The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Edo: Walking a tight rope

    Edo: Walking a tight rope

    Sentry

    The face-off between Governor Godwin Obaseki and seventeen members of Edo State House of Assembly, has taken a turn for the worse amidst fears the governor may be impeached before the September 19 poll in the state.

    Before now, the lawmakers, under the leadership of Victor Edoror had said they didn’t plan to remove Obaseki from office. But during the week, they warned that if he flouts any of their directives, he will be impeached.

    Sentry gathered that the warning shouldn’t be dismissed as “the ranting of Oshiomhole supporters” as the governor and his supporters called it. The lawmakers may actually be looking to show Obaseki and the world they are not toothless bulldogs.

    “They are eager to show us all they understand their rights as elected lawmakers. If the governor makes takes false steps, he may be rattled with impeachment proceedings. The outcome of that nobody can easily predict,” an insider revealed.

    In a statement which confirms a clash is imminent, the governor’s spokesman, Crusoe Osagie, said: “The Edoror group are not legislators. They are just a mere group of APC supporters who meet in Ize Iyamu’s living room. Their decisions have no consequence on the governor or our great state, Edo State.”

    Time will tell which side is bluffing.

  • Malami, Magu and Maina (2)

    Malami, Magu and Maina (2)

    By Segun Ayobolu

    There have been at least three important developments on the ongoing saga involving the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Abubakar Malami, and the suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, since the publication of the first part of this piece last week. First, Malami himself has felt sufficiently disturbed by serious allegations of graft leveled against him by a coalition of civil society organizations to ‘proactively’ write President Muhammadu Buhari pronouncing his innocence of all the charges of corrupt enrichment.

    In the letter to PMB, Malami asserted that he was already a wealthy man before his appointment to public office in 2015 having run a successful legal practice for over 20 years. He drew the President’s attention to “the 27 property” listed in the assets declaration he filed with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) on assumption of office as AGF and stressed that “Among other things, I owned lucrative business ventures of Rayhaan Hotels and Rayhaan Food & Drinks, both in Kano, since December 13, 2013,…long before I was appointed to be a minister in the first term”.

    Of course, the AGF deserves plaudits for his eagerness to protect his obviously highly cherished name and reputation. But then as a respected senior lawyer, he ought to know that things don’t work that way. After all, how would he have felt if, rather than respond in concrete detail to the grave allegations against him, Magu had simply written his superiors affirming his innocence. That would have been unacceptable and Malami has done the right thing in demanding that Magu demonstrate his innocence beyond all scintilla of doubt. But such a commendably high standard of integrity and accountability must necessarily apply to the AGF too in the interest of justice and equity. In any case, human greed is infinitely elastic and numerous persons far wealthier than Malami have been appointed into public office only to perpetrate outrageous acts of grand corruption. Secondly, the President has widened the mandate of the Justice Ayo Salami panel probing the AGF’s allegations against Magu granting it judicial powers and mandating it to conduct public sittings and submit its report 45 days after its first public session. Again, this is commendable as it will enhance the transparency, openness and public access to the panel’s proceedings. The secret nature of the panel’s work thus far had encouraged wild and unfounded publications in both the traditional and social media, which it unfortunately did nothing to refute or discourage.

    But then, why shouldn’t this have been the case from day one? Does this not create the impression of improvisations being made along the way and goal posts shifted arbitrarily to reach a predetermined end? Furthermore, even though it now has a more transparent procedural mandate, the panel still remains as supposedly constituted or largely influenced by the AGF. Is this not a case of the accuser being also, directly or indirectly, picking those to try the accused? Can justice be served with this arrangement? Should not the allegations against Magu, having been exhaustively investigated by two previous presidential panels, not have simply proceeded to the regular courts, which are less likely to be under the influence of either interested party in the matter?

    Thirdly, Magu has had cause to write the Justice Salami panel seeking clarification as to whether its new 45-day timeline would commence from July 3rd, when the instrument establishing it was dated, or August 8th when he was formally served. Other complaints in Magu’s letter, to the panel include that “The panel has consistently sat in private (camera) and not in public in accordance with the applicable law; The tribunal has held proceedings and invited and entertained witnesses to the exclusion of our client in violation of the applicable rules of fair hearing; The tribunal has sat and conducted hearings in the absence of our client in violation of the applicable law and rules of fair hearing”.

    Magu also drew the panel’s attention to “The suspension of twelve officials (investigators and prosecutors) of the EFCC without query, interrogation, or any other expected standard treatment for such an action; Failure to allow Mr. Magu’s counsel to cross-examine our client’s accusers and witnesses; Failure of the committee to reveal its mandate, terms of reference and timeline until 8th August, 2020, 35 days after the panel was expected to have commenced public sitting by virtue of the instrument of mandate; Witnesses appearing without being on oath; Our client and his counsel were excluded from the proceedings of 11th, 12th and 13th of July, 2020, amongst others in spite of presence at the venue of the sittings; As a judicial commission of inquiry in the nature of a tribunal, an inferior court, the panel lacks the powers to entertain matters pending before superior courts of record as it is reportedly doing”.

    Surely, these are not observations and complaints which a panel headed by a jurist of Justice Salami’s stature can treat lightly. The credibility of the panel’s work in the eyes of the attentive public rests entirely on the chairman’s reputation for integrity even though he is only one of a 7-man panel.  Let us now continue with our interrogation of the linkage of AbdulRasheed Maina, former Chairman of the Pensions Reform Task Team (PRTT), to the unfolding Malami/Magu saga.

    Interestingly, the current allegations against Magu being probed by the Salami panel is not the first time that the ex-EFCC Acting Chairman will face serious charges of wrongdoing against which he has had to defend his integrity and reputation. In the wake of Maina’s surreptitious return to the country and reinstatement into the federal civil service in 2017, despite being a fugitive from the law, some unidentified persons had filed a petition against him before a Committee of the Senate alleging that Magu and his collaborators had engaged in large scale re-looting of assets seized from pension fraud suspects.

