The Nation Newspaper

Category: Featured

  • BREAKING: Court orders Immigration to return ex-gov Odili’s seized passport

    BREAKING: Court orders Immigration to return ex-gov Odili’s seized passport

    A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and its Comptroller-General to return the international passport seized from a former Rivers Governor, Peter Odili to him.

    Justice Inyang Ekwo gave the order on Monday in a judgment on a fundamental rights enforcement suit by Odili.

    Read Also: Why we seized ex-Gov Odili’s passport, by Immigration Service

    Justice Ekwo declared the seizure of Odili’s passport as unconstitutional.

    The NIS had, while justifying its action, claimed to have seized the passport upon a request to that effect by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the grounds that Odili was on its watch list.

    Details shortly…

  • Secondus, Anyanwu deepen PDP pre-convention crisis

    Secondus, Anyanwu deepen PDP pre-convention crisis

    • Suspended chair ‘won’t withdraw case’

    • Southeast chieftains reject governors’ candidate for secretary

    There is anxiety in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) over the insistence of suspended National Chairman Uche Secondus to forge ahead with his court.

    Fears are rife in the main opposition party that the court case may thwart preparations for the national convention scheduled for October 30-31.

    The embattled chairman is in court seeking his reinstatement into office, following the ruling of Federal High Court, which affirmed the decision of his ward in River State to suspend him.

    Secondus maintained yesterday that he was under pressure to seek and get justice.

    His insistence on the litigation has created tension in the party, ahead of the national convention.

    Sources feared that Secondus’ triumph at the court may be a setback for the ongoing convention preparation.

    Also, it is feared that if the embattled chairman is reinstated, the convention, which is expected to throw up new party officers, may become null and void.

    Secondus said he was seeking justice to  save the party from “derailment”.

    Read Also; PDP Secretary: Obi, Udenwa, Ihedioha reject ‘imposition’ of Anyanwu as Southeast consensus candidate

    Secondus’ spokesman Ike Abonyi, said in a statement yesterday: ”The attention of the media office of Prince Uche Secondus has been drawn to unsubstantiated story claiming that Prince Uche Secondus is under pressure to withdraw his case against the party from court.

    “ The truth which the said news did not state is that Prince Secondus is not in court against the party, but was dragged to court instead by person bent on hijacking the soul of the party.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the media office wishes to restate that Prince Secondus is really under pressure for justice and would seek it anywhere to save the party from hirelings out to destroy and derail the focus of the party.

    “The party leaders are aware of who went to court against it and knows what to do rather than indulging in mind game.”

    Secondus said only justice can save PDP from brinkmanship.

    He added: “Nothing short of Justice and respect for its servants will save PDP from the hands holding now.

    “For avoidance of doubt the justice Prince Secondus is seeking is as enshrined in the party constitution which is Supreme and states clearly how a National Chairman and any National officer can be sanctioned even where there is a known beach talk less where there is none.”

    Also at the weekend, another crisis erupted in the Southeast with the rejection of the nomination of Senator Sam Anyanwu as consensus candidate for the position of National Secretary.

    Following the zoning of the position to the Southeast, PDP Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) announced the choice of Senator Anyanwu as the consensus candidate. But leaders of the party in the geo-political zone have now said no.

    Few weeks ago, the eight-man panel set up by the PDP National Caucus on conflicting suits in court had decided to meet with River State Governor Nyesom Wike, Secondus and other litigants.

    The panel, headed by ex-Senate President David Mark, set a minimum benchmark for the warring leaders bordering on “immediate withdrawal” of all cases in court.

    The panel was of the opinion that only the withdrawal of all suits in court can enable PDP to hold a hitch-free national convention.

    According to a source, members had identified Wike and Secondus as the arrowheads of the crisis rocking the party.

    The source said: “We have resolved to hold a frank session with Wike and Secondus within the next 48 hours. We will make the observations of party leaders to them and also seek their cooperation on the way out for the party.

    “Our minimum demand is immediate withdrawal of all cases in court in order to restore stability to the party. Without the withdrawal of the cases, PDP National Convention cannot hold on October 31st.

    “The conflicting orders from different courts have not helped the nation’s democracy and the image of PDP as a democratic party.

    “Do not forget that withdrawal of cases was a major mandate given to us by the National Caucus.”

    “Also, we will use the opportunity to seek their opinions on all issues that led to the crisis in order to avert a repeat in the future. By the time we interact with them, there may be some of their backers or foot soldiers we need to reach out to.

    “Once they agree to withdraw cases, we will then look for internal solutions after meeting with the key actors and their supporters.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “This crisis may lead to recommendations from the panel on how to handle such whenever it occurs.  Our report may even guide PDP to amend its constitution on intra-party disputes.”

     

  • Congresses: Why new excos must reconcile party members, by leaders

    Congresses: Why new excos must reconcile party members, by leaders

    By Bisi Oladele, Southwest Bureau Chief, Jide Orintunsin, Nicholas Kalu, Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja, Osagie Otabor, Akure, Rosemary Nwisi, Port Harcourt, Jide Orintunsin, Abuja, Kolade Adeyemi, Jos, Fanen Ihyongo, Kano, Augustine Okezie, Katsina, David Adenuga, Bauchi, AbdulGafar Alabelewe, Kaduna, Damian Duruiheoma, Enugu, Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi, Chris Njoku, Owerri, Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt, Elo Edremoda, Warri, Nsa Gill, Calabar, Sunny Nwankwo, Umuahia, Toba Adedeji, Osogbo

    More reactions on Sunday trailed the congresses organised by All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the weekend. As expected, claims and counter-claims were thrown up by “winners of the congresses” held in the 34 states of the federation.

    The reactions came as the National APC Secretariat ruled that state congresses conducted last Saturday across the country by non-accredited committees were null and void. The party insisted that there were no parallel congresses as reported in the media.

    But, at the close of the nationwide exercise on Saturday, reports from Kwara, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Kano, Bauchi, Abia, Rivers, Cross River, among other states, showed that parallel congresses were conducted depending on the number of political factions.

    Secretary to the party’s Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Senator John James Akpanudoedehe told our correspondent in an interview yesterday that only congresses conducted by accredited Congress panels by the party would be recognised.

    However, despite the parallel exercises held in some of the states, party leaders yesterday urged the newly elected leaders to embark on reconciliation and be magnanimous in victory.

    Gbajabiamila, Wase advise APC executives on more membership, victory for victory

    Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila yesterday urged the Lagos State APC executive, led by Cornelius Ojelabi, to mobilise more members into the party. Also, Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase, advised the newly elected Rufus Bature-led APC executive in Plateau State to redouble efforts in taking the party to victory in the forthcoming elections.

    Gbajabiamila congratulated Ojelabi on his emergence as the Lagos State APC chairman. The Speaker said he was not surprised at the emergence of Ojelabi, a former member of the House and former state commissioner.

    In a statement by his spokesman, Lanre Lasisi, Gbajabiamila described the new Chairman as a good ambassador of the House of Representatives.

    Gbajabiamila said Ojelabi has demonstrated loyalty, determination, dedication and commitment to the growth and development of the party, especially the progressive family, over the years.

    He urged the party executives to embark on sensitisation of the public on obtaining their Permanent Voters Card. He also advised them to build a stronger APC family and leave a good legacy behind.

    Also, Wase, in a statement by his spokesman, Umar Puma, urged the new state executive members to reach out to aggrieved members to ensure that the unity of the party is maintained. According to the statement, Wase, who spoke at the APC state congress in Jos at the weekend, urged the party executives at the grassroots to ensure they strengthen the party structure and carry its supporters along.

     Akeredolu to probe outcome of APC exercise in Ondo

    Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has said an investigation would be conducted into the conduct of last Saturday congress in the state over an alleged constitutional infraction.

    Akeredolu said there were complaints in respect of age as it concerns some offices. He vowed that such complaints would not be overlooked.

    The governor, who spoke through Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, said the complaints would be thoroughly investigated and remedial measures enforced to redress them.

    He thanked members of the party for what he described as an “exemplary and unique show of unity and love” even as he congratulated the newly-elected State Executive Committee led by Ade Adetimehin.

        No congress anywhere else, APC tells Aregbesola’s loyalists

    The Congress Committee from the National Secretariat of APC in Osun State yesterday slammed the parallel congress held by the loyalists of Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola.

    Chairman of Congress Committee Gbenga Elegbeleye, who addressed reporters at APC secretariat, Osogbo yesterday, stressed: “We have done the needful in conducting congress in Osun State. The results are here, we are submitting the report at the national secretariat of the party.

    “I am not aware of any congress elsewhere in Osun State, nobody notified me or any member of this committee. We are seven in number. What we don’t know, we don’t act on it.

    “We came to the state secretariat of the party on Friday to hold a stakeholders meeting and we informed party members that the congress will be held at Osogbo Township Stadium on Saturday. So, if we came here to announce the venue of the congress, we were saddled by the national secretariat to conduct party congress for APC, Osun State.

    “So, if anybody goes to any shrine to do anything, certainly that maybe a funeral or marriage ceremony but not a congress.”

     Why Oyo APC congress collapsed

    The inability of party leaders to harmonise interests and bitterness over pre-congress electoral losses led to the collapse of the state congress of the APC in Oyo State on Saturday, The Nation gathered yesterday.

    Leaders of the party had on Thursday successfully resolved the logjam over the acceptable strategy to produce members of the executive by zoning the positions. Each of the seven zones was asked to produce candidates for specific positions in the state executive.

    But, the zoning injured some of the governorship aspirants and those eyeing National Assembly positions. It also bruised those who already had candidates for the key positions as part of the grand plan for their governorship ambitions. This made most of the aspirants stay away from subsequent meetings called for Friday and Saturday to resolve the pre-congress crisis.

    The party had planned to merely affirm the consensus candidates presented at the congress on Saturday.

    Read Also; APC, PDP elect state excos amid confusion, protests

    In producing candidates from each zone, an election was held by some zones which produced winners and losers. The situation created two sets of aggrieved members: those who lost by reason of zoning and those who lost in the election that produced consensus candidates.

        PDP to fix new date for botched Lagos congress

    The national leadership of the PDP has said a new date will soon be fixed for the party’s botched congress in Lagos State.

    Reacting to Saturday’s botched state congress in the state, the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, told our correspondent on the telephone yesterday that the exercise was cancelled as a result of a security breach.

    Ologbondiyan, however, said the exercise was successful in other states, including Adamawa, where it was held on Saturday.

    Going by a timetable recently released by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP, Ward and State Congresses were scheduled to hold in nine states.

    The states listed for full or partial congresses were: Lagos, Oyo, Adamawa, Kebbi, Borno, Kogi, Osun, Kwara and Ebonyi states.

    A statement to that effect released by the Abuja national secretariat of the PDP stated that the tenure of the Executive Committees in Lagos, Oyo, Adamawa, Kebbi, Borno, Kogi, Osun and Kwara states had expired.

    The party spokesman clarified that there were only seven states outstanding as of Friday, October 15, 2021, adding that the only state outstanding to date is Lagos.

    Dr. Adetokunbo Pearse, a contender for the position of Lagos State PDP Chairman, said the party’s congress was disrupted on Saturday because of a “Unity’’ list.

    The main opposition party’s state congress became inconclusive following a disagreement on the delegates’ list for accreditation.

    But, outgoing PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr. Taofik Gani, in a statement yesterday in Lagos, blamed the aborted congress on gunshots at the congress venue by hoodlums.

     Nabena admonishes elected leaders on reconciliation

    APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary and a party chieftain in Bayelsa State, Yekini Nabena, has asked the newly elected leaders at the state levels to embark on massive reconciliation and be magnanimous in victory. He commended the peaceful conduct of the Congress in most states, especially in Bayelsa State, where a new set of leaders were elected.

    Nabena, in a statement in Abuja, congratulated the newly-elected state executive and called for a genuine reconciliation of the party men and women, who might be aggrieved after the exercise. The Bayelsa-born politician, who said the exercise was conducted in line with the party’s constitution, also urged the new leaders to justify the confidence reposed in them by directing the affairs of the party with fear of God.

     Ex-Plateau SSG Bature elected APC chairman

    A legislator, who represented the people of Barkin Ladi Constituency from 1999 to 2007 and the immediate past Secretary to the Government of Plateau State, Rufus Bature, has emerged as the APC Chairman in the congress held at Crest Hotel Conference Hall Jos, Plateau State. He was elected as a consensus candidate.

    Governor Simon Bako Lalong, however, said the APC family in Plateau State remains a beacon of democracy and the hope for the peace, progress and unity of the state and the nation.

    Lalong, who spoke at the APC State Congress in Jos, where members of the State Executive Committee were elected, said the level of maturity and seamless conduct demonstrated by members showed the strength of the party in the state and the unity of its members.

