As it is now, the President has abused all the provisions for
separation of powers contained in 1999 constitution. the legislature,
the judiciary and the executive are supposed to check one another in a
system of separation of power.
But President Obasanjo has now consistently transformed this into
only one power-executive even that power has been personalised, it has
become the Obasanjo power, PDP cannot even do anything.
Obasanjo decides at anytime who should be the leader of PDP. He
decides what should be the action of PDP members of National Assembly
who are 2/3 of the assembly. PDP is involved in self-elimination. Even
the anti-corruption campaign. PDP is not helping matter at all," he said
--PRONACO
Established in Bad Faith - Balarabe Musa By
Idowu Sowunmi,THIS DAY
10.21.2005,
FG bans tokunboh spare parts
CHAMPION Friday September 30 2005
•To buy 15 war planes
LERE OJEDOKUN,
Abuja
IMPORTATION
of used vehicle spare parts popularly called tokunboh, has
been banned with immediate effect, by the Federal Government.
Government also approved the
purchase of 15 new war planes, valued at about N32.7 billion ($251.4
million), as part of efforts to boost defence operations by the
Armed Forces.
The ban on used vehicle spare
parts importation, according to government, was meant, among others
things, to protect the country from becoming a junkyard, ensure road
safety and vehicle worthiness, protect local industries as well as
widen capacity of employees in the sector.
Briefing State House
correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC)
meeting yesterday, Information and National Orientation Minister,
Mr. Frank Nweke Jnr. said decision to impose the ban followed
council’s approval of the draft white paper on the report of a
presidential committee on spare parts production.
He said government was
bothered about the absence of first-class maintenance system, as in
past decades, where vehicles could be taken to garages and
refurbished with genuine parts.
"It’s common knowledge that in
the not-too-distant past you could go somewhere, take your car for
maintenance and you are told you need this or that kind of spare
parts. Then you procure it at great cost, fix it but one or few days
after they tell you it has gone bad.
"Government is also of the
view that there is a more recent development in the context of the
fact that we used to have garages by Leventis, UTC, Peugeot,
Leyland, BEWAC. Government thought it would be appropriate to try
and find out what has gone wrong," he said.
Mr. Nweke further stated that
other recommendations of the committee, upheld by council include
the formulation of policies that could encourage local production of
spare parts within two years and the privatisation of Nigerian
Machine Tool (NMT) Factory, Osogbo, Osun State.
The company, when privatised,
he stressed, would spearhead development of machinery and equipment
industry for local production of spare parts while a National
Metallurgical Laboratory will be established to widen calibration
services necessary for self-sufficiency in local production.
On the fate of Igbo spare
parts dealers, the ministers said government was concerned about
them and has therefore, planned to encourage them to form
cooperative to enjoy economy of scale and have access to easy bank
loans and institutions dedicated to the promotion of small and
medium enterprises.
His words: "we are aware, for
instance, that there is a whole lot of people in this country,
especially in the South-Eastern part whose livelihood depends on
incomes from their trade in spare parts. Government is also
concerned about protecting this category of people.
"However, government is of the
view that they will be encouraged to form cooperative associations
so that they can leverage or consolidate their businesses and enjoy
economy of scale to help them prosper, rather than go under," he
said.
On the new war planes, Mr.
Nweke explained that the step was aimed at making the three services
of the Armed Forces combat-ready and well-equipped for the task of
protecting the nation’s territorial integrity.
He said the planes comprise 12
units of F7NI multi-role combat aircraft and associated equipment,
awarded to China National Aero Technology Corporation at a
negotiated price of $251.4 million.
Nobody can stop Obasanjo if he
wants 3rd term - Mrs. Anenih By HENRY EBIRERI
President
Olusegun Obasanjo’s Special Assistant on Women Affairs, Mrs. Josephine
Anenih has declared that if the president desires a 3rd term in office,
he would get it and there was nothing anybody can do about it.
Mrs. Anenih who is also wife of the chairman of the Peoples Democratic
Party’s Board of Trustees, Mr. Tony Anenih and women’s leader of the
party told NewAge in Abuja, that President Obasanjo was no a coward and
if he decides to stay beyond 2007, there was nothing anybody can do to
him.
“Mr. President is not a coward. If he wants to go for a third term, he
will say so and there is nothing anybody can do to him. He has never
shied away from speaking his mind. If he wants to do third term, he will
say it and we will debate it and if we feel he should do third and
fourth terms, he will do them,” she insisted.
Giving reasons for her call for the extension of the President’s tenure,
Mrs. Anenih said Obasanjo, apart from entrenching discipline in the
system curtailed reckless spending by public officers.
“Where are the hands that Nigerians will use in stoning him, if Mr.
President says he wants third term? Why would they stone him to death?
What has he not done for Nigeria? We were really reckless and because
loose money is not flowing again, that is what is giving the impression
that people are suffering.
If that is all Mr. President has taught us, God will continue to bless
him.” On the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mrs.
Anenih said most of the problems were not created from within but from
outside.
“It just shows that we are a vibrant people. There are contentions;
there must be disagreements, people should be reasonable and listen to
each other, concede when the other persons has superior argument. You
cannot win all the time. Most of the problems I find in PDP are not from
within but from outside. People create the problems for PDP,” she said.
Debunking the perception that majority of PDP leaders are not democrats,
Mrs. Anenih said if there is no disagreement, it will be difficult to
have consensus.
“It is when these disagreements arise, we come together, agree and it
becomes consensus. If there is no disagreement, then, there will be no
agreement,” she argued.
On the president’s reform programmes, Mrs. Anenih said Obasanjo never
promised result would come within a second, but said that it was going
to be hard, painful and time consuming.
“It was a necessary thing that had to be done. He didn’t say it was
going to be automatic. The president said there is hope and he sees hope
for this country. All we need to do is support him.”
When asked to compare the Obasanjo-led PDP administration with past
governments, Mrs. Anenih said Nigerians could never have had a better
government and don’t see any government that can offer Nigerians better
leadership than what Obasanjo and the PDP are offering now.
On the allegation that President Obasanjo has hijacked the PDP, Mrs.
Anenih said Obasanjo is the leader of the party and the question of
hijacking by him does not arise.
“Mr. President is the leader of the party. So where is he hijacking it
again to? The party is inside his pocket already. He is not aspiring to
be a leader. He is the leader of the party,” she noted.
On the fear that the party is on the path of self destruct, the national
women leader said it would never happen. “Since 1999, people have been
predicting that PDP will explode; but you can see that the party is
still strong. The fact that there are some statements made in the press,
does not mean that there is war in the presidency.
There is no war in the presidency, they are human beings and they will
have their different opinions, and perceptions but at the end of the
day, we have one president. We don’t have any problem in PDP,” she said.
10/4/2005
UK report wants Obasanjo
to quit. DAILY INDEPENDENT
Tuesday 4th October, 2005
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"We know this country is headed by thieves. It is
quite clear. Look at all these allegations of corruption against the
governors, against the president, against the National Assembly and even
the Judiciary. It is ridiculous that the EFCC is the one investigating
Obasanjo on Governor Kalu’s allegations. EFCC, in all honesty, cannot
investigate Obasanjo because it is like Obasanjo investigating himself
The former governor urged Nigerians to insist on a
serious probe of the Obasanjo government instead of just watching a few
clique milking the nation dry.
"Alamieyeseigha’s arrest in London:
Govs scramble to close foreign accounts" Tony Ita Etim,
Port-Harcourt, John SHiklam, Kaduna and Alphonsus Nweze,
Onitsha. Monday, September 19 2005
Daily Champion
Reactions have continued to trail the Vice President, Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar's admission of failure of the Federal Government in certain key
areas of policy direction, with calls for him, and others in government,
including President Olusegun Obasanjo, to resign immediately.
"...If they have failed, which is obvious to all
Nigerians and which the number two man, Abubakar, has now admitted
publicly, I wonder what they are still doing in government. What is
happening is consequent on the corruption they have visited on the
country. The PDP is not only corrupt at the Federal Government level,
but also at the State Government and Local Government levels. They have
admitted it many times over and we can all see it. They lack moral
aptitude to remain in office even a day longer.
"Is he just waking up to the failures of a government
where he is the second in command? Or are we just witnessing lame
excuses, a grand political design? Why is he just crying out now? What
does he want Nigerians to now do? He and his ilk should just pack their
bags and leave this country alone; they should allow people have genuine
intention to move this country forward". --Dayo Adeyeye
_________________________________
According to Fred Agbaje:
"The Federal Government has become a one man show. A man who does not
listen to the voice of the opposition and who also fail to take Nigerian
masses along in government's policies. The type of attitude we are
witnessing is very common with people with military background. The
unfortunate thing is that they are again lining up to succeed themselves
in power. That is why when people talk of self-succession, we are not
necessarily talking of Obasanjo succeeding himself, he may just hand
over to another brass hat".
"However, what he [Vice President Atiku] did not say or forgot to say
or admit is that governments at both the Federal and State level should
resign honourably. They should resign, because they are both corrupt,
hence the country has been treated to a shameless regime of accusation
and counter-accusation by these supposed leaders who are showing the
whole world that they are just dealers," he said
"OBJ, Atiku, Others Urge To Resign"
BY KAMAL TAYO OROPO Guardian
Monday, September 19, 2005
October 1 2005 Clippings
"The biggest problem that we face as Nigerians at the moment is the
darkness, anxiety and the uncertainty that surround us. We are, as a people
literally in the dark."
"In 1999 when civilians assumed office at all levels, Nigerians had great
hopes in their hearts; the enthusiasm of the time was so infectious, ..."
"...here in Nigeria, under a democracy, the people have been turned into
spectators. We, the people no longer count...."
"...Obasanjo has become an Emperor whose every gesture assumes a
larger-than-life dimension.
"...He [Obasanjo] is no longer a leader who is a servant of the people,
but the Lord and Master of Nigeria with dominion over all things under and
inside it.
"...At all levels, our democracy is built on a foundation of falsehood
partly because we do not have leaders who are interested in the truth.
"Elections are rigged anyway. Politicians know that they can always win
elections without the people's mandate. We are part of the lives of the men
of power only as things to be manipulated.
"We Are In The Dark" --Editorial Guardian Oct 2 2005 By
Reuben Abati
"...THE patent feature of Nigeria today is summed up in
three attributes: the appalling state of decay of the broad national
equipment - the complex of failed infrastructure, failed public
organizations and failed institutions - the unprecedented desolation of the
polity, and the structural unconcern of government.
________________________________
"...This perilous state, the result of years of
political-economic mismanagement, has severely worsened in the past six
years.
________________________________
"There is loss of social peace, orderliness and security. There is the
loss of community. Normal conduct of socio-economic life by the individual
is well-nigh impossible. Frustrated at every turn by the inefficiencies and
blockages of public policy, the genuine enterpriser’s story is a catalogue
of daily woes, while the masses are overwhelmed with despair and cynicism.
No level or branch of government is free from its corrosive debilitating
effects. Even the oil enclave is subject to its blight. The decay has
inevitably taken a toll on quality standards and their administration.
________________________________
"There is also increasing arbitrariness and terror on the
part of what stands for the state.
"Instead of taking appropriate measures to redress the decay
and restore system stability, policy controllers enthrone political
gangsterism as an instrument of state policy, further stoke the flames of
social discord, and persist in economic mismanagement.
"The increasing uncertainty in the environment promotes
exceptional levels of corruption, economic myopia, and capital flight, and
drives the system further from recovery
"President Obasanjo did not bring this key dimension of our
existence to the attention of the citizens of the republic and their
representatives in the National Assembly, in his broadcast to the nation on
June 30, 2005 and consequent address to the National Assembly on July 26,
2005. Precisely, he failed to duly inform the citizens of the republic and
their representatives in the National Assembly on the extent of the decay in
society’s capital base (the broad national equipment inclusive of human
capital) and the massive extent of work to be done to urgently redress the
situation and then get the economy on a rapid stable growth course
"President Obasanjo also did not bring to the attention of
the citizens of the republic and their representatives in the National
Assembly the continued essential financial-economic fragility of the
republic. This fragility, which arises largely because of the truly
underdeveloped structure of the domestic economy, its over-reliance on crude
petroleum, and the volatility of the world oil market and its prices, in
turn dictates at least two imperatives: (a) an urgent drive to secure in
minimal time diversification of the productive base of the economy; and (b)
the maintenance of an adequate stabilization cover..."
The real task before Nigerians: A further
note on the claimed debt relief by the Paris Club DUNU
CHU S. P. OKONGWU Posted to the Web: Vanguard Sunday, October 02, 2005
"...Considering that the country had been under British colonial rule for
a couple of hundred years or so before then; and that full independence was
not obtained without a committed fight and a lot of sacrifice by our
nationalists, another Independence Day is worthy of celebration and proper
commemoration. The realities of the country however, as reflected in
the political, economic and social conditions are not exactly in favour of
such celebration.
"Without mincing words, Nigerians are worse off today than they were on
October 1, 1960.
"The quality of the average Nigerian life is drastically reduced and
ranks among the lowest in the world, going by international yardstick
provided by global organisations including the recent World Bank report that
classified Nigeria as the second poorest country in the world
"...Nigeria's 45th Independence Anniversary should be an occasion for
sober reflection; a time to look inward and ask: What went wrong? More
importantly, to seek to halt the creping lawlessness and anarchy in the
society including government.
"...The major problem with Nigeria is that forty-five years on, we do not
seem to have started the work of nation building.
"...practically all the infrastructural and institutional development
achieved during and immediately after the colonial administration have been
destroyed
"...The legacies of our founding fathers have been replaced by visionless
policies derived from selfish, greedy interests and foisted by corrupt and
inept rulers who have not the faintest idea of what leadership is about.
"...We can tell similar tales of woe in respect of development of
agriculture, infrastructure, education and health sectors as well as a dozen
other areas.
"...Governments at all levels in the country are traditionally inclined
to enumerate their perceived achievements during Independence Anniversary
days. They spend hours making long statements to praise themselves and to
highlight what in real terms constitutes only marginal growth with almost
imperceptible positive impact on the populace.
"... we believe that the country's rulers have taken their subjects for a
ride for too long.
"...It was easy for us to blame military aberration of the past for much
of our national follies. Undoubtedly, the military did a lot in destroying
the political, social and economic fabric of the society. Heaping all the
blame on them is however no longer tenable.
"Six years into the present civilian administration, the politicians have
been compounding the problems inherited from the military. The present
rulers are not behaving like democrats, as they want to have their say and
their way at all cost. The spirit of politics is that of winner takes all.
Political parties and groups, including the ruling Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) operate in rancour and treachery with greedy intention. Intra-party
relationship is mired in envy, hatred and ego trips that have been
manifesting in character and physical assassination. These are not
progressive ideals. They cannot take the country to the dreamland envisioned
by her founding fathers. Politicians must search themselves and put their
house in order.
"...Perhaps the major dividend of democracy that has taken place in the
last six years is improved observance of human rights. This has reflected
for instance in enhanced freedom of expression of citizens. Sadly,
government officials who frequently disregard the expressions and instead,
implement anti-people policies have rendered that freedom nugatory.
"...Freedom of expression that does not translate into improved quality
of life for the ordinary citizens is no freedom at all.
"...Failure by government officials to bring the dividends of democracy
and good governance to people's doorstep is fraught with danger that may
imperil the democracy itself.
"...And instead of catering to the interests of the long suffering
Nigerians, our leaders openly pursue their selfish agenda and seek to foist
same on the whole nation. For instance, the President and Vice President are
locked in a fratricidal battle on the direction the country should take in
2007. Never before in our history have we witnesssed such a dangerous
theatre of the absurd. The only persons who do not see the disgraceful
conduct and the threats they portend for the entire polity are the
combatants themselves. In the event, they have opted for anything but due
process in seeking to unseat or unsettle each other. Such lawlessness is
condemnable and must stop in the interest of this country.
Nigeria at 45 Editorial Opinion Guardian October 1 2005
Obasanjo is enemy of democracy
Osita Okechukwu Lagos INDEPENDENT Sunday 9th October,
2005
CNPP after a careful analysis of the Independence Day speech of
President Olusegun Obasanjo decided to reply him to correct the
misrepresentation and misleading contents of his address, that
bothers on disservice to our dear country.
CNPP laments and regrettably, that Mr. President is still
hovering in the sky, totally alienated and disconnected from the
people.
We thought that the speech could have afforded a responsive
President the golden opportunity for sober reflection, to
painstakingly assess the situation, honestly admit pitfalls and
undertake gap analysis on why Nigeria is not working and why his
economic and political reforms are jaundiced.
To our chagrin, rather than address the contradictions inherent
in his anti-people macro-economic policy, he mounted a high
horse, waving doubtful messianic garb, claiming that his
government is a listening and caring government. To add insult
to injury, he sent a note of warning that he cannot be
intimidated, teleguided or pressurized to take immature or
populist decisions with no lasting effects.
CNPP is at a loss, what is immature in meaningful advice and
constructive criticisms, Nigerians have lavishly given to the
regime, all in an effort to strengthen and deepen the foundation
of our economy and democracy, create jobs, wealth, productivity,
efficiency and management of resources and social justice.
CNPP opines that the road map is to first and foremost get
Nigerians back to work. We disagree with those who claim that
Nigerians are bad and hang on the loose term – Nigerian Factor.
Nigerians are not bad specie and had shown that we are good
followers provided the leadership is trust worthy; do not betray
trust, dash hopes, compromise and mortgage opportunities.
The regime instead of getting Nigerians back to work, what we
have today is an army of unemployed and under-employed, mass
poverty and import dependant economy, characterized by closure
of industries, retrenchment of workers and stifle growth.
CNPP had earlier alerted the nation that no nation had
successfully transformed from an agrarian economy to a
capitalist economy driven by market forces, without an
industrial base and there is no industrial society without solid
infrastructure base. To do otherwise is suicidal and the outcome
is mass poverty, brain drain, import dependent economy and crass
corruption.
The past six years was spent in a forlorn hope of quantum
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Mr. President himself had
admitted that he toured all parts of the world and no Direct
Foreign Investment. The huge cost of globetrotting by Mr.
President went down the drain, for the world recognition we have
today is because Nigeria transited to civil rule in 1999.
CNPP had for the umpteenth time posited that given the bounty
and unprecedented oil sales, the regime should repair the
refineries; construct micro and medium ones, in order to halt
the disequilibria in our transport sector. Rather the regime
connived with the rogue contractors inherited from the military
regime and squandered over $1 billion and abandoned the Turn
Around Maintenance mid-stream.
The outcome of failure to listen is incessant hike in petroleum
product prices, distortion in the production process and
negative multiplier effects. The beneficiaries of the impasse
are the cronies of the regime, who jumped into the opportunistic
tendencies created. Nigerians are worse off and the regime
instead of admitting guilt is still pleading charity, of
substantial level of subsidy in petroleum products, supplied to
the domestic market.
A caring government cannot deliberately in the name of
privatisation and commercialisation institute criminal
profiteering against the people.
Today even the so-called captains of industry, who in actual
fact have no industry, are complaining. They used to be friends
of the regime and supported the entire anti-peoples programme.
CNPP is of the view that a regime that sincerely desires more
products for domestic and export market, diversification of the
economy and intensive export drive, could have used opportunity
provided by modern technology, to overhaul the energy sector,
rather than encourage avenues of corruption and waste.
The loud noise for subsidy of petroleum products and other vital
economic indices has refused to die down, continued to date and
cannot be swept under the carpet as immature or populist.
CNPP is borrowing our agitation for subsidy, from those stable
economies, that are driven by market forces, which refuse in the
World Trade Organization meetings, to cancel subsidies to their
citizens especially in the agriculture sector. If Europe and
America subsidize the prosperous existence of their citizens why
is the Obasanjo regime roasting Nigerians?
It is truism that as far as electricity is concerned, that
Nigerians are in darkness, all the promises made for
reinvigorated energy sector failed. The jumbo mega watts
production touted became a façade to cover the billions siphoned
abroad.
A patriotic regime could have embarked on construction of micro
and medium generating plants instead of relying on foreign
investors. In an age where with $100 million medium generating
plant can be erected. The irony of the situation is that we
continue posting mind-boggling foreign reserves, while the
country is in flames.
The consequence is that Nigeria is now a visa factory: where
citizens are leaving in droves. The mass exodus to foreign
lands, after the return of democracy is the metaphor and
caricature of a failed regime. It is the greatest insult to find
Nigerians engaged in all manner of odd jobs in North Africa,
Europe and other parts of the world in what can be defined as
new slavery.
It is only a regime that is either on a genocide of hate mission
against its countrymen that will leave over 3 billion tons
deposit of coal to lie fallow for years. Coal is an alternative
energy resource and forms the bedrock of South African energy
sector, a country President Obasanjo, venerates, but could not
learn from. This is not immature or populist loud noise it is
granite fact.
Nigerian Coal Corporation records show that with less than $80
million, the coal industry with micro power stations will be
back on stream.
CNPP reasons that Nigerians can create sustainable development
for future generations only by diversifying our energy source
and this is where coal comes in. By deliberately abandoning
coal, bitumen and other treasurable resources that could have
turned around our economy, the regime has demonstrated crass
indolence and social rascality.
President Obasanjo should as a matter of urgent national
importance come to terms with the fact that money is difficult,
to cross border, because of competing demands. Let us use our
money to transform our economy instead of waiting for the
Chinese or European. It is not a loud noise or immature
agitation, it is a programme for new Nigeria, new focus and new
determination.
In tandem with the criminal neglect of the coal industry, is the
criminal neglect of bitumen. A regime that does not want people
to complain nor undermine its reform programme could have
diversified our transport network by re-positioning the
railways. Alternatively since we are confined to road transport,
the bitumen deposit could have been fully exploited. Instead,
the bitumen sector became propaganda instrument that left
Nigeria on unwarranted dependence on importation of bitumen. The
outcome is that the cost of constructing one-kilometer road in
Nigeria is the costliest in the world.
CNPP study shows that rail system is the cornerstone of
transport sector of the developed world and none of their rail
system was privatized when they were at kindergarten level of
development.
Our study shows also that with $3 billion a modern rail system
covering about 2000 kilometres will be in place. CNPP prefers
this kind of investment that will revolutionise our economy and
catapult Nigeria into prosperity.
Our aggregate loss per annum for inefficient and prohibitive
transport and energy sectors is over $4 billion. Contrast it
with the haste with which the regime wants to pay $6 billion to
the Paris Club and another $6 billion through buy back instead
of investing the $12 billion in our energy and transport
sectors.
CNPP does not canvas repudiation of our debt, but while we
continue to pay our debt at current repayment rate of $1 billion
per annum to our creditors, we continue to plead for debt
cancellation.
CNPP is not opposed totally to privatization, but we rely on
hindsight to know that an item sold as a scrap attracts
pittance, while a repaired and refurbished item attracts better
price. This was the position of NAFCON. The fertilizer company
had already procured spare parts for total overhaul before it
was shut down. At any rate it was operating when it was closed.
The outcome is that today, a plant that was producing 1000mt of
urea, ammonia and NPK respectively, was auctioned for $152
million, while between the closure and when it will resume
production Nigeria must have lost over $500 million in
importation of fertilizer, the resultant outcome is food
insecurity.
The insensitive, insincere and intolerant attitude of Obasanjo’s
regime cost the nation these gruesome losses. A listening and
caring regime could have gotten Nigeria in six years back to
work and the system could not have failed.
CNNP cannot conclude the catalogue of scandals that bedeviled
the privatization and commercialization programme ranging from
Ajaokuta, NITEL, to the sale of Federal Government houses in
this piece. Suffice it to say that the scam will be unraveled
when we vote the regime out.
The deceptive arsenal of the regime was exposed when Mr.
President undertook self-glorification by beating his chest for
consolidation of democracy.
CNPP joins Mr. President in thanking God, while at the same
time, we note that Chief Obasanjo has driven Nigerian democracy
dangerously into fascist dictatorship. He has closed the Ballot
Box Option, reduced the legislature to rubber stamp, shut out
foundation members of his party, thus becoming the first leader
of a political party in history we know, who instead of
sustaining engagement, authors culture of exclusion and
impunity, all in an effort to actualize his Life President
project.
CNPP concludes that Chief Obasanjo is an enemy of democracy and
agent of instability, corruption, mass poverty and has contempt
for the rule of law and constitutionalism.
The loud noise of the minority is the voice of the voiceless
majority of Nigerians who are frustrated from dashed
expectations.
"Former Head of State, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) and the chairman
of the conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Balarabe Musa have
canvassed mass resistance against any plot by the President Olusegun
Obasanjo-led administration to stay in power beyond 2007."
_________________________________
"...Nigerians should be mindful of the mal-administration of
the government since its inception in 1999, "and get it right and come out
and take a stand that come May, 2007, this government must go." --Colonel
Hamid Ali
_________________________________
"Buhari...reviewed the historical voyage of the nation since
independence, pointing out that rather than the country moving forward, its
development had been thwarted by bad leadership in recent times. "
_______________________________
"it is regrettable that since the inception of Nigeria as a country in
1914, she had at no time ever had the type of revenue income or money it has
gotten now" adding that in spite of this, the people are still wallowing in
abject poverty, disease and hunger. --Buhari
_______________________________
"Said Buhari: "I urge Nigerians to stand up enmass to stop the present
poor administration and to ensure that only the truth prevailed in the 2007
elections. And whoever will be the president, he should be the right person
and of quality and credibility."
_______________________________
"In spite of the fact that the Nigerian nation is 100 years old, we have
remained backward because these things have remained like this and we are
not bothered about change. No respect for human rights and dignity, except
for Naira, hence change cannot be possible," Musa agonised. (chairman of the
conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Balarabe Musa )
_______________________________
"ACF has two slogans, and will continue to say, we will fight it to
the last point of our blood to make sure that power shift to the North is
realized, that is one. Obasanjo must leave the seat of power as president
come 2007, whether he likes it or not; we will fight him with our blood and
we will do it. He must leave power, come 2007. And I hope Nigerians must
understand that power must come to the North in 2007. That ACF will stand
upon, that ACF will fight and the ACF must make realizable."--Colonel Hamid
Ali
Opposition Urges Mass Resistance Against Alleged Third
Term Bid From Saxone Akhaine, Kaduna Saturday october 1 2005
"We know this country is headed by thieves. It is
quite clear. Look at all these allegations of corruption against the
governors, against the president, against the National Assembly and even
the Judiciary. It is ridiculous that the EFCC is the one investigating
Obasanjo on Governor Kalu’s allegations. EFCC, in all honesty, cannot
investigate Obasanjo because it is like Obasanjo investigating himself
The former governor urged Nigerians to insist on a
serious probe of the Obasanjo government instead of just watching a few
clique milking the nation dry.
"Alamieyeseigha’s arrest in London:
Govs scramble to close foreign accounts" Tony Ita Etim,
Port-Harcourt, John SHiklam, Kaduna and Alphonsus Nweze,
Onitsha. Monday, September 19 2005
Daily Champion
Reactions have continued to trail the Vice President, Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar's admission of failure of the Federal Government in certain key
areas of policy direction, with calls for him, and others in government,
including President Olusegun Obasanjo, to resign immediately.
"...If they have failed, which is obvious to all
Nigerians and which the number two man, Abubakar, has now admitted
publicly, I wonder what they are still doing in government. What is
happening is consequent on the corruption they have visited on the
country. The PDP is not only corrupt at the Federal Government level,
but also at the State Government and Local Government levels. They have
admitted it many times over and we can all see it. They lack moral
aptitude to remain in office even a day longer.
"Is he just waking up to the failures of a government
where he is the second in command? Or are we just witnessing lame
excuses, a grand political design? Why is he just crying out now? What
does he want Nigerians to now do? He and his ilk should just pack their
bags and leave this country alone; they should allow people have genuine
intention to move this country forward". --Dayo Adeyeye
_________________________________
According to Fred Agbaje:
"The Federal Government has become a one man show. A man who does not
listen to the voice of the opposition and who also fail to take Nigerian
masses along in government's policies. The type of attitude we are
witnessing is very common with people with military background. The
unfortunate thing is that they are again lining up to succeed themselves
in power. That is why when people talk of self-succession, we are not
necessarily talking of Obasanjo succeeding himself, he may just hand
over to another brass hat".
"However, what he [Vice President Atiku] did not say or forgot to say
or admit is that governments at both the Federal and State level should
resign honourably. They should resign, because they are both corrupt,
hence the country has been treated to a shameless regime of accusation
and counter-accusation by these supposed leaders who are showing the
whole world that they are just dealers," he said
"OBJ, Atiku, Others Urge To Resign"
BY KAMAL TAYO OROPO Guardian
Monday, September 19, 2005
"We know this country is headed by thieves. It is
quite clear. Look at all these allegations of corruption against the
governors, against the president, against the National Assembly and even
the Judiciary. It is ridiculous that the EFCC is the one investigating
Obasanjo on Governor Kalu’s allegations. EFCC, in all honesty, cannot
investigate Obasanjo because it is like Obasanjo investigating himself
The former governor urged Nigerians to insist on a
serious probe of the Obasanjo government instead of just watching a few
clique milking the nation dry.
"Alamieyeseigha’s arrest in London:
Govs scramble to close foreign accounts" Tony Ita Etim,
Port-Harcourt, John SHiklam, Kaduna and Alphonsus Nweze,
Onitsha. Monday, September 19 2005
Daily Champion
Reactions have continued to trail the Vice President, Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar's admission of failure of the Federal Government in certain key
areas of policy direction, with calls for him, and others in government,
including President Olusegun Obasanjo, to resign immediately.
"...If they have failed, which is obvious to all
Nigerians and which the number two man, Abubakar, has now admitted
publicly, I wonder what they are still doing in government. What is
happening is consequent on the corruption they have visited on the
country. The PDP is not only corrupt at the Federal Government level,
but also at the State Government and Local Government levels. They have
admitted it many times over and we can all see it. They lack moral
aptitude to remain in office even a day longer.
"Is he just waking up to the failures of a government
where he is the second in command? Or are we just witnessing lame
excuses, a grand political design? Why is he just crying out now? What
does he want Nigerians to now do? He and his ilk should just pack their
bags and leave this country alone; they should allow people have genuine
intention to move this country forward". --Dayo Adeyeye
_________________________________
According to Fred Agbaje:
"The Federal Government has become a one man show. A man who does not
listen to the voice of the opposition and who also fail to take Nigerian
masses along in government's policies. The type of attitude we are
witnessing is very common with people with military background. The
unfortunate thing is that they are again lining up to succeed themselves
in power. That is why when people talk of self-succession, we are not
necessarily talking of Obasanjo succeeding himself, he may just hand
over to another brass hat".
"However, what he [Vice President Atiku] did not say or forgot to say
or admit is that governments at both the Federal and State level should
resign honourably. They should resign, because they are both corrupt,
hence the country has been treated to a shameless regime of accusation
and counter-accusation by these supposed leaders who are showing the
whole world that they are just dealers," he said
"OBJ, Atiku, Others Urge To Resign"
BY KAMAL TAYO OROPO Guardian
Monday, September 19, 2005
"...I can assure you that that [PDP] meeting has effectively make the
President the alpha and omega of the party [PDP]. He can now decide
who gets what in the party...” -- [Obasanjo] Presidential
aide
PDP: STILL A DIVIDED HOME,
Musikilu Mojeed, Abuja Saturday Punch
Saturday, September 17 2005
"...and for your information, we always reason along with the
position of Obasanjo whom we all see as the messiah the country
needs now. He has his excesses but ..."
"“We
are not saying this man is perfect, however, we see him as the
pillar that can sustain the PDP. He is not a corrupt leader in
the actual sense of it and for the PDP to survive and to move
the country forward the party needs the President...
--by the (G88) NEC members backing the President’s plan
Said a [Atiku
group]
source at the meeting: “We know that the only opinion Obasanjo
respects is that of foreigners and Western powers. That is why
we took the decision to consult world leaders on this matter.
There is no point rubbing shoulders with foreigners if you have
no respect for democratic values”.
"Atiku group
enlists U.S., UK democrats" Challenges Obasanjo’s G88 on PDP
control Daily Independent Septemebr 15 2005
Meanwhile, Citizens Rights Watch (CRW) said it had constituted a
team of lawyers to defend anybody arrested in during the protest
Addressing a press conference in Lagos, President of CRW Mr Gabriel
Ojumah said: "This government is the most incompetent, the most
reckless, most dubious Nigeria has ever had. And as such the masses
have passed a vote of no confidence on it. This government must go."
"Police arrest two activists as NLC protests begin" By Victor Ahiuma-Young,
Nduka Uzuakpundu & Godwin Akor
Posted to the Web: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 Vanguard
Soyinka said: “Very clearly the PDP
has no respect for democracy, the constitution, the law; and this is
in particular, the leadership of the party. It is the chief
executive [president Obasanjo] himself that despises the law in the
country. So how can I get excited about the quarrel of the two.? I
am not interested.”
On the implication of the development for the country at large,
Soyinka said, “the international adverse effect is that investors
will see that the leadership of the nation does not respect the law,
and therefore encourages lawlessness. And so, are likely not to come
into the country.”
Adding that home governments of willing investors “will certainly
discourage such people from coming,” saying: “I believe when you
encounter a situation like the hike in fuel price, there is a degree
of insensitivity which our people have in right to protest.”
Tuesday, September
13 2005 New Age Online
An ANPP chieftain Buba Galadima, says
the opposition in the country is weak and therefore not capable of
righting the wrongs in the polity.
Galadima told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja,
that a lack of patriotism, selfishness, and absence of a focus and
clear mission were the militating factors against the opposition.
He said: “The government has emasculated
and incapacitated Nigerians, opposition parties and the civil
society.
“Besides, the labour leadership has abandoned the masses in pursuit
of selfish economic and political interests ahead of 2007.’’
Galadima, a Director in the Buhari Organisation (TBO) and chairman
of CNPP’s contact and mobilisation committee, said: “The position of
the opposition in the country is weak,cowardly and cannot stand
out.’’
Daily Triumph
Monday, September 12, 2005.
Nigerian Tribune was told that the president’s men also resolved
that if the vice president renounced his ambition, he would be
admitted to the club of G8 who would decide who rules the country
again after President Obasanjo. Members of G8, Nigerian Tribune
learnt further, are the president, Generals Theophilus Danjuma,
Abdul-Salami Abubakar, the National Security Adviser, General Aliu
Gusau, the Chief of Staff, General Abdulahi Mohammed, General
Ibrahim Babangida and two other unnamed leaders.
Three conditions were reportedly issued to the vice president to
fulfil failing which the ongoing offensive against his machinery and
his interests would be intensified, heading to his removal from
office. “He should tender a public apology to the president for the
speech he delivered at the Yar’Adua Centre and for insulting the
president by comparing Baba to Reagan and Thatcher,” the source
said, declaring that “the apology should be public and unreserved.