    In a fact sheet he made available to the National Assembly in December 2017, widely reported in the media, Magu vehemently denied this allegation submitting that “The assets seized from these suspects are in two categories. There are assets that are under interim forfeiture, which means that they are temporarily seized pending the determination of the substantive cases in court. Such assets cannot be dissipated because the cases are pending in court. The reality is most of the assets recovered from pension fraud suspects belong in this category. The cash element of the recoveries is also carefully documented. The total funds recovered stand at N2,886,743,016.71, $3,017,556.73 and 3,385.40 Euros. The sum of N16,185,131,847.09 which was recovered from an illegal account in an old generation bank has since been remitted to the office of the Head of Service while N369,558,640 represents the cash component of John Yusuf’s final forfeiture. There is no opacity regarding the commission’s handling of the assets recovered from suspects of pension fraud”.

    According to media reports in December 2017,  Magu in his fact sheet to the National Assembly “challenged the brains behind the rumour of re-looting to go “the whole hog to name the ghost officials that engaged in this “sharing” of pension booty and the place and time the sharing took place”. He “insisted that former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina remains wanted by the anti-graft agency but said Maina’s $2 million Abuja mansion and six others have been placed under interim forfeiture. Magu said there was no cause for alarm because all seized assets were well documented. He said what was playing out was a “diversionary gambit intended to befuddle ongoing inquiry over the Maina reinstatement saga by smearing anyone or agency that is capable of unmasking the pension thieves”.

    It is instructive that Magu at that time complained that “The EFCC views with grave concern the manner in which the allegation, made by unnamed person(s) in close-door session before the committee was publicly orchestrated at the Senate plenary without the commission having the opportunity to respond. The omission has tragically led to misinformation regarding the status of recovered pension assets. This is unwarranted”.

    Obviously, Maina has friends in high places not excluding the AGF. With Magu suspended from office and 12 members of his management team sacked, the same team that had tenaciously refused to let go the Maina case, the AGF is now clearly fully in control of the anti-graft commission. Given this scenario, what happens to the EFCC’s prosecution of the allegations of gargantuan fraud against Maina? Surely, the attentive public is watching.

  • Leadership, age and sex

    Leadership, age and sex

    By Dayo Sobowale

    I start today with a quotation from Shakespeare on the  life and times of Cleopatra, Queen of  Egypt also  famously called ‘ Daughter  of the Nile’.  The quotation says of Cleopatra, ‘ Age   does  not wither her, nor custom stale  her infinite varieties, other  women cloy the appetite they  feed , but she makes hungry where  she most satisfies ‘Cleopatra went  on to befriend,  seduce and     beguile   two  great  Roman  leaders who conquered  Egypt  namely  the great  Julius  Caesar  and   Mark  Anthony  and  the rest  is history. The  clear  historical  fact was  that  Cleopatra was a sex  symbol  and used  her  beauty  patriotically to get advantages  from  the conquerors  of  Egypt  in her  time.

    In   this  age and time however  let  us look at  what  the ‘Me  Too ‘sexual  assault  movement would  say  of  Cleopatra’s   leadership  role with  her  sex. Especially  now that   Joe   Biden, the Democratic  Party’s  candidate     in the US  November 2020    presidential  election  has  picked  a woman  Kamala   Harris   as his running mate. Kamala  Harris, a lawyer  and senator  would   be the first, black, Asian American to be US Vice  President  if the Democrats  win the election. Such  description of Kamala  Harris  willy  nilly  throw up  the  issues  of age, sex and  race which  are the dominant  issues  polarizing American  politics viciously  nowadays, and it does not seem the polarization   would  end   regardless  of the winner  of  this coming November presidential  election.

    In  Nigeria  too  the issue  of age in leadership came up  when a former   president   retired  General  Olusegun  Obasanjo   called  on Nigerian  youths to rebel  against old leaders  and take up  leadership  of the nation by  drafting constitutions with age  limit on  leadership  positions  and  political   participation  to  those  within the age bracket  of say  45  years. This  is surely a charge to eliminate gerontocracy   by a   well    known   gerontocrat     who  certainly  has exposed himself   to charges  of  senility   and   absent  –  mindedness,   given  his track   record of  never letting go of power  and influence  ,well  after  his controversial   leadership as  both a   military      and  democratically  elected president of Nigeria.  To  me Obasanjo’s call  is  for an insurrection of youths against  old age in leadership. We  look at its merits and demerits. We    along    the  line   recall  the moonlight     story in the animal  kingdom when all  animals  killed their  parents for poor  leadership,  as agreed but  the dog  hid    his   parents who  saved  the kingdom  from the collapse  of  the kingdom  that  ensued  from the  volatile   leadership  of  the rebellious  youths.

    But  first   we   go back  to the US    where it is clear that  Kamala Harris  was  chosen  for  her sex   and   race,   not  because she was  like  Cleopatra, a sex  symbol,  but  to pacify the  female  sex  in the coming elections in the US. Also the ‘Black  Lives Matter’  issue  made  her choice inevitable  given  the political equation  in the US  on    racism    after  the death  of  George Floyd.To  me  however  her choice  because of her sex is a double edged sword  that can  harm the chances of the Democrats winning   the 2020  presidential  election.  This   is because  Male  Chauvinism  and  suspicion played a  major part in the  defeat  of Hillary  Clinton in the 2016  presidential  elections. It will still  play  a major  role  in this 2020 presidential   elections. American  men have a long memory  and while they watched  the Me  Too movement destroy  male careers on past   sexual    relations, they  will  not view  favorably  the   prospect    of  a female   line of succession to  the  US  Presidency by  Kamala Harris even if  she  is branier   than  Hillary  or  sexually  attractive like Cleopatra. Sexual  equality  has  been at  the root of gay rights and gender  equality   in    history and men   in the US and Europe find it  difficult  or even dangerous to  offer dissenting  opinion either  privately or worse  publicly  on this. But   the election and secret  ballot  voting provide an opportunity or right to air  their  resentment of female domination and aggression and stem  the tide of  the prevailing sexual equality   drive in the Me  Too  sexual  assault  drive. In  addition  Kamala  Harris  was a successful Attorney  General in California  who  favored the Police  Unions  to enforce law and order. In   a political   climate  and    presidential  election  where  the police is under scrutiny  especially with killings of blacks   inevitably,    and     sooner than later, some blacks will  reveal  this type of tacit support  for the police made  for her to survive in office and that will be a sore  skeleton in her cupboard and an  obstacle   in the path of the Democrats to victory in this coming presidential elections.