    The governor urged the state party executives to work in synergy with other party officials at the local government, ward and unit levels, emphasising the need for them to carry along party members and be fair, honest and transparent in all their dealings.

    Bature thanked Lalong for giving the state the needed leadership that has endeared APC to the people and continued to give them hope.  The new state committee has 36 members.

      Ganduje hails Kano APC congress

    Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has hailed the election of Abdullahi Abbas as the new chairman of the APC in the state, who emerged during the state congress on Saturday.

    “Any parallel gathering elsewhere for this similar exercise by some disgruntled politicians in the name of APC should be considered illegal, null and void. The new chairman (Abbas) was voted by delegates who conducted themselves orderly to enable the party follow the normal procedures of the conduct of the congress,” he said.

    Abbas, who was the interim APC chairman, was returned as the new chairman, polling 3,122 votes of the 3,320 delegate votes at the congress.

    The result was announced at the voting venue by the Chief Returning officer, Auwal Abdullahi, who led a seven-man delegation from the National Headquarters of the party, Abuja, to conduct the congress.

    Before the commencement of the exercise, another contestant for the Chairmanship position, Mustapha Sharif, from Dala local government of the state withdrew from the race.

    The Kano State All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus at National Assembly yesterday opened the doors of reconciliation with former governor and senator representing Kano Central, Ibrahim Shekarau, Senator Barau Jibril representing Kano North, Ibrahim Shaaban Sharada and other aggrieved members of the party.

     Masari to Katsina APC exco: shun partisanship

    State Governor Aminu Bello Masari yesterday told the elected APC state executive committee members to shun partisanship and live above board as they set out to pilot the affairs of the party.

    Masari, who spoke at the Muhammad Dikko Stadium, Katsina, after the swearing-in of the committee members, who emerged through a consensus arrangement, attributed the success of the APC congress to the cooperation of the party members.

    The party executives were sworn in by the state Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Ahmed El Marzuk.

    The elected executive committee members include Chairman, Sani Ali Ahmed; Deputy Chairman, Bala Abu Musawa; Secretary, Shittu A. Shittu; Treasurer, Babangida Aliyu, among others.

      Sani backs Kaduna APC congress

    The Senator representing Kaduna Central, Uba Sani, has lent his weight behind the consensus policy of Kaduna State APC as enthroned by Governor Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai, describing it as an exhibition of democratic spirit.

    This is coming against the backdrop of the rumour that the state chapter has been necked deep in crisis with the senator boycotting the congress in protest.

    In a statement, the lawmaker, who also hailed the governor’s ability to successfully complete ward, local government and state congresses, described el-Rufai’s action as proof of his refusal to influence the picking of the ward, local government and state party executives. “He allowed stakeholders at all levels to work out their own arrangements,” he said.

     Enugu APC gets two chairmen

    Two chairmen have emerged from the parallel congresses of the APC held in different locations in Enugu State on Saturday.

    They are a former commissioner in the state, Chief Ugochukwu Agballah and a former state deputy chairman of the party, Comrade Adolphus Ude.

    Agballah emerged from a faction led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama; a former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani and former governor, Sullivan Chime.

    They held their congress at the Destiny Event Centre, Enugu, where the congress committee led by its chairman, Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogbu, supervised it.

    However, Ude triumphed at a faction loyal to the outgoing caretaker chairman of the party, Dr. Ben Nwoye, at the party’s state Secretariat in Enugu.

    Uzodinma, Okorocha differ over Imo APC congress

    Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma on Saturday advised newly elected state executive members of the APC to reconcile aggrieved members and convert new ones.

    Uzodimma gave the charge after the party’s congress in Owerri, on Saturday. The party adopted a consensus voice-voting system to elect its officers.

    The governor praised the 1,700 delegates for their unanimous votes for the officers and for demonstrating that “democracy is working in Imo State”.

    He also commended the organising committee as well as members of the party for their resilience in ensuring a hitch-free exercise.

    But, former Governor Rochas Okorocha yesterday said there was no APC congress in the state as there is a substantive Appeal Court judgment on the Exco of the party.

    Okorocha and other individuals in the opposition camps, including Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, boycotted the state congress on Saturday.

    Reacting, Okorocha, through his media aide, Sam Onwuemeodo, said in addition to the substantive appeal court judgment, “there is an appeal pending in the Supreme Court over the issue”.

    “What are we going to talk about the said congress. Nobody builds something on nothing. There is a substantive appeal court judgment on the Exco of the party in Imo State, it is not in doubt. In Addition, an appeal is pending in the Supreme Court and the case has not been decided and somebody said he is conducting a congress.”

     Amaechi, Abe’s loyalists disagree on congresses

    Transport Minister and former Governor of Rivers State Rotimi Amaechi, at the weekend, said the APC in Rivers would not give its detractors reasons to stop the party from presenting a governorship candidate in 2023.

    Amaechi, who spoke in Port Harcourt, said persons who used the court to stop the APC from participating in the 2019 general election, claimed the party did not conduct valid primaries.

    The minister spoke in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where the APC conducted its state primaries on Saturday.

    It was gathered that the names of Senator Magnus Abe and his loyalists were not on the delegates’ list for the state congress.

    Some prominent loyalists of the senator, whose names were not listed, were former Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Otelemaba Amachree and former Majority Leader of the House, Golden Ben Chioma.

    But, the Abe-led APC faction yesterday announced names of alleged winners of a purported parallel congress they held.

    In a list containing 27 positions, which circulated in Port Harcourt yesterday, the group listed a former state lawmaker, Golden Chioma as chairman, Ineye Jack (secretary) and Paul Osiago (publicity secretary), among others.

    When contacted on a telephone, Chioma confirmed the list as the outcome of a parallel congress they held while the “other group was holding theirs, we were also holding ours somewhere also in Port Harcourt”.

    However, Chairman, Rivers APC Congress Screening Committee delegated from the National Secretariat, Dr. Abubakar Idris, had after the election on Saturday announced Emeka Beke as the winner of the chairmanship position, having won a total of 1,575 votes of the 1,615 accredited delegates for the exercise in the state.

     12 councils vote in Adamawa APC congress

    No fewer than 12 local government areas in Adamawa have so far voted as the All Progressive Congress (APC)  state congress election continued for the second day yesterday.

    The APC congress commenced late on Saturday evening in the state.

    Prof. Umar Katsayal, the Chairman of the election committee, attributed the delay of the election to an intensive and thorough screening of the delegates. Katsayal said the conduct of the election was moving smoothly, peacefully and transparently.

    “The conduct of the election is moving smoothly according to the party’s rules and regulations,” Adamu said.

    Mr. Mohammed Yunusa, a member of the screening committee, also confirmed that so far 12 of the 21 local government areas have voted.

     INEC recognises PDP’s congress at Adamasingba, says Oyo REC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Oyo State said yesterday it recognises only the PDP State Congress conducted on Saturday at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba in Ibadan.

    Mr. Mutiu Agboke, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Ibadan.

    Agboke spoke when he led the management team of the commission on an advocacy visit to Abere Central Mosque, Agbowo, Ibadan.

    Two parallel PDP State Congresses were held on Saturday in Ibadan where two separate executives of the party emerged.

    The faction of Governor Seyi Makinde, held its congress at the mainbow of the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba.

  • Kogi Govt to EFCC: disclose custodian of ‘missing cash’

    Kogi Govt to EFCC: disclose custodian of ‘missing cash’

    Who owns the N19, 333,333,333.36 domiciled in Sterling Bank Plc? It is the cash the bank allegedly promised to transfer to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), being part of a N20 billion bailout fund granted to Kogi State.

    The Governor Yahaya Bello administration yesterday challenged the Economic and Crime Commission (EFCC) to make public report of the investigations on the purported N20 billion bailout funds over which a Lagos High Court reportedly froze the state’s account in August

    It insisted that the alleged cash which the bank had undertaken to the EFCC to return the CBN does not belong to Kogi State.

    Besides, the state said it never entered into any agreement, either with Sterling Bank or the EFCC, to return any bailout funds to the CBN as being portrayed.

    On Friday, the EFCC announced the withdrawal of its suit seeking the forfeiture of the N20 billion bailout funds.

    Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke granted the order of withdrawal sequel to a motion filed and argued by EFCC counsel, Kemi Pinheiro, leading Rotimi Oyedepo.

    But the government kicked against the panic withdrawal by the EFCC, challenging it to make public its investigation of the alleged bailout funds.

    In a statement yesterday by its Commissioner for Information & Communication, Kingsley Fanwo, Kogi State accused the EFCC of concealing some facts and embarking on a face-saving mission with its statement on the withdrawal.

    Read Also: N20b Kogi bailout loan: N19.3b returns to CBN, EFCC withdraws case

    The state also asked Nigerians to ask the EFCC in whose custody it found a part of the bailout fund said to have been dissipated.

    The statement reads: “It is our belief that the unceremonious withdrawal of the suit by the EFCC without informing the court of the facts stated in paragraph 3 above, is a deliberate and face-saving effort by the EFCC which has throughout this episode engaged in very unprofessional and unethical conduct, all in a bid to ‘nail’ at all cost, the Kogi State Government and tarnish its image.”

    The commissioner alleged that the EFCC violated an earlier order of the court, as it failed to report its findings to the court.

    He said: “Rather it unceremoniously withdrew the suit, as it peddled falsehood to the court and the public.

    “It is our belief that the unceremonious withdrawal of the suit by the EFCC without informing the court of the facts stated in paragraph 3 above, is a deliberate and face-saving effort by the EFCC which has throughout this episode engaged in very unprofessional and unethical conduct, all in a bid to ‘nail’ at all cost, the Kogi State Government and tarnish its image.”

    According to him, Kogi citizens and Nigerians at large should ask the EFCC to publish on its official platforms the report of its investigation as to the ownership of the said sum of N19,333,333,333.36 and the whereabouts of the sum of N666,666,666.64, which they alleged had been dissipated.

    The statement further reads: “Nigerians should further ask the EFCC whether a commercial bank could simply undertake to transfer a customer’s money from the customers’ account without the order of any court mandating such transfer or a forfeiture?

    “Nigerians also deserve to know what becomes of the criminal allegation that the EFCC made when it informed the Federal High Court that the sum of N666, 666,666.64 out of the N20, 000,000,000.00 bailout loan had been dissipated and that same was being traced. Nigerians would want to know if the EFCC has found the money, if so, in whose custody was it found? Have charges been preferred against the custodian of the said funds. Or has the EFCC also abandoned that chase? Nigerians deserve to know the truth.

    “We have as of October 2019 fully disbursed our bailout funds and are already religiously repaying the loan to Sterling Bank Plc.”

    Fanwo said how the EFCC could conceal all of these inalienable facts was not only curious, but misleading and unethical.

    “Finally, while we reserve all our legal rights against the EFCC, we reiterate our demand for an unreserved apology from the EFCC as contained in our letter to the Chairman of the EFCC dated 6th September 2021.

    “We hope the EFCC will honour the said demand as a step on the road to redemption as it tries to regain the trust of Nigerians and repair its rapidly deteriorating image.”

    The state government had, as revealed in freshly published documents, sought further clarifications from Sterling Bank to drive home its innocence in the matter.

    The commissioner said: “Buoyed by the strength of our innocence, the Kogi State Government on 4th October, 2021, wrote to Sterling Bank, seeking further clarifications on the contentious account. The Bank did not only reinforce their earlier stance that the account is a Mirror Account; it also made it unequivocally clear that the Kogi State Government has nothing to do with the opening or operation of the account.

    “All of these facts are in their reply received by the State Government on October 5, 2021. How the

    EFCC could conceal all of these inalienable facts is not only curious, but misleading and unethical.”

    The state government renewed its demand from the EFCC for public apology to the state and refrain from face-saving measures that could further damage the image of the nation.

  • #ENDSARS: One year after the mother of all protest

    #ENDSARS: One year after the mother of all protest

    • Very little has changed since the protest – Respondents

    • It’s harder to protect people who want to kill you – Police

    • How protesters burned Wills, Codicils in court archives

    Monday, August 16, 2021, around 5.16 am, Adekunle Razaq stepped out of his home in Obawole, Iju, Lagos, in a rush for an early Chemistry class at the University of Lagos (UNILAG). At 5.52 am, he was “jail bound.”

    A zealous police sergeant had found him “guilty” of a serious crime and pronounced him fit for the cell.

    “He stopped us and requested for my cousin’s vehicle papers. When he discovered that the papers were complete, he glowered at me and requested for my identity card. I didn’t have it with me but I told him I had an electronic copy of it. As I scrolled through my phone to show him, he grabbed it from me and started going through my phone,” said Razaq.

    Rifling through the phone, the policeman soon found supposedly incriminating evidence against the 18-year-old, a website allegedly frequented by Yahoo Boys (internet fraudsters) seeking dates with older, foreign women.