“He should call his boys to order. We have refrained from
engaging them because of the president’s admonition. After the
apology, he should tell them to refrain from further attacks on the
president and what he stands for. “Importantly, he must renounce his
presidential ambition as the president would not endorse him or hand
over to him. He must dismantle what is left of his structure. This
is the key condition,” the source said, noting that the presidential
caucus did not contemplate any scenario that would produce a
President Atiku Abubakar
The source affirmed further that the president was not interested
in handing over to both General Babangida and the vice president,
commending General Babangida for remaining loyal to the president in
the ongoing power tussle. “General Babangida is a leader and he
recognises the president and his vision. Atiku can join this group
if he fulfils those conditions,” the source noted. Blaming the vice
president for the state of affairs, the right-wingers were said to
have commended the ditching of the original succession plan due to
the alleged intransigence of the vice president.
“The original plan was to allow the vice president to succeed
Baba, especially for the good memory of the late General Yar’Adua.
We don’t want the conservative but the progressive North to have a
go but Atiku bungled that plan,” the source said. Nigerian Tribune
learnt that the vice president would not accept the demand for the
renunciation of his presidential ambition though he believed he had
no problem with the president.
A close aide of the Turakin Adamawa told the Nigerian Tribune
that the Nigerian constitution guarantees the right to vote and be
voted for to all eligible Nigerians, stating that “in a democracy,
you cannot stop anybody from exercising his democratic rights to
seek elective office. “The vice president will seek the mandate of
Nigerians and they will determine his fate. Through their votes,
Nigerians would determine who should be their leaders. Nigeria is
not and will not become a Banana Republic in 2007,” the aide said,
explaining that if PDP was not available, “countless other platforms
are available.
“And on the issue of his remaining as a vice president, I think
the constitution is very clear on this. The procedure for removing
the vice president or the president is clear. If anybody thinks the
vice president has committed any impeachable offences, let him or
her proceed to file impeachment charges at the National Assembly,”
the aide noted. Nigerian Tribune was told that the rift between the
two men (president and vice president) was deepening despite last
Friday’s National Executive Committee meeting. Meanwhile, no fewer
than 62 supporters of Vice President Atiku were arrested in Abuja at
the weekend.
Nigerian Tribune Newsupdated: 12 Sept
2005
2007: S’East govs abandon agitation for Presidency
TAJUDEEN SULEIMAN
THERE are indications of confusion among the major stakeholders in the
South-east over the clamour for the Igbo to produce the next president
for the country in 2007.
Findings by Sunday Punch showed that virtually all the five governors
from the zone may have abandoned their agitation on the matter because
of uncertainty surrounding the zoning policy of the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP).
The obvious lack of unity and an unwillingness of the main political
gladiators to pursue their presidential ambition on the platform of any
other party, have reportedly forced the governors to abandon their
agitation for the presidency.
Sources close to South-East Governors’ Forum told Sunday Punch that the
governors might have given up hope that the zone would produce the next
president for the country, and had decided to each pursue their
individual ambitions.
“I can tell you authoritatively that the governors have jettisoned their
clamour for the presidency in 2007.There is no any meeting going on in
that regard. There is no obvious intention on their part to insist on
the South-east producing the next president,” a source said.
He disclosed that the 2007 presidency no longer featured on the agenda
of the governors’ forum, except for the purpose of “playing to the
gallery”.
The reasons advanced for the governors’ volte face on the issue include
the zoning arrangement of their party, the PDP, which is likely to zone
its presidential ticket to the North for 2007.
“The governors are all PDP governors, and their party has zoned the 2007
presidency to the North. Even if they say they want to pull out of PDP,
they have also reasoned that no other party is as popular as the PDP in
the zone and other parts of the country. So, they have decided to go
along with the PDP, even if it means sacrificing the 2007 presidency, “
another source explained.
He said it was because of this “reason that some of the governors have
decided to keep their presidential ambition to themselves, instead of
seeking to “turn the tables” and heat up the polity.
“Only Governor Oji Uzor Kalu of Abia State, perhaps, because of youthful
exuberance, has insisted on carrying on with his presidential campaign,
against the party arrangement. Most people here even think that he is
actually positioning himself for a vice-presidential slot”, the source
added
The apex Igbo socio-culturally organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, which had
consistently insisted on the 2007 presidency, may have also taken a cue
from the governors.
The issue of the 2007 presidency is no longer on the agenda of its
meetings, but now only an issue addressed when reporters ask questions
after any of its meetings.
During the last joint meeting of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the governors forum
summoned by the president of the senate, Chief Ken Nnamani, at Ebony
State capital, Abakaliki in June 2005, the 2007 presidency did not
feature in their deliberations.
The President-General of Ohanaeze, Prof. Joe Irukwu, could not make any
categorical statement on the 2007 presidency when reporters asked him,
and had to be rescued by the host governor, Dr. Sam Egwu, who gave the
press what they wanted to hear by saying, “We are still interested in
the 2007 presidency and we insist that the next president should come
from the Southeast.”
However, the Igbo elite, some of who have expressed disappointment at
the governors’ attitude to the aspiration of Ndigbo, has evolved an
alternative platform called the Southeast Political Leaders Forum, to
sustain the agitation.
One of the founders and Second Republic Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke told Sunday Punch that his group
was determined to realise the Igbo presidency project in 2007.
“We know that the governors are not doing much because of the policy of
their party, but I can assure you that we are determined to have the
presidency in 2007.We’re going to start holding meetings very soon on
the matter. In fact we are going to have meetings with the governors. I
‘m already discussing the issue with some of them who are my friends”,
Chief Umezuike said.
Other members of the forum, which cuts across party lines include:
Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, Chief Chekwas Okorie and
former minister, Chief John Nwodo.
SUNDAY PUNCH, September 11, 2005
Nigerians are becoming poorer and poorer over the years let me say that this
administration by its action and policies have turned people to desperate human
beings..."
Owei Lakemfa, Head of Information of the NLC., in:
"NLC: No Going Back on Protest Rally"
By Chris Nwachukwu in
Lagos and Juliana Taiwo in Abuja, 09.08.2005 THISDAY
"The yoke of enslavement of
our people must be broken and overthrown together with
the looming spectre of another self-succession bid, long
before 2007.
"The audacious and illegal spending of tax-payers'
money running into several billions of naira by Obasanjo
to assemble his chorus boys in Abuja recently, all for
the singular purpose of his self-succession, or the
elongation of his purloined office, in the pretence of a
political reform conference, is yet another trampling
under the feet, of the sovereignty of Nigeria
"One only needs to look at the dramats personae now
on stage and those already taking up huge bill
boards throughout the length and breadth of our vast
nation, positioning themselves for 2007 elections,
to appreciate your concern for the immediate and
long term horrible implications of their
self-succession or re-cycling bid.
"The same set of parasitic elements and
oppressive characters are still very visible on the
country's political space,
"...the despoliation of Nigeria did not start
with the Babangida junta but that the junta
accentuated it adding that since then, the country
had been rapaciously raped by successive impostors
and their cronies who forced themselves on the
populace and expropriated the national patrimony for
their private ends.
"...the truth is that Nigeria at this point in
time is far from being a democracy.
--Dr Tunji Braithwaite in "Soyinka,
Braithwaite Urge Lawmakers To Probe Graft Charge Against
Obasanjo" BY CHARLES ADINGUJU (LAGOS)
AND KELVIN EBIRI (PORT HARCOURT)
Guardian September 9 2005.
"The politician [Dr Tunji Braithwaite]
also noted in dismay that despite the country's earning of
over $800billion from oil since exploration started in
Oloibiri, there was little to show for it in terms of
development of infrastracture or enhanced quality of the
life of the people"
"It warned that should the National
Assembly fail to impeach the president, the Nigerian
populace must have to take action to liberate themselves
from their impostors and oppressors"
"The forum through its national
convener urged all Nigerians to support all legal steps
by the civil society to retrieve the sovereignty of
Nigerians from the hands of those who plundered the
nation".
"Soyinka, Braithwaite
Urge Lawmakers To Probe Graft Charge Against Obasanjo" BY CHARLES ADINGUJU (LAGOS) AND
KELVIN EBIRI (PORT HARCOURT)
Guardian September 9 2005.
"Something must be done to this Government before it
scuttles our hard-earned democracy. The only feasible action
is to sack Obasanjo's government by mass protests -
preparatory to the invocation of Section 143 of the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 by the
National Assembly for the removal of President Olusegun
Obasanjo from office.
"General Olusegun Obasanjo is a stubborn brute who is
totally opposed to Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 which provides: "The
security and welfare of the people shall be the primary
purpose of government". By this latest increase in petroleum
product prices, General Olusegun Obasanjo has defied and
defiled the Constitution he swore to defend, observe and
uphold. If we do not react by mass revolt against General
Olusegun Obasanjo's latest move, we would lose our moral
authority to oppose his next gamble: third term bid as a
monstrous dictator.
"Finally, I consider it insensately unpatriotic for
General Olusegun Obasanjo to make Nigerians bleed with
groaning pain while the oil companies including the
marketers rip us off only for them to unconstitutionally and
illegally compensate President Olusegun Obasanjo as they did
when they gave him billions of Naira for his Olusegun
Obasanjo Presidential Library; a private project at Abeokuta
on Saturday, May 14, 2005 - an event which violated the Code
of Conduct for Public Officers in Items I and 6 (1)(2), Part
1of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and breached Section 46 of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act as well
as Section 8(1), 9(1), 10, 17 and 19 of the Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offences Act, Cap. 31, Laws of
the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
"The need for national revolt"
By Gani Fawehinmi
Fawehinmi is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
"....Another big lesson is,
a candidate that is not accepted by his people should
not be accepted by other regions by forcing him on
others. In 1999, Obasanjo lost in his ward as witten in
the paper recently and in 2003 the votes casted for his
presidency were cancelled because of "voting magomago"
in his State --- charity begins at home.
"...The sad part of the story however is
that the man [Obasanjo] thinks he is the only one who can do
anything right. No one can rule Nigeria better. In the days
of Babangida and Abacha, Obasanjo, in his interviews and
public speeches gave the impression that he could manage the
economy better, but in retrospect, I do not know whether we
can rate him better than them...
"The man [Obasanjo] would not just agree
that anybody is better than him and pride and arrogance are
really his Achilles heels...
"What the poor people of this country
have paid for having Obasanjo in government for six years
now are hyper-inflation, hunger, poverty, disease, massive
corruption, ineptitude, and utter hopelessness.
"We now pay more for petrol than ever
paid before with its attendant effects on the masses.
"The failure and insincerity of his [Obasanjo's]
government has been further promoted by the failure of his
national conference.
"Up till now, nobody knows where he [Obasanjo]
got the money to fund this jamboree [National Political
Reform Conference] which ended in disarray.
"Well, because he [Obasanjo] is
minister of Petroleum and accountable to nobody, he can
choose to do things his own way and nobody is asking
questions and even when they are asked, he is not bothered.
"One would have thought that a man as
the last lap of his life will make sincere efforts to
champion the course of truth, justice and fair-play knowing
that he is going to answer for his actions before God but
the reverse is the case [with Obasanjo]. The murder of Bola
Ige, Chief Dikibo, the Odi killings and many others took
place and are still unresolved till now.
"Yet, Obasanjo prides himself
hypocritically in promoting the ideals of democracy.
"He [Obasanjo] is truly the king of
the jungle for Nigeria is a lawless place and only a lawless
man can preside over such a mess that Nigeria has become.
"With an Obasanjo government, it is
clear that we are not going forward. Indeed, our reverse
gear is working extra hard.
"...this is the time God wants to show
him that he is nothing and make him pay a big price for his
misdeeds of the past.
"People have been very economical with
the truth by saying we need a revolution but only a peaceful
revolution. The truth must be told that Nigeria, as it is
today can only do with a more radical revolution.
"We are not a united people and may
never have a united voice about anything.
"I am not a prophet of doom not a
lover of military take over but I do not see anything good
on the horizon for now. I think we are creating the room for
the military to come back and come back they will.
"Our leaders must listen to the voice
of reason which they have refused to do for so long.
"...unless our political elites are
taught some bitter and lasting lessons, the political
situation in Nigeria will remain a vicious cycle.
"People have got to pay for all these
crimes and the looting of our treasury while the hewers of
wood and drawers of water in the Niger-Delta and every other
section of this country are living in poverty.
"The sheer indiscipline and lack of
respect for the opposition within the ruling PDP has not set
a good example for the survival of democracy in this
country.
"The PDP itself may soon be carried
away by a Tsunami of horrendous proportion.
"I hear the President himself was
there to dance with his thugs who are the so-called party [PDP]
chiefs.
"It is a pity we are ruled by a whole
set of indecent people who are not in any way positive role
models for our youths.
"The present state of affairs cannot
continue because Nigerians are suffocated economically,
politically and morally.
"There is simply no light at the end
of the tunnel..."
"Third term: Let him dare"
By Emmanuel Ogundele.
The
Guardian, September 7 2005
Fr. Ogundele is Head, Department of Philosophy, Ss. Peter
and Paul Seminary, Ibadan.
"THE tide of his anti-corruption crusade,
a key plank of his reforms agenda, may be turning thick and
fast against President Olusegun Obasanjo, as a flurry of
allegation of corruption continue to sail around his person
and his presidency....
"In an exclusive interview with Sunday
Champion yesterday, Chief Fawehinmi (SAN) alleged that
"President Obasanjo has committed so many corrupt offences
ranging from funds raised to finance his re-election in 2003
and contracts awarded to many businessmen in and outside the
country."...
"The fiery lawyer [Chief Fawehinmi]
added: "President Obasanjo has a lot to hide and doesn’t
want to be exposed." Chairman of EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu had last
Friday said that the commission, together with ICPC would
start probe of the President, his aides and the leadership
of the Senate over alleged corruption....
"According to Ribadu, in acknowledging
Governor Kalu’s petition, nobody irrespective of his
position was above the law of the land...
"But in his charges against the
President, Chief Fawehinmi said he had reservations that the
EFCC and ICPC would be given free hand to do a thorough
investigation. "I doubt if the President will allow them do
that, because he knows deep inside him how corrupt he (Obasanjo)
is, and this is what I have been saying for a long time
now"...."
"Fawehinmi, Rimi hit Obasanjo": DAN
ONWUKWE, Lagos & MUHAMMAD KABIR, Kano
Daily Champion Monday, September
05 2005
Editorial / Opinion
The
Guardian
Monday, September 05, 2005
A Contraption Of Lies And Deceits By Kunle Sanyaolu
"IT surprised me that the legacy I left behind has
been rubbished. I laid a solid foundation before I left
Nigeria." That is Clemens Westerhof, the Dutch coach who
took Nigeria's senior football team, the Super Eagles, to
its first outing at the World Cup, way back in 1994, United
States of America. He added: "There is no excuse for a
country like Nigeria with abundance of talents, to struggle
with qualification in any football event be it world or
nations cup." As he examines the precarious fate of Nigeria
among African countries bidding for Germany 2006, Westerhof
has every reason to be sad. He couldn't understand why a
country like Togo that has been poaching players from
Nigeria is on the verge of qualifying for the mundial, while
Nigeria is now banking on a miracle as the only means to
take it to Germany. Without doubt, the Westerhof years have
so far proved to be the best for Nigerian soccer. The years
produced great names who, even years after retiring,
continue to ring exciting bell in the circle. They include
names such as Rashidi Yekinni, Stephen Keshi, Daniel
Amokachi, Samson Siasia, Emmanuel Amuneke and of course,
Austin "Jay Jay" Okocha who, 11 years after Westerhof
discovered him, remains the bedrock of the Super Eagles. In
1994, Nigeria's outing in the World Cup was good, definitely
not a write off. We have seen now after two more World Cup
competitions, France '98 and Japan - Korea 2002), that that
debut outing is the best. Since then, the country has been
sliding backward.
As it is in football so it is in other spheres of life.
Helsinki 2005 proved that we are not faring any better in
athletics. If we are sliding back in sports in arithmetical
proportion, I have no doubt that we are sliding back in
other areas: politics, economy and social life, in
geometrical proportion. News around us, including those we
see and hear as well as those we read in newspapers is so
disheartening that I think we really should reopen the
debate about the national question. It is easy for us to say
that many developed nations went through our experience,
learned and came out stronger. Whether the experience of
those countries can be likened to Nigeria's is quite another
matter. When developed countries like Britain and America
fought wars, their pattern of development was clear. Their
target, after the war, was also clear. And the methodology
of achieving that purpose was discernible. It is not
surprising that after years and decades of such purposeful
existence, the developed countries arrived at their advanced
stage. They have since sustained their leadership progress
and growth at the world level in several spheres. On its
part, Nigeria has fought a war and went through several
crises, including June 12, 1993. It seems to me that after
every crisis, we have somehow managed to assuage our
immediate temperament without necessarily addressing the
crux of our disagreement. Many of us, particularly the
so-called leaders in government and the politicians, dread
to even talk about the crux of our problems. They fear that
starting a discussion of the fundamental issues may cause
further divisions. This they cannot contemplate because they
thrive on the country as presently constituted. They are
experts at hunting with the cheetah and running with the
hares, just so that they can eat from the two corners of
their mouth.
The citizens in focus know the full import of their
deeds. They have no remorse that their deceits and
contraption will lead the country nowhere. They have no
qualm as they watch the country take a step forward and then
four steps backward. Each time there was a step forward, as
when everyone agreed that power must shift to the South West
(1999), or when we eventually joined the league of GSM
users, this set of Nigerian would hail the country and the
government at hand. The hailing would be loud and clear, to
suggest to the unwary that the country has recorded no mean
achievement, nay the first of its kind in the world and
thanks to government. More often than not, the brandished
achievements turn out to be largely hoaxes. It is like
giving with one hand and taking double with the other hand.
Currently, the Nigerian debt pardon issue from the Paris
Club is an example of the deceit and contraption called
Nigeria. What our leaders and politicians acclaim to be an
unsurpassable achievement is blowing up right in their face.
All of a sudden, we know that it is a trap to further
enslave the country financially. Trust the Nigeria leaders.
They can rationalise, explain things and philosophise to the
effect that it is wrong for us to expect to win every time.
If anything patently retrogressive happened, we say that it
is an exception that should not discourage us. But our
leaders have already lost hope and confidence in Nigeria.
They preach Nigeria all right, but they practice something
else. They use Nigeria largely to make money, legitimately
and otherwise. Then they use the money to sustain their
families in countries they know are safer. At the slightest
sign of instability in this country, our people are already
on the plane abroad, heading for sanctuary.
I don't know how long Nigeria can go as a contraption of
dishonesty, greed, lies, distortion and often, evil. The
general principle is that the good always catches up with
the bad and that the truth shall prevail. That principle
appears to be an exception in this country. Evil has
triumphed over good much more than otherwise, with a
resultant hunger, poverty, disease, Ignorance, despair and
stupendous crime all over the land. No one from a sane
community can read Nigerian newspapers for three days
consecutively without losing appetite for food or becoming
disenchanted with life itself. When you think one story is
gory, wait for the next story in the next page. It is more
loathsome, more ungodly. There is so much cheating in the
land. People are using their ill-gotten wealth and political
connections to commit heinous crime and unprecedented
atrocities. Everybody has his price in all tiers and arms of
government to pervert justice and perpetuate greed and evil.
The other time, President Olusegun Obasanjo said there is
corruption in the judiciary. He might have been talking
about the uppermost section of the judiciary. Of course the
statement is not altogether news. Judges of the courts of
superior records had been sacked before on account of
corruption. At the same time, people do not mind to destroy
other people's character and reputation, again unjustly, and
for selfish reasons. Many judges are clean in all the
benches. But they seem powerless against the corruption
endemic in the institution as a whole and which they see
regularly among their colleagues. Yet they can hardly
complain. Over the years, the executive arm of government
has failed us. This was manifest in the days of Babangida
and Abacha. Unfortunately, Obasanjo has been unable to stop
the rot or to recover the lost confidence in the executive.
Rather, the government has characterised itself as a pioneer
of false reforms, so long as it can realise money to pursue
selfish political agenda, without minding the increasing
poverty such reforms are visiting on the masses.
It cannot be sufficient for the President to simply say
he cares about the plight of average Nigerians when his
deeds and actions suggest the opposite. The President set up
a committee headed by Senator Ibrahim Mantu to proffer ways
of ameliorating the suffering of the ordinary citizens
occasioned by vagaries in the prices of petroleum products.
The President failed to implement recommendations of the
panel but went ahead to impose higher prices, and
consequently greater suffering on Nigerians. He should know
that the peace in the country is that of the graveyard, very
ominous. In a few weeks' time, the peace is certain to be
disrupted when the effects of the new price regime starts
biting on other goods and services needed by the populace.
Yet, the country is blessed with huge resources, both tapped
and untapped. Given the kind of budget we have been
operating by this government and also, given the amount of
money that we know is being shared by top government
personnel under one guise or the other, Nigerians do not
deserve the punishment they are going through now. There is
a clear failure of government at all levels beginning from
the presidency and through the councils. None is pursuing
public agenda but private interest. The level of
unemployment and joblessness is high. Why are we complaining
of high crime rate? The youths have to do something. In most
cases however, the criminals are venting their anger and
frustration on the society. They know the opulence under
which some Nigerians are living. In their present state,
they have no hope of working legitimately, or even securing
any job, that can take them to half the height they dream
for themselves. They then take to crime.
What is the solution? Your guess is as good as mine. I do
believe we need a complete change of orientation, which we
are unlikely to get with the old crop of personnel around.
Nigeria is unwieldy as presently constituted. Where the
President wields the kind of power and influence of Obasanjo,
struggle for power is likely to be violent. Ditto for the
governors. Our leaders at the national level have always
spoken against disintegrating the country. Obviously, there
is strength in number. But the strength is grossly lacking
in balance and proportion. The president has lost
opportunity to redress the imbalance through the political
conference. Reports of the conference, which gulped more
than a billion naira, are inconclusive and controversial.
Even then, the government has no idea what it wants to do
with it. And the National Assembly, which has always been
averse to the idea, is not ready to touch the report with a
10-foot pole. It seems there is no way to move forward. We
keep deluding ourselves. The police are not as interested in
fighting crime as they are of lining up their pockets. One
likely thing is that neither Nigeria nor the Police can
change drastically for the better, in their present
circumstances. We are likely to be going round a vicious
cycle, until it dawns on the powers that be that this is a
nation of contraption.
Nigerians loathe
Ndigbo--that's a given, and another matter altogether. But
also, Nigerians do in fact disrespect Ndigbo, and that
is precisely because of the this type of actions by the
likes of Nnamani and the attendants to this so-called "South
East Stakeholders Summit," and such organizations as
Ohaneze, Ohaneze Youth Wing, and WIC.
Look at what is
happening now. 16 Igbos were slaughtered in the most
despicable display of racism, genocide, massacre, and
persecution against the Igbo, and the most unfathomable
display of brazenness, arrogance, and
"in-your-face-what-can-you-do-about-it?" by the Nigeria
police, right there in Abuja for all to witness, who
committed the crime on behalf of Obasanjo and Nigeria.
Rather than the South East so-called Stakeholders talking
about this, being that it is a consistent story and pattern,
they are talking about banking! Shame! Shame! Shame! What is
this other "stake" they are holding, anyway, that is more
important than the most important issue to the entire world
today, respect for human life, and abhorrence of racism,
persecution and genocide against their own people? I, too,
have more than disrespect for this class of so-called
Ndigbo, and it is more than well-deserved: I have lost any
and all respect for such. I would not even patronize their
idiocy by reminding them that most of the money in most of
those banks of their "stake" issue, is owned by the Igbo,
any way.
Elsewhere,
Obasanjo and Nigeria are busy violating the civil rights of
Igbo people and Biafrans all over, but most notably in
Biafraland, which has been turned into an armed-occupied
territory where the people are under constant armed police
and military harassment, murder and extortion. Obasanjo, PDP
and Nigeria won't even obey court orders as they relate to
the on-going Anambra crisis engineered, precipitated, stoked
and executed by Obasanjo himself or his proxy. Yet, the Igbo
"Stakeholders" are talking of other "stakes."
Remember the
faltering so-called National Political Reform Conference
(NPRC)? The Delta people stand on principles and demand what
is rightly due them, calling Nigeria's parasitism and
exploitation of Delta people's natural resources. Who would
fail to respect the Delta today? I duff my hat to them! Even
the arch-parasites, the North, now completely have a new and
healthy dose of respect for the Delta. All the North has
been doing is fighting tooth and nail (now, they do have to
fight, having previously, in unwarranted arrogance and using
intimidation, assumed that they were born to [mis]rule and
rape and suck Nigeria dry!) for the interest of Northern
Nigerians. Gone is the pretense that the Delta are their
natural allies or even brothers--a hypocrisy played up even
up to last week, before the Delta wizened up. In a twisted
way, one can still show some respect for the North's stance,
perverted and selfishly tilted in their balance, though it
may be--it is. The Yoruba played their own game: nothing to
lose, but do stand to gain whichever way it goes (for now),
holding the trump card to play at the right time in order
to protect the Yoruba ethnic nation's interests, no matter
who else gets hurt (and, historically, it's the Igbo who
will get hurt.) Here again, one can respect the Yoruba for
their sophistication.
Compare that to
the Igbo delegates led by Irukwu, one of the Stakeholders,
whose instruction right from the beginning is to forget any
Igbo interests, but to focus exclusively on one-Nigeria's
interests, all the way. So, while other groups carve out
what is good for each of them, the Igbo give away everything
in compromise, without as much as a whimper; the Igbo even
fail to bring up obvious issues impacting negatively on the
Igbo, all so that they won't upset the unity of Nigeria (an
oxymoron). Even when the presidency smuggled in a
constitutional draft specifically targeting Igbo language
and removing it from the list of official Nigerian
languages, these delegates and their leader sat there,
saying nothing, and doing nothing. Oh, they did ask for a
low-risk, low-controversy thing, but that did not stop the
provocation of the expression of the same disrespect which
we are talking about, a collective insult to Igbo people,
from the Northerners employing true-to-type ignoramus'
arguments. An extra Igbo State? Sure: NPRC will not bother
to oppose that because only fools do not know: the first
thing Obasanjo will do when he gets the report will be to
erase such a recommendation, and he will do it with
punishing public fanfare in order to continue the insult to
the Igbo. And even then, the Igbo delegates and their leader
and "stakeholders" will find a way to defend Obasanjo's
action. Now, tell me: who, in their right mind, would fail
to show disdain, disgust and disrespect for the Igbo
typified by this bunch?
So, you see why
Nnamani and his ilk of efulefu got it all wrong? God help
them: because, the burden of their misdeeds and their
consequences to Igbo people will certainly judge them when
we get into Biafra. That time is well at hand. Biafra will
deal effectively with the loathe and disrespect harbored and
practiced by Nigeria against the Igbo.
Biafra is the
answer.
Oguchi Nkwocha
Nwa Biafra
A Biafran
Citizen.
_________________________________
Subject: Why Nigerians
Disrespect Ndigbo Nnamani
Why
Nigerians Disrespect Ndigbo – Nnamani
From Chinedu Eze in Abakaliki,
06.25.2005
Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani, yesterday in
Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, said the poor presence of the
people of the South-east in the real sectors
of the nation's economy was one of the reasons why the rest
of Nigerians had qualified respect for Ndigbo.
Speaking at the opening session of South East Stakeholders
Summit which was held in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital
yesterday, Nnamani said that the Igbos have lost their grip
in the political foothold of Nigeria and they were now
losing their dominance in the marketing sector of the
nation’s economy due to lack of unity of purpose.
“You cannot talk about economic growth without having
footprint in the banking industry. The South West has eight
banks among the recapitalized banks; the South South has
four banks that have recapitalized, while Bank of the North
has been recapitalized by the Northern governors. They are
establishing Islamic Bank and will receive a waiver from CBN,”
the Senate President said.
N! namani who said that the objective of the meeting was for
the
Igbo leaders to deliberate on their unity and economic
empowerment in Nigeria, regretted that out of 18 banks that
have recapitalized in the country and which has been
approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) non is
predominantly owned by the Igbos.
The Senate President frowned at the lack of agreement among
the South East governors whom he said were yet to come
together to fight for the cause of Igbos in spite of the
fact that the zone have the least number of states in the
federation.
He disclosed that the governors of northern states met and
agreed to recapitalize the Bank of the North, which has met
the criteria of CBN, remarking that the governors went
further to establish another bank called Islamic Bank and
were able to secure for the bank, CBN’s waiver that would
free it from raising N25 billion capitalization fund.
He said that the South East governors can recapitalize a
bank that! has predominantly Igbo interest, noting that for
the Igbos to make th emselves relevant in Nigeria they have
to be united and create opportunity for regular meetings,
saying that without such meetings where stakeholders would
articulate ideas and unanimously agree on them, the zone
cannot make progress.
In an address, the host governor, Dr Sam Egwu, said that the
summit would provide Igbos a veritable platform for communal
re-union “to rub minds on contending issues that affect us
as a people at this critical juncture in the nation’s
socio-political evolution.”
Egwu regretted that the Igbos have not been fully integrated
into the mainstream of Nigeria’s socio-political
calculation, saying that it is the duty of the leaders of
the zone to zealously and relentlessly pursue a corporate
agenda of Igbo demarginalization within the context of the
Nigeria Federation.
He reiterated the call for Nigeria’s president from Igbo
extraction in 2007, remarking that apart from the fact that
the principles of equity and natural justice support this
ca! use, the fruition of the aspiration would go along way
in strengthening the ideals of political accommodation and
national unity within a six-zone rotational framework.
“I invite all of us to be steadfast in the struggle to
enthrone a society where merit and social justice hold sway.
That is why our aspiration to produce a Nigerian President
of Igbo extraction in 2007 must be sustained and
impassioned. Apart from the fact that the principles of
equity and natural justice support this cause, I also
believe that the fruition of this aspiration will go a long
way in strengthening the ideals of political accommodation
and national unity within a six-zone rotational framework,”
Egwu said.
He also called for all Igbos to support and continue to
partner with President Olusegun Obasanjo in his efforts to
further the frontiers of structural reforms and national
stability.
The summit was attended by top Igbo politicians and business
magnets including Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyan-! wu, Senator Uche
Chukwumerije, Chief Nnia Nwodo, Professor Joe Irukwu, the
President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo and many others who
thronged the Women Development Centre, the venue where
Ebonyi state welcomed the Senate President before
reconvening at the banquet hall of the Governor’s Lodge,
where the summit took place.
Abuja Killings:
Tears as Photographer Gives Evidence
From Funmi Peter-Omale in Abuja,
06.25.2005
The spectators at the disbanded Mike Okiro Administrative
panel were shocked and moved to tears when a witness gave an
evidence of how he was called in the early hours of June 8 to
take the pictures of the five of the victims of the extra
judicial killing by some Policemen.
Counsel to the victims' families, Amobi Nzelu called to witness
a 32 year old photographer Chukwudi Chukwu who said he was
called on his mobile phone around 3.30 am by one PC "Comrade"
who escorted him to the Garki Police station where he met Deputy
Commissioner of Police Danjuma Ibrahim, the Divisional Police
Officer (DPO) Abdulsalam Othman and two other policemen he can
not remember their names but would possibly identify them if he
sees them.
"I have been working for the Police for over seven years. First
at 3.30am, I snapped three dead boys and then later they came to
call me at about 6.30am and I snapped five of them, one small
girl and four boys.
They asked me to snap them together but I! also snap each of
them separately." according to him, when he was summoned to take
the pictures, he was told they were armed robbers adding that he
was used to snapping like that for the Police. he further stated
that when he noticed that there were no gun shot wounds on the
girl though there were blood stains on her body, he had to turn
her around to snap the pictures. He also said it was like the
girl was still alive as at the time they called him to take the
pictures.
At this stage, there were shouts in the spectators as some women
joined the mother of the deceased girl to weep openly.
The photographer revealed that he had to use his initiative
to keep negatives of the pictures having noticed that he knew
one of the boys as well as the fact that he had had problems
with the Police over pictures he had taken sometime ago.
He also gave evidence that the remains of the victims were
bundled into a Police van (with no number) in his presence and
they said they were taking their bodies to the mortuary.
Chukwu also revealed that a member of the Ambush Squad, Anthony
Idah that allegedly died last Sunday was with him on Saturday
and there was nothing wrong with him. He swore that he was also
called by the Police to go and snap his picture at Garki
mortuary.
"I was surprised when I was called to come and take some
pictures only for me to discover that it was that of Anthony
Idah. I was with him on Saturday and there
was nothing wrong with him.
In his evidence, he affirmed that the DPO Othman had called him
to his office and told him that he should ! not worry that no
one would call him before the panel and that the Police will
give him protection.
Before the commencement of the sitting, the Inspector General of
Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero had paid an unscheduled visit to the
venue and spoke with family
members and spectators.
According to, he had to come because he had been briefed about
the proceedings and needed to see things for himself. He
appealed to the people to be calm and
allow the Police to do their work.
He announced the interdiction of Othman, Zakariya and Audu.
Nothing was said about Danjuma Ibrahim who has been fingered to
be the alleged brain behind the
killings.
He also barred journalists from covering the sitting of the now
disbanded panel.
In an interview with newsmen later, Chukwu revealed that he had
been receiving telephone threats from unknown people saying his
life was at risk but that he had to satisfy his conscience that
was why he came out to give evidence.
Imm! ediately after the sitting, the witness was whisked to an
unknown dest ination as there were fears that he could also
suffer the same fate that befell Private Anthony Idah.
South-South and the Nigeria
project
Our rulers must come to terms with the reality that something
fundamental is wrong with the nation’s federal structure. It is not
the secret meetings held with PDP governors from the South-South by
President Obasanjo that would solve this problem if further short
changing of South-South people is not stopped. The bait of 17 per
cent thrown by the government might not bring an end to the matter.
The issue at stake is not something that could be waved aside as a
party affair...
Whoever is against a proper restructuring of Nigeria must
understand that undue obstinacy will only move the nation closer to
the conclusion in the United States intelligence report. Nigeria
can only remain one on its people’s terms. Not that of greedy
leaders. There can be no Nigeria and Nigerians except issues
creating injustice within the federation are addressed....
The error in the federation called Nigeria by virture of the
forced 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates
by the British for administrative convenience could become a mistake
if the opportunity presented by this conference to resolve knotty
national issues is allowed to elude the nation by our ruling elites.
What is unfortunate about the current non-challant and
nothing-can-happen attitude of the federation’s ruling elites is
that by the time the error turns to a mistake, it may be too late
to rescue the Nigerian project. The reality of the Nigerian
situation is that genuine and agreeable restructuring is
inevitable...
Apart from the twenty-five per cent derivation formula demand by
the South-South delegates at the confab, there is the lop-sided
number of states and local government councils in favour of the
northern part of the country; That is one defect of the
federation...
The current ruling elites in the nation must not allow things to
further degenerate because “it takes less time to do a thing right
than it does to explain why you did it wrong,” according to Henry
Wadsworth Long Fellow. It will be a belaboured explanation for any
leader to tell the world why the Nigerian nation failed when such a
leader had the opportunity of salvaging the situation when in
power...
Walter Lippman sums it up when he said “The final test of a
leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and
the will to carry on.” The way it is in the past and today, Obasanjo
could not be said to have left in other Nigerians, especially those
from the Southern part of the nation, the conviction and the will to
carry on....