    In   addition I am  sure Donald  Trump  is going to get nasty with the choice of Kamala Harris  but that  is really his own funeral,  especially  as he  does  not see anything  wrong with racial  policing in the US. He  is on record as calling  Harris nasty on the way  she attacked one of the US Supreme Court  nominees  on sexual  assault  recently. In  this there is division cutting across party  lines on gender on the two  US Supreme Court nominees  that the Republicans have put in office under Trump and again  male voter sexual   fears  will  play a part in the way men  will  vote in a ticket  including Kamala Harris.

    On   the call  for youths  to take power on account  of age in Nigeria one wonders at  the motive  of our former  Head of State on  this. Perhaps  he wants to burnish  his image  with the youths  so  they will  reflect favorably  on his legacy  of leadership .The  truth is that the youths  in Nigeria have not lived up to their  billings. Those in politics especially are so   materialistic, self centered  and opinionated   to  provide  the  sort  of leadership  needed to  overhaul our stinking,  corrupt  political and socio economic and  financial  system. Young  political    Personal   Assistants, Pastors  and  businessmen in Abuja, our state  capitals  are already  awash  with   ill gotten gains,    expensive    exotic   cars  and jeeps  and rich mansions that they  do  not need an Obasanjo  to  prompt  them to leadership   or    succession on account of age. Indeed they  may regard his call as an extravagant distraction  or   unwanted   exposure  calling attention to their  speedy  and  swift    roller  coaster   way  to affluence  and power    on account of their political connection, collusion and collaboration with  their  older patrons and principals  in political  control in our state houses, the legislature and even Abuja.

    Coming  at a time when  the elderly or   those  over 65  are  being sidelined in religious  and social  circles on account  of age,    in this   pandemic, the call  on the youths  to literally  seize   power  may  be sadistic and disrespectful   of the quality of leadership in political  circles in Nigeria  in which Obasanjo  himself  has played  a great albeit  controversial  and debatable  part. He  should  allow history  to take its   course  and not impose  his will   on leadership   now   or after  him .  For  some one who  has  no respect for the dead as his statement on the death of a  relatively young political  opponent has shown recently,  he  should   allow  sleeping dogs   to lie   on youth      leadership. He should allow  our youths to paddle their own canoes  to their fate and not jump  ship on leadership  education and  development  in  Nigeria. Once  again;  From  the fury of this pandemic, Good Lord Deliver  Nigeria.

  • Obiano’s test of wills with monarchs

    Obiano’s test of wills with monarchs

    Sentry

    Trouble looms in Anambra State. It seems some prominent personalities are set to engage Governor Willie Obiano in the political battle of his life. It appears the governor is equally ready for a showdown.

    On Wednesday, he placed a year suspension on 12 traditional rulers who went on a trip to Abuja allegedly without consultation or approval from the government.

    The government argues that in leaving their respective domains without notifying either the state or their respective local governments, the monarchs violated the code of conduct for their office.

    But Sentry gathered the rulers are mainly being punished for visiting Chief Arthur Eze, a prominent leader of the state, as part of the unfolding political war between Obiano and ‘big men’ opposed to his administration.

    Many of these ‘new found opponents’ were before now staunch allies. “It is the politics of 2021 governorship that is causing all these. Not less than six billionaires are interested in succeeding Obiano,” an insider disclosed.

    The suspended Igwes with backing of the governor’s opponents, look set to resist the suspension. “The state will boil. The Igwes will go to court. We will do everything to challenge this anomaly,” the source added.

    For his part, Anambra APC chairman, Chief Basil Ejidike, accuses Obiano of meddling with the traditional institution.

    He said: “As a people of culture, our traditional institutions and rulers are sacrosanct and should be treated as such. The recent imbroglio between the government and some traditional rulers in the state is another ploy to muscle down traditional rulers in Anambra.”

    Observers are waiting to see who backs down between the governor and his opponents over this matter.

  • Malami, Magu and Maina (1)

    Malami, Magu and Maina (1)

    By Segun Ayobolu

    TURNING down the request by the suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, for video recordings of past proceedings of the panel investigating allegations against him by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Abubakar Malami, the Chairman of the panel, Justice Ayo Salami, reportedly said that no one was on trial before his committee, which is only on an investigative, fact finding mission. Of course, one can understand Magu’s request. A number of persons had testified against him before the panel in his absence. The media had massively reported outlandish allegations of wrong doing against him which he vehemently claims were outright fabrications and, to the best of his knowledge, were not issues before the panel.

    Despite the so far untainted reputation of Justice Salami for integrity and character, there are aspects of the panel’s proceedings that are troubling. One is the inexplicable delay in formally presenting Magu with details of the allegations against him to enable him prepare a robust and rigorous defense. Surely, it cannot be that he is expected to appear before the panel literarily blindfolded as it were. That would negate all the rules of fairness and justice. Again, the panel has entertained testimonies against the ex EFCC Czar by persons being prosecuted by the commission under Magu’s watch in his absence. It is obvious that such persons naturally harbor malice against him.