    The policeman seized the phone, ignoring the teenager’s protest that he had no right to pore through his phone or seize it. He labelled Razaq a “notorious Yahoo Boy” and commandeered their vehicle to his police post in Ogudu.

    There, he hurled the teenager out of the car and marched him into the station. “You are in very big trouble. You are going straight to jail!” said the officer.

    Flustered, the second year student of Chemistry at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), pleaded with the policeman, stressing that he wasn’t an internet fraudster. But the latter was impervious to his plea. Determinedly, he commandeered their vehicle and guided it to their station in Ogudu.

    There, the 18-year-old was extorted of the sum of N5, 000, leaving him with a paltry N1, 500 to last him for the month. Things were tight at home and he was only able to scrounge N6,500 as his pocket money. But parting with N5,000 out of the money seemed more reasonable than daring the police officers, whose menacing ardour instilled fear into him. It beat getting locked up in a police cell and having trumped up charges levelled against him, said the 18-year-old.

    Razaq was lucky, no doubt. In 1993, Ayotunde Adesola, a graduate in computer science from the University of Lagos, was picked off the street by operatives of the defunct Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS), and accused of being in a local gang. In an attempt to make him confess, officers poured irritant powder on his face while beating him, the Lagos-based Civil Liberties Organization reported. During this era, General Sani Abacha ruled the country with an iron fist, crushing protests and opposition activists.

     

    Still the same old story

    About one year after hundreds of Nigerians took to the streets to protest misconduct and unfair treatment by the police, officers of the Nigeria Police are still found wanting in their engagement with the public.

    For instance, Monsurat Ojuade, 18, was killed around 1 pm, on Friday, September 11, after bullet fired by a trigger-happy police sergeant, Sgt. Samuel Phillips, hit her in her family compound in Lagos.

    The teenager was hit by a stray bullet, while a team of detectives from the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, wnet to effect the arrest of a robbery suspect in Ijeshatedo area of the State.

    Although, concerted efforts were made to save Ojuade, she died on the way to the hospital.

    While the Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, regretted the incident, describing it as avoidable incident, the culprit, Sgt. Phillips, has since been dismissed from the force and detained for trial.

    “This, it is believed, will serve as a deterrent to others who do not act professionally in the course of their duties,” said police spokesperson, Ajisebutu Adekunle, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).

    But while the police accepted blame for Ojuade’s death, it contended accusations of its complicity in the killing of Jumoke, 25, who was allegedly hit by a stray bullet on Saturday, July 3, while police officers tried to disperse the crowd, during a rally by Yoruba Nation agitators, at the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park at Ojota. She reportedly died on the spot.

    The first of four children while operatives dispatched to the venue reportedly fired gunshots, tear gas canisters and water cannons to disperse the demonstrators and journalists shortly after the rally took off.

    Jumoke was reported to be displaying drinks at her boss’ shop in a compound close to the rally ground when security men chased some agitators into the premises amid shootings.

    She was said to have been hit by a stray bullet, which ripped through her stomach and left a deep hole. Her corpse was later taken away in a police van.

    The police, however, denied responsibility, saying its officers never fired a “single live bullet” at the rally.

    “The said corpse was found wrapped and abandoned at a distance, far from Ojota venue of the rally, behind MRS Filling Station, inward Maryland, on the other side of the venue, with dried blood stains suggesting that the corpse is not fresh…After a close look at the corpse, a wound suspectedly sustained from a sharp object was seen on it,” the police had said in a statement.

     

    Crisis birthed by fake news

    In October, a video that appeared to show an unprovoked killing by a SARS officer went viral, kicking off a wave of social media protests and live demonstrations. Thousands of Nigerians, mostly youths, trooped to the streets to protest years of unfair treatment by the police. The video that triggered the protests was recorded and shared on social media on October 3, 2020, by one Prince Nicholas. Nicholas, while driving from Ughelli to a wedding party in Warri, Delta State, reportedly saw the police toss out a young man from their patrol truck and recorded the incident from a distance.

    “They don kill the boy o. Safe Delta Ughelli. The boy don die o,” he said while chasing after the police vehicle belonging to the Operation Safe Delta unit of the Delta State Police Command.

    Nicholas posted the video on social media, and went on to the wedding party where he later got word that the victim did not die. He deleted the video from his Facebook the next day, on October 4, posting an update that the victim did not die. But he was no longer in control of the narrative.

    When that video was shared on Twitter late on October 3, some falsely twitted that the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) shot the young man to death.

    At the backdrop of widespread outrage against the police, Festus Keyamo, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, sought to clarify the misinformation on October 4, announcing that the young man, Joshua Ambrose, was not dead, and that the SARS unit wasn’t involved. The police claimed the victim jumped out of the vehicle himself, after he had been arrested, but he said that he was pushed by the police officers. Keyamo promised that the conduct of the officers would be investigated, but stressed that the video online misrepresented facts.

    The Ughelli incident triggered pent up dissent against the SARS unit into angst, leading to protests in a couple of states and Abuja. In Ughelli, the catalyst to the unrest, police corporal, Etaga Stanley, was killed at a protest in Ughelli on October 8 for allegedly shooting a young protester in the leg.

    Later that night, the police harassment of peaceful protesters demonstrating overnight at the Lagos House of Assembly fueled more public interest, and the #EndSARS campaign entered its full-blown nationwide phase.

    Among the protesters’ five core demands is to increase police salary so that they are adequately compensated for protecting lives and property of citizens. However, not a few citizens doubted the possibility of that happening amid the COVID-19 crisis and the economic stagnancy it imposed.

    On October 20, at the peak of the protest, soldiers fired on crowds of protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos thus escalating the situation.

     

    ‘Retweet aggressively!’

    While the social media proved useful to the cause of the protesters, it soon became a repository of misinformation and channel for spreading fake news.

    Several random photos of alleged victims of #EndSARS crisis, some of them reportedly murdered, were promptly refuted by the alleged deceased who came out to say they were still alive.

    Spreaders of such misinformaton on Twitter were known to urge other users of the platform and share and ‘Retweet aggressively” such misinformation.

    For instance, a random picture of a man carrying a body wrapped in bloodstained Nigerian flag was circulated as one of the casualties of the Lekki toll gate shooting but it was promptly refuted with explanation that it was actually the still shot of a drama presentation by corp members.

    Another random photo of a young woman crying during a demonstration in Enugu went viral after someone had claimed on Twitter that police killed three of her brothers in one day.

    The woman involved, Ugwu Blessing Ugochukwu, subsequently refuted it as a lie that had nothing to do with her, said Samson Toromade, a journalist. Another false claim that was widely shared on social media at the time said protesters holding the Nigerian flag would be immune from being attacked by security forces.

    This claim was tragically proven to be false when Nigerian Army troops fired on peaceful protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos on October 20, the event that effectively marked the end of the street demonstrations.

    Numerous social media posts also falsely claimed that the United Nations (UN) would be compelled to stage an intervention in Nigeria if the people protested for more than 30 days.

    An analysis by Dubawa, a fact-checking outfit, found that social media users, celebrities, and influencers were the source of 83% of disinformation and misinformation regarding the #EndSARS protests, and Twitter was the major platform used to spread them.

     

    Beginning of the end…

    Since it was created in 1992 to combat armed robbery and other violent crimes, officers of the unit have been accused as serial perpetrators of harassment, extortion, torture, and extra-judicial murder.

    But before it attained notoriety for human rights violation and extrajudicial killings, SARS fought violent crimes including armed robbery and kidnapping. The group evolved over time from a special outfit created by different state commands to address specific violent crime such as armed robbery, kidnapping, communal violence and religious violence. In each state, SARS was under the criminal investigations department of the police command. The Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) had a nationwide mandate and was under the Federal Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Abuja. The unit’s lack of respect for human rights that led to its proscription by Nigeria’s incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.

    At the time of SARS’ creation, armed robbery was rampant in cities like Lagos. In 1992, the Superintendent of Police, Simeon Danladi Midenda, was tasked with forming a unit that would operate independently and surreptitiously in order to ambush robbers. (A separate but similar anti-robbery force had been created in 1984.)

    “The secret behind the successes of the original SARS was its facelessness and its mode of operation,” Midenda told a Lagos-based newspaper, in 2017. “We operated in plain clothes and used plain vehicles that could not be associated with security or any government agency.”

    Midenda says that SARS did have some early successes in capturing armed bandits. But reports of success were soon accompanied by reports of abuse of power.

    In 1993, Ayotunde Adesola, a graduate in computer science from the University of Lagos, was picked off the street by SARS and accused of being in a local gang. In an attempt to make him confess, officers poured irritant powder on his face while beating him, the Lagos-based Civil Liberties Organization reported. During this era, General Sani Abacha ruled the country with an iron fist, crushing protests and opposition activists; he was accused of many violations and abuses by global human rights organizations.

    A pattern soon emerged of SARS extorting civilians or detaining and torturing them into giving confessions.

    In 1995, two university students, Bola Afilaka and Ayodele Adejuyibe, were shot and killed after Afilaka refused to stop his car at a checkpoint. In 1999, a man died in SARS custody after days of interrogation and abuse from officers who accused him of stealing a car, according to the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO). Journalists were frequently targeted, with their homes raided and families harassed in the middle of the night.

    At Abacha’s demise in 1998, SARS grew in aggression and power. Majority of the victims of torture in SARS custody were poor and unable to hire legal representatives.

     

    War against cybercrime

    In the early 2000s, as cybercrime became more common in Nigeria, SARS devoted its energy to finding the perpetrators—but, rather than investigating crimes digitally, SARS officers began profiling people on the street, openly harassing and extorting those they deemed suspicious, especially young men with laptops.

    In December 2014, police authorities launched a human rights manual prohibiting the torture and other ill-treatment of detainees.

    Supported by international donors and civil society groups in Nigeria, the manual was adopted for use in all police training colleges as part of the police reform and to address concerns about police misconduct. However, in practice, SARS had failed to implement the recommendations within the manual. A Complaint Response Unit (CRU) was set up by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in November 2015 to address public complaints against the police. In the first and second quarters of 2016, the CRU reported that they had received 1,960 complaints, including 143 against officers from SARS.

    As organizations continued to speak out, so did Nigeria’s citizens, who began mobilizing on social media. In 2017, #EndSARS began trending, with hundreds of people sharing stories of abuse, and assault. That December, the inspector general of the Nigeria Police Force bowed to the pressure, announcing plans to reorganize the team, prosecute cases of human rights abuses and spearhead a better training program for recruits.

    The same month, President Buhari signed into law the Anti-Torture Act, which criminalized torture with barely any impact. In 2018, Nigerian vice president Yemi Osinbajo demanded that the police restructured SARS once again, ban stop-and-search raids, and require officers to wear uniforms with full identification. A federal human-rights desk was also created to address violations. Following the announcement, police spokesperson Moshood Jimoh told The Nation that the police had “fully complied with the directives for the overhaul and reformation of SARS.”

    But between January 2017 and May 2020, at least 82 cases of torture, ill-treatment and extrajudicial executions by SARS officers were documented by civil society groups.

    Past #EndSARS campaigns had forced authorities to announce reforms, but those reforms didn’t change much. But on October 11, then-Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, announced that SARS would no longer exist as a unit of the Nigeria Police Force. It was a long-overdue victory for the public, but one that was ironically incited by an atrocity that SARS was not directly responsible for.

    Read Also: Tension as #EndSARS anniversary protest gathers momentum

     

    Policing a hostile public

    What’s it like to be a police officer in Nigeria today? Most policemen would tell you that their morale is low. There is no gainsaying the #EndSARS protest and the mayhem triggered in its wake has strained relations between the police and the public. Speaking with The Nation, several officers – who pleaded anonymity – admitted that they have become less passionate about their work.

    “Our morale is very low. Extremely low. Nobody bothered to ask of our own side to the story. Yes, there are bad eggs in the police but don’t we have bad eggs in every profession? We have bad doctors, teachers, engineers, accountants, civil servants, journalists and even our religious men…Every day, we deal with dangerous criminals among the public. But na police be everybody’s problem.  Now, that they have killed policemen. Let them begin to protect themselves,” he said.

    The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu, speaking through the Police Spokesman, Frank Mba, stated that, “available reports show that twenty-two (22) police personnel were extra-judicially killed by some rampaging protesters and scores injured during the protests. Many of the injured personnel are in life threatening conditions at the hospitals.”

    He added that “two hundred and five (205) police stations and formations, including other critical private and public infrastructure, were also damaged by a section of the protesters.

    “Despite these unprovoked attacks, our police officers never resorted to use of unlawful force or shooting at the protesters,” Mba said, even as civil society chide the police for excessive display of aggression and use of force on the #EndSARS protesters.