South-South and the Nigeria project Vanguard
Friday, June 24, 2005
Personal View by Mobolaji Sanusi
Executive Lawlessness as recipe
for Instability
What does a beneficiary of a judgment delivered by
the apex court in the land do when the executive arm of government
refuses to abide by the judgment and carry out the orders given by
the court in the judgment? Does he resign himself to fate and leave
everything to God the ultimate Judge? Or will he be justified to
take laws into his hands since the other party has chosen to snub
the judgment of the highest court in the country?...
In the lead judgment delivered by the Chief Justice of Nigeria,
Justice Muhammed Lawal Uwais on December 10 2004, the Supreme Court
declared among others that it is unlawful and contrary to the
provisions of the constitution for the Federal Government to suspend
or withhold for any period whatsoever the statutory allocation in
respect of the old 20 Local Government Councils as he has no power
to do so under the constitution.
The court then went ahead to make a consequential order
compelling the Federal Government to pay immediately all outstanding
statutory allocation due to these 20 Local Government Councils as
well as an order of perpetual injunction restraining the President
or any functionaries or agencies of the executive from withholding
the monies. The court summed up the judgment saying, “the
plaintiff’s (Lagos State Government) action succeeds, all the
reliefs sought are granted but applicable only to the 20 Local
Government Areas specified in part 1 of the First Schedule to the
constitution. The counter claim by the defendant succeeds in part.”
President Obasanjo has however refused to give effect to the
judgment of the Supreme Court arguing that the names of the old 20
Local Government Councils in Lagos State who are entitled to
allocation from the Federation Account have been altered and as such
they no longer exist. He insists that unless and until the state
reverts to the old 20 Local Government Councils there will be no
allocation to any Local Government Areas in Lagos State. Governor
Bola Tinubu of Lagos State on his own part is contending that
reverting to the old councils amounts to going contrary to the
Supreme Court judgment which affirmed the power of the state
government to create the additional 37 Local Government Councils and
as such it is beyond him to do.
...“flagrant disobedience to court order by the Executive arm of
government was more entrenched under a military dictatorship. But in
a democratic dispensation, it is an aberration, except for the likes
of President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. However, in view of latest
developments in Nigeria, particularly with the utter disobedience to
various court orders from Awka to Enugu to Abuja, it is obvious that
we have a variant of Mugabe on our hands particularly the flagrant
disobedience to the order of the Supreme Court that the seized local
government allocation of Lagos State be released immediately.”
Going down memory lane, Mr Akinnola cited instances under the
military regimes where the authorities disobeyed the orders of court
and the attitude of some judges to such denigration of the
judiciary. He also gave a diary of government disobedience to court
orders under the present political dispensation. These include:
refusal of government to re-instate the security details of Governor
Chris Ngige of Anambra State despite Appeal Court order; refusal of
the Nigerian Army to re-instate dismissed ECOMOG soldiers despite
Court of Appeal order; refusal of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
to obey the decision of an Awka High Court, nullifying the purported
expulsion of Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra State from PDP and the
refusal of the Federal Government to give effect to the judgment of
the Supreme Court in the case of AG Lagos State V AG of the
Federation and 35 others in respect of environmental and urban
planning in the state. Mr Akinnola submitted that the refusal of the
Obasanjo-led Federal Government to release Lagos State local
government councils allocation in obedience to the order of the
Supreme Court is “a collective assault on the psyche of Nigerians
and this has to be resisted.”...
Thus it is obvious that like the Bourbons of old, the current
operators of the political system would seem to have learnt and
forgotten nothing. However, if they do not wish to suffer the same
fate as that of the ancien regime, they are better advised to
retrace their steps from utter contempt and disregard for the rule
of law and the tenets of liberal democracy. Executive lawlessness
has no place under elected, constitutional government and the
earlier this is grasped by all concerned, the better for the health
of the republic.”...
Summarising his lecture, Professor Oyebode submitted that “the
happenings on the political front since the country’s return to
civil rule have not provided cause for cheer regarding the future
democracy in Nigeria. It seems the various factions and fractions of
the ruling class are yet to imbibe the democratic ethos. Thus far
the country seems to have been attempting to run a democratic set-up
without fully committed democrats.
There are increasing signs of a reverse to the irreverent and
unacceptable habits of unelected, praetorian rule characterised by
executive lawlessness.”
Executive Lawlessness as recipe for Instability
Vanguard By Kayode Matthew Posted to the Web: Friday,
June 24, 2005
Revolt of the
South-South
....The first is that oil is the curse of
Nigeria...
... As the sale of crude oil brought enormous resources, and easy
money, with our excess crude earnings now about N1.15 trillion, the
country became indolent. Government officials looted the oil money,
and awarded oil blocks and other facilities to themselves, their
agents and friends. States and regions which were established as
centres of economic activity prior to 1969 became rent-collection
units. The Federal Government collected oil revenue, and states went
to Abuja to collect their share….
...The bitter, second lesson, is that this easy money did not
translate into development, rather it encouraged greed, and a
desperation for the control of the Federal Government, and its
increasing powers. In practical terms, every other economic resource
in the country was abandoned: the Western region which had been
sustained by cocoa, and other resources and 50 per cent derivation
suddenly stopped being creative; the North abandoned its groundnut
pyramids, its hides and skin, the Middle Belt closed down its tin
mines, ignored its reserves of uranium, and in the East, the coal
mines, home of about the finest grade of coal in the world, were
left to grow into bushes. Farmers across the country deserted the
villages, everyone wanted to be in the city to share out of oil
money. Oil had become gold, and it was proudly referred to as the
national cake….
...If the oil resources had been distributed on a just and equitable
basis, perhaps there would have been no problem. But while the rest
of the country lived in open affluence, spending the proceeds of oil
exploration, the people of the Niger Delta whose soil and waters
produce the oil wealth which accounts for 95 per cent of Nigeria's
contemporary resource base, wallowed in abject poverty. The Niger
Delta is not just an endangered region, since the days of the Royal
Niger Company, its people have grown from poverty to poverty; and
throughout this history, they have resisted this marginalisation,
this injustice: it is the refusal to listen to them that has now
radicalised the entire region fully and irretrievably….
...For over 40 years, the Nigerian state has
refused to address the key question of nationhood, and transform
itself properly into a nation-state with a shared consensus on its
identity and future. An invidious kind of conspiracy has sustained
Nigeria as a country of many nations, surrounded by the explosives
of political, economic and social differences...
...And again, in 2001, rather than address the
defects in the 1999 Constitution, inherited from the military, the
Obasanjo government had tried to re-invent the Petroleum Decree of
1969, which the Babangida administration had abrogated, by
re-introducing the onshore-offshore dichotomy in determining the
allocation of oil and gas revenue...
...The first lesson to be extracted from this-
the walk-out by South-South delegates, the refusal of Northern
delegates to give the South-South free scope for its demands, and
the adjournment of the Conference - is that there is no way Nigeria
can run away from its own national questions. Even if the Conference
is aborted, the issue would come up another day, for it is about
POWER and RESOURCES and ultimately the survival of the Nigerian
state....
...It is curious that there is so much furore
over derivation; for before 1969, this was not the case. Section 34
(I) of the 1960 Constitution as well as Section 140 (I) of the 1963
Republican Constitution provided 50 per cent derivation. The civil
war changed this, and by 1969 with the Petroleum Decree of that year
introduced by the Gowon government, the Federal Government discarded
the revenue formula that had been agreed by the regions and the
federal government in 1954. The Gowon government introduced this
decree to establish full federal control over the oil resources; it
was the prize that the Nigerian government awarded itself for
winning the civil war...
...Successive governments found it convenient to hold on to this
power over resources, and the unitary state that had emerged. As the
sale of crude oil brought enormous resources, and easy money, with
our excess crude earnings now about N1.15 trillion, the country
became indolent. Government officials looted the oil money, and
awarded oil blocks and other facilities to themselves, their agents
and friends. States and regions which were established as centres of
economic activity prior to 1969 became rent-collection units. The
Federal Government collected oil revenue, and states went to Abuja
to collect their share....
...The bitter, second lesson, is that this easy money did not
translate into development, rather it encouraged greed, and a
desperation for the control of the Federal Government, and its
increasing powers. In practical terms, every other economic resource
in the country was abandoned: the Western region which had been
sustained by cocoa, and other resources and 50 per cent derivation
suddenly stopped being creative; the North abandoned its groundnut
pyramids, its hides and skin, the Middle Belt closed down its tin
mines, ignored its reserves of uranium, and in the East, the coal
mines, home of about the finest grade of coal in the world, were
left to grow into bushes. Farmers across the country deserted the
villages, everyone wanted to be in the city to share out of oil
money. Oil had become gold, and it was proudly referred to as the
national cake...
If the oil resources had been distributed on a just and equitable
basis, perhaps there would have been no problem. But while the rest
of the country lived in open affluence, spending the proceeds of oil
exploration, the people of the Niger Delta whose soil and waters
produce the oil wealth which accounts for 95 per cent of Nigeria's
contemporary resource base, wallowed in abject poverty. The Niger
Delta is not just an endangered region, since the days of the Royal
Niger Company, its people have grown from poverty to poverty; and
throughout this history, they have resisted this marginalisation,
this injustice: it is the refusal to listen to them that has now
radicalised the entire region fully and irretrievably.
The people have turned their anger on oil companies, and the
Nigerian state, and they have produced heroes of their own struggle
in the process. Every Nigerian government tries to resolve the issue
through legalism or the introduction of development projects that
are in the real sense anti-development in orientation and execution,
or at best no more than mere tokenisms. But the solution is
political. It is so to the extent that it is about federalism; and
the creation of a Nigerian state in which every Nigerian can be a
shareholder, and a contributor, not a parasite, or rent-collector...
The only solution is for Nigeria to return to its pre-1969
position on revenue allocation, whereby every state shall be
entitled to 50 per cent derivation. The victorious argument cannot
be that of the lazy parasite, or the venal rent-collector such as is
being articulated by the political North, or as previously
disingenuously argued in Bala Usman's pamphlet, The
Misrepresentation of Nigeria in which he argues that the North
should be entitled to 60 per cent of oil revenue because the oil and
gas resources in the Niger Delta were formed by deposits that flowed
from the North. Nothing can be more simple-minded, and it is clear
that the people of the South-South would never be persuaded by this
brand of unscientific politics, which sadly has many adherents in
the North.
The principle of resource control is not for the South-South
alone; it is in fact meant to benefit the whole of Nigeria. Which is
why it needs not become a South-South vs North affair, although the
truth is that it is the present status quo that has sustained
Northern feudalism. If states control their resources, then the
Federal Government would become weaker, Abuja would become less
attractive and there would be a greater emphasis on productivity and
development as each state would have to start thinking more
creatively about how to manage its own resources. The impasse is
also not about oil alone: other related issues that would need to be
re-examined and resolved include the nature and future of the
Nigerian state, the collection and management of the Value Added
Tax, the Land Use Act and Constitutional Review.
Whatever happens, we can only either address these problems once
and for all, in keeping with the democratic spirit, or risk the
infernal danger of eternal repetitiveness or postpone the evil day.
Resource control is both the way to the past, and the way forward
for Nigeria: we can only ignore it, over-politicise it, or force the
wrong issues, at our own peril. The radical youths of the Niger
Delta, those "children of Ken Saro-Wiwa" in the creeks and the oil
producing communities are the ones who hold the key to that evil day
not the politicians and their dubious rhetoric...
Revolt of the South-South
Guardian Friday June 24 2005 Editorial By Reuben Abati
Biafran flag, currency flood Calabar
Sunday
Independent June 12 2005
Bassey
Inyang
Calabar
The flag and currency notes of the defunct
Republic of Biafra have surfaced in Calabar, the Cross River State
capital.
At different
sections of the town, the flags could be seen hanging in strategic
corners, especially areas close to public institutions.
Although no arrest has been made as a result of the development, it
is generally believed that the emergence of the flag and currencies
could be traced to the activities of the Movement for the Survival
of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) whose activists have
invaded Cross River State with a view to carrying out their
pro-Biafra campaign.
Sunday
Independent’s investigation revealed that MASSOB has commenced a
mass recruitment of members in the state.
In line with the
development that has caused serious concern in the state within
government and private circles, security agencies have stepped up
measures to track down members of MASSOB responsible for the action.
As one of the
measures aimed as stopping MASSOB activists in the state, the State
Security Services (SSS) last week invited some leaders of the Igbo
community in the state for discussion on the issue.
Sources at the
meeting, who pleaded anonymity, told Sunday Independent that
some of the leaders were quizzed and advised to dissuade their
youths from propagating the message of MASSOB in the state.
The sources
further disclosed that the leaders were admonished not to engage in
any action that could led to the breakdown of law and order in Cross
River State, moreso as the state was a tourism destination in
Nigeria.
At the weekend,
Sunday Independent still discovered that some of the flags were
still displayed in business areas in Calabar metropolis.
Few weeks ago, an
activist of MASSOB was jailed in Asaba, the Delta State capital for
attempting to hoist the Biafran flag.
A testimony
to Igbo marginalisation
[...] Lawal
As a non-indigene who has lived
in the East for a long time, I
can make an assesment of the
disenchantment that pervades the
thinking of most Igbo. To say
that there is very low federal
prescence in the South-East will
be an understatement. There is
no Federal Government presence
in the East, as far as I am
concerned. Anyone who wants to
prove me wrong can simply travel
down and see things for him or
herself.
Whereas most roads in other
geopolitical zones are awarded
to reputable and competent
construction companies like
Julius Berger, those in the East
are awarded to less competent
construction companies. And even
at that, the roads are never
comp! leted, but the contract
money is always paid to them in
full. Simply put, the roads in
the East are death-traps. The
second Niger Bridge, which the
President had promised the
people during his
electioneering, has remained
just a campaign slogan. Mind
you, this is the only structure
that links the East to the rest
of the country, except, of
course, you want to go through
Benue State. The bridge right
now is under serious pressure
and experts say there is a need
to relieve it of the excess
pressure.
The fact that the Nigerian civil
war ended 35 years ago is like a
fairy tale to most Easterners.
The policemen and soldiers still
act as if they are an occupying
force in an enemy territory,
subjecting the people to their
whims and caprices. Policemen
here do not collect N20 at
checkpoints, but demand
thousands of naira especially
during festive periods when many
of the people will be coming
back home.
While Arewa youths in the North,
opc in the West, and Niger Del!
ta Force in the South-South are
allowed to run amok, causing
terror, f ear, and death, massob
members who are not violent are
usually hunted, killed or
imprisoned without an option of
bail. 54 footballers, spectators
and match officials
participating in the Uwazurike
Cup tournament, were arrested
and detained by the police last
year. No one, not even
journalists, ngos or rights
activists ever fought for their
fundamental human rights. Yet,
Asari Dokubo was given a
presidential welcome in Abuja
with a N300 million gift to
stop his chaos in the creeks of
the Niger Delta.
It is only the Senate
presidency, which was zoned to
the Igbo, that has been targeted
for ridicle with the potent
weapon of bribery and
corruption, as if it is only the
Senate that is corrupt. Yet,
little or nothing is done about
the corrupt practices of our
past and present rulers.
While economic policies are
directed towards stemming the
importation of goods, which is
usually dominated by the Igbo,
nothing is done about trade in
foreign currencies in most maj!
or towns and cities in the
country. This is a business run
by our Northern brothers. But
the truth is that this trade has
continued to damage the
preference for our local
currency, the naira, and
increase the demand for the
dollar, pound and other foreign
currencies.
The Igbo must go back to God in
prayers. He will surely restore
them to their glorious days.
Lawal wrote from [...], Onitsha,
Anambra State.
The Punch, Friday June 10,
2005
__________________________________
EFCC forced me to write statement - FUTO VC
THE Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of
Technology Owerri (FUTO), Professor E. Njoku, on Wednesday appeared
before the House committee probing the N55 million bribery scandal
rocking the National Assembly, stating that the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) made him write a statement under duress.
Njoku, who could not recall the date he was
summoned by the EFCC in connection with a petition linking him to a
bribery case on the 2005 budget, said also that the EFCC had planned to
dictate a statement to him, although he insisted against such bid.
He told the House Committee on Ethics and
Privileges that on appearing before the EFCC, “they asked me to make a
statement and then they said the statement would be dictated to me but I
refused and said no.”
The vice chancellor said “they forced me to sign
something and I did,” adding that he complied easily because he was
traumatised by the name of EFCC, even right from the point that he was
summoned. Njoku told the committee he never offered money to any of the
legislators named by President Olusegun Obasanjo to have collected the
bribe from him on behalf of the former minister of education.
He expressed surprise at what he called the
contradictory reports on the alleged bribery involving the National
Assembly members, stating that he only read about the supposed
statements allegedly written by him for the EFCC on the pages of
newspapers.
Prof. Njoku also claimed that he never knew he was
being quizzed based on issues of the 2005 budget, adding that he only
got to know about this during the interrogation by the House of
Representatives committee.
Njoku also stated that he was not aware of any
illegal jacking up of the budget of some universities in the 2005
budget, although the House Committee Chairman on Education, Honourable
Garba Matazu, had earlier admitted that the 2005 budget was jacked up to
the tune of N150 million, with FUTO as a beneficiary.
The vice-chancellor further denied being ordered
by the former minister of education to provide the sum of N25 million to
the National Assembly Committee on Education.
__________________________________
Balogun arrested over theft of crude oil, N70b police fund
•As he drags FG,
EFCC to court
MORE facts have emerged on why the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) arrested the immediate past Inspector General of
Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun.
Balogun, according to the EFCC, is suspected to have aided those
behind the theft of crude oil and vandalism of oil pipelines. He is also
said to have been arrested to account for the N70 billion the government
voted for the Nigeria Police in 2004 and the N3 billion Shell Petroleum
Development Company paid for law enforcement in 2003 and funds released
by other oil companies for the same purpose.
Narrating his experience at the 33rd management training programme
organised by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in
Abuja, the EFCC chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, said when the commission
decided to confront illegal oil bunkering and vandalism of oil pipelines
and sought the assistance of the police and the navy, only the navy
cooperated with the commission, while Mr. Balogun allegedly became a
stumbling block.
“We wanted to work closely with the police and the navy because we
did not have the capacity on the ground to arrest these people . We got
some cases but the police later decided to call it off. “I visited
Balogun for cooperation but he frustrated us in our work, including the
fight against vandalism. We wanted them to train our newly recruited
staff by using police facilities because I believe we have some of the
best people in Nigeria today in the police force, wonderful people that
have never been given the opportunity to work for this country.
Ribadu said it was during the visit that he found out that the police
headquarters building had no electricity and as the elevator was not
functioning, he had to walk from the ground floor to Mr. Balogun’s
office on the seventh floor. After the visit, he said, “when I got out
of his office, I went to the man in charge of works, a DIG, I asked him
how come there is no generator to run the building, he said ‘there is a
generator but we have no money to buy diesel’. Meanwhile, I knew he had
over N3 billion in his account in one bank in Abuja while he is sitting
there and the place he is in charge, he does not have money to run the
generator. I said God, I will take up this matter, no matter what
happens.”
___________________________________________
Yoruba nation
wants two zones/regions By Kanmal Tayo Oropo
THE Yoruba Agenda, a chronicle of demands and
ideas of the Yoruba people on national governance to be presented at the
ongoing national political reform conference in Abuja, was yesterday
presented to a multitude of elders from the South-West geo-political zone in
Lagos.
The presentation, held at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos Island was conducted
in a dual language fashion. While the renowned jurist Prince Bola Ajibola
explained the agenda in English Language, Baba Omojola made the translation
into Yoruba Language.
Yoruba leaders who attended the event cut across political parties and
groups.
In attendance were Afenifere leaders
including Chiefs Rueben Fashoranti, Ayo Fasanmi, Ayo Adebanjo, Olu Falae,
Bisi Akande, Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa and Ayo Adebanjo. The Yoruba Council of
Elders (YCE) was led by its National Chairman, General Adeyinka Adebayo and
the council's leader in Kwara State, Senator Sulaiman Salawu.
Others present at the occasion include the National Publicity Secretary
of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) Otunba Dayo Adeyeye; national chairman of
the National Advanced Party (NAP), Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, the Oodua People's
Congress (OPC) founder, Dr. Frederick Fasehun and it's national
co-ordinator, Chief Gani Adams.
According to the publication, the aim of the Yoruba political agenda "is
to secure considerable autonomy for Yoruba nation within the context of a
restructured Nigeria. This would entail the restructuring of the Yoruba
political landscape itself.
"Presently, the Yoruba nation occupies Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Osun,
Ekiti and parts of Kwara, Kogi, Edo and Delta states. It is our belief that
the Yoruba nation located in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti states
should be grouped together to form a region or zone. The Yoruba people in
Kwara, Kogi, Edo and Delta states should be given the right to decide
whether to join the Western region/zone or not," the people demanded.
Other requests of the South-West zone include:
institutionalisation of the concept of federalism into the command
structure of the armed forces;'
regional police;
adoption of six functional national capitals, one in each of the six
geo-political zones;
a federalised judiciary where the composition of the Supreme Court
must reflect the zonal structure;
practice of true federalism; and
secularity of the Nigerian State.
Ajibola said that there was a general consensus on the Yoruba Agenda
and that any Yoruba member of the on-going National Dialogue that said
anything contrary to the provisions of the Agenda would have to answer
to the people.
He also declared that it had been discovered that there is nothing in
the Yoruba Agenda that is not in tandem with the aspirations of the
people of the South-East, the South-South and the North-Central.
Most of the Yoruba elders commended the recent effort of President
Olusegun Obasanjo to fight corruption in the country, but wondered why
he left it so late into his administration.
Falae expressed concern that it took President Obasanjo six years
into his administration before taking the serious step.
"We praise the belated effort of the President. But one must point
out that the same thing goes on in states and so, the search-light must
also be beamed on them and not only on the Federal Government", he said.
He also noted that as a former Minister of Finance, even though he
served a military government, he never had course to lobby anyone for
budgetary approval, describing the Fabian Osuji case as unfortunate.
But Chief Dayo Adeyeye insisted that the President's anti-corruption
crusade is just a ruse meant to satisfy his foreign friends.
He expressed surprise that six years into the administration only one
person has been convicted of corruption under the Obasanjo
administration, and wondered what had happened to those that had been
indicted in the past.
Salawu, speaking on the agitation of the Yoruba of Kwara State, said
that the splitting of the Yoruba nation into two in Nigeria is a mistake
of the powers that be, which must be corrected at the national political
conference.
"The Yoruba of Kwara and Kogi in the present arrangement have always
been held in contempt and victimised," he said.
There were also representatives of Isekiri and Urhobo groups during
the presentation, which was adopted by a team of consultants to the
Technical Committee, which had as its chairman Dr. Yemi Farounbi. Others
members are Kola Awodehin (SAN), Sen. Yinka Omilani, Jimi Agbaje, Olu
Maduka, Yinka Odumakin, Femi Otubanjo, Richard Akinjide and Kunle
Olajide among others.
A mild drama, almost ensued when a representative of the Lagos State
governor, Bola Tinubu, introduced the former Osun State governor, Chief
Bisi Akande, as the chairman of the Alliance for Democracy. This was
shortly after a show of comradeship, hugging and backslapping, between
Akande and Senator Akinfenwa, the factional national chairmen of the
party. A few minutes later, Akinfenwa stormed out of the venue even
before the formal presentation of the Yoruba Agenda.
One of the Afenifere leaders played down the seeming ill feeling. He
told The Guardian that: "There is no
problem. Can't you see the two of them hugging each other? They even sat
together. It is you press that sometimes blow this thing out of order".
But the factional crisis within the AD may still be far from over,
Senator Akinfenwa sounded furious when he accused the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) of being peopled by very corrupt
people.
His words: "It is you younger generation of Nigerians I pity the
most. How can a court of law gave a ruling, which was duly served on the
INEC not to recognise any of the two contending factions, yet INEC
declared its recognition of a particular faction and everyone is just
merely looking on".
He also wondered why people are saying that he is President
Obasanjo's surrogate in the AD.
"Obasanjo is my friend, but if he is truly behind me, would he be
watching on while INEC perpetrates the illegality", he queried.
It was also observed that contrary to usual practice during Yoruba
ethnic nationality gatherings where members of the Oodua Peoples
Congress (OPC) provided security, a new organisation, United Self
Determination Platform of Oodua (USDPO) appeared to be in charge.
According to Gani Adams, there are many associations in Yoruba land
and USDPO is just one of the those that emerged from OPC.
_______________________________________
Wabara begs: ‘Please don’t
disgrace me, “l’ll resign today’ •PDP
senators demand freedom to pick replacement
•Caucus meeting continues today By CHUKS
OHUEGBE, Abuja and UCHE OSIBE, Awka
Embattled
Senate President, Adolphus Wabara yesterday caved in and sought a
face-saving formula to resign from his position.
The development was a fall-out of a meeting of the principal suspects in the
N55m bribery scandal with members of the PDP National Working Committee, NWC
in Abuja yesterday. Though NewAge could not confirm the party’s position it
was learnt that the NWC members may have accepted to study Wabara’s plea.
According to a national officer, “he agreed to resign as he no longer
possesses the moral justification to remain as Senate President.” Our source
hinted that the development resulted in the senate president’s lateness to
the party’s caucus meeting held moments later at the National Assembly,
adding that PDP National Chairman, Senator Ahmadu Ali, alongside “two other
top leaders” were at the meeting.
Meanwhile, PDP members of the Senate yesterday called on the Presidency to
allo! w them a free hand in the choice of who replaces Wabara .
The PDP Senate caucus meeting continues today after the over two-hour
session yesterday, which according to insiders was stormy as lawmakers told
the party’s national chairman, Ahmadu Ali that no longer must President
Olusegun Obasanjo be allowed to foist leadership on them.
Confirming the development, Senator Dalhatu Tafida told reporters after the
meeting that “we told Ali that the President foists leadership on us at all
times, but we will no longer take it.” Continuing the lawmakers said, “we
have resolved to have our own leadership if there is going to be any
election. We are squarely facing the global problem it has caused.” Though
Ali told journalists that “we finished amicably” before going into another
meeting with members of the House of Representatives, he did not give
details of deliberations.
NewAge was told by another Senate source that “there was a consensus in our
sweeping critici! sm of President Obasanjo’ broadcast on the matter.”
According t o the source , the presidency prefers a new Senate President
from Ebonyi State while “most of us from the South-East want somebody from
Enugu.” Earlier yesterday, Senators fingered by the EFCC in the Senate
bribery scandal met with top leadership of the party at the PDP national
secretariat in Abuja.
Meanwhile, The ANPP said today that it was yet to receive a report from the
presidency on the involvement of one of its members in the alleged N55
million bribery scandal. ANPP's national secretary, Malam Sani el-Katuzu,
told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)yesterday in Abuja, that the party had
not received any official correspondence from the Presidency on the matter.
``I confirm to you that I have not seen any letter or request on this issue
from the Presidency. I had earlier told you that as soon as ANPP received
the request we (the party) will act accordingly,'' el-Katuzu said.
The President had told the nation that the leadership of the affected
political pa! rties (PDP and ANPP), on whose platform the alleged corrupt
legislators got elected, and the National Assembly leadership would be
requested to investigate and take appropriate disciplinary actions against
the culprits.
When
President Olusegun Obasanjo mooted the idea of a national conference he
definitely knew he would be opening up a flood of criticisms. Given
Nigeria’s ethnic and religious diversity, particularly against the backdrop
of complaints of marginalisation, a storm of protests was expected. And it
did come.
Elder
statesman, Anthony Enahoro and renowned writer, Wole Soyinka and some
elements in the civil society groups under the aegis of the Pro National
Conference Organisations, PRONACO criticized the terms of reference of the
conference describing them as not broad enough to satisfy the many
expectations of Nigerians. They vowed to organise a parallel conference in
June and are working assiduously towards it.
While
PRONACO faulted the conference on the basis of agenda, Muslim leaders joined
issues with Obasanjo for what they termed the lopsidedness of the
president’s selection of delegates in favour of Christians. They vowed to
press on until the matter is addressed. At a meeting of the Jamaatu Nasil
Islam,JNI, in Kaduna last month the body said the appointment of Christians
chairman and secretary of the conference was part of a grand design by the
Obasanjo administration to assign Muslims a “subordinate” position. The
JNI’s Deputy National President, Mustapha Jokolo, who is also the emir of
Gwandu, chaired that meeting.
In a
bid to stave off further criticisms from Muslims, Obasanjo two weeks ago
appointed Ishaq Oloyede, a Muslim and deputy Vice-Chancellor of the
University of Ilorin as co-secretary of the conference. The appointment of
the professor seems not to have achieved the desired result, as the JNI is
still up in arms.
This
week in Kaduna the group under the chairmanship of the Sultan of Sokoto,
Muhammadu Maccido met. At the end of the emergency meeting, the JNI issued a
seven-day ultimatum to the Obasanjo government to redress the imbalance at
the conference or they would rise to defend their rights.
Reports
indicate that the meeting was a stormy one. Attended by the cream of
northern Muslims, tempers ran very high. Even the Head of Service of the
Federation, HOS, Yayale Ahmed, sent by President Obasanjo to deliver a
goodwill message barely escaped physical assault as he was said to have been
called a “ betrayer and an imperialist stooge against Islam.”
At the
head of the onslaught against the Obasanjo regime was Jokolo. A former
soldier, he is not known to pull punches. His penchant for saying things no
matter the consequences is well known. In 2003 in the build up to the
presidential elections, the Vice-president Atiku Abubakar in a visit to
Kaduna in January called on northerners not to mix politics with religion,
Jokolo reacted angrily describing the vice-president’s call as belated. He
said that the north was “unhappy to hear such talk. If anybody starts
showing religious differences - with some saying we only want a Muslim,
others saying we only want a Christian and so on - it will bring an
unpleasant disagreement among us," the emir said.
"If a
Muslim person chooses a Christian person as their running mate - or vice
versa - and if he wins the elections and then dies, what would happen then?
The vice president becomes president, don't they?"
At this
week’s meeting in Kaduna, he had lost none of his fire. He pointedly accused
Obasanjo of having a hidden agenda to eliminate Islam and its adherents in
Nigeria. According to the embittered emir:
“ We
have been following keenly, since the coming of the Obasanjo government, all
its policies are aimed at totally marginalizing the north and its people.
Virtually all the sectors of our national life, the north and Muslims have
been marginalized. Today the highest military officer the north has is a
colonel.”
Not
done he puts the Obasanjo government on notice that “unless the president
and his government are prepared to correct all these injustices against us,
we must rise up to defend our rights”.
Jokolo’s tirade is not
new. Since he assumed office as the 19th Emir of Gwandu in 1997, he has
become a crusader for Islam. Since the adoption of the Sharia legal system
by the Zamfara State, he has been in the forefront in the crusade for the
entrenchment of the system in as many states in the north as possible. In
fact during a conference of Sharia by northern Muslim leaders and
traditional rulers in 2000 he was said to have advised traditional rulers to
drop their opposition to the system or risk falling into irrelevance.
DESERTED •Wabara out in the cold...As Senators dump him
By JACOB EDI, Abuja, Kenny Ashaka, Kaduna
Thursday, March 31, 2005
In a radical departure from their earlier stance to sink or swim with
their embattled President, Chief Adolphus Wabara, a large number of Senators
are now poised to save their political careers, opting to throw Wabara to
the sharks.
The senators plotted throughout Wednesday night, trying to find a
soft-landing for the embattled Senate helmsman, and the question on the lips
of most of them at the Apo legislative quarters and the National Assembly
complex was not whether Wabara will go, but how to secure a face-saving exit
for the indicted man.
Sources also told Daily Sun that at several meetings on Tuesday night at the
residence of a two-term senator from Benue State, the senators in attendance
expressed concern over the damage already done to the credibility of the
senate, especially by President Obasanjo’s nation-wide broadcast.
This development is coming on the heels of disclosures that the
leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] Wednesday failed to
persuade Wabara to resign his position after two separate meetings in Abuja.
The senate president was said to have opted for a judicial resolution of the
crisis, rather than a political one, which will see him quitting his plum
job.
After about three- hour meeting between PDP’s National Working Committee and
the party’s Senate caucus at its Wadata Plaza headquarters, the senators
were said to have demanded that the presidency remove its hands from
goings-on at the upper legislative chambers having done sufficient damage to
its credibility.
Senate leader, Dalhatu Tafida, said: "We are only thinking of the way
forward so that we can prevent the occurrence of either disagreement between
us and the president of the federal republic or between us and the party and
apparently we understand ourselves
better now."
However, n! either the leadership of the PDP nor the senate officially
accepted to confirm to newsmen details of Wednesday’s meeting which held
behind closed doors.
"Something happened and we are trying to look at it squarely. We have
resolved to choose our leader ourselves at the senate if there is any
election", Tafida said.
But deputy senate president, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu, was evasive when
confronted on the outcome of the meeting. He instead chose to be sarcastic.
"It was a family affair. Ali is like a father who came to see how his
children are faring. But the meeting was successful."
Earlier, the PDP National Working Committee had met with all the legislators
who were indicted in the N55million bribery scandal.
Wabara arrived the PDP secretariat at 1.09pm and left at 1.50pm, beaming
with smiles, as if oblivious of the crisis at hand. He was in company of
Senators Emmanuel Okpede, David Mark, Azuta Mbata, Adighije and Azuta Mbata.
Honorable Osita Izunaso! and Shehu Matazu were also at the PDP secretariat.
But none of them a greed to talk on what they discussed with the leadership
of the party.
Indeed, Matazu was dramatic about his own escape. As soon as he left the
third floor of the party secretariat, he quickly rushed into a waiting
Toyota RAV 4 mini-jeep, which seemed to be strategically packed to aid quick
escape, ordered the driver to zoom-off, leaving reporters with mouth wide
open.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19
northern states and Abuja, Archbishop Peter Jatau, has asked Chief Wabara to
resign.
Archbishop Jatau, who is also the Catholic Bishop of Kaduna Diocese said the
sit-tight kind of attitude being exhibited by the embattled Senate President
has the tendency to exacerbate corrupt practices in the country.
"Nigeria is a terrible place. If this thing (N55million bribery scandal) had
happened in England or in America, once somebody in high public office is
found wanting, even if there are no facts brought, the very fact t! hat his
name is mentioned, he would resign.
"But here, people who have been found to be corrupt still want to remain in
their seats. This kind of attitude will further encourage corruption. There
are laws in this country. Irrespective of whoever he/she is, once the person
is found guilty, that person should face the wrath of the law. There should
be no sacred cows."
Corruption in high places
Jatau said that he was not surprised at the revelations because he had
always known that there is corruption in high places.
"And we have been saying that in order to minimize corruption in Nigeria, we
must start from the top. If there is corruption in the presidency, National
Assembly, among governors, state houses of assembly, how can you stop it?
But if the top is not corrupt then we can fight corruption successfully. But
as long as the top is corrupt, there is no way you can fight corruption
successfully in this country.