    This column has wondered in the past what fact finding investigation the panel is expected to do again when two previous panels had conducted obviously extensive investigations and definitively and conclusively found Magu guilty of high crime of mind boggling proportions. Surely, those previous investigations must have cost considerable time and money. Why then the need to commit further scarce resources to investigating allegations, which supposedly based on painstaking investigations? So serious did President Muhammadu Buhari consider the allegations that he was moved to suspend Magu from office and several top staff of the commission have been sacked. Were the allegations for which these drastic actions were taken not based on carefully ascertained and confirmed facts? The truth of the matter is that even if only a minuscule of these very serious allegations against Magu are true, he deserves to face the law and be brought to justice. There is no tenable excuse for the delay in doing so.

    While the nation was being entertained by the sordid and salacious revelations at the Ministry of Niger Delta, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), the former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, was released from prison on bail after nine months behind bars. I must confess that I had hardly paid attention to this piece of news until the columnist with Vanguard newspaper, Rotimi Fasan, reflected on this matter in his column on Wednesday.

    In Fasan’s words, “In the noisy euphoria of the Eid el Kabir celebrations or perhaps in the spirit of universal goodwill, as we are such forgiving people, Nigerians probably chose not to pay attention  to the fact that Maina has been let out of jail to return to the cosiness of his home after nine months”. Maina is certainly entitled to bail. His lawyer has enthused that his release will enable him attend to his health and prepare a solid defense. That is as it should be and Magu too deserves no less fairness in his treatment by the Justice Salami panel.

    Of course, the Maina saga is too well known. It is one of the most embarrassing episodes of this political dispensation since 1999 and is a poignant reminder that Nigeria remains “a country of anything is possible” to paraphrase a former Chief of Army Staff. Appointed to head the task force to implement reforms in the country’s pensions’ scheme, Maina allegedly criminally enriched himself to the tune of over N24 billion excluding the acquisition of hundreds of choice property within and outside the country.

    Despite being declared wanted by the EFCC and later charged to court by the agency during the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration, Maina moved in the highest circles in Abuja, drove around in convoys heavily guarded by security agents and was seemingly untouchable by the law. Maina was eventually dismissed from service in 2013 by the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) for absconding from duty. As an unrelenting EFCC was closing in on him, Maina fled the country and was declared wanted.

    If a Jonathan administration that was lax and complacent Jonathan administration had no choice but to excise Maina from the service, what happened under this administration was astounding and stranger than fiction. Lo and behold, the fugitive from the law was, in September 2017, surreptitiously brought back to the country, reinstated into the Federal Civil Service in the Ministry of Interior and even elevated to the post of Acting Director!

    Obviously embarrassed by the public outcry that Maina’s reinstatement created, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered that Maina be sacked again and directed the then Head of Service, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, to probe the circumstances in which he was absorbed back into the Service. And pronto, Maina again disappeared from sight as mysteriously as he had reappeared. So disturbed was the National Assembly that relevant committees of the Senate and House of Representatives were mandated to probe the issue and “recommend strong sanctions against any person or persons who are implicated in the scandal”.

    Interestingly, the name of Magu’s tormentor- in- chief, the AGF, Abubakar Malami, featured prominently in this entirely nauseating affair. An online medium, today.ng, on April 3, 2018, published an exclusive story by Daily Trust newspaper, which read thus: “A House of Representatives Committee has reportedly indicted Abubakar Malami, Attorney General of the Federation, in the reinstatement of Abdulrasheed Maina into the civil service. According to Daily Trust, the report of the 12-man committee said Malami “pressurized all that mattered” to see that Maina was brought back into the civil service…In the report, which Daily Trust said it obtained Malami was listed as the “architect” of Maina’s reinstatement. The lawmakers said apart from meeting with Maina in Dubai despite knowing he had been declared wanted, the AGF unduly interfered (with) and pressured the FCSC regarding Maina’s reinstatement”.

    The lawmakers were clearly unimpressed by Malami’s denial when he appeared before them that he had nothing whatever to do with Maina’s reinstatement. The AGF told the legislators that “The purported letter dated October 5, 2017, made available by the committee couldn’t have genuinely emanated from the Attorney General. The letter dated October, 5, 2017, which was never off on that, I arrive at the irresistible conclusion that Maina’s request for the reinstatement was an ongoing process in the office of the Attorney General as at October 5, 2017. It is against the background of the unfinished process relating to the demand or request for the SA to convince the Attorney General as to how the effect of judgment provided by Maina could have coessential effect on reinstatement which was not developed and presented…The request for reinstatement as submitted to my office by Maina’s lawyers was a work in progress as at October 5, 2015″.

    I do not know what the lawmakers could make of this incomprehensible mumbo jumbo. Even more shocking was the revelation that Malami, the country’s chief law officer had actually met with Maina, a fugitive from the law, in Dubai before his reinstatement! With amazing audacity, Malami admitted this meeting in an interview published by The Interview magazine in 2018. In his words, “The NSA and I met with him (Maina at the reception of the Emirate Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi…So we discussed. The discussion happened to be very meaningful, particularly from the point of national interest”.

    According to the magazine, “Mr. Malami said that Mr. Maina told him that there were 66 accounts that were being used to divert pension funds, adding that the pension syndicate had bought a section of the media. He further said that on returning to Nigeria, investigations revealed that most of the information provided by Mr. Maina was right as it led to the conviction of two individuals and the recovery of looted funds while 12 other cases were pending. Mr. Malami, however, did not reveal the identities of the convicts”.

    Was Malami not bothered at all about the serious allegations against Maina for which he was fleeing from justice? If he was not, Magu was and the EFCC working in concert with the International Police was relentlessly on Maina’s trail notwithstanding that the latter obviously had friends in the highest recesses of power in the country. Operatives of the EFCC and the Department of State Services (DSS) eventually re-arrested Maina and he is currently facing trial in court.