    Human rights organizations blame the police for escalating the protests soon after it was hijacked by armed thugs, leading to the deaths of at least 70 civilians.

    The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu, speaking through the Police Spokesman, Frank Mba, stated that, “available reports show that twenty-two (22) police personnel were extra-judicially killed by some rampaging protesters and scores injured during the protests. Many of the injured personnel are in life threatening conditions at the hospitals.”

    He added that “two hundred and five (205) police stations and formations, including other critical private and public infrastructure, were also damaged by a section of the protesters.

    “Despite these unprovoked attacks, our police officers never resorted to use of unlawful force or shooting at the protesters,” Mba said, even as civil society chide the police for excessive display of aggression and use of force on the #EndSARS protesters.

     

    Untold casualties of #EndSARS

    In the melee, a lot of property got destroyed. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) disclosed that Nigeria lost more than N700 billion in economic value in 14 days of the #EndSARS protests.

    However, nobody envisaged that the chaos birthed more devastating results. For instance, several Nigerians whose Wills/Codicils were kept in the chambers of the Lagos High Court must deal with the hard truth that their legal documents have been burnt to ashes by the #EndSARS protesters.

    A business magnate, names withheld, recently revealed that the legal documents including Wills/Codicils kept in the chambers of the Lagos High Court were burnt by the #EndSARS protesters. He discovered this when he approached the Lagos High Court in order to update his Will. But rather than do his bidding, the Lagos State Judiciary issued him a letter stating that the legal document specifying how his property should be shared in the event of his demise, was non-existent.

    The letter, signed by a probate at the Igbosere judicial department, stated that the client’s Codicil, lodged with the court on January 8, 2020, had been irretrievably destroyed in the fire incident that engulfed the court.

    At the backdrop of this revelation, the state judiciary has been struggling to contain an imminent blowback over the incident as several clients of the court have been trooping to its premises, horrified about the likely consequences of the incident.

    Many fret and wonder what would have become of their loved ones and property, had they died not knowing that the valuable documents they kept with the court are no longer retrievable.

     

    Police-Public relations: so far, so good

    There is no gainsaying little improvement has manifested in police-public relations since the #EndSARS protests. But what does this mean day to day, about a year after the protests in Lagos and other states altered the way many Nigerians think about the police?

    The answer resonates in beer parlour gossip, station-house interactions and interviews; the nub of it all is summed up in the words of one police sergeant: “It’s harder to police and protect people who want to kill you.”

    His lamentation attains deeper context with the fate of late Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Kazeem Abonde, who was killed on September 23 this year, in Ajao Estate, when he led operatives to implement the Lagos government’s ban of okada riders.

    The motorcycle operators fought back, burnt police vehicles and chased away the personnel. But Abonde was isolated, allowing the attackers the chance to strike. The CSP, whose head was smashed, died in a pool of blood before emergency services reached him.

    Hoodlums burn Aba police station

    The Centre for Social and Economic Rights (CSER) condemned the murder in strong terms and demanded a thorough enquiry.

    Abonde was reportedly preparing to retire from active service in 2022. Having bagged a law degree, he planned to open a law firm after he retired.

    Lagos governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, assured that the perpetrators will face justice, stressing that: “Citizens who take the law into their own hands are promoters of jungle justice, which will not be allowed to take root in our dear Lagos.”

    And for about a week in September, in Agege, Lagos, teen confraternities engaged each other in a gruesome turf battle, destroying property and raping women old enough to be their mother – most especially around the newly built Pen Cinema bridge.

    One such gang member enthused to The Nation that he and his crew have finally understood what it takes to defeat the police. “We will simply rush at them in large numbers. They can’t kill us all. Their bullets can only take down one or two at once before we pounce on them. They know this and they fear us,” said the 16-year-old who admitted that the strategy worked for them during the #EndSARS protests.

    Confrontations are more numerous, and when the blood is up, so is the risk of the very thing everyone is trying to avoid–in the tattered, volatile neighborhoods to which hardly anyone, until recently paid as little attention as possible.

     

    So much distrust in the air

    Although the SARS unit has been disbanded, police officers still conduct random stop and search operations with impunity.

    “I have been stopped twice in a week for spotting tinted hair. The second time, a police corporal called me a Yahoo girl and threatened to take me to the cell where hardened criminals will rape me as my punishment for resisting his attempt to arrest me. All my vehicle documents were intact. But he wanted to arrest me for tinting my hair and displaying a tatoo on my arm. He accused me of indecent exposure. Yeah, it’s still that bad,” said Yetunde Benjamin, an Ipaja, Lagos-based IT specialist.

    Benjamin said the police corporal let her go when she and her friends started recording the whole incident, threatening to post it on social media.

    Since the #EndSARS protest, a lot of policing has been done by citizen journalists aim to curtail the excesses of corrupt law enforcers by policing the police. Many of such videos go viral on the social media.

    But police see the viral videos unlike everyone else. Oftentimes, they watch them differently. “It’s a problem of context. Many of the videos shared hardly reflect the true situation. It has become a bullying tactic by lawless members of the public. It makes our work even more difficult when such videos are posted with inaccurate portrayal of the goings-on at the time they were made,” said a senior officer at the Lagos police command.

    Once they are posted online, most of those videos become vulnerable to misinterpretation by mischief makers wishing to cause bad blood between the citizenry and the police, he said.

    For several police officers, the main beef with the videos that make the rounds on social media, triggering outrage, is that they begin long after the police engage with alleged lawbreakers or “persons of interest.”

    Viewers see the tussle around the arrest but almost never what the cops see: the behavior that summoned them to the scene in the first place and what transpired in the minutes before the crowds gathered and the cell phones came out, many officers argued.

     

    NEC approves compensation to victims

    Following its receipt of reports from judicial panels regarding EndSARS protests set up in 28 States across the country and in the FCT, the National Economic Council (NEC) has approved the payment of compensation to victims.

    This, NEC said, should be done with each State, in collaboration with the Federal Government, establishing the modalities for the settlement of all monetary compensations awarded by the panels.

    Members of the council also advised those planning protests to mark the anniversary of the #ENDSARS to reconsider the option in view of “current security situation across the country and the possibility of such protests being hijacked by armed hoodlums and other opportunistic criminals to cause mayhem at such protest events and venues.”

    NEC also recommended that persons recruited into arms-bearing security agencies should undergo psychiatric evaluations and drug tests before enlistment and periodically after enlistment to ensure that the personnel are psychologically fit to carry live weapons and to identify behavioural tendencies that may require psycho-social interventions.

    The next three days, October 20 to be precise, will be the first anniversary of the Lekki toll gate shooting, and culmination of the protests that broke out on October 3 last year.

    The ugly incident, which marked a sudden turn of the once-peaceful #EndSARS protest, into a nationwide violence that led to the destruction of properties worth millions of Naira, remains a sore point in Nigeria’s recent history.

    At the backdrop of reports of planned protests to mark its anniversary, however, the police have vowed to use every legitimate means to stop the proposed protest even as concerned citizens urge caution in handling the situation lest it degenerates into violence.

     

     

  • INEC rules out postponement of Anambra election

    INEC rules out postponement of Anambra election

    The November 6 governorship election will not be postponed, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared.

    A Director in the Commission, Mr Chima Duruaku, disclosed this in a meeting with media executives at the weekend in Awka

    Duruaku said: “INEC is a creation of the law. We do everything according to the law. The law will guide us in the conduct of the Anambra election.

    ” If the law says we will postpone the election, we shall follow the law. But for now, we are not thinking of postponing the election. The November 6 date is sacrosanct and we are working towards that. No shift.”

    He debunked the claims that the election materials for the Anambra governorship election would come from Imo State

    However, he said all the non-sensitive materials for the November 6 poll were already at the 21 local government areas of Anambra State.

    READ ALSO: INEC: we’re ready for improved election

    He further announced that the sensitive materials would be brought into the state a few days to the poll and stored at the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN in the state.

    The commission said 2, 525, 471 voters were eligible to vote in November 6 poll.

    INEC said the figure comprised the 77,475 new registrants at the Continuous Voter’s Registration exercise that ended on September 5.

    Duruaku said the workshop was to inform Anambra people through the media that the INEC was prepared for the November 6.

    The State Resident Electoral Commissioner REC, Dr Nkwachukwu Orji, appealed to the media to be objective and transparent in the reportage of the election.

    He was represented by the State Director, Voter Education and Publicity, Mr Samuel Njmem

    He said the electoral umpire would be transparent in all its dealings with the media and the electorate during the election.

  • Row over poly graduate shot dead by police in manhunt for IPOB members

    Row over poly graduate shot dead by police in manhunt for IPOB members

    The police in Imo State have a puzzle to unravel over the death of a native of Umudire in Umunakanu Owerre Autonomous Community, Ehime Mbano Local Government Area, Imo State, allegedly shot dead by the Anti-kidnapping Unit of state’s police command.

    Chigozie Nwaiwu, a graduate of Abia State Polytechnic, was allegedly shot dead by the police from the back of his head in public glare near his home penultimate Friday. Chigozie was said to have stopped at the workshop of his friend, Christian Uchenna Chukwu, in Umuezeala Ehime, Mbano Local Government Area, to ask why Uchenna was arrested by the police. Unfortunately, he (Chigozie) did not live to tell the story.

    In a petition titled “Murder of Mr. Nwaiwu Chigozie and Continuous Illegal Detention of Chukwu Christian Uchenna by Anti-kidnapping Unit, Imo State Police Command”, addressed to the Assistant Inspector General of Police(AIG) Zone 9 Umuahia, Abia  State by the solicitors to Nze Eugene Chukwu and Mr. Ifeanyi Nwaiwu, parents of the late Chigozie and detained Uchenna, and signed by the principal partner to the firm, Sir Ebuka Igwe, the solicitors gave an account of how Uchenna was arrested and how Chigozie was killed.

    According to the petition, on October 6, 2021, three detectives from Anti-kidnapping Unit of the Imo State Police Command, driving a red Venza (Toyota) visited the shop of one Christian Uchenna Chukwu in search of one Mr. Chidera who shares the same shop. But the detectives only met Chidera’s wife and dropped their contact details with her, telling her to inform the husband to reach out to them.

    On their way out, according to the petition, the detectives saw Uchenna, who lives in the same premises where Chidera’s shop was located, and arrested him. The late Chigozie, who saw what had happened, approached the policemen to ask why his brother was arrested, but one of the policemen got angry and pulled the trigger, killing him instantly.

    Some residents of the area, who spoke with our correspondent, corroborated the foregoing account. A community leader and Chairman of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Imo State, Comrade Ebem Njoku, said the detectives were about to drive off when Chigozie asked them why they were taking Uchenna away.

    Njoku said: “The three occupants of the car, who wore plain clothes, shot Chigozie dead. The car zoomed off and people gathered to see what had happened. Then suddenly, the same car came back and the onlookers ran helter-skelter.

    Uchenna father and mother

    “The car’s occupants then picked up Chigozie’s lifeless body, put it in the car and zoomed off.” He said the deceased Chigozie was Uchenna’s closest. He said that when he approached the operatives, one of them was probably overtaken by an evil spirit. Hence he shot and killed Chigozie.

    “Only one bullet was fired. There was no exchange of gunshots as claimed by the police,” he said.

    According to Njoku, the families of Chigozie and Uchenna were still brooding over what had happened when on October 8 when the Imo State Police Command issued a statement, claiming that the deceased Chigozie was a member of the outlawed secessionist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

    However, the spokesman of the Imo State Police Command, Michael Abattam, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), insisted that Chigozie was an IPOB member, but he was not the one the police set out to arrest.

    He said: “The police came to arrest Uchenna, who is still in our custody, and not Chigozie Nwaiwu who came with other members of the group to rescue him. They engaged the police in a shootout, but in the process, Chigozie was brought down.”

    Abattam said when the police brought down the deceased, “we ran a check on his profile and discovered in one of his Facebook pages details his membership of IPOB,” he told our correspondent who visited him in his office at the command’s headquarters in Owerri.

    He had earlier alleged that Uchenna played a major role in the killing of police officers and burning of police stations in Imo State and had long been declared wanted by the police. He said he (Uchenna) was arrested following credible information that made the police to storm his shop at Ehime Mbano area to arrest him.

    “While this was on, the already alerted members who came in their numbers to rescue him engaged the police in a gun duel, and in the process, one of them was neutralised while others escaped with bullet wounds,” he stated.

    He added that one locally-made double barrel pistol with two expended catridges, two live cartridges and charms were recovered at the scene. Abattam also said the suspect was undergoing interrogation and had made useful statement to the police.

    Read Also: No sit-at-home on Monday, Tuesday – IPOB

    But the families of both Chigozie and Uchenna are contesting the claims made by the police spokesman, insisting that their sons have nothing to do with IPOB

    Uchenna’s father, Nze Eugene Chukwu, a retiree, said that Chigozie and Uchenna were agemates and childhood friends from the same autonomous community. Speaking amid sobs, he told our correspondent who visited their home that their son would never hurt a fly.