"If you as the father and head of the ! family tell your children not to
take anything alcoholic but if they k now their father is an alcoholic, I
think they will say ‘our Baba must be enjoying this thing, let us try and
see what he is gaining from it’. But one day it will blow up. And I think it
is better late than never.
"Nuhu Ribadu should go deeper. If there is further investigation, many
people will be caught. If this is done the better because there is no other
way we can fight corruption except we start it from the top. If, for
instance, Obasanjo is corrupt, what courage will he have to tell his
ministers and also the National Assembly members not to be corrupt? He
(Obasanjo) will have no moral right to tell his subordinates not to be
corrupt".
Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of
Technology, Owerri, Professor Jude Njoku, yesterday told the House of
Representatives Committee on Ethics and Privileges probing the
bribe-for-budget scandal that he was forced to sign a statement prepared by
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commis-sion (EFCC).
President Olusegun Obasanjo, acting on the report of
an EFCC investigation, had in his broadcast on the scandal Tuesday last week
indicted Chairman House Committee on Appro-priations, Hon. Gabriel Suswam,
Chairman Committee on Education, Hon. Garba Shehu Matazu and Chairman House
Committee on Housing, Hon. Osita Izunaso of collecting N10 million bribe
from Njoku during the 2004 budgeting process.
Njoku yesterday, however, denied giving bribe to any
of the lawmakers, saying that his alleged involvement in the scandal was as
confusing as it was surprising to him.
"I was invited by the EFCC and when I went there, they
asked me if I gave bribe to the lawmakers to increase my budget in 2004 by
N150 million and I said no. They asked me to write my statement, which I
agreed to. They at a stage started to dictate to me what to write and I
refused to write that. Later they brought a statement and forced me to sign.
"Finding myself in such a situation was a harrowing
experience. The last place I expected myself was the EFCC. Given my training
and experience as an academician, I was hysterical and out of control. I was
so devastated as EFCC was supposed to investigate people on financial crimes
and I became afraid. I asked myself what I had to do with such an
organisation," he said.
Asked when he was invited by the EFCC, he said it was
sometime between late January and early February, adding that he was so
traumatised by the experience that he found it difficult to coordinate
himself.
Asked if he gave any bribe to Suswam, Izunaso or
Matazu, he replied in the negative, saying that he had only met Suswam once
and may not be able to identify him if he sees him now.
He said he does not know Izunaso and could not have
offered him bribe but admitted knowing Matazu who he said invited all the
Vice Chancellors in the federation for the usual meetings preceding their
budget defences.
According to him, he had in 2002, written a letter to
the Senate President, House Speaker and some members of both chambers
especially in Appropriation Committee to seek their understanding in
approving enough funds for personnel cost and other monies for the opening
of new departments and courses.
He said it was in the course of distributing the
letters and seeking for the assistance of the lawmakers that he met Suswam.
Asked why he did not address the press immediately
after leaving the EFCC to the effect that he was forced to sign a document
he did not author, he said that as a civil servant who should not talk to
the press, it did not occur to him that was the right step to take.
On how he felt now that his name was linked to
bribery, he replied, "I feel devastated, debased and very very sad. It is
very unfortunate, coming just three months after I was named the best Vice
Chancellor in the country. I feel something is behind it; there is a
deliberate attempt to destroy me. I must tell you that I was thoroughly
devastated and I have not been able to eat properly since that day."
On whether he was aware that his budget was increased
by N150 million for which he was alleged to have given N10 million to the
lawmakers, he said he was not aware as all he got was the budget he asked
for.
On whether he was given a copy of the document he said
he was forced to sign by the EFCC, he answered in the negative, "If taken
unawares even when you are at your best, you can act like the most stupid
man."
Izunaso, Suswam and Matazu had earlier denied
collecting bribe from the Vice Chancellor. Suswam in his testimony said that
he never met Njoku in the course of appropriations work.
Suswam said that even the report of the EFCC was not
dated and had a different kind of presentation from the one signed by the
commission's chairman, Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu.
He said though the report stated that investigation
was yet to be concluded, the President went ahead to make conclusive
statements in his broadcast by portraying him as having collected bribe.
Izunaso also washed his hands off anything concerning
the issue. Matazu, however, admitted knowing Njoku just like every other
varsity vice chancellor but denied taking bribe.
On the N55 million bribe allegedly collected from
sacked Education Minister, Professor Fabian Osuji, Matazu said the only
interaction that came close to what the President alleged in his broadcast
was when members of his committee were invited to a dinner after which Osuji
said his Finance Director would reach them.
He said that he was later called by the ministry to
come and collect the message and he sent the secretary of the committee to
collect it, adding, "When it was brought, it was in an envelope and when I
opened it, there was N100,000 for me and N50,000 for each member so I
returned it to the ministry. I told those who wanted it to go to the
ministry and collect it.
He also admitted being invited to a meeting with the minister and the
Senate President with some others but denied that he shared from any money
that was allegedly given. He swore by Allah that he did not collect any
money if the minister gave it.
Matazu said he learnt of the allegation through his
wife who cried when he called her from Malaysia where he had gone on
official assignment.
When shall Umuigbo learn to defend Umuigbo
and Igbo Leaders?
1. Obasanjo`s selective Justice: Minister, Prof.
Osuji arrested, detained and dismissed via national broadcast while IG Tafa
Balogun was honourably retired.
2. In Yorubaland including Lagos, OPC
is the official security outfit operating without any molestation while
in Igboland, Bakassi and Massob members are being arrested and detained.
" In Lagos however, he was looking for trouble.
When he stepped out of the studio, he was confronted by a Yoruba
"nationalist", and something of a scuffle ensued. Before long, a
detachment of the militant wing of Yoruba politics, the Oodua Peoples
Congress arrived at LTV 8 to teach Dokubo a lesson for denigrating Awo's
memory. But either luckily or unluckily, Dokubo had left the
LTV premises before the OPC arrived. He apparently realised that he had
stirred the hornet's nest, so he reportedly went straight to the airport
and out of Yoruba territory. Since then, the OPC leader, Gani Adams has
demanded an apology. Dokubo has also been banned from Yorubaland until
further notice. But he is insisting that he does not owe anybody any
apology. "I'm battle ready", he says, adding that if he is attacked,
thousands of Yoruba souls "will go". In an interview with The
Champion, he even repeated the offence: "Awolowo was a devil and
his policies led to the present problems that the people of the Niger
Delta are fighting against." Dokubo is mistaken"
Awo and Asari Dokubo By Reuben Abati
Guardian 25.03.05
THE other day, Asari Dokubo, an Ijaw freedom-fighter, went on
television, in Lagos, in Yoruba territory, and abused the late Chief
Obafemi Awolowo. He had been invited for an interview by the Lagos
Television, LTV 8, a station that was established under the aegis of an
Awolowo government led by Alhaji Lateef Jakande in the Second Republic.
In the course of the interview, Dokubo started saying something about
Awo being a devil.
Dokubo was doing something rather reckless: he was using a Yoruba
platform in Yoruba territory, to condemn a Yoruba icon. The interviewer
tried to steer him away from this line of talk, but Asari Dokubo
refused. Here is a man who forced himself into public reckoning out of
nowhere, and earned a reputation for raw gangsterism and bravura in 2004
when he took on the entire Obasanjo government and the multinationals
and threatened to blow up all oil installations in the Niger Delta. The
Federal Government had to call him to a meeting in Abuja. They gave him
royal treatment and begged him. And he became a hero of sorts.
In Lagos however, he was looking for trouble.
When he stepped out of the studio, he was confronted by a Yoruba
"nationalist", and something of a scuffle ensued. Before long, a
detachment of the militant wing of Yoruba politics, the Oodua Peoples
Congress arrived at LTV 8 to teach Dokubo a lesson for denigrating Awo's
memory. But either luckily or unluckily, Dokubo had left the LTV
premises before the OPC arrived. He apparently realised that he had
stirred the hornet's nest, so he reportedly went straight to the airport
and out of Yoruba territory. Since then, the OPC leader, Gani Adams has
demanded an apology. Dokubo has also been banned from Yorubaland until
further notice. But he is insisting that he does not owe anybody any
apology. "I'm battle ready", he says, adding that if he is attacked,
thousands of Yoruba souls "will go". In an interview with The
Champion, he even repeated the offence: "Awolowo was a devil and
his policies led to the present problems that the people of the Niger
Delta are fighting against." Dokubo is mistaken.
There are so many people alive today, sleeping and waking up and
performing all the rituals of living, but whose total existence amounts
to nothing. They are no better than mere footnotes to the grand events
of existence; they are an embarrassment even unto themselves, were they
to die, no one will take note of their passing. Their graves will carry
no flowers, no significance, no piece of useful history. And yet there
are some people who though dead refuse to die. They continue to live on
in the people's minds and lives with such force that seems physical and
real, and always their significance is continually remarked upon; they
rule as it were from the grave, as the people for whom they have become
heroes, icons and legends refuse to allow them to die. The late Chief
Obafemi Awolowo, leader of the Yoruba, Grand Commander of the Federal
Republic, politician, thinker and statesman was one of
those..........................
Naturally, Awo attracted so much envy, and there were all kinds of
objections to his person and politics. But he had the people behind him.
If any traditional ruler disrespected him, he was promptly removed from
the throne and banished. Families refused to marry the daughters and
sons of anyone who opposed Awo. Those who belonged to opposition parties
or who made the mistake of criticizing Awo in public had their houses
burnt, their vehicles destroyed, and their names dragged in the mud.
Awo died in 1987. He has been ruling Yorubaland since then from his
grave. Till date, the easiest way to gain relevance in Yoruba politics
is to invoke Awo's name. In 1999, the Alliance for Democracy won the
election in the South-West simply by using the name of Awolowo. They
lost in 2003 because they were beginning to behave as if they had found
new masters, and the people were beginning to suspect that Awo's name
had been taken in vain for opportunistic reasons. There were other
reasons of course, but this was the strongest reason, and it was in part
why the Yoruba who can be unreasonably violent when they choose to be,
refused to burn down houses in 2003. Every year, Awo's birthday is
celebrated with great ceremony. Living persons do not receive as much
attention.
Almost on a daily basis, politicians who are seeking recognition
troop to Awo's home in Ikenne, Ogun state, to pay homage at his grave,
and pay obeisance to his wife. They also ensure that this is
well-reported by the media afterwards. No other politician has been able
to capture the people's imagination and mind with a similar force. There
is even a younger generation of Yoruba who were born after Awo had died,
and they too have learnt about Awo from their parents who heard part of
the man's legend from their own fathers before them. From all
indications, Awo is not going to die very soon as a symbol of Yoruba
politics and aspirations. Thus, the protection of Awo's legacy has
become a sacred Yoruba pre-occupation as if the destiny and prestige of
the race is tied to this special task.
Now, this is the kind of man whom Asari Dokubo has chosen to abuse.
Awo has been called worse names in the past by his critics. But when an
Asari Dokubo who claims to be fighting the Ijaw cause makes very
provocative and inciting statements with an ethnic colouration, he is
likely to inflame passions. The assumption is that he is speaking for
all Ijaw, whereas the average Ijaw man does not even think that Dokubo
is anything more than an irritant. But imagine what could have happened
if he had been confronted by the OPC team that went to look for him at
LTV 8. He could have been assaulted or he could have been killed. And
then, this would have caused serious problems between the Ijaw and the
Yoruba. There would have been arguments about Dokubo's right of free
speech and the intolerance of the OPC. The resultant ethnic tension
could result in more killings, and battles from Lagos to the Delta
creeks. And it would have been a thoroughly pointless exchange of
hostilities.
What is Asari Dokubo trying to achieve? Picking up a fight with the
Yoruba and the OPC does not in any way advance the Ijaw cause. Abusing
the dead for the problems of the living serves little purpose; it is
cowardly and crude. As Dokubo tries to learn the complexities of
Nigerian politics, and seeks to make the transition from gun-slinging to
power-games, he should realise, for his own good, that certain things
are better left unsaid. May be the OPC is just being needlessly silly by
trying to intimidate a man for no reason other than that he expressed an
opinion, but the Nigerian government has a duty to call Asari Dokubo to
order. Awo's place in history is secure; that of Dokubo remains unknown.
Starvation: A
Legitimate Instrument of War -- Awolowo
But we {Ndi Igbo / Biafrans] survived
it all and amazed Nigeria at the speed with which we started to command
enviable heights in the Nigerian economy since the 1970's. What Awolowo
started has been continued by Obasanjo as he works to destroy Ibo land.
Beginning with Senate Presidents of Igbo extraction, to Anambra State
and Ngige and now to Osuji.
We will too survive Obasanjo.
Starvation:
A Legitimate Instrument of War -- Awolowo
Perhaps,
no other Nigerian has been perceived by Ndigbo
to be personally responsible for crafting the
policies that compounded the misery of
ex-Biafrans as the Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
Serving his jail term for treason at the Calabar
Prison by time the Civil War was imminent,
Awolowo was set free by General Ojukwu with an
understanding that the Yoruba leader was bent on
using the opportunity of ongoing national crisis
to pull his people out of the Nigerian
federation and declare the Oduduwa Republic in
the West.
But the master tactician had something else in
mind as he paid lip service to an accord with
Biafran leadership before his release from jail.
As soon as he made it safely out of Biafra, he
pitched his tent with General Gowon who rewarded
him with appointment to the highest c! iv! ilian
post in the military junta in Lagos. Awolowo
also was the Minister of Finance where he had
full rein on the national coffers.
His elevated position instantaneously made tens
of thousands of Yoruba recruits to join the
Nigerian armed forces. The command structure and
bulk of foot soldiers that spearheaded the
maritime invasion from the southern front were
mostly Yorubas. As the Yoruba chieftain acquired
more control of the federal bureaucracy, he
became more aggressive and vocal in defense of
federal war policies in Biafra, which included
deprivation of food and medical supplies to the
civilian victims of the Civil War. He was
reported to have told foreign media
correspondents, who expressed global outrage at
the level of misery inside Biafra, that
starvation was a legitimate instrument of
warfare.
It was the post-war policies of Awolowo-led
Ministry of Finance that inflicted the most
lasting pai! n ! on those who managed to survive
his starvation policy. The Biafran currency,
which was the only legal tender of the survivors
of the Biafran siege, was overnight declared
worthless and everyone with a bank account was
issued a measly N40 (40 cents US), in lieu of
their deposit, to start life anew on their own.
A few years afterwards, the same Ministry
embarked on the process of selling off
foreign-owned businesses to Nigerians who were
able to pay. In that indigenization process,
penury did not allow Ndigbo to participate as
the collective wealth of Nigeria was handed out
only to those who had the cash in hand. It could
be said that Chief Awolowo was not only a proven
bedfellow of the Nigerian military
establishment, but he also sanctioned the tacit
gang-up by the North and West to use
authoritarian military rule to keep Ndigbo
marginalized for the next 30 years.
"All is fair in war, and
starvation is one of the weapons
of war. I don't see why we
should feed our enemies fat in
order for them to fight harder."- Awolowo
LAGOS, Nigeria - Defense lawyers and family members say
the accused had gathered for a simple soccer match - but the
tournament was organized by an outlawed separatist group,
and now 53 people face the death penalty on charges of
treason and plotting war.
At a hearing Tuesday, 52 of the defendants crowded onto
wooden benches or sat on the floor of a stuffy courtroom,
many still in the soccer uniforms they were wearing when
they were arrested.
Jailed for half a year in the case involving Biafran
separatists, they asked to be granted bail. The judge was to
rule on the bail request April 11.
A defense lawyer said he feared a 53rd accused who was
not in court Tuesday had died in custody. The judge said the
man had been released on bail Monday, but both prosecution
and defense lawyers said they had not been informed of his
release.
A soccer tournament seems far removed from the 32-month
war that broke out when the Republic of Biafra, an area in
southeast Nigeria, declared its independence in 1967. The
southeastern war killed more than 1 million people, most
from starvation and disease, and saw the French and British
arming opposing sides.
People in the region, which is still a part of Nigeria,
say they still are discriminated against and are among many
restive groups in a multiethnic country where talk of
secession is sensitive.
The September soccer tournament was organized by the
Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of
Biafra, which wants to revive the short-lived Republic of
Biafra. The government says the group has been outlawed,
though there has been no official decree.
Human rights groups say the group is nonviolent. It
proved it has a strong following in August, when it called a
stay-at-home protest that shut down large markets across
southeast Nigeria.
"The whole thing is very ridiculous. They went for a
football tournament. Even some of the people just selling
water were arrested," defense attorney Anthony Omaghomi said
after Tuesday's hearing.
He said several accused were beaten by police in failed
attempts to make them sign incriminating statements.
Chris Mokwe told a reporter that his wife, Gloria Okafor,
had a miscarriage in prison after being beaten by police.
Mokwe said his wife had gone to the tournament only to sell
water.
Lagos police spokesman Ademola Adebayo denied the
accusations of abuse.
The accused have pleaded innocent to three charges:
treason, plotting war against the president and the army,
and interfering with the administration of the law.
In March 2003, police shot and killed seven members of
the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of
Biafra and arrested more than 20 to forestall a rally where
they planned to make a symbolic declaration of independence.
The leader of the failed Biafra state, Emeka Odumegwu
Ojukwu, now is a leading opposition politician who lost 2003
presidential elections that were widely alleged to have been
rigged.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten or redistributed.
_________________________________________________
Umu Biafra,
This morning at the Federal High court
ikoyi, where the 53 great massobians were docked.
We gartherd in thousands outside the
court room- by the sea-side, since the court room were full to
capacity, press people( including some international jounalist who came
to monitor and report the judgement, some could not find their way
in) with hundreads of fully armed police men were standing.
But as soon as the court was over and they
start to come out one by one, we stood up in front of those hundreads of
fearcely -looking and heavely armed policemen, as they were passing from
the court room to the black maria, we began to wave hands, hail and
singing, chanting Baifra songs ,,
They(massobians) Were also repling back,
by waving and shouting to us 'we can't give up', and the police men with
some of our security men help in controling and calming people down .
Imagine when thousands of people start to
sing many Biafra songs like ' anyi agaghi alapu Biafra' with many
others mostly we keep singing to them..
''.. FREEDOM SHALL COME BY SORROW AND BY
TEARS, FREDOM MOST COME..''
The first to pass was the yongest of them
all- Chioma, who will be 15 year old this year,
When i saw this young girl, i caught
cold- what a weaked nation, what could has this young girl done to
them to be remainded in prison all this while?.
May be with a bit of shyness she garrantly
wave at us, as jounalist scrumbling to take her picture.
Though i was with her mother out side,
thruout the time, inwhich thereafter i help her to recover two of
Chiomas picture from our former lawyer ,who was not smart with the case-
the present team of lawyers are wonderfull, i can let you see her (
Chiomas picture next time
Then, when the other lady were passing all
Biafran keep singing, and some jounalist were opurtune to intervew
her, but the the police strongly prevented one particular white man
from interviewing or taken her a picture, some BIafran intervened. but
she left
When the men were passing, we all stood
side by side chanting Biafra songs to them,and every one of them ,
before climbing the black maria will alway hail back to us to
acknowledge our solidarity . though with cuff they move traumphantry
back tothe black maria .
And finally, when the enemies took them
all away, we were left singing and counseling each other, the lawyers
brief us.
The court was adjoin till 11th of next
mounth, we are hopefull that with this new team of lawyer and by Gods
grace, they will be out soon. and the struggle continue .
BIAFRA IS ALIVE!!!
_________________________________________
Fellow Biafrans, i wish you happy Easter cellebration. May
almighty God bless you all .Amen.
Infact, when i saw the puplication of the 53 MASSOB members
that were arrained before the Federal high court, Ikoyi, Lagos,
Nigeria yesterday on the net, I felt happy .
Mr Daniel Kuti is one of the international news agents[AP] that
i invited to withness the court procceeding of the 53 massob
members 0n the 22nd of march 2005.
Among other international media houses include: BBC,CNN,AP,CANAL
FRANCE,VOA etc.
The reson why i took that decision of inviting them was to let
the international communities know about how the Nigeria govt.
is playing politics and their lies about the charges leveled
before these 53 massob members.
I also want to tell my fellow commrades living abroad that from
now upwards, you will be watching massob's
activities live in CNN, CANAL FRANCE INTERNATIONAL and other
international cables where ever you are.
Thanks and God bless.
Nwa Biafra
reporting from Biafraland.
Igbo monarchs ask FG to cancel Ogun
refinery pipeline contract
Oh yes: I only addressed the modus operandi (M.O.) of the Biafran
Royal
Fathers for acting under the Biafran Umbrella. The courage is inspiring.
There is still the serious matter of Obasanjo playing nepotism in broad
daylight by building a Gas Company in his home State and in his
home(Yoruba)land. Yet, Obasanjo will be the first to preach to people to put
Nigeria's interest first; but in all his acts, it is always his own selfish
interests first, then the interest of the Yoruba people next. When he
perceives serious threat from the North, he will throw something their way.
But, when it comes to the East, he, in carrying out Nigeria's long-standing
and ongoing anti-Igbo-anti-Biafran policies, actually takes away what the
East has and gives it to himself, his Yoruba kin, and to the North, in that
order. When Northern military leaders were in charge, it was similar: give
to himself/themselves; then, to the North, and if the Yoruba complained,
then a little to the Yoruba; BUT ALWAYS TAKE FROM THE EAST!
Now, if that's not maddening enough, consider that Ogun State is now
bloatedly rich enough from Obasanjo's nepotistic favoritism and patronage
that Ogun State is advertising for Igbos to come to specially created (by
Ogun State) "Igbotown" in Ogun State, presumably for the Igbo to do what
Igbo do best: be the engine for development and sustenance of all successful
and progressive edifices, projects and businesses in Nigeria.
More maddening to think that they (Obasanjo/ Nigeria) came to our
Igbo-Biafraland, stole our own resources, piped them to Ogun State, in this
case, and then turned around and "invited" our people to go over there to be
employed in refining the product. How better can you define colonialism? How
else do you define slavery?
But, the most maddening thing of all is that:
1)Igbos will respond with gratitude and alacrity to the call of Ogun State
2)Igbos will continue to support Obasanjo and his cronies, without
challenging his / their hypocrisy
3)Igbos will continue to support one-Nigeria even though it is one-Nigeria
which makes the terrible situation above possible--witness their
froth-at-the-mouth folly in Obasanjo's conference. (And, why do you think
Obasanjo keeps saying that he will die for one-Nigeria, if not to sustain
this structure which severely oppresses and robs Igbo-Biafrans to benefit
his own self and his own people?)
Now, you understand why we have had to condemn WIC in its latest press
release or document where WIC filleted Azike for begging the conference for
Igbo presidency, when WIC itself clearly supports one-Nigeria--imagine that!
It is a case of WIC "remove the log from WIC's eye first..."
Finally, we also have to also acknowledge the Biafran Royal Fathers for
taking a stand against Obasanjo-Nigeria's colonial and slavery practices
which victimize our people. Neither Ohaneze nor WIC has the clarity to even
detect this (though it is quite obvious), never mind the guts to challenge
it.
One-Nigeria makes all the evil that is Nigeria possible. Biafra is the
complete answer.
__________________________________
Laying pipeline from Biafra to Yoroba land was a cheap provocation by the
Yoroba. You wonder what is in their head in even trying that cheap shot; but
I tell you, if everything dies out with only the so called royal monarchs
expressing their anger over this cheap Yoroba provocation, then know that
there is indeed a serious problem in the area.
I join you in congratulating the so called royal monarchs for taking on the
name of Biafra, however. That is the way to go!
Their move was a good one. Who could fault them? Let he who would fault them
also find fault with the cheap Yoroba provocation.
I only had wished that more moves such as this would be made by the Biafran
people at every slightest opportunity. No more fears, for Biafra is freedom
[fra] come [bia] to us, not oppression by other people even over our own God
given resources. Tufiakwa!
_________________________________________
Date: Tue Mar 22, 2005 5:51 pm
Subject: Igbo monarchs ask FG to cancel Ogun refinery pipeline contract
"…who said they were under the umbrella of Biafran Royal Fathers …"
Courage is in! Sycophancy is out!
We want to acknowledge the courage of our fathers for identifying with
Biafra. Such courage will yet be tested in the next several days as the SSS
gets wind of this, and as Obasanjo hears about it, from paid Igbo saboteurs,
informants and efulefu's.
We direct all our people--every Biafran--to defend and stand by anyone and
any group operating under the flag of Biafra. We ask all our people to stand
by the Biafran Royal Fathers and all working under that umbrella.
Do your part, now!
Biafra lives!
______________________________________________
Igbo monarchs ask FG to cancel Ogun refinery pipeline
contract
By Felix Uka, Monday March 22nd, 2005
Daily Independent Special Correspondent, Abakaliki
Some traditional rulers drawn from the five Eastern states and South
South have urged the Federal Government to cancel the contract of laying
pipes from their areas to Abeokuta in Ogun State for the purposes of
transporting liquified natural gas to a planned refinery in Ogun State.
The monarchs said the project is not only wasteful of the Nigerian resources
but could be seen as a cheat on those from whose land the natural gas were
being sourced.
In a resolution that arose from their meeting at the weekend, they expressed
worries why the existing refineries were left to rot away only to turn
around to build a gas refinery in another area.
Representations of the monarchs who said they were under the umbrella of
Biafran Royal Fathers were Eze Ben Ikeokun (Enugu State), the Coordinator,
Emma Igweokeh (Ebonyi), Augustin Uchendu (Anambra), Brenthan Okafor (Imo),
Amaraegbunom Ihendu (Abia) and David Eku (Cross River).They warned some Igbo
politicians whom they alleged are willing tools in the hands of those who
were bent on destabilising the Igbo nation and their neighbouring South
South geo-political zone.
On the planned 2005 census, they emphasised their concern that unless
religion and ethnic group were in the forms to be filed they would convince
their subjects not to participate in the exercise.
Anambra crisis stirs confab delegates - As Arewa threatens
religious war if...
By Bolade
Omonijo, Emeka Mamah & Emmanuel Aziken Wednesday, March 9, 2005
ABUJA- THE prolonged political crisis in Anambra
State caused a stir at the National Political Reform
Conference yesterday with majority of delegates objecting to
an attempt to query President Olusegun Obasanjo's role in
the crisis.
Meanwhile, the Arewa
Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday threatened that the
nation was on its way to a possible religious uprising if
the Federal Government failed to heed calls by Nigerian
Muslims to change the lopsided composition of the conference
which favours Christians
Also at the conference yesterday, Justice
Chukwudifu Oputa, chairman of the defunct Human Rights
Violations and Investigation Panel lamented the inability of
the Nigerian nation to add value to the lives of ordinary
Nigerians just as Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (rtd.), Chief of
General Staff in the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida regime, traced
the nation's failures to the limited vision of its former
leaders.
Besides, female delegates at the conference took
opportunity of the day's declaration as International Women
Day to draw attention to what they alleged were gender
disparity in the allocation of the instruments of political
power by government. Former President of the National
Council of Women Societies (NCWS), Hajia Zainab Maina,
particularly chided state governors for their low political
value of women, lamenting that only five women were
nominated out of the more than 200 nominees made by
governors to the conference.
Other delegates that spoke yesterday were Chief Bayo Ojo,
President of the Nigerian Bar Association; Mrs. Margaret
Ichen, former Speaker of the Benue House of Assembly who
came as a delegate of the Arewa Consultative Forum; Mrs Bisi
Ogunleye, who introduced herself as a representative of
rural women and asked for $2 billion on behalf of rural
women to help eradicate poverty in the land.
Other speakers included Nze Ozi Chukwu, national
vice-chairman of the People's Democratic Party (PDP); Alhaji
Tukur Mani, a former Federal Permanent Secretary; Alhaji
Awaal Tukur, an immediate past member of the House of
Representatives; and King Alfred Diette-Spiff, former
Military Governor of the old Rivers State.
Arewa's threat
In a statement yesterday,
the ACF said the lopsided composition of the conference by
President Obasanjo might spark off religious hostilities in
the country. The ACF said by making such lopsided
appointments without regard to constitutional requirement
for quota system and balance, the Obasanjo government was
pitching Muslims against Christians, thereby fanning the
embers of religious antagonism and hostility in the country.
The statement which was signed by its Publicity
Secretary, Mr Aliyu Hayatu, warned that unless government
took urgent steps to correct the religious imbalance
in the composition of the membership and leadership of the
conference, religious crisis was most likely to rock the
country. It described
the alleged lopsided appointment as most "reckless and
irresponsible."
Muslim groups such as the Jama'atu Nasil Islam (JNI)
and the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs had earlier
criticised government for what they called lopsided
composition of the leadership and membership of the
conference, while the Northern Christian Elders Forum (NORCEF)
also alleged that Christians in some northern states were
marginalised in the selection of delegates. The Northern
states chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)
alleged that the composition of the conference was a true
reflection of the country.
The press statement reads in part:
"The fact that Obasanjo had gone ahead to make
these appointments in deliberate and total disregard of the
religious controversy he would thus ignite, may be seen as a
manifestation of a desperate intent to actualise a hidden
agenda. ACF wishes to state that this is sad and
frightening.
"Therefore, the ACF wishes to reiterate that by
making appointments in defiance of the constitutional
requirement for quota and balance, the Federal Government
has only succeeded in pitching Muslims against Christians,
thereby fanning the dangerous embers of religious
antagonism. This, ACF wishes to observe, is reckless and
irresponsible.
"ACF is fully aware of the constitutional
provision which compels government to use quota and balance
as yardstick for appointments. The unmistaken constitutional
intendment here is not only to give all sections suspicion
and rancour, which, in an emerging Nigerian society, have
continued to be a source of animosity and violence.
"ACF wishes to observe that given the extreme
importance and sensitivity of the NPRC to the future
direction of Nigeria, the natural expectation is that the
Federal Government will exercise utmost care and
responsibility in making appointments so as to ensure that
no ground is given for this suspicion and rancour. This, the
government failed to do.
"As things now stand, Nigerians are only left to
conclude that the Federal Government is unwilling to
demonstrate the required level of care, maturity and
responsibility to re-assure the nation of official
impartiality and goodwill. President Obasanjo knows Nigeria
very well. He knows that the kind of lopsided appointment he
made for the political reform conference will definitely
ignite religious controversy and attendant hostility."
In his contribution at yesterday's session of the confab,
however, Alhaji M.T. Waziri from Kano State lamented that
while Nigeria was seemingly being seen as a big brother in
Africa, it was remarkable that the people of the country
were suffering. "I have discovered that whenever there is an
oil boom that Nigeria makes much money, but Nigerians don't
get to see that money."
Alhaji Waziri questioned Nigeria's claim to pre-eminence
in the continent, saying: "We
are saying that we are the leader of Africa, but that is
false as a country is as big as the contentment of its
people. Where on earth would you hear that the President of
a country would write the chairman of the ruling party a
letter and say that a godfather would tell a Governor 'you
know that you didn't win an election' and the Governor would
accept."
As he spoke, Alhaji Waziri was challenged by an
unidentified female delegate who raised a point of order and
some other conference delegates who chorused that Waziri had
departed from the agenda which was reactions to the
President's inaugural speech.
Following the disruption, Alhaji Waziri was forced to
seek the help of the conference chair, Justice Niki Tobi who
bade him to continue with his remarks. However, as Alhaji
Waziri started to speak, he was stopped by Justice Tobi who
told him that his time was over and quite unlike other
speakers before him and after him, no extension was given
him to round up his remarks. Justice Tobi immediately after
cautioned delegates to watch their utterances.
Mr Zik Obi from Anambra State was the only other
delegate yesterday that made reference to the situation in
Anambra State as he called for fundamental restructuring of
the polity that would give heed to calls for a
decentralisation of the Armed Forces and the Police.
According to him, the creation of State Police would give
protection to governors like Dr. Chris Ngige whose police
security was withdrawn for the better part of 2004.
In his remark yesterday,
Justice Oputa asked for a redesigning of the political
framework to enable the promotion of values that promote
good governance and unity of the land. Lamenting that India
which had the same colonial experience as Nigeria had gone
far ahead of Nigeria in all respects, the retired Supreme
Court Justice said it was unexpected that Nigerians who had
received little value from the country would give their
loyalty to the fatherland.
Nze Chukwu, PDP national vice-chairman, endorsed the
presidential system of government but sought a rotation of
the office of President among the six geo-political zones
even as he affirmed that Nigerian unity must evolve through
understanding.
In his contribution, King Diette-Spiff said those
accusing the military of having held the nation hostage now
had an opportunity at the conference to liberate themselves.
The former military governor rationalised the introduction
of presidential system of government to the military's
command and control culture which he said was closely
related to the unitary form of government.
Commodore Ukiwe, former Chief of General Staff
lamented the limited vision of some of the country's former
rulers, saying: "Many delegates have laid emphasis on their
frustrations with the system. This gathering should start
with a collective principle."
We expect WIC to kneel down before Ndigbo
to apologize for continuing to insist on one-Nigeria for Ndigbo when it
knows that Nigeria is in fact bad for Ndi Igbo. We state that WIC does not
represent Ndi Igbo, either, any more than the PDP-Obasanjo selected
delegates to Obasanjo's conference, nor the conference itself, represent
Igbo interests.
Azike's gestures are only an imitation of
WIC's sycophantic and prostrate posture at the feet of one Nigeria.
For WIC to castigate Azike while failing to
self-flagellate is like Obasanjo-PDP castigating Ngige while doing nothing
about Obasanjo; or like Obasanjo claiming moral high ground while condemning
lesser criminals.
WIC can live in a fantasy and dream-world
and operate on a one-sided belief in "...“No Victor, No Vanquished”: that
will not correct the prevailing attitude of Nigeria as the absolute Victor
dishing it out to Biafra as the undisputed vanquished. Just last week,
Obasanjo was "high-fiving" with another Yoruba General about their exploits
in the Biafra war, going as far as stating that he hopes that he would have
another opportunity in the future to publish and celebrate such exploits:
imagine that coming from a so-called president of Nigeria? "No victors, no
vanquished"...? Dream on WIC!
WIC describes what it calls its "absolute
conviction" in "a Nigeria worth keeping..." and conveniently fails to
acknowledge that such a Nigeria is impossible, if not because the likes of
WIC would never develop the balls to challenge the establishment and bring
such a Nigeria into fruition, then because the Northerners and the Yoruba
have sworn never to allow "...all citizens [have] equality of rights,
liberties, and justice." if such citizens are Igbo.
We
want to advice WIC that hypocrisy only puts them at the same level as
Obasanjo. We want to tell WIC that its ambivalence with regards to the
sovereignty of Igbo-Biafra as completely independent of Nigeria places them
in the camp of enemies of Igbo-Biafra, and sets the example for the
buffoonery of the Azike's.
Let' s point out to WIC that insisting that
the Igbo stay in one-Nigeria which it clearly knows does not even meet its
own stated conditions, and which WIC would never mount an effective
corrective challenge against, is a much worse show than Azike's.
WIC knows that Nigeria is bad; but
especially worse for the Igbo. WIC knows that it cannot change Nigeria. WIC
knows that it does not even have the balls to try to change Nigeria; rather,
accommodates and tries to benefit from the evil that is Nigeria.