     

     

     

  • Makinde’s controversial mathematics

    Makinde’s controversial mathematics

    Sentry

    Tongues are wagging in Oyo State. Citizens and residents are asking the same questions. They want to know the whole story about the N96 billion which Governor Seyi Makinde claims was stolen from government coffers.

    While some are interested in seeing the said money recovered and spent on infrastructure as promised by the governor, others want an explanation on how Makinde arrived at that figure.

    Those who are peeved at the governor’s allegation say his ‘math’ at arriving at both the claim and the figures is “too assumptive” to be taken serious.

    A statement by Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Taiwo Adisa, last Wednesday quoted the governor as saying: “For the period of eight years they spent in office, they were only preoccupied with how to corner N1bn monthly into their private pockets. They spent 96 months in office – that means they have Oyo State’s N96bn with them. We will retrieve every fund that belongs to Oyo people for the purpose of infrastructure development.”

    Now, the youthful governor may have to do more than just talk, if the feelers Sentry is getting are correct. He will have to break down the figures further and prove his allegations, otherwise, legal luminaries may be called upon to do the remaining.

  • FIRS vs NIPOST: What’s brewing?

    FIRS vs NIPOST: What’s brewing?

    Sentry

    As you may already know, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) are at loggerheads over the discharge of their duties. Chairman of NIPOST, Maimuna Abubakar, in a series of tweets, accused the FIRS of stealing the parastatal’s mandate. But FIRS’ spokesperson, Abdullahi Ahmad, argued the NIPOST boss didn’t tell the truth, claiming that the power to collect stamp duties resides with FIRS. According to him, it is the sole agency of government charged with responsibility of assessing, collecting, and accounting for all tax types including Stamp Duties.

    For many Nigerians the exchanges are needless as the dispute can be resolved by supervising offices within the same government. Observers are of the opinion that what is at stake is beyond stamps and stamp duties. It appears a major expose may be in the offing.

    In fact, some have come out to openly say another round of allegations and counter allegations of corruption and sharp practices is brewing. If you still don’t get the drift, take a second look at this part of the explanation offered by Ahmad on behalf of FIRS.

    “We wish to state categorically that, as an agency which operates within the ambit of the law, the FIRS is determined to not only ensure that all monies collected by NIPOST into its illegally operated Stamp Duties Account are fully remitted into the Federation Account but also make sure that any kobo not accounted for in that account is legally recovered in line with the charge of President Muhammadu Buhari to the recently inaugurated inter-ministerial committee on the recovery of stamp duties from 2016 till date.”

  • *National Assembly, presidency and service chiefs

    *National Assembly, presidency and service chiefs

    Undertow

    Last Tuesday, by a resolution, the senate once again, virtually passed a vote of no confidence in Nigeria’s security chiefs. In late January, they had passed a similar resolution when killings and banditry threatened to overwhelm the country. Now, just as then, presidential spokesmen have poured scorn on the legislative advisory motion to arrest the drift. The service chiefs, the spokesmen declared, still enjoyed the confidence of the president whose prerogative it is to ask them to stay in office or leave. By some estimates, between February and June, nearly four thousand people had been killed as a result of internal crisis and insurgency. Rather than abate, the problem has intensified, leading to the senate resolutions a few days ago and last January.

    In January, the presiding officers of the National Assembly even met the president on the matter, following an animated debate in both chambers that led to the call on the service chiefs to resign or be sacked. This time around, the presiding officers have learnt their lesson, and are unlikely to seek audience with the president on the subject matter. It is enough for them that they have adopted a resolution asking the security chiefs to step aside. It seems also enough for them that the legislators have demonstrated to the electorate that they care about the security nightmare every Nigerian is facing. It must surprise the lawmakers and the public, however, that the presidency does not seem as agitated by the growing insecurity in the country, at least not enough to compel them to sit up or contemplate urgent remedies.

    Nigerians recall in January how the senate president and speaker of the lower chamber talked tough before meeting the president. They had been egged on by the vociferous clamour of their colleagues and countrymen, many of whom were incensed by the seeming lethargy over insecurity, and had consequently voiced their apprehensions and dismay. The meeting was expected to be stormy and decisive. No one till today has volunteered the details of what the presiding officers discussed with the president, but by the time they came out of the meeting, the lips of the lawmakers had begun to quiver, and their initial resolve to coax the president to quit prevaricating over the delicate issue had weakened into conciliatory or even dilatory tones. Speaking to the press after meeting the president, they suggested placidly that the security agencies needed to be equipped and encouraged to do much more than they were doing.

    Nearly six months after, and despite softening down considerably from their initial tough stand, the National Assembly, in this case through a senate resolution, observed with consternation the worsening insecurity in the country. It was, therefore, not hard for them, after a few hours of deliberation, to amend and pass the motion sponsored by Ali Ndume (Senate, APC Borno South). The puzzle agitating many lawmakers and citizens is how to reconciled the presidency’s misconstruction (or feigning ignorance) of the seriousness of the subject matter with how for five years the president has stuck adamantly to a formula that showed initial promise but has now petered out into almost nothingness. Everyone but the president is worried. Perhaps he knows something that others don’t know.

    Just as they did in January after adopting the resolution to ask the service chiefs to step aside, senators have begun to waffle again. They agreed with presidential spokesman’s interpretation of the prerogative of the president to keep or sack the security chiefs, as if that needed any corroboration, and added that they had nothing against the chiefs except to ensure that insecurity was tackled adequately. After six months of quibbling over the same issue, they should finally be able to call a spade a spade. They want the service chiefs replaced, if the word sack is too injurious. Surely, in many evasive words they have been able to communicate that message to the president. If the president has done nothing about it, but prefers occasionally to growl at those who want to teach him his job, the lawmakers should not be fazed at all.