    He said: “Uchenna is my son and the deceased boy, Chigozie, was my brother’s son. My son is a welder whose shop is very close to the place where the policemen came for the arrest of one Chidera, an Almaco dealer.

    father and mother of Chigozie

    “On Wednesday October 6, at about 4pm, my son, Uchenna, was in his shade working when three policemen in plain clothes arrived, saying they were looking for one Chidera who is an Alumaco dealer. They met my son and he referred them to Chidera’s wife who told them that her husband was not in the shop.

    “They asked her to call him on the phone, but the wife said her phone was not with her as she was charging it at a place called Aba branch. So, the policemen dropped their contact details, including a phone number, asking her to tell her husband to call their team leader, one Prince Chikadibia, whenever he came back.

    “Unfortunately, as they were going back to their red Venza car which had no number plate, they held my son by the waist of his trouser and ordered him to enter the car.

    “While they were dragging the boy into the car, the late Chigozie was returning from where he went. He asked them where they were taking Uchenna to, but one of them was angry at his approach and ordered him to leave. As he was about to leave, he shot the boy from the back.

    “The policemen realising that they had killed an innocent boy, sped off from the scene of the crime, leaving him to die. The villagers gathered around the corpse and were crying at the scene where the deceased boy lay in the pool of his blood when the policemen returned after some minutes, shooting sporadically into the air to scare the villagers away, and they took the corpse away with my son, Uchenna.

    “I called the (Uchenna’s) number, but the person that picked it directed us to the Anti-kidnapping Unit.  But when we got there and called the number, it was switched off. I went to their signal room to lodge a complaint that some policemen came to whisk my son away.

    “Shockingly, the following day, the police announced that they had killed an IPOB member and that my son was the leader of the group. I have told them to come to the community to ask people if my son is a member of IPOB. Even the deceased boy was not; he had just finished his youth service in Akwa Ibom State.

    “Our son is one of the finest boys in the community and a bread winner of the family. We are Catholics. He woke up the fateful day to his workshop and the news we heard later was that the police had arrested him.

    “If he were a bad person, we the parents should be able to know about his activities, because we live with him.”

    Uchenna’s mother, Lolo Pepetual Chukwu, speaking amid tears, appealed to the government and the police authorities in particular to release her son, saying he is the bread winner of the family.

    She said: “I am appealing to the government to intervene and release my son to me. My son is the bread winner of the family. People love him because of his honesty. He knows the welding job.

    “We are poor and have nothing. They should release our son and should not allow the boy to die in the cell, because I am going to die if anything happens to him. They should set him free and tell us where the corpse of the deceased is so that we can bury him.”

    The parents of the late Chigozie, Chief Ugochukwu Nwaiwu and Lolo Genieve Nwaiwu, corroborated Nze Chukwu’s statement. Nwaiwu said his deceased son, the fourth in the family, was not a bad person.

    He said: “We were outside when we heard a loud noise. Some people rushed to my house and one person was bold to tell me that the police had shot and killed my son. I was in shock.

    “I asked why they killed him in broad daylight but nobody was able to find an answer. My heart bleeds.

    Tears rolling down her cheeks, Lolo Nwaiwu said: “I am still shocked that my son that was with me in the morning is dead. They killed him because he asked where they were taking Uchenna to. Is that a crime? I want them to give me the dead body of my son.”

    She called on the government and good-spirited Nigerians not to allow such cold murder to go without those who killed her son being prosecuted.

    “I want the government to institute a panel of inquiry into the gruesome killing,” she said.

    An elder brother of the deceased Chigozie, Emmanuel Nwaiwu, a Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, 2 Battalion, Kaduna, said he was shocked when his younger sister told him that his younger brother was shot dead.

    “They sent me the video and I saw how blood was gushing out of his mouth, ears and nose,” he said, vowing never to allow the killers of his brother go free. “I swear to My God, I will never allow this to be swept under the carpet. I will never allow them to go free,” he said.

    Another elder brother, Ifeanyi Nwaiwu, a teacher, said he was there when the incident occurred.

    He said: “My brother was standing by the policemen car. One of them warned him not to come near the car. As my brother was about to go, one of the policemen drew out a gun and shot him at the back of his neck.

    “After they killed my brother and drove off, they returned to collect the piece of paper where they wrote the number of their team leader, Prince Chikadibia. But before they could get there, Chidera’s wife had run away, so they left with corpse of my junior brother, Chigozie.

    “When we got to the Anti-kidnapping Unit, we tried the number but they kept the line busy, and after some minutes, the line went off. The next day, they branded my late brother an IPOB member.

    “I am now convinced with what happened to my junior brother that all the killings in the state that the police tagged IPOB members were not IPOB members; they are innocent Nigerians gruesomely murdered in cold blood.”

    Contacted by our correspondent, the Public Relations Officer of Zone 9, Umuahia, Kingsley Iredibia, a Superintendent of Police, said “it is not all petitions that were endorsed by AIG that I would know. Those assigned to PCP are the ones I know. If it is a celebrated case like this one, I should be able to know the department investigating it and the extent they have gone.

    “I will find out the section handling it from the AIG and get back to you.”

    He had not got back to our correspondent at press time.

  • Gunshots rock venue, 50 vehicles damaged as PDP holds parallel congresses in Oyo

    Gunshots rock venue, 50 vehicles damaged as PDP holds parallel congresses in Oyo

    By Yinka Adeniran, Ibadan; Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin; Onimisi Alao, Yola

    • Opposition party cancels congress in Lagos as thugs invade venue
    • Atiku, Fintiri, others vote as Adamawa PDP elects new EXCO

    Two factional chairmen emerged from parallel congresses of the Oyo State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday with sporadic gunshots rocking one of the venues where no fewer than 50 vehicles belonging to delegates were damaged.

    While Dayo Ogungbenro emerged as the chairman of the Governor Seyi Makinde led faction of the party, a former state lawmaker, Micheal Okunlade, was also elected chairman by aggrieved members of the party.

    The Governor Makinde led congress held at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba, Ibadan while members of the other faction conducted theirs at Jogor Centre, Oke Ado, Ibadan.

    Both congresses were well attended by members loyal to the separate factions amidst heavy security presence.

    The two factions opted for separate congresses due to their inability to reconcile their differences to form an inclusive state executive.

    overnor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, who served as the Chairman, 2021 PDP State Congress Committee for Oyo State, announced the winner at the Adamasingba venue at about 5:10 pm in company with other members of the committee.

    According to Ugwuanyi, 3,250 delegates from the 33 local government areas of the state were accredited to vote at the Adamasingba congress.

    He also declared that 39 executives were voted, with Ogungbenro polling 3,110 votes to emerge the chairman.

    Read Also; Edo: Anxiety over PDP’s unending crisis

    The two congresses held as an affirmation of consensus candidates which had earlier been agreed upon by their members.

    Other executive members in the faction led by Governor Makinde include Senator Hosea Agboola, Segun Ogunwuyi, Chief Bisi Ilaka, Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja and Kunmi Mustapha, among others.

    Makinde, in a brief remark at the Adamasingba event, said the success of the congress is an indication that the same success would be recorded at the forthcoming national convention of the PDP.

    He said the PDP would take over Nigeria come 2023, calling on aggrieved members in the state to come back to the main fold with an assurance that they would be accommodated

    Makinde said: “This is the first time we are coming together for a congress, and the situation is carnival like. I am sensing the same thing for our national convention.

    “They should watch out. PDP will unite Nigeria.

    “The only thing I want to say is that those who said they are aggrieved have eyes and they would have seen what happened here today that PDP belongs to all of us.

    “They must come back and get integrated in the fold and we will accommodate them.”

    The leaders of the aggrieved faction who were at the Jogor Centre include a former House of Representative Leader, Mulikat Akande Adeola; Hon Ajibola Muraina; Alhaji Nureni Akanbi; Alhaji Olopoeyan; Alhaji Gbolarumi; Mr Femi Babalola; Asiwaju Yemi Aderibigbe; Alhaji Gani Dosu; Engr Kayode Popoola; Hon Demola Omotosho; Princess Aderonke Adedoja and Dr Aborode, among others.

    Other state officials elected unopposed at the Jogor centre venue were Hon Matthew Abioye (Deputy Chairman); Mr Abiodun Oyesola (Secretary), Pa Olawuwo (Vice Chairman Oyo South), Akeem Ariola (Financial Secretary), Mogaji Bola Akinyemi (Publicity Secretary) and Asiwaju Adekola Adeoye, who was re-elected as the youth leader of the party.

    In his acceptance speech, Hon Michael Okunlade promised to pacify all members and work towards the development of the party.

    He called on all faithful to support the new executive so as to take over the state’s administration come 2023.

    Okunlade explained that the disagreement of party members with Governor Makinde was for the best interest of the party, assuring that the party would continue to wax stronger and stronger in the state.

    He described himself as one of the victims of the misgivings of governor Makinde.

    Other leaders that emerged at the Makinde led congress include Wasiu Adeleke (Secretary), Wulemot Wunmi (Woman Leader) and Akeem Olatunji (Publicity Secretary).

    In his acceptance speech, Ogungbenro thanked all members for giving him the mandate, promising that there would be no leader or servant during his tenure.

    Highpoints of the Jogor Centre congress was an attack on the delegates by hoodlums, which left no fewer than 50 vehicles belonging to delegates damaged.

    There were also gunshots from the attackers, but the intervention of security operatives on ground stopped the situation from getting out of hand.

    Lagos PDP cancels congress as thugs invade venue

    In Lagos State, the tense atmosphere at the Tafawa Balewa Square venue forced the State Congress Electoral Committee to suspend the congress yesterday.

    The elective congress was already in progress when the State Congress Electoral Committee, Chairman, Engr. Benson Abounu, announced its suspension, following the invasion of the venue by thugs.

    The main gate that led to the venue was said to have been forced open by the invaders following the conclusion of accreditation, fuelling suspicions of a grand plot to rig the election.

    The State Congress Electoral Committee was yet to announce a new date for the congress at press time last night.

    Ex-speaker emerges as PDP chair in Kwara

    A former speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly, Babatunde Mohammed, yesterday emerged as the Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

    Hon. Mohammed emerged chair through a consensus arrangement by the party’s stakeholders.

    The arrangement has Umaru Gunu Mohammed as deputy chairman while Alhaji Abdulrazak Lawal, in-law to former governor of the state, the late Mohammed Alabi Lawal, emerged as party secretary.

    Spokesperson of the party Tunde Ashaolu retains his office.

    Other officers elected under the arrangement include Bisi Fakayode, chairman, Kwara South senatorial zone; Baba Jimoh, chairman, Kwara North senatorial zone and Haliru Dansoho as Youth Leader.

    In his remark at the end of the congress, former Senate President Bukola Saraki said that work has begun in earnest.

    “As soon as you leave this venue, work should begin.

    “The peaceful conduct of this congress has confirmed to me that we are indeed ready to take back power in Kwara,” he said.

    In his acceptance speech, the new chairman of the party in the state said he was not unaware of the task ahead. But he said he was ready to do what was necessary.

    “We will start work from the grassroots and walk our way up.

    “We will use the next local government election to tell Kwara people that we are back,” he said.

    Affirming the arrangement and election of the party executives, Hon John Akwarashi, leading the election committee of the national headquarters of the PDP, said that it was gratifying that the information they heard from Abuja

    “It is clear that this choice of officers is the choice of the majority of the party members,” he said.

    Also affirming, Mallam Shehu Abdulkadir, team leader from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said that their duty was to observe and ascertain if the officers were chosen through laid down procedures.

    “From what we have seen, it is clear that the choice by consensus is the overwhelming choice of the party members,” he said.

    Atiku, Fintiri, others vote as Adamawa PDP elects new EXCO

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri were among the thousands of delegates who voted yesterday as the Adamawa State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elected new executives.

    Although most members of the immediate past Exco of the party returned unopposed to their previous offices, a total of 2,422 delegates cast their votes to officially affirm them to fill the various offices of the new state working committee of the PDP.

    Members of the new executive as declared yesterday included Barrister Ahmed Shehu (Chairman), Mr Stephen Donald (Deputy Chairman), Malam Idris Yahaya (Secretary), and Alhaji Hamza Bello (Organising Secretary).

    The others included Barrister Isyaku Daniel (Legal Adviser), Ahmad Bazube (Treasurer), Dickson Elisha (Financial Secretary), Suzan Gilbade (Women Leader), Modibbo Umar (Auditor), Mohammed Bello  (Publicity Secretary), and Abdullahi Alkali (Youth Leader).