Nevertheless, WIC still insists on Nigeria for the Igbo; with its clumsy,
dreamy argument of "a Nigeria worth keeping..." with the full knowledge that
those conditions will never be met.
It is in fact WIC that is prostrating and
begging; Azike is just the human face and body in this shameful and
humiliating performance. And the conference laughed--properly so, too.
Ndigbo and other Biafrans: it's Biafra for
us. Let us spend time, energy and effort actualizing and building our own
nation of Biafra. WIC and Azike can keep staying in, and begging Nigeria.
Biafra, Biafra.
WORLD
IGBO CONGRESS
The Secretariat, World Igbo Congress,
Inc.
1107 Drew Street, Houston, Texas 77004
STATEMENT ON THE
PURPORTED ‘BEGGING FOR THE PRESIDENCY’ OF NIGERIA BY A CHIEF ZIGGY AZIKE,
IMO STATE DELEGATE TO THE NATIONAL POLITICAL REFORM CONFERENCE
The World Igbo
Congress (WIC) strongly repudiates the beggarly statement and most
repugnant behavior attributed to one Chief Ziggy Azike, an Imo State
delegate to the National Political Reforms Conference (NPRC) currently
ongoing in Abuja. It has been reported that Chief Azike allegedly got on
two knees to beg the delegates to the national conference that ‘the best
thing they can do for Ndi-Igbo in 2007 is to vote one of our Igbo sons
or daughters for President of Nigeria.’
SUBJECT: S' East importers protest auction of N5b goods
February 22 2005
ON DAILY BASIS WE KEEP SEEING
EVIDENCES THAT THE OBASANJO'S
GOVERNMENT IS OUT TO FRUSTRATE
THE IBOS, MAKING SURE WE ARE NO
WHERE NEAR COMFORT OF LIFE AND
BASIC NEEDS.
THERE ARE TOTAL OF
250,000 CONTAINERS SO FAR HELD
IN PORTS OF NIGERIA IN THE NAME
OF BANED GOODS,I HAVE NOT SEEN
WHERE GOODS ARE BANED IN ANY
COUNTRY THAT THAT DONT HAVE
ALTERNATIVE TO THE BANED
GOODS, IN 1999 I WAS A VICTIM OF
BAN PLACED ON USED FREDGES AND
AIRCONDITIONERS AND UP TILL DATE
THEIR HAS NOT BEEN ALTERNATIVE
PROVISION FOR THE BAN OF USED
FREDGES ALOT OF IBO TRADERS
WHERE RAN OUT BUSINESS AS THEIR
CAPITAL BASE USED IN IMPORTATION
HAS BEEN HELD BY OBJ'S MEN (CUSTOMS).AND
NOW IS THE BAN ON 95% GOODS
COMMING INTO THE COUNTRY WHICH
MAJORITY OWNERS ARE THE IBOS, I
WAS IN THAILAND LAST YEAR TALKIN
TO A SHIPPING AGENT,I FIGURED
OUT THAT THE BAN WAS NOT TO
BETTER THE COUNTRY BUT TO
DELIBRATLY KEEP THE IBOS OUT OF
PLACE AND THE AGENT SAID TO
ME, HIS COMPANY HAS 15
CONTAINERS HELD BY THE
GOVERNMENT AND 20 TONS BY
AIRCARGO AND ALL EFFORT FOR HIM
TO GET THEM OUT CLEARED WHERE
NOT YELDING RESULT EVEN THOUGH
HE WAS DONE WITH THE DUTY
PAYMENT, ON TRYING TO REACH THE
ASO ROCK THROUGH THE ADVICERS HE
SAID ATIKU HAS PERSONALY TOLD
OBASANJO TO RELEASE THE
GOODS THAT THE CONSIQUENCE OF
FURTHER DELAY ONTHE GOOD OF THE
IBOS WILL INCREASE CRIME RATE IN
NIGERIA AND HE OBJ MAY NOT BE
ABLE TO CONTROL.
AFTER THESE EVERY WISE MAN
WOULD THINK.....WHY SHOULD THE
SO CALLED DANGEROUS GOODS
IMPORTED INTO NIGERIA BY THE
IBOS BE HELD BY THE GOVERNMENT
AND AGAIN AUCTIONED INTO
NIGERIAN MARKET AND MAJORITY
PEOPLE WHO WILL HAVE ACCESS TO
BUYING THE GOODS WILL BE THE
NONE IBOS,BESIDES,I AM SURE THAT
EVEN WHEN HE OBJ SAYS HE IS
GOING TO BURN OFF THE GOODS HIS
MEN WILL IN OTHER WAY BURN EMPTY
CARTONS AND MAKE US BELIEVE THE
GOODS ARE BURNT WHILE THEY WILL
SELL THE SAME GOODS TO THE
CONSUMERS IN NIGERIA.
THIS GOT A HURT BUT I PRAY
GOD HELPS OUT OF OUR STRUGLE,ITS
TOO LATE FOR ME TO GIVE UP ON
STRUGLE FOR BIAFRA.
E.
____________________________
"President of Anambra State
Market Amalgamated Traders
Association (ASMATA), Mr.
Sylvester Odife, said the
affected importers should
have been given at least 36
months before the ban,
nothing that a lot
of people would be thrown
into the unemployment
market."
That
is the goal, make Igbo
economic useless now towards
an end goal of enslaving the
Igbo and her children to
come. This is a new type of
war, the effect which is
suppose to leave all of us
useless if we do not stop
chasing crumbs from under
the enemy's tables and think
bigger picture. What
happened that NdiIgbo cannot
think anymore, and what
happened that NdiIgbo has
become too simple that our
land is now a perfect medium
for evil. People can no
longer raise decent children
in our land which our fore
parents left for us in
peace. Something must be
done NOW! or we will be
finished for good.
O...
THE IGBOMAN is
always the victim !
Can they do this to
housa or yoruba
traders?
S East importers
protest auction of
N5b goods
By Okey Maduforo
Correspondent,
Awka
The South East zone
of the National
Association of
Nigerian Importers (NANI)
has protested the
auctioning of
containers worth N5
billion at the
eastern ports,
saying it is an act
meant to frustrate
their members.
The Zonal
Coordinator, Chief
James Clark
Onuchukwu, said in
Onitsha that the
18,000 containers at
Calabar, Onne and
Port Harcourt ports
were confiscated
before the Federal
Government ban on 41
items.
Onuchukwu said the
Alhaji Abubakar Sani
Presidential
Taskforce on the
Auction had earlier
given the importers
eight months to
clear the goods, but
due to governments
inefficiency and
laxity the directive
was not carried out.
For government to
now say the goods
should be auctioned
is improper. It was
their fault that the
eight months given
were not carried out
and they went to
commence auctioning
in seven days
without prior
notice. This is
frustrating and
points to the fact
that the Igbo are
once again being
punished in the
process, he said.
He noted that for
government to ban
the goods, it has to
give at least three
years notice within
which local
manufacturers would
have made plans to
cushion the effect
of the ban.
He, however,
lamented that the
failure of their
members to clear the
goods was as a
result of 300
percent increase on
the tariff for goods
imported into the
country.
President of Anambra
State Market
Amalgamated Traders
Association (ASMATA),
Mr. Sylvester Odife,
said the affected
importers should
have been given at
least 36 months
before the ban,
noting that a lot of
people would be
thrown into the
unemployment market.
Odife said this
would affect
importers of the
Igbo extraction as
majority of the
goods belong to
them.
Copyright) 2004. All
Rights Reserved.
Independent
Newspapers Limited
Block5, Plot 7D,
Wempco Road, Ogba,
P.M.B. 21777, Ikeja,
Lagos State,
Nigeria.
www.independentng.com
e-mail:
info@independentng.com
..........Democracy, we thought,
would stimulate these things.
One however does not need to be
a futurologist to see, that in
the circumstance, the
development of the Eastern
economic corridor remains a
dream deferred, possibly until
that zone is freed of the devils
riding on its back. The twin
devils include, the current
government of President
Obasanjo, who has continued to
enforce a treaty which the Igbo
and the rest of the old Eastern
region were forced to sign, and
which the president supervised
in 1970; whose central goal,
even if unstated in any bold
letter, was the strategic
dismantling of eastern economic,
technological or political
potential. Such a potential, for
various reasons, remains a
threat to some interests within
Nigeria. It reminds them of the
old spectre of "Igbo
domination." Needless to say
that Nigeria is not the
beneficiary of the destruction
of the Igbo potential, it is in
fact its greatest loss.
In
the six years of the Obasanjo
presidency, we continue to
experience a skewered attention
to the various parts of the
federation. Igbo interests still
do not count. New power stations
for instance have been built in
Ondo and Ogun states, the entire
infrastructure of the Nigerian
oil industry has been
strategically appropriated by
Obasanjo and his kinsmen, from
oil production to oil pricing. A
new multibillion-naira terminal
is being constructed at the
Lagos airport, the Gateway Cargo
airport is currently under
construction by the federal
government in Ogun state, the
largest LNG project is slated
for Ondo, and all these are good
things. They should be built in
those places. What the Igbo ask
is: "where is our own?" What is
the Igbo stake in Nigeria worth?
The Nigerian commonwealth has
treated the Igbo, especially,
and our minority neighbours
shabbily. The Obasanjo
government continues a
relentless pattern of
subjugation. Eastern roads are
no longer the issue. The
complaints are to no avail.
The
Niger Bridge is about to
collapse; the minister of work
says, there is nothing Nigeria
can do about it, except
privatize that bridge, and raise
N50 billion, which means an
endless tax on the people of the
East. Igbo merchants have been
subjected to indignities and
losses because they can’t import
through Port-Harcourt or the
Warri ports. They have to import
textiles through Lagos or risk
the seizure of their goods! The
Akanu Ibiam International
Airport in Enugu has been
upgraded only in name.
Meanwhile, Easterners wishing to
fly directly to the East from
across the world cannot do this
because of a deliberate federal
government policy that restricts
international air travel to the
East. Above all, where the
federal government makes huge
investments in energy generation
and gas production in Ondo and
Ogun and the west of Nigeria,
the East is left as an abandoned
patch, even though this oil
which will kill Nigeria is to be
found in Igbo land and its
surroundings. The question
again: what is Nigeria to the
Igbo?
The
Igbo were of course the builders
of modern Nigeria. I need ever
so often to remind Nigerians of
this fact. They constituted the
engine upon which Nigeria
functioned before its utter
collapse. They dreamed about a
Nigeria equal to any great power
in the world, and resilient
enough to protect the black
races from any more form of
subjugation. The seed of
pan-African cooperation and
solidarity was sown in Africa
through the soul of that great
Igbo, perhaps the greatest
African statesman of the 20th
century, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who
saw a global vision in which
Nigeria was in all her strength
and complexity, the leading
black nation of the world. But
here I speak, about a Nigerian
ideal. Azikiwe’s dream collapsed
in spite of his best efforts.
.........Azikiwe shaped the
original Igbo attitude to
Nigeria which took Nigeria as a
great work in progress, and the
Igbo in the smithy of its
history, shaping its future for
the great good of the black
world. Igbo universalism came
however to clash with the
parochialism of its
"competitors" –– those who
feared that "the great Igbo
horde" had been unleashed onto
the Nigerian space, and that
they were about to take
everything.
This
fear of the Igbo and their
settlement across Nigeria, and
their great attempt to
domesticate the Nigerian chaos,
which threatened certain settled
cultures, has shaped the
direction and nature of the
Nigerian conflict. A talented
and fearless people, unwilling
to submit to any king or
potentate, is a strange
phenomenon in normally feudal
and monarchical societies, where
people conform to their
historical places, either as
serfs or as lords. The Igbo knew
no lords and was serf to none.
He thrived and in thriving set
himself up for destruction. The
Igbo, the fear of the Igbo by
other Nigerians, remain the
issue in neo-colonial Nigeria.
That is exactly why the attempt
has been made to delete
ethnicity, language and
religion, and a critical
demographic index in the
proposed federal census. It is
precisely the fear of the Igbo
that has led the federal
government to enact various
policy decisions which have led
to the under-development of
Nigeria, because such
development initiatives would
require that Nigeria place the
right pegs in their right holes.
The other devil on the Igbo
shoulder thus is the Nigerian
state itself as it is currently
constructed. I have written that
Nigeria is a burden to the Igbo.
Left alone, the Igbo would soar
to the stars. Nigeria has almost
destroyed the Igbo dream and
ability to transcend the
conditions of coloniality.
The
gains of the anti-colonial
struggle which the Igbo led have
been lost for today, Nigeria
remains a romping ground for
those imperial interests whom
the Igbo fought with zeal. They
have become even bolder in their
cultural, economic, political
and administrative penetration
of Nigeria. That is why, those
who go to speak for the Igbo in
any conference or dialogue
should remember, that they carry
a great burden of history. In
any case, the outcome would
determine the real options
before the Igbo.The Igbo are
tired of living in the belly of
the whale. It is not a
comforting place. Ask Jonah.
_______________________________________
Anambra:
The people will free themselves
someday
Dr.
Francis Egu - Sunday
Independent 6.02.05
Chief C. C.
Onoh (former governor of old
Anambra State) has offered to
chase away those who are
fomenting this trouble in
Anambra, from Enugu where they
reside.
(cuts in) That is why I
said that before long, it will
not just be Onoh, the business
community in Aba will say “we
have lost enough.” It is
bad enough. You have no
roads around Aba now. You
can’t enter Aba. And
unfortunately, we have a senator
who is said to represent Aba and
who is seen to be presiding over
the affairs, legally or
illegally, at the senate and yet
you can’t pass through Aba.
During Christmas, that is when
people do their business in the
markets in Aba but you can’t go.
If you go to Aba you spend eight
hours on the road.
And I can’t tell
you the amount of economic loss
that is going on there. So
to add that to another one that
is man made, it won’t be long
before the people would say, we
have had enough ooo. If
Awka is in Jericho, we are going
there and we will stop this mess
because we can’t continue to
suffer. He (Onoh) has said
so about Enugu, I am saying so
about Abia, about Aba. Aba
will not continue to tolerate
the economic loss that we are
suffering. I live in Aba,
I am from Abia State, the heart
land of the Igbo nation. I want
to tell you and announce it to
the world that enormous economic
loss is being incurred by the
people, through this evil that
is being perpetrated in Anambra
State because that is the
gateway and again, by the ugly
roads that surround the city. So
these things are building up,
let nobody say anybody has done
something wrong when tomorrow,
people say we have had enough.
My
understanding of the picture you
are painting is that it is
possible in the nearest future,
if what is happening in Anambra
continues, that Aba traders
could rise and decide to attack
those who are perpetrating it?
I can predict
that without much fasting and
prayers.
Is it only Awka that you
think that they will go to?
I don’t know.
That (Awka) is the capital of
the trouble making. I
don’t know I am just saying that
in the south-east if those who
have made it their centre for
trouble making and
destabilization, continue, it
won’t be long before the people
would say, “it is enough.
We cannot take it any longer”.
And nobody can tell the
consequences of such decision.
(How Obasanjo
is developing Yorubaland at the
expense of Igboland)
Vanguard, 01. 02. 2005
Last two weeks, I was at the
departure lounge of Nnamdi Azikiwe
airport Abuja waiting for a flight to
Lagos. Bad weather had caused the delay
of several flights. And so the lounge
was brimming with agitated passengers. I
squeezed myself into a seat opposite two
middle-aged men, friends obviously, who
looked and sounded boisterous as if
their contract bids had just passed Oby
Ezekwesili’’s Due Process. Indeed it was
the mention of Oby’’s name by one of
them that riveted my interest in their
friendly bad-mouthing, what we call
njakiri or yabbis.
The one with abeti aja cap was
yabbing the other: "Your people are now
controlling the economy. Oby Ezekwesili,
Madam Due Process, decides what
contracts are approved. The Minister of
Finance is your sister. You are at the
head of Central Bank, NAFDAC and……". But
the man in red cap cut him short. "My
brother, late MKO Abiola had the most
apt name for what you are saying. My
people are just holding the cow while
someone else is milking it!" And they
roared with laughter at the recall of
Abiola’’s legendary repertoire of
proverbs and wise-sayings. "Tell me",
continued the red cap man, "How many new
banks have my people established because
of Soludo? Do you think that the
Minister of Finance finances my
people’’s business? Or don’’t you know
that the victims of NAFDAC are mostly my
people?" To which abeti aja man quickly
added: "Because they control fake drugs
business!". Now more people were taking
interest, judging from the guffaw all
around.
"You are right", admitted the red cap
man. "But you have cleverly avoided the
fact that you control the life-wire of
the economy. Baba is the Petroleum
Minister and Commander-in Chief. You
know what that means. You are on top of
NNPC. How many of my people are there at
the top management level? I even hear
that in the new recruitment exercise
30,000 applications came from Ogun state
alone! You are heading the PPPRRA or
whatever they call it. Even the
Secretary is your brother.
The two major oil marketers setting
the price with PPPRRA are your brothers.
Over sixty per cent of the oil servicing
companies, where the real billions are
made is in your hands. The so-called oil
multi-nationals pa pa are controlled by
you! And do you know what? The MT
African Pride enquiry has revealed that
you have also seized the illegal
bunkering business!" The two and every
body around them, exploded in laughter.
But the announcement of a flight
compelled a momentary silence, and then
a scramble. But not without a man adding
as he dashed for his flight, "that was a
good national conference!"
I was forced to ruminate on this
airport "national conference" last week
as I watched President Obasanjo announce
the establishment of a US$ 70 billion
Liquified Natural Gas project in Ogun
State. According to the President, the
Ogun LNG project will be the largest in
the world! The Ogun project is in
addition to the earlier announcement by
the NNPC Group Managing Director, Funsho
Kupolokun, a native of Ondo, of the
citing of an LNG project in Ondo state.
I laughed as I remembered the airport
red cap man. I wished I could put him
and his abeti aja friend together once
more for a "national conference". Ondo
State apart from producing the NNPC
Group Managing Director at least
produces condensate. But Ogun State? It
only produced the President! I don’’t
know which of these two states produces
natural gas. The logic seems to be, if
you can pipe crude to Kaduna, you can
pipe gas to Ogun and Ondo!
Abia and Imo states are both Oil and
Gas producers, and are mercifully
members of the Niger Delta Development
Commission. Owerri still bears the
legacy of the earliest exploration of
oil by the then Shell D’arcy. Shell Camp
Owerri is still a living evidence. But
in the citing of petro-chemical
industries nationwide, the Federal
Government continues to follow the
post-civil war blueprint that informed
the citing of iron and steel complexes
in the seventies.
The entire South-East was excluded.
In the development of airports, the
South-East was again neglected. If the
Enugu airport were not there before the
war, there probably would not have been
one, except the people undertook to
build one for themselves, as was the
case with the present Igwebuike, now Sam
Mbakwe, airport Owerri! This war of
attrition fought against the South-East
with federal infrastructure continues
with the total deliberate neglect of
federal roads in the entire East.
Since the seventies, there has been
an agitation for a petro-chemical
complex in Oguta. But the Federal
Government considered it an anathema.
What qualifies Ondo and Ogun to have the
world’’s largest LNG for which that zone
is being turned to an export free zone
other than that the men currently at the
helm of the oil industry are from there?
One day I was on the KAKAKI programme on
AIT, when one obviously inebriated
caller started abusing me on air for
discussing resource control.
What resources do the Igbos have, he
asked? I was forced to quietly remind
him that most of the oil fields in the
Niger Delta today were carved out of
Igboland and given to the Niger Delta in
an economic boundary gerrymandering
supervised by Justice Mamman Nasir. The
strategy was to secure as many of the
oil wells as possible with the
minorities, away from the reach of the
secessionists! In the process many oil
wells in Abia were, for many years,
adjudged as in no-man’’s-land. Still
Abia and Imo are today very significant
in oil and gas production with at least
four different oil multi-nationals
operating there!
Honestly, I do not envy Ondo or Ogun
state for their luck. Indeed envy is not
one of my vices. I have long ceased
bothering about or expecting any justice
from the Federal Government. After all,
late Ajie Ukpabi Asika, a great friend
of President Obasanjo, had long
established the principle that onye ube
ruru ya rachaa! Those who are rubbished
and who must bear the shame of the
continued exclusion of the South-East
from the core of the economy of the
nation are those so-called leaders from
the zone who swear with the name of
whoever appoints them to offices, and
seduce their people into false
expectations from vengeful federal
allies! Where are Obasanjo’’s apostles
of yesterday, who swore to the people of
South-East that their roads are being
repaired? Who will speak up for the
South-East on this parochial
distribution of the petro-chemical
complexes? Senate President Wabara?
________________________
While Obasanjo is destroying
Anambra cum Igboland, economically
and politically, he is busy
developing Ogun cum Yorubaland. See
below:
FG to
invest $70bn in Ogun NLG Plant–Obasanjo
Daily Champion 24.1.05
PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo
weekend said government will invest
about $70 billion in the next 10
years on the establishment of a
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in
Ogun State.
Speaking at the 32nd president’s
party of the Abeokuta Club last
Saturday, Obasanjo stated that the
project to be sited in Olokolo,
would be built in
phases............................
First
private refinery set to take-off in
Ogun
Vanguard,
Monday, January 24, 2005
LAGOS —
Arrangements for the flagging off of
Nigeria’s first private refinery
would be concluded in the next few
days, as a high-powered team of
American investors and state
officials visits Nigeria from today
to February 2. The visit is a
follow-up to recent negotiations
between Oil & Gas Consult
International Limited, promoters of
the refinery and its international
and strategic and financial partners
led by Premier Energy Group LLC. The
visiting delegation will comprise 14
members of the underwriters group of
partners including a member of
Premier’s Board of Directors. The
delegation will undertake site
assessment of the proposed refinery,
being the final stage prior to
construction scheduled to begin in
February 2005. The refinery will be
sited near the town of Ipokia,
Ipokia Local Government, Ogun State,
and will have a minimum capacity of
100,000 barrels per day
(bpd)......................
Work to Begins on Gateway Cargo
Airport –Gov
By Idowu Sowunmi, This Day,
January 24, 2005
Governor of Ogun State, Otunba
Gbenga Daniel weekend reaffirmed his
government's commitment to the
establishment of Gateway Cargo
Airport in the state, saying major
work would begin on the project
before the end of the year.
............................
Ogun enters world
tourism map From
Charles Coffie-Gyamfi, Guardian
24.1.05
ONE of
the tourist points in Ogun State,
Sungbo Eredo, has been given
official recognition by the World
Tourism Organisation (WTO), the
highest policy making body for
tourism in the world. Governor
Gbenga Daniel, who disclosed this at
the weekend said by the recognition,
the centre became an international
tourist attraction towards listing
it as world heritage site alongside
other tourist places of interest
like the Great Pyramids of Egypt.
Sungbo Eredo is the protection
boundary ditch of Ijebu kingdom and
is about 100 years of
age.............
Obasanjo and Anti-corruption
"Former IGP Tafa Balogun corrupt
practices, EFCC have received
presidential orders to back off from
further investigation"
"Last week, several newspapers
reported that Nuhu Ribadu and his
Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission have received
presidential orders to back off from
further investigation of their
latest quarry alone. The newspapers
suggested that the nation's leader
and official head of Corruption
Incorporated had received entreaties
from a top Oba as well as several
"prominent" Nigerians to the effect
that Balogun had suffered enough.
And since President Obasanjo wants
to slough off the slur that he is an
unlistening president, one
conjectures that he must have jumped
at the chance"
Prisons are for
the poor By Okey Ndibe ,
Guardian
03.02.2005
FROM
the outset, I suspected that the
brouhaha over Tafa Balogun's sudden
retirement as Nigeria's
Inspector-General of Police would
blow over quickly, and that has come
to pass. The dust of corrupt
enrichment that allegedly brought
Mr. Balogun's unimpressive career to
a sorry end has gone the way of
dust: settled back on the ground. In
a tested Nigerian ritual, Balogun
seems to have gone into a temporary
phase of hibernation. He will emerge
soon more powerful and more
decorated. He will arise, I predict,
to the accompaniment of zestful
adulation. He will be apotheosised,
invited to mount the podium for his
induction into the ranks of "a
prominent Nigerian," a "kingmaker,"
or "elder" (whichever he chooses).
Last week, several newspapers
reported that Nuhu Ribadu and his
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
have received presidential orders to
back off from further investigation of
their latest quarry alone. The
newspapers suggested that the nation's
leader and official head of Corruption
Incorporated had received entreaties
from a top Oba as well as several
"prominent" Nigerians to the effect that
Balogun had suffered enough. And since
President Obasanjo wants to slough off
the slur that he is an unlistening
president, one conjectures that he must
have jumped at the chance. I was not
surprised in the least. For the record,
I never took seriously the blather that
Mr. Balogun's ouster had something to do
with his alleged corruption. It would be
out of character for the president to
censure any big man for corruption, much
less his beloved "Man Friday," a cop
whose every excess and abdication was
informed by a singular desire: to please
and flatter Mr. Obasanjo.
All we know for sure is that the former
IG of Police seems to have disappeared
from the pages of newspapers. Don't be
surprised if the next thing you hear is
that he has been freighted out to some
European or North American capital for
medical check-up (of course at the
expense of all Nigerians). He is, don't
forget, a big man who, in the parlance
of Nigerian speech, "bagged" an exalted
national honour for his "meritorious
service to the nation."
As far as I can recall, no government
official in Abuja has felt the need to
assure Nigerians that the billions of
naira allegedly pilfered by Balogun
would be recovered and put back in the
public treasury. The going rule these
days is that, when a top government
official helps himself to public funds,
his act is not deemed felonious or
treacherous. Instead, the act is framed
in a vocabulary that states that "God
has blessed" the man. Such warped logic
and deformed language are at the core of
Nigeria's deepening moral and ethical
effluvium.....................
Exploitation of Nigerians by the
Nigerian Embassies
Attention, foreign affairs minister
The age-old mindless, and
unconscionable exploitation of the
Nigerian people has been exported to the
Republic of Ireland. The Nigerian
embassy charges 400 euros per person for
a passport which translates to N72,000
for a single person, and N144,000 for a
couple.
No other Nigerian embassy or indeed
any other nation around the globe
charges such an outrageous amount for a
passport. What manner of men are our
leaders? How on earth can such a fee be
justified? Why is it that our leaders,
even in a democracy, thrive on the
misery, and strangulation of Nigeria?
What have we Nigerians, and indeed black
people done to deserve this continuing
slavery?
My heart bleeds as I ponder these
questions. For democracy to make sense,
the minister of foreign affairs, and
even President Olusegun Obasanjo must
intervene as a matter of urgency to stop
this robbery of Nigerians.
......
County Louth, Republic of Ireland
Please send
in your comments or experiences with the
Nigerian Embassies in US, Germany, UK,
Italy, all over the world
NDIGBO FIGHT
BACK OR BECOME EXTINCT ( VOBI
11 27 04 )
-
B F, Washington DC, USA
The
problems facing the Igbo today are enormous
and complicated. But there is a solution.
The solution is at your feet not in any
buffoon who calls himself some fancy name
and sits in a big office in Abuja. Ndigbo,
your destiny is in your hands, take it and
do it now.
Every society, indeed every community has its
criminals. The first instinct of the
criminals is to take over the society or
community, do whatever he can if can get
away with it. Often the criminal will
actually try to take over the society or
hold it hostage. Some societies will cuddle
the criminals, some will play chicken,
others will charge at them like a roaring
lion. Whatever strategy the society takes it
will eventually arrive at one goal if that
society plans to continue to exist. That
bottom line is “destroy the criminals or
they will destroy you.” In traditional Igbo
society a local thief knows well enough
where the society has drawn the line. If he
crosses that line, he will be kidnapped in
the dead of night and probably buried alive
far away from home no questions asked. As
brutal as it might sound it saves the
community from destruction and serves notice
to other criminals not to cross the line.
Since
the end of the Biafra – Nigeria war in 1970,
several Igbo criminals have been doing
things to completely destroy Igbo society.
First you had traitors who called themselves
Ndigbo then joined the enemy to slaughter
and starve to death millions of Ndigbo. The
war ended and they just walked back into
Igbo land to share kola nut, food and drinks
with the same people they just planned to
murder. The Igbo did not ask any questions.
Igbo did not protest or take action against
these murderers. After watching how these
traitors were received a new group of
criminals emerged. They took money meant for
contract jobs like providing electricity,
pipe borne water, roads and bridges for the
Igbo. They took the money and did not do the
job. The Igbo made them chiefs and gave them
big titles. The Igbo did not protest. Igbo
did not ask questions. Igbo did not punish
them. The next group of crimi! nals watched
and learned.
The
new group was no longer satisfied with just
stealing the money meant for development
projects for the Igbo, they actually shut
down institutions like schools, hospitals,
courts and the civil service meant to serve
the people. Not only did the Igbo not ask
any questions, the Igbo gave them titles.
The Igbo called them big names like “Oderaa”
and worshipped them. The Igbo did not fight
back, they merely protested meekly. Other
criminals watched and learned. Now there are
new kids on the block, the new criminals.
Since the Igbo never fight back the new
criminals have a new program for the Igbo:
First they will take over the government and
its apparatuses including governor,
commissioner, police, everything. Then they
will take over institutions like schools,
courts, hospitals and use them as their
private property. They will give themselves
the right to use them or destroy them as
they wish. Finally they will deal ruthlessly
with anyone who opposes their wish to do
whatever they like. They will kill, maim,
burn, rape, you name it and they will do it.
Once they arrive at this point the society
goes into coma and needs intensive care to
survive.
Ndigbo! Ndigbo!! Ndigbo!!! It is time to
take your society back. First it was Asika,
then Nwachukwu, Eze, Offor, Iwuanyanwu, and
now Nnamani, Kalu, Ngige, Uba, Udenwa,
Emordi, Ulasi, Nzeribe, Nzeribe, Eze,
Ugokwe, Enechukwu, Okoye, Ugokwe, and so
many others. Let us take Anambra as a test
case. The people of Anambra went to the
pools and chose Peter Obi as their governor.
A bunch of criminals headed by Uba and Ngige
stole the election and installed Ngige as
the governor. Then they took over the state
and made it their personal property; the
money, infrastructure and all became their
personal property. Unfortunately they
started fighting over how to share the money
they stole from the people of Anambra. When
Ngige was outflanked and cornered he ran
back to the people of Anambra and pretended
to be a saint. Using the funds allocated to
Anambra State Ngige started paying salaries
and resurfacing some roads. Good and we
thank him. However he is still a criminal
who conspired to steal the mandate the
people of Anambra gave to Peter Obi. Anambra
people should thank Ngige for paying
salaries then tell him to hand over the
government to Peter Obi! the rightful
governor of Anambra State and get the hell
out of government house. That is the only
right thing to do. After that Anambra people
should tell all the fake senators
representatives and assemblymen to give
their seats to the rightful winners, get out
of town or face the music. This fight is
between good and evil, and good must win.
There will be no half measures. This fight
must start and Igbo must win in Anambra,
Imo, Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi, Rivers, and Delta.
MASSOB, the honest dedicated and patriotic
Organization and APGA, the Igbo party has
shown the way. Ndigbo must take it from
here. There will be no excuses.
On
another note at this time last year, Orji
Uzo Kalu was celebrating Salah with Ndi Uka
Alakuba in an Emirs palace in Katsina,
Northern Nigeria. This year he just did the
same thing and boasts about it. He has built
mosques in Umuahia and is actively importing
Islam into Igbo land. Ndigbo! Ndigbo!! You
are playing with fire. Ndigbo as you bury
your head in the sand remember that your
entire body is exposed above ground. Can you
show us one place on earth where Islam
exists peacefully with another religion?
Ndigbo, if you don’t remove and neutralize
Orji Kalu right now you will have yourselves
to blame when the fire he is setting becomes
a conflagration. You will not be able to put
out that fire. Ka Chineke mezie okwu. May
God bless the sovereign Republic of Biafra
and all those fighting for her freedom!
Thisday in its inimitable
style recently published its ten years
governance awards nominees. A very noble
effort, I must say, in this season when the
media have unwittingly deified President
Obasanjo, as the Alpha and Omega of our
democracy. This deification has created a
grotesques situation where like in a theatre
the audience only see the lead character, on
stage soliloquizing without the antagonists
or the supporting characters playing any
role. The Pesident Obasanjo that is the
problem and possibly the solution is a myth,
created by the media. In a democracy civil
society is the determinant of the extent the
powers they delegated to elected officials
can be used. The attempts to expect
President Obasanjo or any elected official
for that matter to provide transformational
leadership without any sustained pressure
from an aware and empowered citizenry is a
mirage. If our opposition Parties, Pro
democracy groups, student and labor groups
remain unconscious of their historical role
then the issue of unaccountable leaders will
still dominate the headlines long after
President Obasanjo. It is against this
background that I salute Thisday in
reminding us that Nigeria’s democracy is
more than Obasanjo through the governance
awards.
The award for the
Governor of the year was given "to honor and
encourage governors who are oasis of
integrity in a desert of corruption and who
are doing something uniquely different to
empower their people". The nominees for the
award were Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State, Sam
Egwu of Ebonyi State, Danjuma Goje of Gombe
State, Bukola Saraki of Kwara and Umar Yar
Adua of Katsina. Going through the rationale
for the nominations, only Governor Yar Adua
was nominated for Personal integrity. The
others were nominated for performing their
jobs as Governors. In the case of Governor
Daniel he was nominated for the net work of
roads constructed by direct labor; focusing
on tourism, agriculture; and displaying
forward thinking in the discharge of his
assignment. Governor Egwu was nominated for
elevating education to the top of his
priorities. Using these Governors as example
lets examine the nominations.
The question is how does
performing this basic functions as Governors
translate to their emergence as "Oasis of
integrity in a desert of corruption".
Thisday’s nominations betray a laziness and
arbitrariness that is incompatible with the
newspaper we have come to cherish and
respect. Let’s look at Sam Egwu who has
spent close to Six years in Ebonyi State as
a test case. The criteria for his nomination
are very puerile and insensitive. How many
tender advertisements have been published in
the Press for Contracts? Have you seen any
advertisement for graduate employment in to
the State Civil service? Are promotions in
the public service merit driven with clear
objective criteria? Have you heard of any
Commissioner in Ebonyi State summoned before
the State House of Assembly to explain
lapses in budgetary implementation?
Education is a low specificity activity with
difficult to measure output; how do we then
measure the output for the money spent in
Ebonyi? To avoid being misunderstood I
support the investment in education and give
kudos to Governor Egwu for it, but how will
Ebonyi people know if the investment is
producing commensurate outcome? Is it by the
number of students who take the WAEC exam or
the jamb score of Ebonyi students?
Do we know how much it
cost to construct a kilometer of road in
Ebonyi State? Do we know how much the
Government of Ebonyi spend on elected
government officials as a percentage of the
budget? If all these data are available then
Thisday chose wrong parameters for their
stated objectives of honoring Governors who
are oasis of integrity. These Governors,
save for Yar Adua, who is acknowledged for
personal integrity, but has not shown any
capacity in institutionalizing transparency,
do not qualify for these nominations. To
empower People is beyond providing physical
infrastructure; it requires access to
information, functioning institutions,
delegation of power and knowledge of duties
and responsibilities. By way of example, I
only hear or read of Commissioners making
Policy statements or explaining policies in
Lagos State. The nomination of Governor
Danjuma Goje for his role during the
disaster that afflicted the State is not
only ridiculous but an affront to the
concept of integrity which is what the award
is about. A Giuliani award for leadership
may have been appropriate.