    The greater tragedy is, however, not that the national lawmakers are showing the president a way out of his self-inflicted cul-de-sac, but that the president could not tie the growing insecurity to the declining efficiency of his security chiefs. Even if it is conceded that insurgents and bandits have become more sophisticated, imaginative and brilliant, security chiefs have an obligation to be also flexible and to possess the requisite professional skills to respond subliminally. If they are not able to muster that transcendental response to defeat the enemy, it becomes the responsibility of the president to draw the right conclusions and make the right and sensible call. There is, alas, little to suggest that the response to banditry and insurgency has been adequate and exemplary on the part of the security chiefs, and there is even less to indicate that the presidency has made the right assessment of where the problem lies, not to say muster the political will to proffer the right solution, including but not limited to sacking the security chiefs.

    But it is also possible that the president is in fact absolutely convinced that the problem is neither the competence or assiduity of the security chiefs, nor that given more time the bandits and warmongers could not be overcome. If that is so, the president at least owes the groaning and increasingly restive public an explanation as to how he hopes to deploy and manage his security organs and material assets to defeat the criminals. That explanation, unfortunately, has not been tendered before the public who voted the government into office. But it must be tendered in order to quieten the agitations that are giving the government a bad name. Moreover, this state of what is often referred to as suspended animation should be ended, and the country, particularly the highways and countryside, be returned to normality. So far, all the public see is increasing insecurity that could upend the entire country. All they see is the evil spectre of bandits and insurgents creating a stalemate with the security forces, embarrassing them in battles, and opening the possibility of a worst-case scenario of balkanising and destroying the country.

    There is even a more damaging prospect. Because the controversy over whether the service chiefs should be sacked or retained has dragged on for far too long than is reasonable, it has taken the shine off their sterling contributions to the country’s progress and stability. It is evident that when they were appointed the country was in dire straits, particularly with regards to the insurgency operations in the Northeast.  After swift counterattacks, territory after territory were eventually reclaimed from the insurgents, and a new lease of life was felt in that troubled region. But a few years after what has now become an illusion of victory, the insurgents bounced back under new tactics in which they no longer placed a premium on taking and retaining control over territories, even if they wished to. Worse, because insurgency has lasted for nearly a decade, the inability of the government to tame the problem and curb the proliferation of light weapons have combined to spawn and spur a new kind of insecurity manifesting as banditry cum kidnapping. Both new manifestations are very profitable to the criminals.

    Unable to resign their commissions, and impotent to respond to the criticisms of Nigerians who decry their failings in the face of morphing security challenges, the service chiefs have been left dead in the water, vulnerable and diminished in public esteem. The presidency has no business leaving the situation unresolved for so long. It damages public estimation of the competence of the government, and also damages, almost irretrievably, the image of the service chiefs. Now, everybody is blaming them, even describing them as a spent force. These criticisms are uncharitable, for they do not do justice to the fighting and administrative skills of the service chiefs; but they are deserving. Banditry and insurgency will continue for the foreseeable future in the face of increasing lack of government resolve and initiative to combat the malaise. Correspondingly, the attacks on the image and competence of the service chiefs will also continue stridently and become even more reinforced.

    Replacing the service chiefs have become both inevitable and desirable. It is time the president stopped dithering over the matter. The longer he fails to act, the worse it becomes for the image of both the government and the service chiefs. The presidency is accused of loyalty to the service chiefs above loyalty to the country, with clear insinuations of deferring to marabout sophistry in explaining national and regime security. On the other hand, the service chiefs are accused of abandoning their primary responsibilities to feather their own nests of securing the establishment of public universities in their constituencies, an extrabudgetary misadventure that in no way contributes to the efficiency or financial prudence of the military. The sooner the presidency takes responsibility to resolve the murky situation, the better for everyone. No one wants to hear the drivel about presidential prerogative, since no one is debating the constitutional truism of who has the right to appoint or sack service chiefs anyway. What everyone is waiting for is a decision to restore peace and normality in the country.

    • * First published on July 25, 2020     
  • Democracy, terrorism and education

    Democracy, terrorism and education

    Dayo Sobowale

     

    THERE is no doubt that  these  are hard and dubious times  for  the practice of the ideology  of democracy globally. The  popular  meaning  that  ‘democracy is the government of the people, by  the people and for the people ‘  is being turned into a charade  by   the elitism of politicians and leaders elected into government  and positions of  power  by  the  electorate  that is   equally  getting very  bitter  and resentful  of  the  unfair  but  clear  socio political  situation  now  prevailing globally   in    many democracies.  This is the    plain fact   emerging   that those  who  wield power in many political systems    do not have the interests  of those who elected them at heart.

    The  situation  has been compounded  and aggravated  by  a  global  pandemic that  has led to the closure of global economies and the attendant present and future  economic   crisis  that  portends.   Especially   now     that   schools have been closed and in Nigeria at least the Teachers Union has   refused to go to teach until they    have  the enabling environment  that will  protect   them  and their pupils  from the ravages of the pandemic. Which in a way  is like closing the future  of  any  nation  because education and youth development is the clear  future of   any  developed   and developing   nation including Nigeria.

    What  attracts  our attention  today  however is the alarming information  from the  American  military  African High  Command  that  about 9000  schools  have  been  closed   across    Africa  and    Nigeria,  and   about   3000, in    different     African    nations like  Mali  and Burkina Fasso     by   terrorist     groups     deliberately    while  they  are     replacing  such  closed  schools  with  teachings    and     proclamations  of their  own  terrorist  Ideology.   The  US  African  High Command    named   the terrorist   groups as   Islamic State, Al  Quada , Boko  Haram  and   Al  Shabaab     .This is in addition  to the  past   kidnappings  in Nigeria   of the Chibok   and  Dapchi    school   girls, their sexual  violations and cooption as wives  and allies  of Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria .

    According   to    a   virtual     media  security  briefing this week  Major  General Dagvin  Anderson, Commander of the US Special  Operations Africa lamented what  l have always  written about for some time   now,  that terrorists  are  taking over control  of both the vast NE and NW of  Nigeria and there is need for this to stop. The  American  general  noted in particular  that  terrorists were  bent  on ‘  hijacking the minds  of  the leaders  of tomorrow ‘ in Africa  generally    and Nigeria    in particular. The  Americans  are   therefore lamenting the irresponsibility  of our leaders and politicians  in turning a blind  eye to the  future   education of our youths, our future,   while literally condoning terrorism in our  midst.

    However  the recent  attack  on the convoy of the Borno  State  governor  in Baga and his  indignant   charge of   military   sabotage, which  has been denied  by the military  high command,  illustrates   roundly   our   democratic   lack  of  leadership  accountability on stopping   terrorism militarily. In   denying the accusation of  sabotage by the Borno State  Governor  the military   high   command   said  it has the men , resources and equipment to stop the terrorists and it  has no inferiority   complex     on   achieving  its goal. So   who is going to stop  the  terrorists  in  our    brand  of  democracy that  spends a lot on elections and  the    maintenance  of  our sprawling   expensive   legislative and presidential  apparatus   but  has no sense   of  responsibility    and accountability   in saving the future of our education and   our   youths,  from the   scourge  of   terrorism and the spread  of its   militant  ideology in our land by  Boko Haram, Islamic State and Al  Qada ? Surely  we should not  be told that  in asking this question  we are    like     the   proverbial dog  barking  in vain  at  the moon,  because in doing so  we put  our  stability, peace and democracy  in  jeopardy.

    Let  us  now look  at other travails and vagaries of  democracy  this week that  show  clearly  that  it is suffering not  only domestic violence  from those who  should protect it from abuse and misuse  but also make it  an example of the rule of law  both conceptually and contextually. We  look at  the recently  concluded Nigerian Bar Association elections and the emergence of a non Senior Advocate  of Nigeria  as  president ,  and   the  recent  attempt by the US  president  to post  pone the coming November 2020   US  presidential   election.

    The  NBA  election of a  lawyer  who is not a silk or SAN   and  the consequent charge of rigging by some lawyers is good  evidence  that the so called learned men are  not  immune  to undemocratic  practices. Indeed  this disagreement  on the election  results in the NBA  is to be expected as a  hazard  of the practice   of  election litigation in  Nigeria   at  which  our  SANs  are  so  prolific that they will  take a case even  against  the Almighty if the fee  is right. But  on this particular  occasion crass  elitism and an   effective  repugnance  of this  by the majority made  sure that  a SAN   was  not elected . Indeed  I think  the SANs  who thought  a  SAN  should lead  the NBA forgot  that legal  knowledge  or erudition  is  not  at  all  democratic  and is not a  game  of  numbers as in the last NBA election  or any election for that matter . Legal   brilliance in any case or any court  has nothing to do with  professional honors or even experience.  It  is a personal    genius  or   wisdom   that  comes to play when  any   lawyer  performs a  ‘Daniel  Come To  Judgement ‘  as the young  lady  lawyer  Portia   did  on the shedding of a pound of flesh without  blood  in   Shakespeare’s  famous ‘ Merchant  of  Venice.’ Legal  brilliance and genius should  not be mistaken for legal  honors as  it  does  not follow   or  is  non   sequitur that SANs  are  more  professional and better than non SANs  in legal  practice and that  is what  the  majority  has shown  in electing a non SAN  as President  of the NBA. The election  result   which  is predicated on    majority  indignation against the SANs   has shown  that  ‘ ambition   should be  made of sterner stuff  ‘as  Shakespeare wrote and  as  the  men  in silk  know  so well-   that   ‘ He  who comes to equity  must  come with clean  hands‘

    On  the  issue  of   postponement  of the US presidential  election  in  November suggested by President Donald  Trump,  I think  he just  tried  to fly  a kite that would not  take  off. He  knew  he has  no such  powers and he knew he would be accused of  attempting    to  elongate his tenure which  is undemocratic. For  someone who  has expressed admiration for  the life presidency of China’s  strongman   President Xi  Ping    just   recently,  the American president shot  himself  in the leg  for   inordinate   ambition  for  even  mooting the idea of  election  postponement. Again,  given the fact that the Russian president,  Vladmir Putin ,   who  Trump’s     detractors  and  opponents think helped  him  win in 2016, has just extended    his tenure ,   literally ad infinitum ,  in Russia, Donald  Trump  exposed himself  and his  election to the charge of ‘evil  communication corrupts  good  manners ‘on his well known Putin affinity  and   admiration. Anyway,  while  I do not  pity the American president for his self inflicted political  wounds and democratic gaffes, I admire his brave attempts  to  make  sure  the schools  in  America  are open and are  secured with funds and hygiene observations   because  he believes America should not toy  with its future  on education, in spite  of  the raging pandemic that is  putting  his  reelection  at  great  risk. Once again – From the fury of this raging pandemic, Good  Lord Deliver Nigeria.

     

  • Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang et al

    Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang et al

    Ade Ojeikere

     

    THE European soccer inches towards the closing stages with the UEFA Champions League and Europa League fixtures to mark the end of the longest football season in Europe. No prize for guessing right that the Covid-19 pandemic is the reason for the elongated soccer season. 2019/2020 calendar is one to be forgotten quickly because winners of competitions couldn’t celebrate elaborately, like they would have wished.

    The season was filled with twists and turns, especially towards the end of major leagues where new winners emerged, leaving defending champions such as Manchester City, FC Barcelona gnashing their teeth while teams such as Paris Saint Germain (PSG), Juventus, Bayern Munich, Celtic retained their titles. It was in the Barclays English Premier League that games on the last day decided those to play in the UEFA Champions League’s last two positions and Europa League slots which went to Leicester and Tottenham, where Jose Mourinho showed his managerial savvy by picking up Spurs’ early season flop for a place in Europe next season. Mourinho met Spurs in the 14 the place and took them back to Europe albeit.