    The PDP state Congress for Adamawa took place at the Ahmadu Ribadu Square in Jimeta, Yola, with Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri overseeing the process as chairman.

    Speaking after announcing winners of the congress, Diri said the congress was exemplarily peaceful and showed the PDP as a party in which unity of purpose thrives.

    “This has been a friendly and carnival-like process; a practical projection of unity in the PDP,” he said.

    He said Nigeria needs such spirit of unity in government at the highest level and can’t wait for the PDP to return to government in Abuja,

    “Nigerians are tired. They are waiting for the PDP,” he declared

  • APC, PDP elect state excos amid confusion, protests

    APC, PDP elect state excos amid confusion, protests

    By Emmanuel Oladesu, ‘Dare Odufowokan, Jide Orintunsin, Justina Asishana, Adekunle Jimoh, Bassey Anthony Damian Duruiheoma, Chris Njoku, Bisi Olaniyi, Nsa Gill, Duku JOEL, AbdulGafar Alabelewe, Timothy Olanrewaju,

    • Consensus reigns in Lagos, Ondo, Borno, Yobe, others
    • Ruling party cancels exercise in Oyo, parallel congresses in Kwara, Osun, Niger, Kano
    • PDP halts Lagos congress, Atiku joins others to pick Adamawa exco

    The state congresses held by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to elect new state executives across the country on Saturday ended in mixed fortunes.

    While members of the parties adopted consensus candidates in some states, there were tales of confusion and serious disagreement in others, culminating in the conduct of parallel congresses.

    For instance, while there were parallel congresses by the APC in Kwara and Osun states, the ruling party decided on outright cancellation of the exercise in Oyo State.

    In Lagos State, the tense atmosphere at the Tafawa Balewa Square venue of the PDP congress after it was invaded by thugs forced the State Congress Electoral Committee to suspend the exercise yesterday.

    But it was a different ball game for APC in Ondo, Borno, Yobe and other states where the party adopted the consensus option in the election of new state executives.

    Despite reports of irregularities, parallel congresses, snatching of materials, and violent attacks in some states, the Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) adjudged the state congress nationwide a huge success.

    The party’s Caretaker Committee Secretary, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, in a telephone interview with The Nation, said the congress was a huge success nationwide.

    “Reports reaching the leadership showed that the exercise was very peaceful, very, orderly and very successful nationwide,” Akpanudoedehe said.

    “It was conducted according to the guidelines. Where we have challenges and hitches, which are not unexpected, it will be looked into. We have a mechanism in place to address such situations.

    “Generally speaking the exercise was about 99 percent successful,” he added.

    The party had on Saturday morning suspended the Oyo State Congress due to alleged forging of documents meant for the exercise and other irregularities.

    Chairman of the Caretaker Committee and Governor of Yobe State, Hon. Mai Mala Buni, gave the order. He has also directed the State Congress Committee to return to Abuja for further directives.

    Parallel congresses were held in some states by groups loyal to the sitting governors and other factions jostling for the soul of the party in their respective states.

    Two APC state chairmen emerge in Niger

    In Niger State, two state chairmen emerged. Hon. Haliru Jikantoro was elected state chairman by the group loyal to the state governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, while Nasiru Yusuf Ubandiya emerged as the chairman of the other faction. The election that produced Ubandiya was held in Tunga after the state government sealed the Abdulsalam Youth Centre which was booked for the event, while the election that produced Jikantoro was held at the Legbo Kutigi Conference Centre, opposite the Government House.

    Governor Sani Bello attended the congress held at Legbo Kutigi Centre where the Chairman of the Congress Committee, Ahmed Suleiman Wambai, said the APC agreed on consensus and read out the names for affirmation.

    He said any other congress is illegal.

    While three Senators and some House of Representatives Members were with the governor at the Legbo Kutigi centre, the absence of the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Ketso, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada, Hon. Umar Bago and other House of Representatives members was noticed.

    Parallel congresses in Kwara

    Two factions of the APC in Kwara State also held parallel congresses and elected different sets of state executives.

    The faction loyal to Governor AbdulRaman Abdulrazaq elected its executive members via affirmation. All the 36 positions up for grab were done through affirmative voice vote.

    Former factional chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, emerged as the new chairman of the party while the immediate past acting chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Sanmari, was elected deputy chairman.

    The state congress committee chairman from Abuja, Prof. Emmanuel Dandaura, announced the result of the election.

    The congress was attended by Governor AbdulRazaq; his deputy Kayode Alabi; House of Assembly Speaker Yakubu Salihu-Danladi; Senators Ibrahim Yahya Oloriegbe; Lola Ashiru; House of Reps members; House of Assembly principal officers and members; cabinet members; APC National Chairmanship hopeful and Turaki Ilorin Mallam Saliu Mustapha; and several other party leaders.

    The Lai Mohammed faction re-elected a former chairman of the party in the state, Hon Bashir Bolarinwa, as its chairman. The faction, which dubbed itself as ‘loyal APC’ returned Hon Bolarinwa and other executive members at a parallel delegate conference at its Secretariat in Ilorin, the state capital through affirmation.

    Both Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, belong to the same faction, but were conspicuously absent at the venue of the event.

    But a member of the Federal Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Shuaib Yaman Abdullahi, member of the House of Representatives representing Ilorin East/South constituency, Hon. Ganiyu Cook Olododo, and Hon. Saheed Popoola of the State House Assembly, among other party stalwarts, were in attendance.

    Parallel congresses in Osun too

    Delegates of the ruling APC in Osun State returned Prince Gboyega Famodun as the Chairman of the party.

    This was as Governor Adegboyega Oyetola charged the party executives in the state to ensure a reconciliatory process that will guarantee the unity and strength that the party is known for.

    Announcing the results of the congress, the Chairman of the National Committee on the Osun State Congress, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye, said the Congress was done in line with the principles and guidelines of the party.

    He appealed to sympathisers who were not allowed into the venue of the congress to demonstrate understanding, explaining that only delegates were allowed in the venue because the event was a congress and not a rally.

    He averred that no other congress of the APC held anywhere else in the state. But there was tension at the Ogo-Oluwa area of the state capital where the loyalists of the Minister for Interior, Rauf Aregbesola held a parallel congress of the party.

    The loyalists under a group within the party named The Osun Progressives (TOP) gathered to endorse the Caretaker Secretary of the party, Hon Rasaq Salinsile as chairman.

    The Nation gathered that operatives of the Nigeria Security Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) shot sporadically into the air to prevent suspected thugs from invading the premises where the congress was holding.

    The incident, which happened around 1pm, caused pandemonium in the areas as party members scampered to safety. It was gathered that scores of party members were injured during the pandemonium.

    Factional crisis worsens in Akwa Ibom APC

    The factional crisis in Akwa Ibom APC worsened as there were more than three parallel State congresses held yesterday.

    Unconfirmed reports said there was a fourth congress led by a chieftain of the party, Bishop Sam Akpan.

    The three factions are those of the Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Senator Godswill Akpabio, the one of Senator Ita Enang and that of National Secretary of the Caretaker Committee, Senator John Akpanudoedehe.

    Akpabio’s faction held its congress at the Kara Event Centre situated along the Goodluck Jonathan Boulevard, Uyo while Akpanudoedehe’s own held at the Sheergrace Events Centre.

    Our correspondent observed that officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and APC Ad hoc Committee members monitored the congress held by Akpanudoedehe’s faction only.

    Akpabio’s group elected Stephen Leo Ntukekpo as state chairman. Austin Ekanem was elected as chairman of of Akpanudoedehe’s faction while Douglass’ People emerged from Senator Ita Enang’s group.

    Akpabio and Ita Enang, it was learnt, had visited the congress venue of Akpanudoedehe’s camp perhaps to seek reconciliation and harmonization of the two congresses.

    Nnamani, Nwoye factions slug it out in Enugu

    Members of the APC loyal to a former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani and former governor, Sullivan Chime in Enugu State, have elected a former commissioner in the state, Chief Ugochukwu Agballah, as the chairman of the party in the state while the faction of the party loyal to the outgoing caretaker chairman in the state, Chief Ben Nwoye, was still holding a parallel congress at the time of filing this report.

    At the Destiny Event Centre, Enugu where the Nnamani-led faction held its congress, supervised by the congress committee led Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogbu, Agballah defeated two other contestants, former military governor of Gombe State, Group Captain Joe Orji and Chief Paul Omeje, to clinch the position.

    The returning officer of the congress, Dr Ijeoma Arodiogbu, had earlier announced the directive of the party’s national leadership for the congress to proceed, despite attempts by some state leaders who sensed Agballah’s impending victory to postpone the congress.

    Keyamo boycotts congress in Delta

    In Delta State, the APC elected a 35-man executive committee amidst a boycott led by Minister of Labour and Productivity (State), Festus Keyamo (SAN).

    The new state executive committee is headed by Omeni Sobotie, ex-PDP political adviser under Delta State ex-Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan.

    Keyamo and other leaders, including Dr. Cairo Ojougboh and Victor Ochei had staged a boycott of the congress.

    Their faction had in a statement rejected the election which it described as “kangaroo” and urged the national leadership of the party “to cancel and declare the congress null and void.”

    The officers were elected unopposed by an affirmation of the accredited delegates from the 25 LGAs through voice votes.

    Chairman of the Delta State APC Congress Committee, Senator Ajibola Bashiru, led other six members of the committee to conduct the congress which was observed by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with heavy presence of security operatives.

    Rivers APC elects Emeka Beke as chairman

    A stalwart of the APC in Rivers State, Emeka Beke, has emerged as the Chairman of the party in the state. Emeka Beke polled 1,570 votes to defeat Chizy Nyemosele, who got five votes.

    The Secretary of Rivers State Congress Committee, Mathew Adoyi-Omale, who announced the results, described the process as fair, credible and just, and commended the officials of INEC and security agencies for their support. However, an opposition camp member, Golden Chioma, who pulled out from the chairmanship race described the exercise and the results as a nullity, citing “faulty process”.

    Chioma said: “We have also complained to the National Secretariat of our great party that there was no ward congress in Rivers and I am of the opinion that you cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand.”

    Abiodun, Amosun factions hold parallel congresses in Ogun

    Parallel congresses were held by the two warring factions of the Ogun State chapter of party to elect new officers for the APC yesterday.

    The mainstream group, loyal to Governor Dapo Abiodun with former governors Segun Osoba and Gbenga Daniel as leaders, held its congress at M.K.O. Abiola Stadium, Kuto, Abeokuta, while the Senator Ibikunle Amosun led faction had its congress at Ake palace ground, Abeokuta.

    The seven-man State Congress Committee led by Chief Wale Ohu supervised the M.K.O Abiola stadium exercise which produced Chief Yemi Sanusi as the State Chairman of the party.

    Ohu, while addressing the gathering, maintained that any congress held outside the MKO Abiola Stadium was nothing but an “exercise in futility.

    He said 1,730 delegates participated in the congress which was conducted in a peaceful atmosphere.

    The congress held by the Amosun faction elected Chief Derin Adebiyi, as the State Chairman of the party.

    Earlier in the day, there was uproar at the Ake venue of the congress as suspected political thugs stormed the venue.

    Many vehicles were destroyed by the thugs before the situation was brought under control by the police and other security agencies on ground.

    Addressing the delegates, Governor Abiodun commended the party members for the peaceful conduct of the congress.

    He urged the 37 elected members to works for the progress of the party in the state. In his acceptance speech, the new State Chairman, Sanusi, urged all members of the party to close ranks in the interest of the party.

    Shekarau, others boycott exercise in Kano

    Former governor and senator representing Kano Central, Ibrahim Shekarau, Senator Barau Jibril representing Kano North and other chieftains of the APC in Kano State did not attend the ruling party’s state congress held at the Indoor Sports Hall of Sani Abacha Stadium yesterday.

    Senator Shekarau, who was Minister of Education from 2014 to 2015 and two-term governor serving from 2003-2011 is having a frosty relationship with Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje over who controls APC delegates in Kano, it was learnt.

    While the state congress was being held, senators Shekarau and Jibril alongside Hon. Ibrahim Shaaban Sharada led some APC members loyal to them to a parallel congress at an uncompleted building in Janguza, Tofa Local Government Area.

    Speaking at the APC state congress at the Indoor Stadium, Governor Ganduje declared that any parallel congress was illegitimate. He stated that “only disgruntled politicians will hold a parallel state congress in Kano State.”

    The immediate-past caretaker chairman of the party, Abdullahi Abbas, was returned unopposed as the new chairman of the party in the state.

    About 3,320 delegates from the 44 local government councils of the state participated in the exercise which was adjudged as peaceful.

    Peaceful congresses

    In Lagos State, the party elected a former federal legislator, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi as chairman. He succeeded Tunde Balogun, who Ojelabi praised for building on the foundation by his predecessors.