Another example of the
lazy approach to a very serious issue is the
nomination of Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu, the
smooth and brilliant Minister of Information
for "bringing initiative and genuine zeal
into governance with a view to making a
difference". Again I beg to differ with
Thisday for their cavalier and roadside view
of governance. Chief Chikelu’s nomination
was hinged on his pet project of rebuilding
Nigeria’s image abroad through the
showcasing of successful Nigerians; and
advertising in major Airports across the
globe. A very good project, in my
estimation, but does not amount to genuine
zeal in governance. What has the Minister
done to rein his boss the President from his
new found love for replying every letter? Is
he not the head of the information machinery
of this government that is enjoying one of
the worst media attacks in Nigeria’s recent
history? How does he want to show case
successful Nigerians when a garrulous
Special Assistant accused Nigeria’s foremost
cultural icon of less than noble intentions
for rejecting an award? Is he kept in the
dark when these inelegant letters are
written from the Presidency? Has he shown
any zeal in the defense of the programs of
this government or did he choose the Image
project as his Afghanistan? Is the Obasanjo
story being told as it should or is there no
story? Pray how can the media hate a
President and love his Chief Spokesman?
The image of Nigeria is
decided by the Nigerian media and not by any
advertisement abroad. When foreigners want
information on Nigeria they go to Google and
the bulk of information that comes up are
reports from Nigerian Newspapers. How can
anyone ignore this incredible minefield of
information and yet be said to bring
initiative to governance? How much has the
Minister’s style influenced the President’s
opinion of the press as hired guns? Does the
Minister’s job schedule not include bringing
order and sanity to the incoherent
information machinery of this
administration? Thisday can nominate the
Minister for an award and he deserves it in
many areas not related to zeal and
initiative in governance because he has
shown neither in managing the image of the
government he represents. Imagine if this
groundswell of negative public opinion were
to lead to the demise of this government the
Minister will have no platform for his award
winning image project. The nomination of
Adeseye Ogunlewe for zeal and initiative
would have been in order if it is for
acrimony but definitely not for governance.
Senators Mamman Ali and
Uche Chukwumerije definitely deserve the
nomination for courage and conviction in the
building of a strong legislature, same also
for Anthony Aziegbemi and Chudi Offodile.
Senator Chukwumerije deserves the nomination
for displaying uncommon courage in charting
an individual course against the tyranny of
the majority that is becoming the hallmark
of the National Assembly. His article
published in Thisday, on the State of
Emergency in Plateau remains the finest,
most eloquent and reasoned contribution to
our contemporary political literature.
Senator Mamman’s insistence on refund of the
monies paid to the FCT Special Assistants
remains one of the redeeming acts of a
National Assembly in a crisis of identity.
Hon Chudi Offodile has been impressive with
his consistent avowal of reason and
individuality on touchy issues in the house.
However beyond all these is a more
fundamental question why are all the
Legislators nominated by virtue of
performing their oversight functions? What
of the real task of making laws or
innovation and initiative in tackling social
issues?
Again we turn our gaze to
Senator Ali’s effort at making sure that
Ministerial aides do not earn more than
stipulated by the rules. His efforts should
have created the necessary ferment for
legislating on a problem plaguing the public
service with some enduring consequences. The
award winning act of ordering the offending
Assistants to refund the salaries they were
paid only begs the question. How does that
solve the problem of lack of human capacity
in the Ministries? This was the rationale
for appointing non Civil Servants as aides.
Does he know that a former Secretary to
Government Alhaji Gidado Idris with the then
Head of State’s approval abolished the
position of Personal and Special Assistants?
Did he invite him to find out why? Why does
a Minister need Assistants if their job is
to oversee household matters and travel
abroad with him or her at government
expense? Yet how will a Minister who needs
technical advice that is not available in
the Ministry get such advice from qualified
Nigerians who will not be chasing Parastatal
Chief Executives for contracts or setting up
toll gates for those seeking to see the
Minister? I think that is the conundrum the
FCT minister was trying to break in his own
style. Does Thisday not know the havoc this
tribe of non technical Assistants wreck on
the system where they wield informal
authority without responsibility?
I thought Senator Mamman
should have used the FCT opportunity for a
much wider ranging reform that may see
Ministers and even legislators become
entitled to one consultant, who has
professional competence in the field
relevant to the Minister and be remunerated
outside the Civil service scale so as to
attract competent Nigerians from the private
sector or abroad. These consultants will
only have staff responsibility as policy
analysts and advisers to the Ministers while
observing strict rules on conflict of
interest. The truth of the matter is that
many Assistants are still collecting huge
subsidies via contracts and other scams, the
FCT case only sought to bring to the table
what was happening under the table. Courage
to catch the thief should also extend to
innovation to stop other thieves, including
aspiring ones.
Thisday has developed
into a strong brand and should be careful
not to send wrong signals about the depth of
its intellectual resource. It has
consistently thrown its weight behind many
Nigerians perceived to be leading us to the
Promised Land. Here I will digress from the
awards and touch on an issue that the Paper
has always celebrated. The government has
always announced with glee how much it saves
each year from the due process mechanism; a
very worthy concept that deserves our full
support. But has anybody stopped to ponder
on the implications of the claims of the due
process unit? First, the contracts that go
to due process originates from a department
in a Ministry headed by a Director, or a
Parastatal led by a chief Executive, before
going through the Permanent Secretary, the
chief accounting office of the Ministry, to
the Ministerial tenders board. This
contract, let us say for building an office
complex, goes to Ministry of Housing for
evaluation by the quantity surveyors
employed to ensure that government contracts
are well priced. In most cases a consulting
firm is also involved in evaluating the
tender documents and choosing the best
submission. After all this process,
sometimes the Minister gets anticipatory
approval from the President or a full
approval from the Federal Executive Council
before heading to Due process unit or in the
reverse order starting from Due Process
first.
On getting to Due Process
the contract is found to be inflated by X
percent and the contractor is forced to
accept a new price less the X amount. Due
Process announces the saving of X amount
with relish and every body is happy. The
question them is who inflated the contract?
Did the Permanent Secretary know of the
inflation? What of the Minister, did he
deliberately deceive the President and the
Federal Executive Council? If we say that
the Minister and Permanent Secretaries have
no technical capability, which resides only
in the Due process unit, to see the
inflation what of the Consultants and the
Ministry of Works officials? Where in the
chain did the inflation take place? Have you
heard of any Minister or Permanent Secretary
resigning or fired for bringing an inflated
contract to council? What has the Due
process Unit done to strengthen the
institutional chain than merely announcing
savings? What if Mrs. Ezekwesili, the patron
saint of the unit on whose personal
initiative and integrity we rely on moves on
to higher responsibilities and an honest but
less zealous person takes over? Yet Thisday
celebrate Due Process as the high water mark
of this administration.
Due Process should be a
verb and not a noun. It should be about
strengthening the integrity of systems and
People. Maybe the Unit should consider
attaching an indemnity form on every
contract submission, signed by Permanent
secretaries and Ministers accepting Personal
responsibility in the event of discovery of
any inflation or failure to abide by
stipulated guidelines. This may improve the
corporate governance mechanism of government
agencies and balance authority with
responsibility, like company audited
accounts. Also that will reduce the burden
on the unit as it can begin to use random
assessment as opposed to the current system
of reviewing every contract and wasting the
little time this regime has to deliver on
its promises.
Thisday should partner
with Universities or Non Governmental
organizations with the technical and
intellectual resource base in future awards
to avoid these seemly arbitrary criteria for
selecting its nominees. If Thisday had done
a thorough job this governance awards would
have been like the NLNG award for
literature; without winners. That would have
been a better ten years anniversary prize
from Thisday.
Osita Chidoka,
School of Public Policy, George Mason
University, Virginia, USA
_____________________________________________
What's the PDP
Up to in Anambra?
Chuks Iloegbunam - Vanguard, 11. 01. 05
........The job of any president is to serve the
people. The issue to address is therefore
different and is captured by the following
questions: Is Obasanjo serving the Nigerian
people? Or is he riding roughshod over their
interests? Let us borrow from Obasanjo. "The
first responsibility of a government is to do
justice", says Obasanjo on page 227 of his book
This Animal Called Man. "A good government that
cannot do justice forfeits the right to govern."
Talking Anambra State, is Obasanjo's government
doing justice? If it isn't doing justice, as
this writer believes, doesn't the consequence of
forfeiture of governance apply to it? Or is
Obasanjo in the brigade of "Do as I preach but
not as I do?" Again, let us borrow from
Obasanjo. On page 267 of This Animal Called Man
[ALF Publications, Abeokuta], Obasanjo gives a
recipe on how to be a good leader. He calls it
the "God-and-man six-way test":
"First, how will my family react to or feel
about this? Will they feel proud or ashamed by
it? Secondly, how will my close friends feel
about my words and deeds in specific details?
Thirdly, my community, will they be proud of my
action or be shamed by it? Fourthly, the Church
test; how will my Church feel; will they approve
of my words and actions and be comfortable with
them? Fifthly, the Press test; how will I feel
if it comes on the front pages of the national
newspapers tomorrow? Will I feel embarrassed or
can I comfortably and stoutly defend my action
and words? Sixthly, will God be pleased or
satisfied or have I disobeyed God's law. It is
(the)
family-friends-community-church-press-and-God
test. It is foolproof. Soundings can be made.
The final and ultimate test of my thought, word
and action is: Will God be honoured and
glorified by it? It is a cardinal rule and
principle to govern decision-making process in
all situations. If God will not be honoured and
glorified, then it may not be right."
Presumably, therefore, it is by the above "way"
that Obasanjo presides over the affairs of
Nigeria. It leads us to a central question,
which is also the title of this article: What is
the PDP up to in Anambra State? It leads us to
another question: Has Obasanjo always applied
his six-sided test in mediating the affairs of
Anambra State? It is important to review some of
the key developments in Anambra State since
Obasanjo's second term of office began. On July
10, 2003, Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra State
was abducted at gunpoint by 200 heavily armed
policemen led by a senior police officer based
in Umuahia, Abia State. As this happened,
identified gunmen seized the Anambra State House
of Assembly which was in session and forced it
to accept the "resignation" of Ngige. Obasanjo
stood between the perpetrators of this
treasonous acts and justice. Will the president
like to mention which one of his six-sided test
justifies his position?
Justice Wilson Egbo-Egbo of the Abuja Federal
Court abused his position by ordering, without
legal backing, that Ngige must relinquish his
gubernatorial seat. The National Judicial
Council (NJC) tried and found Egbo-Egbo guilty
and recommended his dismissal from the bench.
The recommendation warmed the president's table
for months, until a member of the NJC protested
in the media. Thereafter, Egbo-Egbo was
announced retired with full benefits, just as
Mr. Ralph Ige, the late Assistant Inspector
General of Police (AIG) that abducted Ngige was
retired with full benefits. Which one of these
retirements was cheered by the Press portion of
the six-sided test?
Between November 10 to 13, 2004, Anambra State
witnessed an organised mayhem during which
large-scale destruction of public buildings took
place. The police, a Federal institution
answerable to the president, stood by and
watched as one public building after another
went up in flames. One television footage after
another showed policemen idling away their time
while fire gutted the people's dreams and
aspirations. All newspapers reports underlined
the perfidy of the police in the mayhem. Yet,
the president said he was told by the Inspector
General of Police that the police was
overwhelmed! Was that why no arrests were made
and nobody prosecuted? Is that why the Federal
Government is not interested in funding the
repairs of the billion Naira damages. Will God
be cheering at all of this?
When Obasanjo and Chief Audu Ogbeh exchanged
letters, the President let it be known that he
was all the time aware that the gubernatorial
election in Anambra State was manipulated. "I
got the real shock of my life when Chris Uba
looked Ngige straight in the face and said: 'You
know you did not win the election' and Ngige
answered 'Yes, I know I did not win.' Chris Uba
went further to say to Ngige, 'You don't know in
detail how it was done.' I was horrified and
told both of them to leave my residence." These
are the words of the President of Nigeria. Chief
Audu Ogbeh himself has confirmed what Chris Uba
and Chris Ngige jointly admitted in his presence
that Ngige did not win the Anambra governorship
election. Further, Chris Uba has issued a press
statement on how he organised the manipulation
of the election result. Which one of Obasanjo's
six-sided test supports the retention of stolen
property? Which one is against the concept of
restitution? What is the PDP up to in Anambra
State?
The PDP has set up yet another committee, headed
by the Governor Oyinlola of Osun State, to look
into the Anambra "crisis". What happened to the
investigations carried out by the Federal House
of Representatives and the Senate Committee led
by Senator David Mark? What has become of the
"Reconciliation" Committee headed by the
Governor of Ebonyi State, which Obasanjo set up?
The story is that the PDP "plans" to use
Oyinlola's report and that other report by a
Senate Committee headed by Mrs. Iyabo Anisulowo
to recommend the declaration of a state of
emergency and fresh governorship polls in
Anambra State. One wonders how they intend to
conjure these objectives. Not one of the
conditions for a state of emergency is met by
the situation in Anambra. Again, there cannot be
a fresh election when nothing was wrong with the
first one, except the manipulation of figures
which can be set right by the Election
Tribunal...............
What the PDP wants in Anambra State is fairly
obvious, which is why they have continued to
beat about the bush. They want Ngige out but
they don't want (themselves) out. The solution
to the problem in Anambra, which is a creation
of the PDP, is to allow justice to run its
course.
The Elections Petitions Tribunal in Awka should
decide the gubernatorial petition before it. It
is no use trying to cut corners as the PDP is
doing. It is disgraceful to see those sworn to
serve the people turn around to celebrate two
armed robbers engaged in a bitter war over the
sharing of loot. This is the time for
restitution. People who have owned up to
electoral manipulation should voluntarily go
before the tribunal to testify. Or they should
be subpoenaed. Anything short of justice will
not do. To quote Obasanjo one more time, "A
problem trampled upon with the boot or swept
under the carpet is not solved. It will incubate
and get bigger and worse."
Whose interest is
Uba serving?
I
have been watching with keen interest the
development in Anambra State right from the
beginning of the present administration of
Governor Chris Ngige. That Ngige is ruling on a
stolen mandate is not news anymore. What is,
however, worrisome is the attitude of his
godfather, Chris Uba, and the failure of the
government at the centre to check him.
That he is still walking freely after all the
atrocities he allegedly committed is something
extremely strange. In most nations of the world,
Uba and his group would have been forgotten in
the dungeon............
All the noise about ‘no sacred cow’ by the
present administration is a charade afterall.
I am of the opinion that all those exchange of
words between Obasanjo and Ogbeh and the tension
their friction generated in heating up the
polity, is just a window rehearsal to cover up
his tracks............. History will
not forgive the present administration led by
the PDP if the perpetrators of the heinous crime
in Anambra State are not brought to book. Let it
be said that the issue of constitutional
violation is not ‘a family affair’.
Bola Akinrinola, Lagos. PUNCH,15.01. 2005
Ogbeh's exit
Reuben Abati. Guardian 14. 01.05
..........But the big scandal is to be
found in the circumstances of Audu Ogbeh's
eventual exit from the PDP chair. According to
reports, he was placed under house arrest. When
his own daughter sought to enter his house after
6 p.m, she was told by security operatives
guarding the house that her father, Ogbeh,
cannot receive visitors after 6 p.m. Why? Order
from above. Ogbeh came out and identified his
daughter. The guards, who had taken over his
premises without his knowledge or instruction,
told him they had orders to do what they were
doing. This was an abuse of power, office and
privilege in the extreme; for it soon became
clear that the guards were indeed acting on
Presidential instruction. To keep anyone under
house arrest, without a court ruling to that
effect, runs contrary to the rule of law. It
amounts to an abuse of human rights and a
violation of democracy. If indeed it is the
President who unilaterally placed Audu Ogbeh
under house arrest, then the National Assembly
has a duty to take up the matter. Who are those
guards in front of Ogbeh's house? Who sent them
there? Are they public servants paid with
taxpayer's funds? Or are they members of a
private guard; wearing the wrong uniform?
As the story goes, Ogbeh was eventually summoned
to Aso Villa where the President asked for his
resignation letter, and he quickly tendered it.
Ogbeh has been quoted as saying that he did not
resign under duress. Or that he is not in
conflict with the President. How else can duress
be defined? Ogbeh submitted his letter at the
Presidential Villa. Is that the PDP Secretariat
in Abuja? The PDP National Headquarters is in
Abuja, why didn't Audu Ogbeh take his letter
there? When asked to whom he addressed his
letter of resignation, Ogbeh mentioned the PDP
National Secretary, Vincent Ogbulafor. So, does
Ogbulafor live in Aso Villa? Given the
circumstances of Ogbeh's exit, it is not
impossible that he does not have a copy of his
own letter of resignation! The full story of
this resignation is yet to be told.........
President Obasanjo and his boys may gloat to
their hearts' content that Audu Ogbeh has been
taught a lesson, and or that he has been put in
his place, but let them be told, in plain words
that the use of ambush tactics, blackmail and
intimidation such as deployed in the Ogbeh case
belong to Idi Amin's Uganda, and Kamuzu Banda's
Malawi, rather than a civilised, democratic
state. In getting rid of Ogbeh, President
Obasanjo does a little more damage to his own
image. It is bad news that a similar strategy is
being adopted in the President's response to the
ruling of the Appeal Court in the 2003
Presidential Election case. The President is
asking the Supreme Court to reverse the decision
of the lower court; he is confronting that court
with the might of the Presidency. Almost
simultaneously, the Electoral Commission is also
talking back at the Court on the conduct of the
2003 Presidential Election in Ogun State. And
yet, this is the same INEC which refused to
present before the Appeal Court, the certified
true copies of election results when the Court
demanded to see them. So, is this what we all
fought for in 1993? Did we oppose military rule,
so we could have this?
Pounded yam,
treachery and Obasanjo's politics Levi Obijiofor
, Guardian 14. 01. 05
...........Many people did not expect, after
Ogbeh and Obasanjo made a show of the so-called
meal of pounded yam and driving around together
last week, that Obasanjo would still exact his
revenge on Ogbeh. Ogbeh was simply naive to have
had the meal with Obasanjo, or to have created
the impression that his quarrel with Obasanjo
had been sorted out. Obasanjo does not forgive
easily. He has the uncanny ability to dine and
dance with his enemies while plotting with grit
on his teeth for their downfall. No one can buy
Obasanjo's treachery with a mere bowl of pounded
yam, not even the late Chuba Okadigbo. William
Shakespeare must have had Obasanjo in mind when
he wrote about the difficulty of attempting to
decipher the mind's construction through the
face............
Ogbeh's forced resignation symbolises
humiliation not only for Ogbeh but also for the
entire PDP leadership. It signifies the
subjugation of truth in the PDP. Ogbeh's
resignation underscores the popular belief that
the model of democracy being practised in
Nigeria under "King Obasanjo" is dictatorship by
another name. Ogbeh's resignation as party
chairman underlines the widely held view that
the PDP is in large part a group of spineless
men and women who would rather suffer in silence
than speak out against evil acts perpetrated by
their leaders. Above all these, Ogbeh's
resignation and the failure of a large section
of the party to confront the evil plotters of
his resignation portend an unhealthy democratic
future in Nigeria. If this could happen in
Nigeria under Obasanjo, the civilian dictator,
consider what would happen if Babangida, the
architect of higher acts of dictatorship,
succeeded in his silent campaign to return as an
elected president in 2007..............
Although Ogbeh claimed he was not forced to
resign, verifiable evidence suggests he was
forced "at gunpoint" not only to write his own
letter of resignation but also to sign it. It's
like forcing a man at gunpoint to dig his own
grave and to jump inside and bury himself.
Ogbeh's resignation does not only reinforce
public opinion of Obasanjo as a man who uses
public office and his servants to victimise and
harass people who express opinions that are
critical of his government but also as a man who
has developed a reputation for smiling in public
with his perceived enemies while at the same
time stabbing them metaphorically in private.
Political mischief cannot come in a better or
more villainous form.
In an essay published in the Vanguard
of Tuesday this week, Pini Jason captured the
sense of outrage that one felt toward the people
who forced Ogbeh out of office, in the manner
they did. "Why is it that anytime anybody
disagrees with the President he must be
guillotined? Is it that the President is
incapable of sustaining a debate or is it
impatience with alternative views? Yet those
close to the President swear all the time that
he is a listening President. What does he listen
to, if he cannot listen to the advice of his
party chairman? Who does he listen to, if he
cannot listen to his party chairman? Must every
disagreement be resolved with the removal of
anybody who disagrees with the President?"
Last week I described Obasanjo as an
authoritarian practising the art of democracy.
After the events of the past two weeks, after
Obasanjo's recent confessions about what he knew
in regard to the crises in Anambra State, after
Ogbeh's announcement of his resignation, I am
now convinced that Obasanjo is nowhere near
conceptualising the art of democracy.
Intolerance is not an element of democratic
leadership. Indirectly encouraging a cowboy to
cause political trouble in another state is not
a noble act.
There is something officially evil in a
democratic country where a president shuts his
eyes when someone confesses to committing a high
crime in the election process. There is
something weird when a so-called defender of
democracy and a "born-again" Christian president
argues that there must be honour among two
thieves who conspired to rig elections in
Anambra State. Obasanjo believes that in sharing
their loot, the two robbers must honour their
agreement before the crime was committed. How
horrendous! Part of the reason why religious
revivalism and the "born-again" mantra will not
stick with many people in Nigeria is that those
who latch on to God's name when they are awake
and when they are asleep have been exposed in
public to be worse than the flock to which they
have been preaching.
Obasanjo's lack of tolerance for critical
opinion, his arrogance and his all-knowing
attitude to matters of governance imply that
Nigeria has a long way to go before it can
practise true democracy. It is one thing to
proclaim one's self " as Obasanjo does in a
self-conceited manner " as a democrat. It is
another thing to live like a democrat.
Obasanjo's conception of democracy, in my view,
equates with participation in the village level
chieftaincy tussle. He must do better. Obasanjo
must respect the principles of democracy that he
swore to defend.
" .......I believe that the roots
of the crisis in Anambra State lie in the ruling
party's subversion of the people's electoral
choices. From all accounts, Peter Obi and APGA
resoundingly triumphed in the 2003 elections.
Regardless of the returns certified by an inept
and corrupt INEC, neither President Obasanjo nor
Dr. Ngige came close to winning any election in
the state. I'd like to see Obi's victory quickly
upheld by the state electoral tribunal. In the
name of morality, I also challenge Obasanjo to
immediately concede that Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu
thrashed him in Anambra State and in most of the
south-eastern states. For not only does this
president hold a questionable mandate from
Anambra state and several Igbo states, but the
nation's highest court recently nullified the
presidential election in his own home state of
Ogun. The judges were shocked to discover a
massive discrepancy between number of votes cast
and the number of registered voters in the
state. Why is the president blind to the moral
implications of that electoral oddity? " -
Okey Ndibe - Guardian 13.01.05
"For instance, the
revelations by President Olusegun Obasanjo that
Dr. Chris Ngige admitted that he did not win the
elections had lent credence to the belief by the
opposition parties that the so-called landslide
victory by the PDP was a ruse. In fact, it is
very unfortunate and disheartening to know that
the ruling party has been encouraging and
participating in political robbery and
illegality. So, what type of leadership do we
have in Nigeria? However, the ruling party has a
lot of things to do in order to redeem its
image. In the case of Anambra State, the band of
renegades, touts and thugs should be brought to
book in order to serve as deterrent to others.
Then, the stolen mandate of Anambra State should
be given back to the All Progressive Grand
Alliance (APGA) candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, who
won the guber election freely and fairly. In
addition, other stolen mandates should he handed
back to the right candidates, especially the
nullified PDP candidates, still occupying
illegal offices should vacate their seats. Yes,
PDP must learn the truth of history."
Victor Adeola, Lagos.
Guardian, 13.01.2005 -
PDP
and the political crisis in Anambra
"Uba makes U-turn, wants to be governor:
Claiming to be broke presently, Uba who gave
evidence for about six hours therefore urged
the committee to devise a way through which
he could be made governor for, at least
six months. The source said, "The
committee upbraided Uba when he made the
suggestion that he would like to be governor
of the state for six months so that he can
get back the N1billion loaned to Ngige. To
support his point, he brought out signed
documents detailing the financial dealings
with Ngige. He showed the committee Ngige's
signature as regards the loan of N1billion."
The Punch, January 12, 2005
"THISDAY gathered that when
the committee reminded him that if Ngige is
removed, he will be succeeded by his deputy,
Uba interjected and said, "let Ngige and
his deputy be removed and a Sole
Administrator be appointed for Anambra
State, pending when a fresh election will be
conducted." At yesterday's
meeting of the committee where Uba alongside
seven of his supporters and Ngige also with
seven of his supporters met the committee
members together, a source said Ngige
allegedly pledged to reimburse Uba with N4
billion for his efforts in ensuring that he
became governor. The said N4 Billion offer
was made in the presence of Oyinlola, and
other members of the committee. But,
Uba was said turned down the offer and
insisted that Ngige must vacate his seat as
the governor. According to a source,
Oyinlola expressed surprise at the offer of
money as panacea for peace and said the
committee has nothing to say than to make
its recommendation to the NEC of PDP that
set it up. The committee which has two weeks
deadline to submit its report has taken
evidence from the two principal actors in
the crisis in the state."
Chuks Okocha,
This Day 14.01.05
"Okorie also used the medium of the press
conference which was attended by all the
members of the party’s new NWC, to expose
what he called the
“new trick” of president Obasanjo and the
PDP, to rob his party of its victory in
Anambra State saying the new plot is in the
Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola Committee
probing the crisis in Anambra State. Okorie
said he has information that the committee
would be used to slam emergency rule in the
state adding: “We have it on good authority
that that committee will submit a report
that the tragedy that occurred in Anambra
was a child’s play compared to the one that
is going to happen in due course and if
nothing was done, more lives and property
would be damaged”. He also hinted that with
the recommendations the committee would
make, Obasanjo will go to the Senate where
he would “quickly get the approval he has
always been looking for to get through the
back door, to impose a state of emergency in
Anambra State and deny APGA its victory”.He
said the government has concluded plans to
appoint a sole administrator in the state
who would be there until it would be too
late for APGA to expect anything to come out
of it adding that this was what informed the
party’s court case against the committee
headed by Oyinlola." Daily Independent14.01.05
" The irony of the whole
drama is that many Nigerians have expressed
support for Ngige to remain in office
despite the unfolding events. Many
well-placed individuals are prevailing on
Peter Obi to withdraw his election petition.
The ordinary Anambra State citizens seem
bought over by the fact that Ngige is paying
civil servants and teachers' salaries and
doing roads. Pray, what is a governor
expected to do? What is Ngige doing that the
Tinubus and Attahs of this world are not
doing? Meanwhile, has anyone seen the filth
and total disrepair of Onitsha roads lately?
Agreed, Mbadinuju was a bad dream, but do
you judge how white a shirt is by comparing
it with a brown shirt? Or do you allow a
stranger to run away with your mother simply
because he appears manlier than your father?
Some say Ngige should stay because God has
used him to expose the ills of 'God
Fatherism' in Anambra (and by extension,
Nigerian) politics. They see Ngige as a
courageous Saint for standing up against Uba
and his army. To the first, I say it is
possible because God Almighty who turned
murderer Saul into Paul, the greatest
witness of the Gospel, can use anyone to
achieve his purpose. But Ngige should see
himself rather as a Moses and not a Joshua.
To the second, I say well done, after all a
Saint is only a repentant sinner. But Ngige,
if he is a good Catholic, should know that
when someone confesses to stealing before a
priest, full absolution is contingent on the
person returning what is stolen when that
was still possible. Others say that
Ngige should not be made a scapegoat, after
all he is not alone in this rigging
pneumonia. My own submission is that two
wrongs do not make a right, what is wrong is
wrong, Period. What happens to the peoples'
sacred mandate and the man that legitimately
got it? If the cleansing is to start with
Anambra State let it be." - Henry
Onukwuba,This Day 01.09.2005
Ngige: A Saint? A Sinner?
Two governors in Anambra...
Guardian, 14. 01. 05
SIR: One hundred
investigation committees on the Anambra
political crises will never solve the problem
there. The reason is that there are two
governors in Anambra State: Dr. Chris Ngige
installed by Chris Uba, and Chief Chris Uba
installed by Chief (General) Olusegun Obasanjo,
the Balogun (general) of Owu Kingdom. Until one
of the governors is removed by the sponsors,
there will never be peace there. Who is so blind
in Nigeria as not to see this?
Consider what happened in Abuja
recently. Because everyone in the "Peoples
Destruction Party" (PDP) is afraid of
Obasanjo, rather than condemn him for his
attempt to remove Chief Audu Ogbeh from the
chairmanship of that dreadful party, which was
their only reason for gathering there, they
turned round and suspended from their party a
governor and his so-called godfather. Until the
musician in the bush stops making music for
nwanza, it will continue to dance in the
middle of the road!
- Onyekwere
Njoku, Lagos
Uba makes U-turn, wants to be governor
The Punch,Wednesday, January
12, 2005
Godfather
of Anambra State politics, Chief Chris Uba, has
raised his stake in the politics of the state,
jettisoning his self-declared ambition to be the
deputy to Governor Chris Ngige. Instead, he
would like to replace Ngige in order to recoup
his investment during the 2003 general
elections. Uba also claimed that he loaned
Ngige N1billion to prosecute the governorship
election in 2003 and that he had hoped to recoup
the money and interest from the Ngige
administration. Uba spoke on Monday in Abuja
while giving evidence before the Olagunsoye
Oyinlola committee investigating the crisis in
Anambra State. Uba's desire to be governor is a
radical shift from his earlier position, which
he made before the Senate Committee on States
and Local Government that he should be made
Ngige's deputy.
The eight-man Oyinlola committee was constituted
by the party's National Executive Committee last
week to investigate the crisis arising from the
gubernatorial election in Anambra State.
Claiming to be broke presently, Uba who gave
evidence for about six hours therefore urged the
committee to devise a way through which he could
be made governor for, at least six months.
The source said, "The committee upbraided Uba
when he made the suggestion that he would like
to be governor of the state for six months so
that he can get back the N1billion loaned to
Ngige. To support his point, he brought out
signed documents detailing the financial
dealings with Ngige. He showed the committee
Ngige's signature as regards the loan of
N1billion."
Uba, our correspondents learnt, also came along
with video clips of his deals with the governor,
which members of the committee watched.
According to the source, the first video clip
showed images of Ngige and members of his
family, including his parents, paying a "thank
you" visit to the country home of Uba for
helping Ngige to emerge as governor. When Ngige
appeared before the committee on Tuesday, he
demanded to know whether the terms of reference
of the committee included “Anambra electoral
fraud.” Oyinlola responded that the committee
had no power to probe Ngige on alleged election
irregularities. He said that a probe into the
alleged electoral fraud was not in the terms of
the committee, whom it said was limited to the
objective of restoration of peace to Anambra.
“The issue of alleged electoral fruad is already
before a competent electoral tribunal,” Oyinlola
said....................
Pounded yam politics By Okey Ndibe - Guardian 13.01.05
....... It was as if
Ogbeh had handed the president a rope, and Obasanjo
had then proceeded to hang himself. Not only did the
president fail to show that he had taken the most
elementary measures to protect lives and property in
Anambra State, he confessed to being privy to the
massive rigging that gave the PDP the mandate in
that state. If anything could more dramatically
point to a president's contempt for the
constitution, I'd like to know what that is. Part of
the president's tragic flaws lies in his lack of a
sense of irony, or of shame. In the same breath of
his unwitting self-incrimination, Obasanjo rebuked
Governor Chris Ngige for holding on to an
illegitimate mandate. Having heard Chris Uba and Dr.
Ngige confess that the election in Anambra State was
rigged in favour of the PDP, the president implied
that the governor had a moral duty to abdicate
office.
Let me be unequivocal here. I believe that the roots
of the crisis in Anambra State lie in the ruling
party's subversion of the people's electoral
choices. From all accounts, Peter Obi and APGA
resoundingly triumphed in the 2003 elections.
Regardless of the returns certified by an inept and
corrupt INEC, neither President Obasanjo nor Dr.
Ngige came close to winning any election in the
state. I'd like to see Obi's victory quickly upheld
by the state electoral tribunal. In the name of
morality, I also challenge Obasanjo to immediately
concede that Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu thrashed him in
Anambra State and in most of the south-eastern
states. For not only does this president hold a
questionable mandate from Anambra state and several
Igbo states, but the nation's highest court recently
nullified the presidential election in his own home
state of Ogun. The judges were shocked to discover a
massive discrepancy between number of votes cast and
the number of registered voters in the state. Why is
the president blind to the moral implications of
that electoral oddity?
In the warped reckoning
of Nigerian politics, there may well be many who
consider Ogbeh a loser. He may appear, in the short
run, as beaten. Yet, in the long run (which is the
run that counts historically), his actions are bound
to emerge in heroic light. By contrast, the
president's role will be viewed in villanous terms.
For how does a man so morally impaired and ethically
handicapped find the voice to appeal to morality? If
we have a newly retuned president, one who has
lately embraced moral imperatives, then we must
expect him to take the pill that he so glibly
recommends for Dr. Ngige. He should admit that the
2003 polls were unconscionably rigged; he should
renounce his office, and convince his party to adopt
the idea of a new round of clean elections.
...As it happens, a lot.
I can think of one thing worse than fiddling while
your nation burned: eating pounded yam and egusi
after your friends made a big bonfire of a state
under your charge. I was not impressed by the
president's feigned chumminess with Ogbeh. Nigerians
must not soon forget, or ever forgive, the wanton
destruction of public property by men recognised to
be close friends of the president. Justice must be
pursued, and justice lies in the arrest and
prosecution of the arsonists and their sponsors.
Nigerians must not permit themselves to be lulled
into amnesia by the president's untenable, expedient
and fragmentary notion of morality. They must
remember that the men and women who bought and
commanded the hoodlums who set fire to government
establishments are still gallivanting in freedom.
If Nigeria must mean
anything, then Nigerians must not allow real issues
of national import, issues touching on the very
foundations of the nation's corporate existence, to
be buried under mounds of pounded yam or soiled by
egusi soup. Gorging on food and quaffing wine are no
substitute for astute statecraft and adept
leadership. A leader who eats while his followers
starve, who flies abroad in a plush private jet for
routine medical check-ups while millions of fellow
citizens are decimated by disease, who secures his
private property with well-armed police and soldiers
while leaving public property to be ravaged by
arsonists, and who shields big-time criminals while
incarcerating pick pockets " such a leader is
anathema ..............