    Europa League isn’t Mourinho’s turf. He is the big stage manager with the right set of players. But Mourinho won the second tier European competition’s diadem coaching Manchester United. Pundits are worried over Spurs’ owner’s deep pocket and willingness to spend it aplenty. The Special One loves recruiting top players to prosecute his assignments. Playing at the final of the 2018/2019 UEFA Champions League against Liverpool, opened a new vista for Tottenham and Mourinho looks like the man with the right technical savvy to make history, only if Spurs’ management can splash the cash for quality players.

    The end of the season throws up an array of choices of the best players in the different leagues. The ultimate prize would be to select the best stars in the five continents of the world. The World Footballer of the Year awards have been  cancelled as result of  the Covid-19 pandemic. It is being speculated that FC Barcelona gem Lionel Messi won it with few ardent watchers of the game worried how Lewandoski fell behind Messi. The interesting part of these awards is that the process can’t be faulted. It is easy to track how the voting pattern went.

    Perhaps the biggest spectacle are the mind-boggling figures in the transfer markets for various players with Inter Milan of Italy throwing up what many have described as a fantasy offer of 260 million Euros ($306m) for Messi in a four-year deal, which when broken down would see the famous Barcelona number 10 left with a net amount of €50m per annum. In fact, Inter Milan’s management knows that the Argentine’s contract expires on June 30 2021. Laughable? No. That is how such transfers start leading to the eventual change, though this writer is inclined to tag Inter Milan’s quest for Messi as the wildest fantasy.

    How about this? Inter Milan’s chief executive Giuseppe Marotta dismissed the talk of the Serie A giants signing Lionel Messi as ‘fantasy football’.

    “Messi on the cathedral? It wasn’t my idea,” he told Sky Sports Italia. “It reminds me of football from the past with such situations. We are talking about an icon, a great player, a desire that everyone has.”

    Marotta stressed it would be ‘extraordinary to see such a champion at Inter’, before adding: “It’s fantasy football, a utopian situation.” He continued: “Our football [in Italy] needs a lift. Champions raise the value of the Italian brand and football.

    “If we could consider ours to be a championship in which the great champions come and stay, it would be better. No Italian team is capable of carrying out such an operation unless extraordinary factors arise related to the shareholders, and therefore the actual owners.

    “Let’s not forget that we must respect FFP [Financial Fair Play]. This year, COVID-19 has ensured that there is some flexibility, but afterwards the rules will have to be respected. Suning has already injected many millions into the company. Today investments have to give continuity and be done with a project.”

    Talking about big money transfers at the end of seasons reminds this writer of Arsene Wenger who derided the emergence of Sheiks  in the ownership structure of the English game, warning that they would ruin the business with their senseless splashing of cash. Wenger’s fears was hinged on the likely dearth of new talents from the academies, if clubs start to see the recruitment of big stars to win laurels as the only way to compete favourably.

    Wenger’s fears are profound, given the news on Wednesday that Pep Guardiola has gotten £300million to help improve on Manchester City’s squad, which is already overloaded to the hilt with stars. According to The Athletic, Guardiola is also interested in bringing in a £100m striker, who he has been monitoring in the last 18 months. One wonders what Cityzens’ attack would look like with the striker darting towards the goalpost with Aguero anticipating a through pass to bury the ball into the yawning net.

    It is true Manchester City have not been able to replace their former captain Vincent Kompany. It accounted for the surprise losses against the lower teams last season.  Guardiola’s response before the 2020/2021 season would be the invasion of the market for top players which includes Ferran Torres from Valencia and Bournemouth’s Nathan Ake, who have both joined the Cityzens, Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly and Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix. I pity teams next season, if these lads join Guardiola.

    The leagues are not about the players alone. Coaches play vital roles in making the game the first choice among the spectators in term of sports to embrace. they get sacked when the teams flop. The players get the accolades when the going is rosy. What a travesty. Consequently, when renowned journal adjudged Zinedine Zidane as the best coach, nobody flinched considering the parameters used in arriving at the decision. Facts are sacred and it rang so true with the evaluation of the coaches during this  fading season. Liverpool’s manager Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City king of the dugout placed third.

    The European game had many Africans who distinguished themselves, although three of them were top performers namely Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah, not surprisingly. The threesome shared the top scorer’s award in the 2019/2020 Barclays English Premier League with 22 goals each. But, Sane was adjudged the Africa Footballer of the Year ahead of his Liverpool teammate Salah, dethroning the Egyptian who won the award the previous season.

    Obviously, Liverpool’s superlative performance in Europe the previous season leading to the team lifting the UEFA Champions League trophy, European Super Cup and the World Club Cup turned out to be the clincher for Sane. Salah did well too. Aubameyang was left on the lurch because his English side, Arsenal FC of London tottered making his 22 goals in the EPL meaningless, especially as he comes from Gabon, which isn’t really a strong African nation in football.

    Last season, it was easy to give the award to Sane because Senegal finished as runners-up to the eventual winners Algeria, whereas Egypt were eliminated in the group stages though Egyptians hosted the Africa Cup of Nations. Aubameyang’s Gabon fell early too like the Egyptians. But things have changed for the Gabonese with his goals earning Gunners its 14th English FA Cup, with the darting striker wearing the iconic jersey number 14. Symbolic, isn’t it?

    In fact, Aubameyang scored a brace in both the semi-final and final games, some history for the English FA Cup chroniclers. Will winning the FA Cup be enough basis for crowning Aubameyang the next Africa Footballer of the Year? Why not? Having excelled last season, Aubameyang is easily the best playing African in the European game. What makes Aubameyang worthy of the award is that he has replicated what he did in the Bundesliga playing for Borussia Dortmund.

    Since he joined from Borussia Dortmund in January 2018, Aubameyang has scored 70 goals in 109 games for Arsenal.