    House of Representatives member James Faleke, who nominated the new chairman, described him as a loyal grassroots politician who will promote inclusion in party affairs.

    The nomination was seconded by another federal legislator, Olufemi Adebanjo.

    About 1,615 delegates from the 20 local government areas in the state converged on the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan, for the exercise, which Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu described as fairest, seamless, peaceful and non-violent.

    Other officers elected included former lawmaker Sunmi Odesanya (Secretary), Seye Oladejo (Publicity Secretary), Jumoke Okoya Thomas, (Women Leader), Ayodele Adewale,( Organising Secretary), and Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye (vice chairman, East).

    The state Congress was conducted by the approved State Congress Committee, led by Adebayo Adelabu, who said the 36 aspirants, who were returned unopposed by a voice vote, were thoroughly screened by the panel. INEC officials, led by Sheu Abdulwahab witnessed the congress.

    The party event was orderly. Adelabu said the venue of the event was advertised in the newspaper, adding that during the screening, one chairmanship aspirant was disqualified for failing to meet the requirements set by the party.

    At the congress were Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, Secretary to Government Folasade Jaji, Chief of Staff Tayo Ayinde, Senators Oluremi Tinubu (Central), Solomon Adeola (West) and Tokunbo Abiru (East); Governance Advisory Council (GAC) member Wale Edun, Environment Commissioner Tunji Bello, his Information and Strategy counterpart Gbenga Omotoso, former Deputy Governors Olufemi Pedro, Sarah Susan and Idiat Adebule; and Senator Musiliu Obanikoro.

    Also at the venue were House of Assembly Deputy Speaker Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni, Majority Leader Sanai Agunbiade and many others. Adelabu said the committee ensured objectivity, fairness and justice in going about the assignment.

    Ojudu, Adeyeye boycott Ekiti congress

    Though some aggrieved leaders of the APC in Ekiti state on Saturday boycotted the party’s state congress to elect new party executives, the exercise went peacefully.

    Prominent members such as the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Political matters, Babafemi Ojudu, former Minister of Work, Prince Dayo Adeyeye and Senator Tony Adeniyi, were conspicuously absent the popular Ekiti Parapo Pavilion, the venue of the exercise.

    Those who emerged as the executives in the Congress supervised by 6-member National Congress Committee chaired by Alhaji Yusuf Galambi are Hon. Paul Omotoso, who was returned as State Chairman while Sola Elesin was also retained as Deputy Chairman.

    Others are Segun Dipe (Publicity Secretary), Mrs Asinkun Sunday (Youth Leader), Mrs Mary Afuye (Women Leader), Barrister Wale Adeyeye (Legal Adviser ), Hon Isaac Fayiba (Organising Secretary), Hon Omotayo, Kolawole (Welfare Officer), Odekunle Raphael Bankole(Vice Chairman Central), and Biodun Fatile (Treasurer), among others.

    Imo, Edo elect new APC executives

    Imo State APC elected unopposed a former General Manager of Environmental Transformation Commission (ENTRACO), Hon. MacDonald Ebere, as the Chairman of APC in the state.

    Also elected as Deputy Chairman is Matthew Omegara while Greg Madu was elected Secretary. They all emerged through consensus.

    The Edo State chapter of the party at the Sports Complex of University of Benin (UNIBEN) elected 35-member state executive council led by Col. David Imuse, (rtd.), through consensus.

    The Edo Central Senatorial District’s Vice-Chairman of APC, Chief Francis Inegbeneki, who earlier indicated interest to vie as state chairman of the party and challenge Imuse, stepped down at the eleventh hour.

    Lawrence Okah also returned as Edo Secretary of APC while Tony Adun, a.k.a. Kabaka, emerged as the state’s Youth Leader of the party (APC).

    The state congress was attended by a former National Chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, an ex-governor of Edo State; another former governor of the state, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor; Edo governorship candidate of APC during the September 19 last year’s election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, and his running mate, Alhaji Gani Audu, as well as the representative of Edo North Senatorial District, Senator Francis Alimikhena.

    The Chairman of Edo State Congress Organising Committee, Alhaji Ahmed Tijani Ramalan, in his remarks, disclosed that 1,080 delegates from the state’s 18 local government areas were accredited for the congress, but consensus option was agreed upon by the stakeholders.

    Oshiomhole, in his address, expressed optimism that Imuse’s team would lead the party to victory in 2023 and 2024.

    Caretaker committee members returned elected in Gombe

    Current Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party in Gombe State, Mr. Nitte Amangal, along with some others were returned elected as state executive members after a consensus exercise held on Saturday afternoon at the Pantami Stadium in the state.

    Chairman of the Gombe State APC Congress Committee, Dr. Danjuma Dabo, along with some Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials supervised the election.

    Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya on Saturday urged the newly elected executive members of the APC to lead by example even as he warned that any member with tendencies to betray the party would not be spared. Former governor of the state, Senator Danjuma Goje was absent at the congress.

    Peaceful congresses in Cross River, Yobe, Ondo, Kaduna, Borno, others

    The State Congress of the APC in Cross River held peacefully on Saturday in Calabar with Mr. Alphonsus Eba, the former Director General of the state Due Process and Price Intelligence department, emerging the State Chairman of the party by consensus.

    The Congress which held at the UJ Esuene Stadium had in attendance the State governor Prof. Ben Ayade, his deputy Prof. Ivara Esu, the Minister of State for Power Prince Goddy Agba, Speaker of the State legislature and all the 17 members of the party in the state legislature.

    Chairman of the State Congress Committee Alhaji Abubakar Malami announced that all the 36 positions in the State Executive Committee of the party had been filled through consensus arrangement in line with Article 20 of the APC Constitution. He therefore conducted an affirmation exercise whereby the over 2300 delegates affirmed the election of all the 36 party officers as duly elected.

    The APC in Yobe State on Saturday held a peaceful congress in Damaturu, the State capital.

    Over 1000 delegates gathered at the event centre of the Government House Damaturu, the venue of the congress where the former state treasurer of the party Mohammed Gadaka , was unanimously affirmed as the State Chairman of the party with 35 other officials unopposed.

    The chairman of the State congress, Sen. Osita Izunaso, commended the peaceful nature of the congresses in Yobe State. Governor Buni expressed happiness over the peaceful conduct of the congress.

    Also, members of the ruling party in Ondo State unanimously re-elected Engr. Ade Adetimehin as chairman.

    Chairman of the Ondo APC Congress Committee, Hon Komsol Longap, commended Ondo APC members for setting the pace in the conduct of peaceful congresses.

    Similarly, the APC in Kaduna State adopted the consensus option to elect new state executive committee members to pilot the affairs of the party in the state. Air Commodore Emmanuel Jekada (retd) emerged as the chairman while other former officials were returned unopposed at the congress which was held at the Murtala Square, Kaduna in the state capital. The Congress Committee Chairman, Abubakar Moddibo, explained that the consensus option adopted by the state was in line with the party’s constitution.

    The APC in Borno State also affirmed the return of all its former executive members to lead the party for another four years.

    The Chairman, APC Electoral Committee and ex-Deputy Governor of Taraba State, speaking at the state congress held at El-Kanemi Sports Centre, Maiduguri, said the delegates and chieftains of the party had agreed to return former executive members.

    The returned executives include Hon. Ali Bukar Dalori, Chairman; Hon Kala Maina Monguno, Deputy Chairman; Alhaji Mohammed Kulima, 2nd Deputy Chairman and Hon Ayuba Bello, who returned as the State Secretary.

    Lokpobiri boycotts exercise in Bayelsa, Sylva absent

    APC in Bayelsa State conducted a peaceful state congress on Saturday to elect its 36 State Executive Committee members with Dennis Otiotio, a lawyer, emerging as the chairman of the party.

    But the faction of the party led by former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, boycotted the exercise, citing the subsisting injunction before a Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

    The conduct of the state congress which held at the state party secretariat on Mbiama/Yenagoa Road witnessed the presence of major stakeholders led by the Senator Degi Eremienyo, two members of Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Isreal Sunny-Goli and Hon. Preye Influence Oseke.

    However, Leader of the party in the state and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, was absent from the congress.

    The Chairman of the seven-man State Congress Committee, DCP Yusuf Aurelius Adejo (rtd.), described the conduct of the congress as a family affair and peaceful.

    Emegha is new APC chair in Ebonyi

    In Ebonyi State, the APC peacefully elected substantive new State Executives at the Pa Oruta Ngele Township Stadium, Abakaliki.

    Stanley Okoro Emegha emerged Chairman of APC in the state.

    Chairman of the state APC Congress Committee, Ideato Ideato, said that Okoro scored 1,080 votes out of a total of 1,141 votes cast to defeat Akanu Okoro who garnered 61 votes.

    Suspended congresses

    Meanwhile the national leadership of the APC today announced the suspension of the exercise in Oyo State. Governor of Yobe State and Chairman, Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Hon Mai Mala Buni, issued the directive.

    A statement signed by the party’s National Secretary Senator John James Akpanudoedehe said the suspension became imperative to ensure credibility of the process leading to the emergence of new leaders in Oyo State.

    ”It has become necessary to suspend the ongoing State Congress exercise in Oyo State due to information regarding the forging of documents meant to conduct this exercise.

    “The national chairman has, however, ordered the Oyo State Congress Committee to return to the National Secretariat for further briefing,” the statement said.

    The APC also assured the teaming members of the party of level playing ground and justice at all time.

    Similarly, the wrangling in the Taraba State chapter of the APC has again taken a different dimension as the leadership of the contestants’ forum called for the immediate dissolution of the state caretaker committee.

    The forum has asked the national body to send in a credible person that will conduct the state congress, which could not be held on Saturday due to insecurity.

    While speaking with media practitioners on Saturday in Jalingo through their Chairman, Alhaji Buba Madugu, and the Secretary, Sani Abdullahi Tullu, the forum lamented that the committee charged with the responsibility of screening contestants did not deem it fit to discharge their responsibilities.

    Kicking against what they described as micro congress or consensus, they called on the leadership of the party to provide a level playing ground for all the contestants, hence the need to cease from adopting consensus methods.

  • Federal character principle has destroyed Nigeria – Dokpesi

    Federal character principle has destroyed Nigeria – Dokpesi

    In spite of the predictions made about him early in life that he would not live longer than 35 years, the Chairman Emeritus of DAAR Communications Plc, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, has braved the odds to survive till 70 years. His authorised biography, “The Handkerchief” will be launched to mark his 70th birthday on October 25. But he spoke with a select group of journalists on his travails and triumphs. YUSUF ALLI, MANAGING EDITOR, NORTHERN OPERATION was at the session.

    What have been your highest and lowest moments?

    My lowest moment in recent times has been my prison arrest, trial and the alleged looting of treasury by the past administration, which led to my detention in the EFFC and at Kuje Prison. That has been so remarkable and painful time recently for me. My best moment, the moment of my joy and fulfillment, was December 15, 1993 when RayPower came on air. I thought I crossed the hurdle to do what Nigeria was unprepared to do. But in between, there has been quite a number of high and low moments.

    You were given a chance of living only three years but you are now 70. Will you describe that as a miracle or a divine intervention?

    Thirty-five was the benchmark I was given. The very early years, I was sickly. As I was growing up, I do recall sitting by the side of my father in Ibadan every evening while he used to sit on his relaxing chair with his friends, talking about village stories. Then, I was feeling handicapped because I could not talk from the very beginning of my life. Many people assumed that because I couldn’t talk, I could not also hear. I would normally look and watch things as they happened, and I vividly recall when one of my father’s very close friends came to intervene about my schooling. He condemned every effort to invest in me outright because I was very sickly and a handicapped child of a southerner. That was a very tough stage of my life. I felt highly discriminated against and that I would likely be denied the opportunity to live.

    My mother was very helpless. She was an illiterate and I couldn’t talk. Even if I attempted to write anything, she could not read it. It was a lot of God’s intervention after going through treatments at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. By the time I was getting to about 12 and 13 years, I was terribly sick. My parents were taking me from hospital to herbalists, from churches to prayer houses and looking for an opportunity for me to survive. The doctors gave up on me because they couldn’t identify what the perennial ailment was. I left the Loyola College, Ibadan after the school felt I might die on the campus. I went back to Benin and seeing the struggle of my mother and the determination of my father at that time, I almost believed it was best for me to die. I saw the pains and the amount of struggle they were putting in for me to live.

    They later took me down to Agenebode around 1965 and 1966 when my father had almost given up that I was not going to survive. I went through the bank of River Niger which was full at that time. We went into a small village called Osunene, having travelled two and a half hours on the River Niger. I was not given any injection but they said I had been poisoned and that the people that committed the atrocity were present. Everyone was asked to swear by the river and a lineage was coincidentally involved in it. There and then, I went into a fit and vomited extensively. That became the beginning of my revival.