Ngige’s
Removal, Only Road to Peace, Says Uba
- Chuks Okocha, This
Day 14.01.05
.........Uba said in his final prayer to the
Committee that Ngige should be dismissed or expelled
from PDP. He noted that the governor’s expulsion and
removal from office are the only solutions to the
intractable crisis in the state. He further
reiterated his earlier admission that Ngige did not
win the April 19, 2003 governnorship election. He
explained that two members of the PDP National
Executive Committee (NEC) were witnesses when Ngige
confessed before President Olusegun Obasanjo that he
did not win the election. "The admission of
Dr. Ngige that he did not win the governorship
election was made in the presence of two members of
NEC of PDP, namely, Barrister Olisa Metu (Ex Officio
Member) and Alhaji Bibi Farouk (PDP Youth Leader)
who in fact arranged the reconciliation meeting with
Mr. President." Uba noted.
THISDAY gathered that when the
committee reminded him that if Ngige is removed, he
will be succeeded by his deputy, Uba interjected and
said, "let Ngige and his deputy be removed and a
Sole Administrator be appointed for Anambra State,
pending when a fresh election will be conducted."
At yesterday's meeting of the committee where Uba
alongside seven of his supporters and Ngige also
with seven of his supporters met the committee
members together, a source said Ngige allegedly
pledged to reimburse Uba with N4 billion for his
efforts in ensuring that he became governor. The
said N4 Billion offer was made in the presence of
Oyinlola, and other members of the committee.
But, Uba was said turned down the offer and insisted
that Ngige must vacate his seat as the governor.
According to a source, Oyinlola expressed surprise
at the offer of money as panacea for peace and said
the committee has nothing to say than to make its
recommendation to the NEC of PDP that set it up. The
committee which has two weeks deadline to submit its
report has taken evidence from the two principal
actors in the crisis in the state...............
January 12, 2005:
It was reported that after the January 4, 2005 meeting
of the PDP National Executive Council, the President
Obasanjo and Ogbeh went to Ogbeh's house to eat lunch.
Some commentators had viewed that as an ominous sign as
this was the same way he ate at Dr. Okadigbo's
residence, and within one week, mounted a campaign of
impeachment against Okadigbo as Senate president.
Nigeria's 3-time ruler retired Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo
has added a new phenomenon to Nigeria's polity--a last
supper.
We can comfortably add this to the president's
repertoire: Those Obasanjo wants to destroy, he eats
with.... Nigeria's President, retired Gen. Olusegun
Obasanjo, in his vindictiveness, has gradually taken us
back to the dark days of late retired Gen. Sani Abacha.
It was such vindictiveness on the part of Abacha that
landed Obasanjo in prison on trumped-up charges. He is
now walking in the footsteps of the man who jailed him.
Obasanjo as a military man should be a student of
history. Maybe he has conveniently forgotten history's
lessons.
I would like to remind him of one: Those who push
Nigeria too far down the edge of a precipice fall off
before Nigeria.
The other troubling thing about President Obasanjo is
his penchant for using State institutions in his fight
against opponents. There have been reports that Ogbeh
had to write his resignation letter at the prompting of
members of the State Security Service who held him at
gunpoint. There were also reports that he was placed
under house arrest by men of the State Security Service
(SSS). Ogbeh is quoted as saying that the last straw for
him was the harassment of his daughter by men of the
State Security Service right in front of his house. Like
I have asked in the past: Where is the outrage against
this president?
- Elendu is Michigan-based columnist for
USAfricaonline.com, first African-owned, U.S-based
professional web site to be published on the Internet.
Full text of
commentary appears at
http://www.usafricaonline.com/elendu.obasanjosupper.html
---
Dangers facing Nigeria's return to democracy and
Obasanjo's slipperyslide.
By
Chido Nwangwu
Founder & Publisher of USAfricaonline.com
May 10, 2001: Evident failures of his government are
tucked away in massive pr blitz and global junkets. But
we're not fooled. Karl Maier, a seasoned and credible
chronicler of Africa's economic history and politics
knows even better. Maier, author of best selling book,
"This House has fallen: Midnight in Nigeria", summed it
up thus: "This (Obasanjo) government has got very good
public relations internationally but domestically, they
are not solving the problems. And this government so far
has not tackled the key problems. The unrest in the
Niger Delta, the issue of the Sharia Islamic law in the
North, the unrest in Lagos, and until they do that,
trade agreements, new engagement with the international
community will not make the difference." Bush & Co
should take heed.
Obasanjo has also surrounded himself with some of the
same ruinous gangs who loot(ed) Nigeria's national
treasury and have since the past 40 years turned Nigeria
into their barnyard and playpen for corruption. Many of
them, late dictator Sani Abacha's henchmen and praise
singers, co-sponsored Obasanjo's (s)election as
President in May 1999. Any wonder that the Nigerian
leader's pre-occupation has been probes which go largely
after the dead than the living miscreants who ruined
Nigeria's emerging destiny and still spit into our
faces.
I toured the major cities in the Northern, Western,
Eastern and oil-rich delta and riverine states (see OIL
in NIGERIA: Liquid Gold or Petro-Dollars Curse? by Chido
Nwangwu), shortly after concluding my assignment to
report former president of the U.S. Bill Clinton visit
to Nigeria, August to September 2000. The same questions
Nigerians asked then, today, remain: when shall we have
only 500 minutes of uninterrupted power supply in
Nigeria? When will the water pumps cough out enough to
fill a glass? Although, among the world's leading oil
producers, Nigerians, sometimes, park their cars at fuel
stations overnight, on lines stretching almost one half
of a mile or more, to get gas/fuel/diesel. Worse, the
costs per visit are nearly half of an average worker's
monthly salary.
This week, as we celebrate the 35th
anniversary of the end of the civil war, let us
sincerely ponder the state of the nation. Is this
what we dreamt of in 1970? Thirty-five years after
the war, why are we still faced with liberation
movements? Why has Dokubo Asari emerged? Why have
Uwa-zuruike and Gani Adams emerged? Why does Arewa
Youth Congress exist? Why MOSOP? Thirty-five years
after that national tragedy, why has Nigeria not
emerged as a new, peaceful, prosperous and stable
nation?
I remember the words of Gen. Hassan Katsina. He had
observed, this month in 1973, that Nigeria was sick
-- “sick from the level of policy-makers to the
executives and least member of the public.” He said
that everybody here deserved to “be whipped and
thoroughly shaken to awake from the slumber” (see
Nnamdi Azikiwe, Democracy with Military Vigilance P.
vii).
It is shamefully painful that Nigeria’s sickness is
still traceable to the selfsame troubles that caused
the war. They have only returned, reinforced by
military greed. Were Agwu Okpanku alive today, he
would be more than entitled to Gowon’s apologies.
When, in the seventies, in an effort to strengthen
Nigerian unity, Gen. Gowon looked at our map and
deleted the Bight of Biafra, Okpanku it was, who,
writing in his column in the then Sunday
Renaissance, told the General that empty sentiments
have never helped anybody.
According to Okpanku, you don’t kill Biafra by
merely banishing the name from the map. “The most
effective way to kill Biafra,” he argued, “is for us
to remain vigilant, to always watch the moral
foundations of our country lest they be weakened.”
Biafra “as an active physical rebellion,” he pointed
out, “is dead; it died in 1970. But there is always
Biafra,” he warned. “In other words, any group of
Nigerians, whether defined ethnically or in terms of
their geographical origin, would revolt if they felt
mistreated by this country,” he prophesied. Poor
journalist that was it. Gowon quickly threw him and
his editor, Henry Onyedike, into the gulag. Gen.
Murtala Mohammed only released them (see Paul
Obi-Ani, Post-Civil War Social Reconstruction of
Igboland: 1970-1983).
Have events, today, not somehow proved Okpanku
right? At no other time have our rulers been so
reckless with the moral foundations of the country.
Imagine a situation where they have now coined a
euphemism for aiding and abetting official
misdemeanor and incompetence. They call it “soft
landing” – a process whereby incompetent party
loyalists -- those stinking contents in corruption
inclusive -- who otherwise should be catapulted to
hell and allowed to land headlong with a crippling
thud, are nowadays being offered guided parachutes
to paradise. Look at how they have now practically
messed up the electoral process.
Did you know that in the last sixty years, Britain
has had sixteen general elections, and the Labour
Party and the Tories won eight apiece? Ditto for the
U.S. Out of sixteen presidential polls since 1945,
the Republicans won nine to the Democrats’ seven.
How splendid! Two-party system at work. Election
rigging may occur in these countries, but because it
is minimal and negligible, it is tolerable. Even the
few cases in the U.S. which some of us regard as
“rigged” were not such per se.
For example, in the election of 1876, Samuel Tilden
of the Democratic Party won the popular vote by
4,285,992 to Rutherford Hayes’ 4,033,768. But both
had tied 184 to 184 at the crucial Electoral
College. In the end, a special committee recommended
Hayes, who thus became America’s 19th President.
In 1970, the London Guardian alerted Gowon,
according to Obi-Ani, that the problems ahead in
Nigeria went deeper than that of the Ibo alone: “Not
only the Ibo now want to ensure that state
boundaries are fairly drawn …that a workable balance
of power is struck between the states and the
centre, and above all that no one group dominates
the centre.” The paper, therefore, warned that “the
federal victory has not remade Nigeria, it has only
provided a chance to do so.”
We lost that chance. Aburi had failed earlier. Oputa
failed (?), too. Which way, the National Confab?
.............But an intriguing aspect
of the unfolding drama is the unanswered question of why is it that
the police and INEC would easily pander to the whims and calls of
PDP while both agencies have done very little if anything at all, in
assisting the dispensation of justice at the tribunal where the
party's mandate is being keenly contested by APGA. Indeed, it seems
there are more questions than answers in this regard: Why has the
police not deemed it fit to tender such damaging report at its
disposal to the tribunal where such would be most appreciated and
useful? Why has INEC which duly declared and returned Ngige as
winner of the election sit on a report indicating the contrary
instead of simply just approaching the tribunal and let justice be
done?
It is recalled that the closest the
police had gone in the tribunal's work is the testimony of a
handwriting expert in its fold, one Simon Kolawole, who had
testified under oath that ballot papers used in the election were
thumb-printed by a single source. On the part of the commission, its
actions and inactions with regards to explanations at election
tribunals have generally left much to be desired. It is recalled
also how INEC had claimed helplessness and failed to produce
documents relating to the 2003 presidential elections in Ogun state
when it was summoned to do so by the Court of Appeal which heard the
petition against the victory of Obasanjo. Unfortunately, both
agencies which have been awkwardly avoiding the searchlight in terms
of unravelling the Anambra matter, are now expected to hurriedly
provide a PDP committee with information that should have been
readily despatched to the tribunal sitting in Awka. While
questioning the rationale for police report to be given to a PDP
committee, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP,
reacted thus: "This has finally confirmed our previously held view
that the police is virtually Peoples Democratic Police. It is
totally unacceptable that to the CNPP that one of the political
parties is ordering the Inspector General of Police to do his job."
........In all of this however, the
alleged ploy to engage the current dimension of the Anambra saga in
securing right conditions for emergency rule to be declared in the
state, cannot but have its own organic drawbacks and disincentives.
It is not clear for example how the dissolution of democratic
structures which emergency rule implies, would be of benefit to the
protagonists of the idea and indeed, the PDP as a party. This is
besides the issue of legality-cum-constitutionality, expediency, and
political wisdom or otherwise of an emergency rule in the state.
Then there is the salient aspect of how such a scenario would impact
on judicial process at the tribunal. All these and other knotty
issues make the present scheming a difficult and an uninspiring one
even to some of those sympathetic to the anti-Ngige elements. There
are many questions to whch an answers are required: if getting Ngige
out is tantamount to putting the state in further limbo, who really
stands to benefit? Can the PDP continue to impose illegality upon
illegality and hope to continue to benefit therefrom? Why can't the
tribunal be allowed to do its job without being unduly influenced
and prompted?
..........On its part, CNPP noted
that the PDP's action was "a contemptuous attempt to pull wool over
the eyes of Nigerians." In a statement signed by Maxi Okwu, its
secretary general, the CNPP which also took strong exceptions to the
PDP's order to the IGP and INEC, said: "It is clear that by
announcing the suspension for 30 days of 'armed robbers' of the
sovereign mandate of Anambra people in 2003, the PDP is engaged in
an expensive joke with the lives and destiny of the people of
Anambra state in particular and Nigerians in general." But while the
party's action is seen a tactic to cloak the ulterior motives of
anti-Ngige gladiators, Speaker of the Anambra State House of
Assembly, Hon. Mike Balonwu, called on the governor to ignore the
suspension order and concentrate his efforts on governance. Accusing
the party hierarchy of double standards, the legislator averred that
Ngige did not merit the temporary sack which he said, was subjudice
since the tribunal was looking into the matter.
Be that as it may, it is generally expected of the tribunal to
discharge the burden of justice now hanging heavily on Ngige's neck
as well as that of the party. But this can be done if principal
actors of the saga who have found it convenient to inundate the
public with tales of how Ngige was rigged into office would
honourably take their case to the tribunal.
It would be recalled that to add salt
to injury, Uba had owned up to Obasanjo's allegations of how PDP
rigged the 2003 polls in Anambra. Expressing regrets for his role in
the manipulation of election results in favour of Ngige, Uba spoke
of how Ogbeh asked himself and Ngige to "keep quiet on the issue."
Part of the text of Uba's press release had read: "As the truth of
Anambra issue is being gradually revealed and denials and lies are
being traded, I believe that as one of the main activists in the
whole issue, the moment of truth and remorse has come."First of all,
let me express my heartfelt regret for my error and the activities
involved with others in Anambra to put Ngige in power as the
governor of the state. "In showing remorse, I sincerely ask for
understanding and forgiveness of all our people in Anambra state and
those Nigerian leaders and citizens who have been affected and
insulted by the Anambra issue."My mistake for which I ask for
understanding stemmed from my belief that election is like a battle
and since all is fair in war, I believe the end justifies the means
in an election. We did everything possible, to put Ngige in power.
In the presence of the President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo, I asked Dr. Chris Ngige whether he actually won the
election, he confirmed he did not win the election. The President
drove us out. As from that point, he did not want to listen to our
story again." But despite these revelations, Ngige has consistently
maintained that he did not lose the 2003 gubernatorial elections
while insisting that he did not participate in the alleged
malpractices.
In a statement signed by Fred Chukwulobe, the governor's Special
Assistant on Media and Publicity, Anambra state government had said:
"Governor Ngige has never admitted before anybody to have lost the
elections. The claim by Chief Chris Uba that the governor did so
before President Obasanjo and Chief Audu Ogbeh is untrue.
"The matter of the elections is before the Election Tribunal and it
is subjudice to continue to comment on it. The tribunal and the
courts are there to adjudicate on the issues pertaining to the
elections. We have confidence in the courts and believe they will do
justice."
PDP, Ngige share the same
destiny
- constitutional lawyer,
Chief Mike Okoye
By John Nwokocha Vanguard, January 09, 2005
....I think it is very sad and indeed reprehensible for a party
in power, that’s the ruling party to subject the whole nation to
trauma caused by a chieftain of the ruling party, the PDP, Chris
Uba rigged the governorship election for Dr. Chris Ngige of the
PDP. PDP is the accuser and the accused. I think it would be
right to assume that PDP as a party is aware that the case
whether Ngige rigged the governorship election of April 19, 2003
is the subject-matter before the elections tribunal, the
appropriate body constitutionally invested with powers to decide
who rigged an election and therefore the whole matter is
subjudice.
I would want to believe that in line with our constitution,
under the rule of law and separation of powers, PDP is fully
aware that to interfere or pre-empt the decision of the
elections tribunal would amount to an affront to the rule of law
and clear invitation to anarchy and the rule by force contrary
to the tenets of our democracy. May I say that ironically, PDP’s
comments, action and decisions may portend great danger for PDP.
The validity by some PDP chieftains to remove Chris Ngige from
office may have and I dare say beclouded their judgements to the
effect that their action may inevitably lead to the annulment of
the presidential election. Ubah, a PDP’s chieftain confession to
have rigged the governorship elections in Anambra State for
Chris Ngige, a PDP candidate may boomeranged against the
presidential election. It seems PDP may have forgotten that the
Anambra State governorship election of 19 April, 2003 was held
together with the presidential election and identical results
were returned for the governor and president in each unit, ward,
local government and state constituencies, it follows naturally
that Ubah’s clear confession will also apply to the presidential
elections of Anambra state.
It is very disturbing to me and I hope, to many Nigerians that
Ubah who is not a government official nor INEC official can rig
the election in a whole state for a governor, one therefore
wonders what happened in other states. Your guess is as good as
mine. No doubt the people’s mandate is sacred and when
disregarded the result is bound to be what’s happening to PDP.
Ubah’s confession and more fundamentally, the manner with which
it was handled by PDP has the tendency to cast a big question
mark as to whether the entire elections of 2003, was not rigged.
The credibility of the PDP as a government legitimately elected
by the people of Nigeria is seriously in doubt............... As
a lawyer, it seems to me that the PDP may have not done enough
research on our constitution and the electoral act. If they had,
it would have revealed to them that suspension of Gov. Ngige or
even expulsion would not affect Ngige, the office of a governor
who has been returned by INEC and sworn-into office. The 1999
constitution only provides that a governor has to belong to a
political party to vie for office but once returned by INEC and
sworn into office, there is no provision in our constitution to
the effect that a governor would cease to hold office by his
political party.
The condition under which a governor can be disqualified to hold
office is not spelt out by our constitution. It should be borne
in mind that a governor represent a whole state as his
constituency and not just his political party. In the light of
the constitution and the electoral act, a resignation from
office by Ngige would have the effect to negate or defeat the
petition of APGA by Peter Obi, who has asked the Tribunal to
return him as winner of the election. For the very fact that Obi
of APGA is claiming the seat of office of governor of Anambra
State and not cancellation of the election , a resignation by
governor Ngige would inevitably lead to a cancellation of the
election. Because election petition is an action against the
person returned, and not an action in realm. Therefore, if the
candidate returned by INEC dies, just like in the case of Chuba
Okadigbo, his name would be struck out as party to the petition
and INEC would be ordered to conduct another election. It seems
to me that INEC is without power to remove the name of a
candidate in a bar or re-election even at the request of his
political party. The right of a political party to swap
candidate at a bar or re-election is not provided in our law
books and as such is presumed that such powers by INEC is
unavailable and PDP is very much stuck with Ngige. Their destiny
is intertwined. It should be noted that even where Ngige decides
not to contest if he resigns PDP would still not be in a
position to field another candidate and INEC is without power to
accept a fresh candidate from PDP as there is no provision in
our laws to enable INEC to so do. The contest would be between
Peter Obi and other contestants on the platforms of other
political parties during the April, 19, 2003 governorship
election. It follows therefore that the only legal avenue to
remove Ngige is through tribunal as the only constitutional
means provided by law. To do otherwise would be to prolong the
matter. Justice may sometimes be allow, but it still pays every
law abiding citizen to wait for the law to run its full course.
That is the democracy which we all have subscribed to.
Having said that, it is subjudicial the way PDP is handling the
Ngige case, is the implication therefore, is to wait and see the
outcome of the elections tribunal?
I have said that the matter is subjudice. There is no other
option and any investigation or utterance by any person, body or
bodies not constitutionally empowered to decide whether an
election was rigged or not goes contrary to the tenets of
separation of powers. The executives have no right to usurp the
functions of the judiciary when the judiciary has been called
upon to determine whether the election conducted had been
rigged, it is against the rule of law. I think what’s happening
is an affront to the judicial system. Those decisions taken by
the PDP, in fact, for the PDP to have entertained the whole
issue, to have gone into a big discussion of the whole issue of
a matter before a court of competent jurisdiction is to say the
least unfortunate........................
"Igbo leaders"
should be blamed for the Anambra crisis"
- Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, a Special
Assistant to President Obasanjo
Ihonvbere, how you shock us!
By Ochereome Nnanna Vanguard -
January 06, 2005
................THE disagreement
between Ngige and Ubah, which plunged the state into two years of
political impasse, only became a problem for the nation at large and
for so long simply because of the support Ubah and his campers have
enjoyed from the Presidency, mainly through the Nigerian Police. The
Police helped him stage the abortive abduction of Ngige on July 10,
2003. The Police would have implemented the Justice Stanley Nnaji
judgment of January 2, 2004, had the Nigerian public not set up an
uproar at such brazen abuse of the processes. The Police withdrew
from Ngige’s security. The Police provided security for the thugs
sponsored by the Ubah camp to burn, bomb and loot Anambra government
property as from November 10, 2004 as a calculated prelude to a
declaration of a state of emergency by the President.
President Obasanjo is the number one culprit
in the Anambra crisis, because he gave Ubah an open franchise
to use the Police Force of this nation as he wished to fight his
personal political battles. Obasanjo is the number one culprit
because he was the one who swayed the PDP away from expelling Ubah
after the aborted abduction.
He was the one who made the Party to
treat it as a "family affair", a term he employs whenever he decides
to rig due processes in order to secure his personal political ends.
Remember, he used the same term during the Owu chieftaincy crisis,
when he disrupted an electoral process because his chosen candidate
was going to lose. The Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) is a known tool at the service of the ruling Party and the
President. That was why it was possible for all of Ubah’s men and
women who did not even contest elections to be given certificates of
return. In fact, Ubah still boasts that Ngige’s certificate of
return is still with him! Who gave it to him? Was it Igbo leaders?
Was it not the INEC?
Anambra (1)
By Al-Bashir, Vanguard January
06, 2005
Sometime last year, Governor Chris
Ngige of Anambra state was abducted from his office by a combined
team of the Nigerian Police Force, led by an Assistant Inspector
General, AIG, now late and hired arsonists said to have been led by
Chris Uba’s cronies, a favored godson of President Obasanjo.
........Realizing that it is not a problem getting a way with such a
crime, they wasted no time indulging in a repeat performance, some
days ago precisely between Nov 10-12, 2004. According to the
Newswatch of November 29, 2004, "the meetings where the plot to
dastabilize Anambra state was hatched was said to have lasted eleven
days (and).. Was allegedly held in Nzeribe’s house (and he is a
honourable law maker) in Omouduke village in Ihiala." The report
goes on to name names, "Danulasi, Uche Eordi, Oke Odunze, Ifeanyi
Inemchukwu and Emeka Eze..." all Chris Uba's field commanders.
This isn’t all,"the vehicles, arms
and ammunitions used," adds the magazine,"... were allegedly kept at
Toronto Hospital Onitsha, (a hospital for arsonists) belonging to
Emeka Eze’s father." From there, they were said to have hired twenty
buses, marched, all the way to Akwa, (apparently undetected at
numerous road blocks) and before you cloud shout ‘terrorist’ the
building housing the offices of the Governor and his deputy, the
state assembly, the state electoral commission and the Anambra
Broadcasting Service, all vital democratic institutions, were
destroyed. Estimates; N45 billion tentative, plus 29 lives.
Obviously, feeling satisfied and
happy that the boys had done an excellent destructive job, the
almighty Rep. Chuma Nzeribe, (the law maker in case you have
forgotten) beat his chest that the Nov 11th 2004 terrorist action,
was just the beginning of hostilities. Hear him, "Ngige would not
know peace. We will continue (emphasis mine) to pursue him until we
chase him out of the corridors of power." (Same Newswatch). By this
statement and the operative word, "continue" the untouchable Nzeribe
(a lawmaker) has confirmed that the N45 billion destruction that
took place in Akwa, was the brain work of the sponsored arsonists
(read terrorists).
From this sketchy preamble and
particularly that Chuma Nzeribe (the honourable legislator of the
Federal Republic) is walking the street free, as air, was never
invited to see IG Tafa, ala Ojukwu, not even one with a quixotic
mind will doubt the culpability of Aso Rock in this clearly
terrorist action.
If in doubt however, consider the
followings. When the news first broke out, the action was not to
arrest those involved but to have them dialogue with the Governor.
If Aso Rock knew that they were not involved, they wouldn’t have
invited figures to the meeting. In other words, the act of inviting
them means a fore knowledge of their involvement in the destruction.
The obvious truth, therefore, is that they were invited to dialogue
with Ngige because those who so invited them knew they were the
culprits and by so knowing and refusing to prevent it, they
themselves were part of the plot. If you interpret this to mean that
some persons had fore knowledge of what happened in Anambra but
pretended otherwise, it is quit a legitimate and well informed
assumption.
You see, when arsonists took over
Plateau state, Obasanjo swiftly declared a state of emergency,
therefore sanctioning them. In the case of Anambra, the terrorists
were heavily protected as no one was arrested. For about five years,
the Bamaiyi’s have been behind bars, for, among others, allegedly
attempting to burn down the offices of a media house. But when the
Anambra terrorists destroyed public properties, worth tentatively
about N45 billion, they were invited for dialogue and never
arrested! Which is to say, the crime of destroying 45 billion worth
of Anambra state properties is less offensive than an attempt to
destroy the building of the said media house! Of course, crime is
crime, but sure enough, others are more weighty.
Look at it another way, for saying he
agrees with MASSOB, Ojukwu was invited to dialogue with security
agencies. For destroying Anambra, the same
security agencies were made to look the other way as if what
happened wasn’t important because some other persons were allegedly
involved. See how government rates some above the law and for that
matter, at our own expense and only because some consider them more
Nigerians than us and are allowed to break the law with impunity.
By his own admission, representative
Chuma Nzeribe is deeply involved in what happened. How does the
honourable House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria feel about the involvement of its own in acts of lawlessness
and engaging in a coup plot as he did last year in Anambra state?
What about the involvement of the police, which the NTA has
documented?............
WHATEVER
A MAN SOWS THAT HE SHALL REAP. VOBI120404 - BF, Washington, DC, USA
Ndigbo have been very upset about
what has been happening to them lately. The terrible situation the Igbo
find themselves has been demonstrated by the shameful thing going on in
Anambra State. Many Igbo in anger have blamed Obasanjo for the troubles
the Igbo are facing. Yes Obasanjo has his blame. But if the Igbo must be
true to their conscience they must look inward for what is ailing Igbo
society today.
How did Igbo land go from “virtual
paradise” during the leadership of Dr. M. I. Okpara and Dr. Akanu Ibiam
(1958-1966) to “hell on earth” since 1970 and especially since 1999?
During his time as Premier of Eastern Region, Igbo land and indeed all
of Eastern Nigeria had one of six fastest growing economies in the
world. The Igbo had the best schools, best education in Nigeria and one
of the best in the world. Education was accorded such prime position
that the government had mobile libraries that toured even the remotest
villages and enabled children and adults to educate themselves.
Illiterate old women and men including Ozo titled men were going to
evening school called Adult Education Program just to become literate.
Eastern Nigeria was supplying food to other parts of Nigeria including
Northern Nigeria. Okpara’s government was appealing to the people of
Eastern Nigeria to eat chic! ken and eggs which was plentiful because of
his agricultural policies. His government built numerous industries from
Nkalagu to Port Harcourt to Calabar. He built numerous farm settlements,
rubber, cocoa, oil palm, and cashew plantations which produced cash
crops and provided employment for our people. There was virtually zero
unemployment.
The children of Eastern Nigeria had a
solid moral compass provided by Catholic and Anglican Missions as well
as Traditional Religious Groups. Children knew who they were and where
they were going. The people of Eastern Nigeria were happy and contented
and political, social, and technological development was galloping at a
very fast pace. The Igbo and their brother Easterners were set to join
the developed, technological world. Then came the 1966 crisis and the
disruption that followed. The policies put in place by the government of
Dr. M. I. Okpara were continued under the leadership of C. Odumegwu
Ojukwu in Biafra.
Dr. Okpara and the leadership of
Eastern Nigeria were men and women of moral integrity and conscience.
They stood for and defended truth, honesty, justice, fairness, and
freedom for the people of Eastern Nigeria. When Dr. Okpara and Dr. Ibiam
died neither of them left fancy palaces or millions of dollars in their
personal bank accounts. They left something else – a legacy of honor and
integrity. Look at our society today and tell us what legacy our
political leaders, traditional rulers, and church leaders are leaving
behind. >From the highest politician to the lowliest local government
counselor all are likely to be common thieves. The only thing that
matters to them is money. They steal, cheat, subvert justice, undermine
freedom, lie like drunks, and pervert justice. What legacy has Dr. Alex
Ekwueme left for the Igbo? Chief Mbazulike Amaechi was in politics with
Dr. M. I. Okpara and ! knew the legacy of that administration yet when
criminals like Ngige and Uba who conspired and stole the mandate the
people of Anambra State gave to Peter Obi started rolling around in
their mound of excrement, he agreed to dip his hand in it rather than
stand up for justice and tell them to hand over the governorship to
Peter Obi, the rightful winner of the election. Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke
was Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 1980’s when the House
meant something. What in the world is he doing in the party of murderers
and thieves? Is he willing to stand up for truth and justice? There are
so many Elders and Intellectuals in Anambra State. Why are they not
standing up for justice, truth, honesty, and freedom? Why are they
keeping mum?
Look at our Churches; bishops,
priests, and pastors will gladly accept a bag of money from a man they
know to be a criminal even if the money is still dripping with blood of
the victim. They will put this person in the front seat in the Church,
sing his praises and tell the congregation what a wonderful person he
is. Because everyone knows that this person is a murderer and an armed
robber the pastor will simply say, “Thou shall not judge, let God be the
judge.” What kind of nonsense is that? There used to be bishops and
priests who had moral character and who would stand up for honesty,
justice, and morality no matter who was involved. We remember late
bishop Okoye of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu and the late Bishop
Benjamin Nwankiti of the Anglican Diocese of Owerri. There are many
others who are good role models. We remember them with pride and pray
that God grant them eternal re! st.
The only thing that matters now is
money. Today in Igbo land everybody is a “Chief”, men, women, even
children. Fourteen year old apprentice houseboy wants to be a
multimillionaire before he is fifteen years old. Where do you think that
is coming from? They are looking at the old men and women and their
crooked ways, their criminality, their support of injustice, dishonesty
and falsehood. Yet Elders, title holders, the clergy (minus a few honest
ones), who lived in decent Igbo society of the 1960’s are keeping quiet
or even worse supporting injustice, dishonesty, falsehood, and at the
same time they are hoping that justice, peace, security, freedom will be
the order of the day in our communities. Bishop Desmond Tutu of South
Africa fought apartheid to a standstill with his sermons and activism.
He was promised anything he wanted by White people but he stood his
ground and fought inju! stice until he and his people won. The world
rewarded him with a Nobel Prize. Nelson Mandela, remember him? The most
revered statesman in the world today, Black or White! He fought
injustice in apartheid South Africa and with his colleagues won freedom
for his people. For 27 years he was imprisoned with hard labor. White
people all over the world begged him simply to name his price, whatever
number of millions in whatever currency so long as he agrees to give up
the fight for the freedom of his people. But he refused and continued to
speak up and fight injustice in South Africa until he won the war at the
ripe old age of over 70 years. The world rewarded him with a Nobel
Prize.
Dr. Akanu Ibiam, the Eze Ogo of
Unwana was so disgusted with the role played by Christian Britain in
crushing Biafra and starving 2 million Biafran children to death that he
renounced the British Knighthood bestowed on him by the Queen of England
and sent it back to her. Today Ndigbo are falling over each other to
have the meaningless appellation “Sir” attached to their names. Look at
the traditional rulers we have today. How many of our traditional rulers
today are well known armed robbers and thieves? Are traditional rulers
custodians of the culture, and traditions? If they are what in the world
are we doing with the criminals in this group who parade as traditional
rulers? Which culture and tradition will they protect and defend?
What is happening in Anambra State is
gradually spreading to all parts of Igbo land. Wabara steals the mandate
of Elder Dan Imo and Obasanjo makes him puppet senate president. The
Elders, traditional rulers and even clergy cheer. Nzeribe steals the
mandate of the people of Orlu senatorial zone. He goes around Nigeria
and creates the image of the Igbo man as a criminal, crook, psychopath,
no good bastard. Shameless traditional rulers cheer and tell the people
of Imo State to make this despicable man the governor of Imo State.
Even the Church is not spared. Of all
the people in Nigeria today the man who most deserves an honorary
doctorate degree according to Madonna University is Ibrahim Babangida.
Where did the chancellor and Executive Officers of that University leave
their brains? They must have their brains on the soles of their feet and
have been walking on them all these years. Babangida is the prime
suspect in the murder of Dele Giwa and has refused to answer questions
even when he was invited by the duly constituted Oputa Judicial Panel.
He annulled the result of a duly conducted election. He secretly
smuggled Nigeria into the OIC and ignominiously removed an Igbo man,
Ebitu Ukiwe who had the balls to query his unilateral decision.
According to Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Ede and his men of wisdom this is the
most upright man the Igbo need to honor and emulate. He is a role model
for the students of Madonna University and the general public. See how
much respect he has for the institution and its administration, he
didn’t even bother to go to the convocation though he was in Benin but
sent someone to get “the piece of paper” from them.
Think of the so-called governors –
how many Igbo men and women has Nnamani killed since he was in office?
Udenwa paid Raphael Ige and his goon squad to kill members of MASSOB,
Udenwa’s own brothers and sisters – imagine that. Orji Uzor Kalu is busy
building mosques all over Igbo land. Wait until Islamic fundamentalism
takes root in Igbo land and every one will see the shit hit the fan.
Look at the holy Nweje, Ngige. He stole the mandate of Peter Obi and has
the balls to talk about justice. Two months ago when his problems with
Uba appeared to be settling down, he immediately declared that there
will be no other party in Anambra State except the PDP. He just stole
the mandate the people of Anambra gave to Peter Obi under the umbrella
of the APGA. Then quickly tells the people of Anambra that he will not
allow any other party in Anambra except Ali Baba and his four hundred
thieves. Nev! er mind when his partners in crime burn down millions of
dollars worth of property belonging to the people of Anambra State he
will shed crocodile tears and everyone will cheer.
Anambra State will become as cool as
ice water the day the elders, top intellectuals, clergy, men and women
of Anambra wake up and tell Ngige to hand over the governorship of the
State to Peter Obi and go home and settle the quarrel with his friend
Chris Uba. People of Anambra State, so long as you condone injustice,
lying, cheating, dishonesty, worship of stolen money, and refuse to take
a stand and defend justice, honesty, and truth, so long will peace,
freedom, and liberty elude you. The same thing applies all over Igbo
land.
By the way, now that the
Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba oligarchs who own the PDP and Nigeria have told the
stupid Igbo Governors, Igbo and other Easterners who were hoping to be
president of Nigeria that they won’t even smell the nomination forms,
not to mention participate in the election, may be these fools will now
go home, lick their wounds, and hide their heads in shame. We told you
that you are nobody in Nigeria. MASSOB also told you so. But you didn’t
believe us. Today you have seen that you are nothing, nothing, but boy
boy, n’agbo oso ahia. Boy boy Governor; boy, boy Senator; boy, boy
minister; boy, boy Adviser; boy, boy Chairman. Efulefu who sold his
sword and wore the scabbard to battle! Boy, boy go on singing your
masters song and shinning his shoes. Don’t listen to us. Ewu Awusa!
Alexander Amaechina! Alexander
Amaechina!! Alexander Ama gi echiela!!! Onya ara Ariari market. You have
been chasing Chief Ralph Uwazurike and plotting to kill him. You have
absolutely no idea the hell you are about to create for yourself and
your family. From now on the life of Chief Ralph Uwazurike and his
family is in your hands. If he or any member of his family has even a
headache you and your entire family will answer for it. You have also
declared war on members of MASSOB and have been making their lives a
living hell. You , fly wey no get legal adviser go follow dead body
enter grave. You the chicken that no dey hear you go hear inside woman’s
soup pot. Hm! Hm! Hm! Okay O!
Ndi Igbo, you can not eat your cake
and have it at the same time. You must stand up for justice, truth,
fairness, so you can get justice.
Ka Chineke mezie okwu. May God bless
Biafra and all those fighting for her freedom!
Biafra Foundation
733 15Th Street,
N.W, Suite 700
Washington DC 20005, USA
Support Voice of
Biafra International Broadcasting(VOBI). Send your tax deductible
donations to Biafra Foundation .
It may be a little bit difficult for the average sane
person to understand the ongoing situation in Anambra state. It may be even
the more difficult for such a person to explain it. Yet one of the most
amazing dimensions to the crisis is the readiness of many a Nigerian to
perceive the average Anambra person as either a psychiatric case or a
money-miss road. Another is the tendency on the part of many Nigerians,
including those from sister states of the south east to view the problem as
strictly an Anambra affair. As one young chap from a sister state in the
south east asked the other day, what special interest does Obasanjo have in
Anambra for which he would like to destroy the state? What makes it unique?.
The problem, he posited, is with Anambra people. They are the ones
destroying their state.
Interesting. Yet nothing can be farther from the truth.
The truth is that few, if any state at all in Nigeria can demonstrate the
same level of maturity so far exhibited by the people of Anambra State in
managing president Olusegun Obasanjo, the People's Destructive, sorry,
Democratic Party and their gangsters. Those who think Anambrarians are
cowards simply miss the point. Only a mad man would dare to stop a train in
motion. Yet we are at a point where people are bound to say, enough is
enough to this infamy. Anambra is unique in many respects. Unique to
Nigeria, unique to the Igbo, unique to the south east and unique to the PDP.
It is unique in the calibre of personalities which it has given to Nigeria;
and this is part of her travails today. It is unique in its maturity. It is
unique in its resilience. Anambra is unique in its patience and capacity
both to fight and to keep the peace.
Long before the so called 2003
general elections, the PDP had mapped out Anambra as one state in which it
had a special interest. In the words of a top official of the party,
it was decided at the highest level of the party to take the state at all
costs and demonstrate that the heavens will not fall.For one, Anambra is the
home state of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. Ojukwu had emerged
presidential flag bearer of the newly registered All Progressives Grand
Alliance (APGA) for the polls.The young party was flourishing nationwide and
clearly the favourite to sweep the polls in the south east. Chinwoke
Mbadinuju was at his worst as governor of the state. He was engaged in a war
of nerves with another Abuja funded group,the Anambra Peoples Forum (APF)
and Anambra was aflame. Anambra people insisted on a change even as the PDP
had resolved to return all its governors as one of its strategies to enforce
Tony Anenihнs no vacancy-in- Aso Rock order. APGA was
set for victory but PDP needed
the state, if only to make a point. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo had to be
returned at all costs. Beside all this, Obasanjo found it unpardonable that
Anambra State alone produced all the candidates who gave him лtough time at
the last presidential elections,
namely Dr Alex Ekwueme, The Rt. Hon. Dr Chuba Okadigbo of blessed memory,
Chief Edwin Ume- Ezeoke and of course Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
Anambra therefore, is to him the arrow head of the
Igbo challenge and resistance in Nigeria and crippling her, in the
calculation of the Obasanjo camp, will ensure that no resistance emanates
from that angle by the time he pulls out his joker for 2007.
Within the south-east itself, there is a surge of evil
men in the political arena aspiring to impose themselves on the people as
the new set of Igbo leaders. More than ninty-five percent of the people are
found in the PDP. They range from 419ers to ritualists, drug barons,
murderers and never-do-wells. None of these folks can pass the ordinary test
of moral rectitude in the Igbo society. Yet these constitute the president's
armada in Igbo land. Igbo people have not sent or elected them. They are
simply what they are: impostors and agent provocateur, busy, lining their
own pockets at the expense of their people.For those who still believe that
this crisis is orchestrated by the Anambra people, it might interest them to
take a closer look at the leadership of the PDP both at the national and
zonal levels. How many Anambrarians of note are there?. Yet these are the
leading weapons of mass destruction behind Chris Uba and President Obasanjo.
And if Ohaneze is not doing enough in defence of Anambra today, it may not
necessarily be a reason to suspect it of compromise. But certainly, it wonнt
be because that August body is led by
Anambra people. Let us not mention the south east governors forum here. But
these are fora to which the people of Anambra State look up to for succour
in this moment of trial.
Former Chief of Army Staff , Lt. Gen. Victor
Malu once said in an interview that while it took him 33 years to get to the
rank of Lt.General, it took Obasanjo only 18 years to become a four-star
general. Against this background, the president's war plan in Anambra is
understandable. Led by a general whose competence is at best suspect, these
rascals whose sole motivation is a vaulting ambition to secure federal
appointments and other patronage have shown that they do not know when to
beat a retreat in war. Apparently they only know of Hannibal, but never
heard about Leonidas. These are men who in a normal society should have long
been in jail for their numerous crimes against both the state and the people
especially on July 10, 2003, and November, 2004. History shows us that such
generals and their troops end up, invariably like Jonah, in the belly of the
whale. What I find rather shameful is Mr president's continued claim that he
is not behind the crisis and his refusal to comment on it. Clearly not an
intelligent answer to such a national disgrace from a democratically elected
presidentof a democratic giant of Africa in this new millennium.
Both President Obasanjo and Chris Uba have left
the legacy to wit: that in Nigeria, it is not only presidents who are above
the law. Their in-laws, co-in-laws and families are even the more so. But
while the president and his armada are in the air bombing Anambra State, we
the people are on our knees entreating the Almighty to come to our rescue
and we are rest assured that evil shall never triumph over good. We are
solidly behind our own able and dynamic governor-our own CNN- Chris Nwabueze
Ngige (MON). Be that as it may, Obasanjo is the president of Nigeria as much
as Ngige is governor of Anambra State. Both emerged from the same process,
however flawed. Both deserve the respect of each other. Right now, not many
believe the president in his attempts to deny involvement in the crisis. The
evidence is overwhelming. Indeed, the more he tries, the more fraudulent he
sounds.
It is even possible that the president has one or two
genuine grounds against Gov. Ngige. But such will never justify his present
role in the Anambra crisis.
As governor, Ngige has acquitted himself creditably as a man with a heart
for his people. In one year, he has demonstrated a full grasp of the needs
of his people as well as the will and ability to tackle them. He has exposed
the reason behind the state's anaemic health. That is governance and that's
what the people yearn for.
The property being destroyed by Uba and his group belong to the people, not
the governor. It is a paradox that a group so desperately seeking for power,
ostensibly, in the interest of the people could be busy destroying what is
on ground. Why then does it want power? The president must now speak up on
this issue. Beyond that, he must act and on the side of the law too. He
should now arraign Uba and his group before a court of competent
jurisdiction to answer for their atrocities against the state. We have come
to a point where silence is certainly no longer golden.
...........Well, happy New Year to you all. This small column, has decided
to vote our able and charismatic leader, Chief Mathew Okikiola Aremu
Olusegun Obasanjo, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigeria Armed
Forces, the man of the year 2004. ........What do you mean, the president
doesn’t deserve the man of the year award...? Who else
has his fingers almost in all the bad, the ugly and I think the good things
that occurred last year aside from the president? I am asking you,
who else...? Now you are quiet! Bad belle...that’s what is killing this
country!
To be sure, among the candidates that presented themselves for
this very award last year, this column could not find a worthier candidate
than the president. Those unqualified but highly commended candidates were
Adam Oshiohmhole, Asari Dokubo, Ibrahim Mantu, Chinua Achebe, Audu Ogbeh,
Orji Kalu, Nasir El Rufai, Ngige, Uba, Anambra crises and many others. Even
though these figures were sometimes involved in some remarkable national
events, they were still not as generally influential and central to them as
the president.
Well, to start with, it was the president who intervened in August last
year, when his stubborn Minister of the FCT, Nasir El- Rufai, gathered the
109 Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under one class and called
them Fools. By his intervention, the president succeeded in quenching a
legislative-executive feud that might have been as unending as the Ngige-Uba
wahala. It should be noted that it was the president who first called a
certain Reverend getleman a "total idiot" in Plateau State……
The president, in October also succeeded in raising the price of fuel in
the country to an all time high of N52 before Adam Oshiomhole and his group
fought its drop to N49. This increase was no mean performance. I understand
credit cannot go to the president alone because the oil marketers were
involved, but then there is no doubt that his role in this remarkable feat
helped in pushing up his marks.
Again, it was the president who almost single handedly imposed that
controversial State of Emergency on Plateau State in May 18, last year. The
imposition was significant in that it was the first time it helped give the
original impression that Governor Dariye was nothing but the synonym of
alleged fraud.
Perhaps by far, the best justification for this award is the president’s
romance with the Anambra crisis. For your information, the Anambra crisis as
a candidate could not over take the president in this competition because
there might as well not have been Anambra crisis without our president.
It could also not have gotten that level of publicity it got without the
president’s involvement. In fact, as a consequence of the Anambra crisis,
President Olusegun Obasanjo’s attempt to establish some level of friendship
with Achebe was rubbished. Achebe said he rejected the CFR award that year
because of the president and his government’s seeming support for a "small
clique renegades" in the Anambra crisis.
Throne of leadership: Since the Anambra crisis began with the ‘stealing’
of Governor Chris by godfather Chris in the state, on July 10, 2003, an
incontrovertible impression has been that the president ensured that the
person who stole people’s votes was not made to peacefully mount the throne
of leadership in the state. How he did it was well known to this year 2004
awarding column.
For his active role in the crisis, he got a damning letter from the
chairman of his party, Chief Audu Ogbeh, who also implicitly saw the
president’s hands in the most recent mayhem unleashed on the state
government property. This column took "judicious note" of Obasanjo’s reply
to Ogbeh and considered it the most diplomatic letter ever written by the
president himself. The letter, the column speculated must have been written
with the president's temperament running at 120 degrees. The degree at which
the word "total idiot" emerged in Jos.
As this year begins, we are looking forward to the way the president
would work his ways again to winning the 2005 award. This time, we surely
will still be treated to some factors, which gave him an edge in this
competition: fuel price increase, Anambra, state of emergency, etc. Besides,
we shall be presented with facts about his 2007 presidential bid, the
constitutional review and many others.For this
wonderful performance, shall we clap again for the president of the federal
Republic...?
A president in slices
By DELE SOBOWALEVanguard,
January 02, 2005
SPOKEN words are dangerous enough but written
words are more deadly, especially when they should not have been written in
the first place. They reveal more of ourselves than we sometimes would want
to expose. This series will quote verbatim from the President’s’ letter to
Chief Audu Ogbeh, the Chairman of the PDP. You be the judge of the character
of the writer.
“However your discrete investigation
convinced you that I was right and you brought Mbadinuju to me, for you and
I to tell him that he could not be a gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in
Anambra. You rightly, I believe, requested that I should work with you to
give him a soft landing and we agreed to make him an Ambassador after the
election and we agreed on which Mission abroad”. Thus
for a president who preaches ethical conduct and who canvases good
governance, the right punishment is appointment as Ambassador. Since when
has the position of the country’s envoy been reserved for losers?
A YEAR AFTER RIGGINGS
By Lanre Banjo (Nigeriaworld 31.12.04)
............I am neither amused nor shocked by the
unrefined contents of General Olusegun Obasanjo's letter. The revelation is
not out of his volition. The spirit of Nigeria is fighting against all of
them. Obasanjo knew that the date of the election says it all 4-19 (April
19). This was considered by the evil genius among them before they scheduled
the elections. How could some people expect Obasanjo to hand over Uba and
Ngige to Police when the date of the elections indicated that the elections
were predetermined? Which Police are they going to handover Uba to? Is it
the Police under corrupt Tafa Balogun who is part and parcel of the
riggings? How would they expect Obasanjo to invite the Police when he
himself was a beneficiary of the robbery in all the states that he was
declared the winner, including Anambra and my State, Ogun?
Because Obasanjo knew his instructions to Abel Guobadia and the rest
resident electoral commissioners, nothing in Obasanjo's letter wonders how
Uba could have rigged without the collusion of his staff in INEC. Because
they are planning to repeat the same thing again in 2007, no serious
diagnosis is done of our electoral process to ensure that election would be
free and fair. Obasanjo's letter mirrors lack of institution of government
in Nigeria. How could a seasoned Command in Chief make such a misguided
statement without regard to the case in Court if his brain is not in the
whirlwind or some spiritual forces are not toying with his mind? How could
anyone expect Ngige to resign when Obasanjo has already exonerated him in
his letter and the morally lame Obasanjo himself is not resigning despite
the revelations?
Obasanjo mentioned in his letter that "Chris Uba went further to say to
Ngige" "you don't know in detail how it was done", referring to the rigging.
This has let Ngige off the hook and his defense would be that his elections
might have been rigged but the burden of proof is on Uba who did it without
his knowledge. He had already denied telling Obasanjo that he did not win
the election, but he did not refute the fact he did not know how Uba rigged
the election as mentioned in Obasanjo's letter to Ogbeh.................
SO, OBASANJO KNEW
By Adekunle Ajisebutu (Nigeriaworld 31.12.04)
...........Let's face it, Uba is not asking for a small amount; he
wanted billions of Naira. He wanted everything, and the president knew. What
would Obasanjo do, if this had happened in Ogun State? Would he have allowed
Uba to hold the governor and the state to ransome while the people suffer
from lack of government? Ngige has never had a day of rest since he assumed
office. He has never had a chance to serve the people. He has moved from one
plot to another and the president knew.
Did the president know about the 2003 aborted coup in Anambra State? When
AIG Raphael Ige said he was acting on orders from the top, was he referring
to the Presidency? How could atrocity of that magnitude happen in this day
and age? How come nobody, except Raphael Ige, answer for that crime? How
come nothing has been said about that coup? Every terrible thing that
one cannot or ever imagine is happening under Obasanjo's administration. It
was under his watch that the Chief law officer of the country was murdered
like a nobody, and like a nobody, nobody has been indicted or made to pay
for this heinous crime. Now, people are comparing Obasanjo's regime to
Abacha. I assume they are saying God made a mistake to remove Abacha and
place Obasanjo in their hands. So, what lesson has Obasanjo learn in life?
The prison thing and coming close to death have faded, just like that. This
is a man that miraculously escapes death in Abacha gulag, but God spared him
to serve the people. He is now the people's adversary.
At least, he is an adversary of the Anambra people, because he allowed
evil to thrive in their state and refused to do something about it. Let us
assume for a moment that Obasanjo hate Ngige and would not rescue him from
Uba, what of Anambra people. The president after learning about the cause of
the impasse between Ngige and Uba, has the power to compensate Uba through
other means, through other party patronage, and order Uba to leave Ngige to
serve the people. He failed. His penchant for vindictiveness will not let
him see pass the real issue: Anambra people...............
Audu Ogbeh And The Verdict Of History
By Dr. Said Adejumobi – Guardian 26.12.04
..........I would tease out four of those paradoxes in
the president's response to his party chairman.
Paradox one: Ogbeh, from the insinuation of the president may likely be
accused of treason, for the possibility of inciting a coup. What a paradox?
Who could better be inciting a coup than those who foment anarchy, burn
government properties, waste taxpayers' money, and put life in jeopardy in a
whole state? Regrettably, it is these same characters that the president
embraces and gives red carpet reception. The villains have become heroes.
The innocent becomes guilty. What a country!
Paradox Two: Obasanjo is the Chairman of the African Union. He is also the
Chairman of the NEPAD Implementation Committee. He talks highly about
democracy, yet he admitted through his response to Ogbeh that his party
stole the Anambra governorship election. Those who masterminded the fraud
were asked to go home and sin no more. Can we then assume that the PDP
probably stole all the last general elections? What a shining example of
democracy the president and his party are?
Paradox Three: The President tacitly alleges that Audu Ogbeh has suddenly
become rich. To put it bluntly, Ogbeh has either peculated national
resources or used his official position as Chairman of PDP to material
advantage. If this is true, the paradox is that the president is confirming
that his party is a party of get-rich quick, fraud, stealing and
criminality. If the party chairman can steal, then where is the moral soul
of the party? Everybody in the party can easily be suspected of being a
thief. Yet, the president sits by and lives with it. Ogbeh's alleged theft
(which is questionable) cannot but pale into insignificance in the rat race
by the PDP governors to out-do themselves in the keen competition for
Transparency International award for global corruption.
Paradox Four: Obasanjo claims that "Nigeria is moving to the cruising level
and at cruising speed". I am not sure which Nigeria the president is talking
about. Perhaps, the president is living in another world from those he
governs. The Nigerian boat is not cruising at all. Currently, it is a
drowning boat-Nigeria is virtually a failed state that cannot perform the
basic functions of a state. It can hardly provide security, ensure food for
its citizens, supply mere electricity, or provide justice. Both the rich and
poor bear pain and anguish on their faces. Evidently, there is a wide
distance between the president and his people.
(THE RIGGING OF 2003 ELECTION)
The President’s men are playing the blame game
By Obi Nwakanma - Vanguard 02.01.2005
.........What took place in Nigeria in 2003 was worse than the electoral
manipulations in Ukraine. In Ukraine, the government of the day did not use
mobile policemen and soldiers to threaten an aggrieved population as
happened to Nigerians who in various ways indicated their dubiousness about
the PDP’s claim of victory. Even then, Ojo Maduekwe’s assertion that all
parties rigged in 2003 raises another important question: so, upon what is
the current government constituted? On illegality apparently. If all parties
rigged, the PDP with the widest swath of unearned victory, took over
government forcefully. It does not seem that APGA, NAP, UNPP, NDP, AD and
the other parties who were forced to lose their deposits were quite in the
game of rigging or they would have something to show for it. Mr. Maduekwe’s
claim is thus flat. From where I stand, it is not difficult to see how the
elections in 2003 became an "endgame." The president went into the elections
as a vulnerable and unpopular president. The PDP had mostly failed the
nation and the party had nothing really to show for the four years it spent
in government, save mendacity, corruption, squabbles, presidential
waka-about, and a failure of the imagination.
The Eastern flank remained the president’s most
vulnerable and volatile spot because the Igbo had catalogued his numerous
forms of disrespect and abuse both against the people and against their
political leaders. The president has this "Napoleon complex" in his
relationship with the Igbo, a condition which makes him seem perpetually
trapped in the fog of war. With Alex Ekwueme challenging his troubled
incumbency in 2003, and Ojukwu massing the Igbo behind him, the president
panicked, and once more deployed a cloak and dagger means to subdue the Igbo
political will. He chose his foot-soldiers from the usual lot: the Igbo
never do wells who front for any spirit that jingles a coin. The entire East
went to the polls. But by the time the polls closed, they were in for a
surprise. They were hearing different results. I was in the East from the
United States in late May up to the presidential inauguration. The entire
region seemed like a war zone.
It was crawling with armed mobile police personnel. I counted twenty-six
road blocks from the Port-Harcourt International Airport to Owerri, a
distance of under an hour. I had not, even under the infamous Sani Abacha,
encountered such level of police presence. The East was under quarantine, so
was the rest of the country. The president’s inauguration took place under
the nose of an indifferent nation which knew that "democracy dividend" only
meant the deregulation of crassness, brutality, corruption – an oligopoly of
moral deadweights. Those who raised their voices were accused of
"overheating the polity." Then the Anambra imbroglio opened up the internal
contradictions. It has led to exchanges of letters, and confessions, and all
what not. Talk about robbers squabbling over booty!
The heat has forced key officials of this troubled government to begin to
creep out of complicit silence. Ojo Maduekwe prefers to blame all the
parties. Ihonvbere blames Igbo leaders. The "top intellectuals, politicians,
traditional rulers, businessmen capable of calling their children to order."
What I’d like to ask Ihonvbere is, did this government consider these
citizens who should "call their children to order" when it went about
rigging the elections, and using these "children" to subvert the communal
will? Such misdirected paternalism – talk about children – is unbecoming of
a so-called "radical" democrat, and political scientist, who ought to know
that the resolution of this lies somewhere else: it lies in the
reaffirmation of the peoples electoral will.
MR. PRESIDENT: MAY I REMIND
YOU?
DR: Alex Obiogbolu -Nigeriaworld 23.12.04
Your Excellency,
Every society moulds its heroes. For a multiethnic nation whose
contraption was created by the colonialists, we are still searching for our
heroes.
As for me, Gen.Olusegun Obasanjo was one worthy of the national honor of
hero and statesman. I have remained enamored by his personality. Spartan but
proud, brash yet intelligent, demurring yet brave. His subordinate, Gen.
Muhammad Buhari had once described him in no less eloquent words. "One of
the very few officers who inspired his subordinates by example, never
shirked a challenge and never declined a responsibility". Without prejudice
to the terrible human rights records of your government in the seventies
which included the shooting of protesting students and destruction of late
icon, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti's home, I shared the general view that you had
improved yourself in terms of your view and understanding about democracy
and the proper role of the military in the new world order.
You inspired young men like us to speak out even in the face of tyranny
with particular reference to your opening address at the meeting of
statesmen at Ota farm on 25th may 1993 where you said "all that is necessary
for the enthronement of evil is for good people to remain silent and
inactive. The silent majority looks almost helplessly on as the nation is
allowed to be toyed with". Since the current crisis in my home state,
Anambra State. I had hoped that you will deal decisively with this crisis or
would at least speak about it. However, your public outrage on the
bedeviling crisis in Anambra State in Mr. President's letter to the National
Chairman of our great party is not only embarrassing but raises more
questions begging for answers. Questions on morality and leadership.
Thus, taking a cue from your teaching, I shall not fail to elicit these
questions and extend my advice as one of the elders of our great party, PDP
in Anambra State who has witnessed the entire crisis. Following in the vein
of the content of the letter addressed to Mr. President by our chairman,
Chief Audu Ogbeh on the drift of the nation. I wish to bring to your notice
many seemingly contradictions in what you said before you entered Aso Rock
and now you have been there. There is no gain restating the facts that you
have spent the better part of your life working for the unity of Nigeria and
the democratization of our country befitting a statesman.
Albeit, in your inaugural address on 29th May 1999, you told Nigerians,
"you have been asked many times in the past to make sacrifices and to be
patient. I am also going to ask you to make sacrifices and to exercise
patience. The difference will be that in the past sacrifices were made with
little or no results. This time however, the results of your sacrifice and
patience will be clear and manifest for all to see". It will be gross
insensitivity on the part of Mr. President to write "we are moving cruising
level and cruising speed" with the level of poverty, inter-ethnic strife,
low purchasing power of Nigerians, level of unresolved assassinations, cost
of kerosene and worsened power supply today in Nigeria.
As you had always admonished past Governments, I recollect that you urged
General Abacha to make moral restitution the basis of his authority to
govern Nigeria. Despite describing Abacha's putsch as unfortunate but
necessary, you did not fail to chastise his government. In your keynote
address at Arewa house, Kaduna on 2nd February 1994, you said "the present
economic hardship is suffocating. Apart from that, the threat to the
nation's corporate existence is really grave", and drew parallels between
Abacha's and Babangida's governments. Your address drew a standing ovation.
Therefore, I am at total loss at the reactions of Mr. President on the
advice and urgings of the National Chairman of PDP, Chief Audu Ogbeh. The
constitution of our great party, PDP clearly gives him such mandate, as the
" National Chairman shall promote and defend the integrity, policies and
programmes of the party and make pronouncements for and on behalf of the
National Executive". The action of our National Chairman is what Mr.
President has always advocated and done himself in the past. Permit me to
quote from your address at Arewa House in 1994. " While private urgings may
be good, they are insufficient when a government is deaf and mischievous.
Such a government sees private urgings and correspondences either as a tacit
approval or an invitation to be quietly settled. It will be better for us to
step on a couple of toes and some economic interests rather than allowing
the country to be destroyed almost to point irreparability". Also in your
eloquent address at University of Ibadan in 1992 titled "Our situation is
desperate", you said. " A Nation may become moribund through paralysis of
silence born out of fear and intimidation. " Is your response to our
chairman not intimidating?
Consequently I am at grave loss at the increasing level of intolerance
exhibited by Mr. President's government to any form of opposing or critical
view since May 2003. The demonic visitation on the Insider Magazine by
alleged State agents is but one of the most recent cases. In my view, I can
draw a parallel between what happened to Insider Magazine and what Abacha
and Babangida's Governments visited on The Tell and TheNews magazines to
mention a few. The debasement of our democracy can only lead to
disillusionment and cynicism. Our National Chairman is not wishing you a
coup but rather pointing out the possible consequences of your government's
inaction or mistakes.
Mr. President in his popular address at Arewa House had also said of the
Abacha's government. "A constitutional conference to keep all agitators
quiet no matter how much it is dressed up can not achieve the objective of
genuine national conference designed to examine critically the political and
other essential areas of our lives of which there must be a consensus for
effective government action". This drew you one of the longest standing
ovation that may have come your way. Why then has Mr. President refused the
convocation of this true national conference since you assumed office? I
assume Mr. President that all your numerous worthy foreign trips to attract
investment and capital will remain burgeoned by the insecurity that these
political rascality that abound in our polity today provide.
This brings me to the issue, which has drawn the worst vitriolic flak for
the PDP and Government:- "The Anambra saga". I had always maintained studied
silence so as not to inflame passion hoping that our National Leaders will
officiate, mediate and remedy this albatross.
I find Mr. President smarting remark on his role in the Anambra saga so
far truly embarrassing for a man we yearn to be Nigeria's finest hero. You
are aware that His Excellency, Dr. Chris Ngige has always maintained that he
was declared winner by INEC and he (Ngige) did not rig any election. Albeit
Mr. President has confirmed taking the confessions of both gentlemen.
May I remind Mr. President that the said election was
conducted along side the presidential election on the same date and time. In
that election, which I participated, you secured 466, 866 votes while Dr.
Chris Ngige secured 452,820 votes. Thus, anyone in the PDP who accepts that
he or she rigged the gubernatorial election in Anambra state must have
obviously rigged the presidential election in your favor. Thus, Mr.
President's disclosure also impugns on the validity of the presidential
election that declared you President, the integrity of the umpire- INEC and
its chairman, and the integrity of the nation at large.
Mr. President! That Chief Chris Uba and Dr. Chris Ngige accepted rigging
the election as you wrote is not to me the only moral dilemma. Rather that
Mr. President likens their case to "the case of two armed robbers that
conspired to loot a house and after bringing out the loot, one decided to do
the other in" is the real moral issue. Your allusions contradict all that I
have learnt from Gen Olusegun Obasanjo in his leadership forums. Permit me
Mr. President to quote verbatim what you said at Arewa House in 1994. "Once
in a while a corrupt man can be a leader. If however you are corrupt and
attain a high public office, you either purge yourself or you put your
authority on question. If you don't purge yourself you will never be able to
perform adequately". Is What Dr Chris Ngige did by taking the oath of public
office and deciding to purge himself so as to deliver democratic dividends
morally wrong? May I remind Mr. President of his beautiful address at
University of Ibadan in 1992 titled "Our situation is desperate"? Mr.
President said "I felt disappointed the other day while talking to a young
MD of a bank when he said that he has no responsibility and business for the
development of Nigeria. His obligation is to his stakeholders. He was wrong
and I told him so". You equally said, "Fear of being arrested is what leads
to reduction in crime. When crimes are perpetrated with cover-up or
non-detestability of culprit crime will thrive" The clear truth is that the
Nigerian Police stood aside while public property was destroyed and looted.
You must have been seen to have engaged the arsonists before you can claim
to have been overwhelmed. Chief Chris Uba and Dr Chris Ngige's case is not
the first nor the last of disputes that arise between Godfathers and Godsons
or Sponsors and sponsored. Saraki VS Lafiaji, Saraki VS Lawal, Mbadinuju VS
Offor, Nnamani VS Nwvobodo, Adebibu VS Ladoja are just a few to mention.
Even Mr. President VS His sponsors cannot go unmentioned. I recollect Mr.
President informing all his sponsors cum donors to consider their donations
as contributions to the national development and not expect anything. Did
the heavens fall? Was Mr. President abducted? Was there any moral burden?
Mr. President has always maintained that he (president) will not be forced
to negotiate out of intimidation or threat. I wonder if Mr. President is
changing his renowned traits and thoughts on leadership developed over
thirty years after five years in Aso Rock.
I urge Mr. president to bring to a halt in your usual decisive manner
these spurious attempts at unseating undemocratically an incumbent Governor.
The Nigerian Police must assist the Director of public prosecution in
Anambra state to bring to book the perpetuators of this heinous crime and
destruction visited on Anambra state to serve as a deterrent to others.
I urge you to have a rethink on these events. Seven years ago, nobody
dared cast an opposing public view to the Head of state. You braved it and
got incarcerated with a 15years sentence, though I remember your words of
brevity at Ota farm in 1993. "If a government is not working or able to work
with us, we must persist in educating and we must exercise patience until
there is a change of heart or a change of hats". The beauty of democracy is
the freedom of expression of thoughts and speech. The worst form of any
democratic government is still better than the best military cartel. Today,
majority of Nigerians recognize that the world has no future for military
excursions into governance. However, Nigerians are desirous of enjoying the
dividends of democracy and quickly.
I leave Mr. President with his words of response to Allison Ayida's
letter following criticisms of "Not My Will". "In my private and public
life, I think of tomorrow in acting today". In your controversial book "Not
My Will", you had alluded to Zik as one who started his career on a very
high and admirable plane as Zik of Africa and whittled to Zik of Igboland,
who should not end up as the " Owelle of Onitsha". It is your action today
that will place you in history as " Nigeria's finest statesman " or the "
Balogun of Owu"
God bless Mr. President!!! I remain
Your loyal party Servant
Rhythm & Business: Oil & Corruption in Nigeria
By Norman Kelley, AOL BlackVoices Columnist
Nigeria, after South Africa, has the potential to become the financial
engine of Africa, a hub of commercial and political importance. It is
that continents most populous nation and it has a striving,
well-educated middle class. But it has had (and still has) its share of
problems, mostly dictatorships, corruption -- and oil. Nigeria is one of
those nations like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iran and Iraq that have
suffered from what some call the "curse of oil."
The effects of this curse leads to oil-dependent superpowers like the
United States taking an interest in these oil-soaked countries
development and engineering their politics and economics to meet their
needs. Aided and abetted by the home-grown elites, they use oil profits
not for national enrichment and development, but for self-enrichment,
and that of their patrons in the developed world. While Nigeria is one
of the richest countries in the world in! terms of its natural
resources, a mind-numbing 70 percent of the population lives in
destitution.
The politics of local development in nations like Nigeria -- with its
North-South, Christian-Muslim schisms, as well as ethnic divides -- have
fueled corruption and a get-over mentality. Nigerians such as Wole
Soyinka and Chinua Achebe have denounced this tendency in their society.
The late Afro-beat master Fela sang about it in numerous songs.
Environmental activist Ken Saro-wira was executed by the state through
what some have called an extra-legal judicial lynching.
If one wants to get a good idea of how a nation like Nigeria has been
plundered and its people driven to criminality, one should consider the
phenomenon of what Nigerians and international police agencies call
"419" (pronounced "four-one-nine").
"Four-one-nine" is the Nigerian penal code for fraud, and Nigerians are
world-famous for such. According to Reuters, every year corruption eats
up about 40 pe! rcent or $40 billion of the oil-rich west African
countrys annual income. Everyday, 100,000 barrels (some 4 percent of
the countrys total oil production) are also squandered.
But the countrys corruption runs much deeper than oil theft. In Lagos,
the Nigerian commercial capital, the streets are filled with con men who
constantly devise shrewd ways to rob people. And crime has risen to
epidemic levels both on the street and in the countrys public
institutions. In Europe and the United States, Nigerian criminals have
cultivated a reputation for themselves by organizing sophisticated scams
and criminal networks, raising the suspicion and rage of law enforcement
agencies all around the world.
Weve all heard of the e-mail scams where Nigerians, usually working
from Internet cafes in Nigerian cities like Lagos and Abuja, have
managed to bilk unsuspecting Americans and Brits of millions of dollars.
Example: "You have been recommended by your countrys Chamber of Co!
mmerce in confidence of your ability and reliability to prosecute a
transaction of great magnitude involving a pending business transaction
requiring maximum confidence."
Or: "My name is Maryam Abacha, the wife of the former President of
Nigeria. I am writing you this letter to propose a business that will be
of mutual benefit to you and me."
Nowadays such entreaties arrive via e-mail. The modus operandi is to
appeal to a "mark" (con men lingo for a potential fraud victim or
sucker) and ask his or her assistance in transferring money from one
party to another. For example: "I need your assistance to claim this
fund from the security firm and invest part of it into a profitable
business in your country under your supervision and control. As soon as
the fund gets into your country you will then assist me and my family to
come over to your country where we hope to start a new life."
If the e-mail recipient falls for the pitch, then the person then the
person is usua! lly asked to turn over credit or banking information to
the Nigerian 419er. The appeal to the mark is usually "advance fees"
said to be in the thousands or millions of dollars for the marks
assistance. In the eyes of the mark it's easy money, or put another way:
greed. Before the Internet, the con men would send solicitations via the
mail or fax on an official-looking letterhead.
This form of fraud is well-known to the United States Secret Service and
the United Kingdom National Criminal Intelligence Service. They keep a
close eye on this crime specialty. It has been estimated that American
citizens have lost more than $100 million a year in 419 scams -- and
thats considered a conservative estimate.
When Frantz Fanon wrote his seminal work 'Wretched of the Earth' more
than 40 years ago, his chapter on violence and the colonial situation
was either condemned by the establishment or lauded by revolutionary
anticolonial intellectuals and activists. However, his most pres! cient
chapter -- "The Pitfalls of National Consciousness" -- outlined the
corruption and cronyism that would befall those nations that had
liberated themselves from colonial masters and installed native elites:
"Neither financier nor industrial magnates are to be found within this
national middle class. The national bourgeoisie of the underdeveloped
countries is not engaged in production, nor invention, nor building, nor
labor; it is completely canalized into activities of the intermediary
sort. Its innermost vocation seems to be to keep in the running and to
be part of the racket."
About the author
Author Norman Kelley is the editor of Rhythm & Business: The Political
Economy of Black Music (Akashic Books). His latest book is The 'Head
Negro in Charge Syndrome: The Dead End of Black Politics' (Nation Books)
![Sov'n Nat'l Conf [SNC]](_derived/SNC_with_honesty.htm_cmp_global110_hbtn.gif)
Starvation:
A Legitimate Instrument of War -- Awolowo