    Until I got to Poland for school, after doing the medical examinations, they felt I was not going to live beyond age 35. I collected the results and forwarded them to my father who asked me to have faith in God. He was sure that if I went through all those challenges in my early life, that I would live older than his father who was acknowledged to be the oldest person in Agenebode, having died at the age of 120 in 1956. I kept on. When the 35th year was approaching, because of the fear that had been planted in me, I enjoyed my life maximally. Here I am, 70 years old and all those challenges put behind me. I am strong and healthy and I thank Almighty God and all Nigerians who have supported me to get to this age.

    My eldest sister, Mrs. Grace Juliana Agbame (Dokpesi), in the course of my struggles and battles in life made a pledge to God that if I survived all these, they would dedicate me to God’s service. That was how I got into the seminary. My mother had 13 children and I am the only surviving son in the middle. I’m tied by the cord of those ahead and below me. I’m a covenant child.

    On October 25, 1986 when you were 35, what went through your mind?

    I counted it as the day when I was to see the end of my life but I was very joyous that I crossed the Rubicon. I had been a Chief of Staff, I had a PhD, I had even been a multimillionaire. I was happy in life and I said that all these things were happening for a reason. Possibly that 35 years was why God so ordered my life to be smooth sailing as it was up to that time. The next 35 years have even been more joyous.

    Did the 35 years encourage you to be polygamous?

    I’m a Catholic and I will tell you that one of the greatest errors of my life is polygamy. It was not something that I desired; it was a situation that developed in which I had no alternative. A lot of people feel it was wealth that distorted my behaviour. But the truth of the matter is that there were internal family challenges that led to it.  I was married to a Polish woman and I wanted to remain with the Polish woman and I still desire it in my old age. She left Nigeria on reasons that she was the only child of her parents and needed to be with her parents. I went to Poland 16 times to beg her to return. My mother was also anxious that I have children; that I don’t need to enter aeroplane to go and see them. Those were the internal factors that later on affected my life.

    You are a Marine Engineer, business mogul and media entrepreneur. Don’t you think the Nigerian economy should be better than it is today? Why is it difficult to bring the changes?

    The fact is that the then Military Head of State and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Gen. Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, had moved through parts of Europe in search of ideas that could help transform and expand marine business in Nigeria before our paths crossed in Poland. Obasanjo is a non-discriminatory leader who wooed me back from Poland in 1977 to come and serve my fatherland.

    As a consultant to the Polish government on matters relating to Maritime Transportation and Economic Science, I joined the Polish team to hold talks with General Obasanjo when he paid a state visit to Poland in 1977. Chief Obasanjo was surprised that he found himself negotiating with a Polish team which had a black man as a member, who also served as the interpreter.

    When I came back  to Nigeria in December 1976, he was very enthusiastic about building ship yards in Nigeria. He wanted ship yard in Burutu, ship yard in Lagos and one other ship yard in Port Harcourt. He had three ship yards in mind. So, it was a great privilege, a great honour and a great opportunity to come in. Even when I thought it was very difficult for me, the same Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, who got me into the Federal Civil Service, got me posted to the Federal Ministry of Transport under Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife before the Nigerian Ports Authority started claiming ownership that they sent me out to Poland on scholarship.

    He will attest to the fact that I came filled with patriotism and hope that Nigeria will become that prosperous land flowing with milk. When I came back to Nigeria on a visit in 1975, Nigeria was at the same level of development with Poland, Singapore and Taiwan. The ports that I visited during the course of my maritime training, it was always a beauty coming into the Lagos Port. True, we had congestion in 1975 and the country was undergoing rapid development but the First, Second and Third National Development Plans were of men who had visions and meant well for Nigeria. After those, we derailed. There was no basis for measuring the standard of men and quality of people that took over leadership of Nigeria with what we have now.

    I had files of civil servants and ministers who served this country between 1951 and 1975. They got burnt in my house. If you see the brilliance, patriotism and commitment of those people, you will want to serve this country forever. Unfortunately, the federal character clause that came in brought a lot of inexperienced people and mediocre. Excellence was sacrificed. There was no basis anymore for taking people except sentiment. In the Ministry of Transport, the Nigerian Ports Authority wanted to build an ocean terminal in Lagos towards Badagry, and for political reasons, it was decided that we should go to Onne. For political reasons, we decided to build a port in Warri.  Obafemi Awolowo promised a port in Warri to satisfy the Itsekiri people. Shehu Shagari came in 1979 and said we should build a port in Sapele for the Urhobo people. There was no economic reason.

    The ocean terminal in Lagos was projected ahead of when larger vessels would be coming in was abandoned. Rivers State made it possible for Shehu Shagari to win the 1979 election with the last votes that came in. In order to appreciate them, we shelved the idea of the ocean terminal. This is haunting us today. The ports in the Republic of Benin and Togo are better than ours because they are at the deep end of the sea. The basis of decision making became emotional. Today, they are building naval base in Kano. That is how we lost a lot of the visions that were expected.

    How can we address the setbacks?

    It boils down to leadership and followership. I believe that we need to restructure this country effectively. Whether you like or hate the word “restructure”, it is just the foundation and the first thing we must do in moving ahead. We need a leader who believes in restructuring and moving Nigeria from an oil-based economy to a diversified economy. We need a leader who believes in productivity. The same people who closed down steel companies are the same people today running around and borrowing money to build railway lines. Shagari saw this problem way back and went ahead with the development of the Ajaokuta Steel Mill, the Delta Steel mill and the Katsina Steel Mill. By the time Ajaokuta was to start production, the 1983 coup took place. The then Minister of Steel, Alhaji Mamman Makele was described as corrupt and a thief. So, he ran for his life to the UK where he died.

    For that reason, Ajaokuta that required only N500 million ($500 million) as at that time was abandoned. All the steel required for our rail lines which had been planned to connect every village in Nigeria and was to cost N30 billion were to come to Ajaokuta. Shagari at the Federal Executive Council had said we should fund it from the treasury and not borrowing. We were almost finished with Ajaokuta Steel Mill. We would have created employment and generated opportunities for Nigerians. No country will come to develop Nigeria; Nigerians must develop their beloved country.

    The country today is divided along ethnic lines. What do you think is responsible for the divisions?

    Bad leadership. Completely bad leadership. When these issues come on, people run away from the reality. It is not the Fulani man that is bad. Shehu Shagari was a Fulani man who served Nigeria very meritoriously and conscientiously. We have had military heads of state that are northerners but they were visionary and ready to accommodate others. They pulled together the best brains that were available and brought about development. I remember my uncle, Chief John Amodu who was a Mayor in Port Harcourt but from Agenebode. In Lagos and Enugu, northerners contested and won elections. People were living freely in Kano. Growing up, the whole idea was that it is going to be a country flowing with milk and honey. But all of a sudden, things changed. When you have religious extremists, people that exploit the very thin lines of unity, then you will find yourself here.

    I believe that there are still Nigerians who believe in one united Nigeria. Those Nigerians must come out. Most of these younger generation, people that are clamouring for the disintegration of this country, I sympathize with them. But I feel very strongly that they are in that position because of the injustices that are going on in the country.

    There are two different laws operating in different parts of the country. In the Electoral Act in 2015, what was not permissible in the South was allowed in the North. People were able to vote manually in the North. Borno State, in which there was a bomb blast that morning, returned 1.7 million votes while Lagos that is densely populated could hardly get one million votes. You created 44 local government areas in one state but it’s the federating units that fund that. A lot of the states are not economically viable, they cannot sustain themselves. For how long can we sustain the unsustainable states? They need to merge together.

    In simple terms, in the northern states, the job that was done by a permanent secretary is now being done by 19 persons most inefficiently and ineffectively. The same with the Eastern region. It has not helped our development. We must sit down and discuss. If we must move ahead, we must reduce our administrative and consumption cost. We must give attention to development. Over 70 per cent of the money we have in our budget is for recurrent expenditure. We must reverse that to move forward.

    You are a member of the PDP BOT and you are canvassing for Northern presidential candidate. Is it a matter of who wins or doing the right thing?

    In 1998 when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was being setup, we had Nigerians who went through the trauma of military dictatorship and elder statesmen who believed in Nigeria. Some of them were sentenced to ridiculous number of years in prison by those who are occupying the same positions today. I was arrested and tried. My offence was just that I held a political office and yet they are holding political offices today and they are not tried.

    The constitution of the PDP states clearly that there shall be rotation and zoning of both party and political offices. I have remained very consistent in my argument. In 1998, after the meeting of the G34, it was Alhaji Isa Lawal Kaita who moved that Chief Alex Ekwueme should become the next president. Alex Ekwueme said that G34 was still a group and not a political party and that when we transformed into a political party, we can canvass whether he should be or not be the president.

    When the party came in, they decided that because of the injustice that has been done to the South West, the zone should be given the opportunity to produce the president. That was in Jos and AIT transmitted it live even into the United States for the first time. President Bill Clinton called Obasanjo to congratulate. Obasanjo was surprised at the call and Clinton told him that he was watching the news even through a Nigerian channel, AIT.

    Zoning was also recommended in the draft constitutional conference report a former Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha signed in 1995. Each geopolitical zone was to have a term of five years so that in 30 years, we would have ended as one united Nigeriaand then start exploring merit. After deciding on the four-year rotation when Obasanjo came in, there was an expanded party caucus where it was canvassed that the military had done a lot of damage and that the PDP programme cannot be attained within those years. They said it should be extended because the constitution has provided for two terms of eight years.

    Again, the elder statesmen agreed that Obasanjo will do eight years with a proviso that after him, a northerner will also do eight years. I travelled round the country to lobby for a South-South president. Obasanjo agreed and said that Dr. Peter Odili had done very well and that if we go into the convention, he will win overwhelmingly but that the party already had an agreement with the North and begged him to allow the North produce the President. That was how Umaru Musa Yar’Adua became the President.  Yar’Adua did only two and a half years and died. I argued that the North should be allowed to finish up their remaining four years.

    I suggested to Jonathan to allow a Northerner become President and that he can still be the vice president or go on vacation and prepare himself to become the President after the end of the term. Some people especially from the South-South, disagreed on the basis that one cannot be so close to power and relinquish it. Jonathan did another four years and we came to 2015. By then, the PDP had been 16 years in power with 14 years of the South and two years of the North. That is the situation up till today. In 2015 when we fielded Jonathan, the North was clamouring that the South has done 14 years and should allow them to do their four years. That is what plunged the country into this crisis. I am PDP and I am being guided by the constitution of the party which in its preamble said that the unity, stability and growth of this country, we must rotate such that every part of this country (will be carried along).

    What of the eight years of the APC?

    The APC on their own also chose to adopt zoning but first started with a northern candidate, knowing full well the sentiments of the North to stand against a southerner. At the end of that election, my position has been that Jonathan did not lose that election. But in any case, he didn’t contest it even when there was ample evidence to that effect. He has become a statesman but that has not solved the problem of Nigeria. APC has its own rules and constitution. In my own party, I cannot win election because there is so much injustice and unfairness while we are not guided by certain rules and regulations.

    Let us be fair to ourselves and remain one as this party started. In doing so, please let us choose a candidate from the North. In 2019 we field a northern candidate as recommended by the Ike Ekweremadu’s report, but we were out- maneuvered by the other party. I don’t believe Atiku Abubakar  lost that election, but INEC had said so. I am criticising APC for failure, for making Nigeria the world poverty capital and for the level of unemployment. These are not PDP policies. I cannot be dragged into APC policies. It is because the APC policy that has failed to recognise the federal character that has brought us to the condition we are today – everyone is suspicious of one another. We have a security council made up of people from one side of the country and speaking one language.

    I want a Nigeria that recognises our diversity and one that will bring back the principles of PDP, and the person for that is from the North. We the southerners had power and monopolised it. That was what gave birth to APC. Otherwise we would have not been in this mess.

    What has accounted for your latest position on Asiwaju Bola Tinubu? You also eulogised Bola Tinubu a few days ago on AIT? Where do you stand?

    Bola Ahmed Tinubu and I were close friends right from the time he was working with Mobil and before becoming a governor. As young men, we ate and drank together. He became governor and God blessed him. Does that remove the fact that we are close friends? Should I because he belongs to another party say he is my enemy? He is the godfather of my second to last daughter. If there is an interview, would I say I don’t know him? He is a kind man and a philanthropist. He is supportive of the ordinary person that is available. I praise him and wish him the very best in whatever he puts his hands on. It has nothing to do with politics but about the good relationship we share.

    There are rumours that former President Goodluck Jonathan is hobnobbing with the APC. Should he defect to APC?

    He has not told me that. Goodluck Jonathan is a statesman. He sacrificed his ambition and did not fight after the 2015 elections because he wants a united Nigeria. Don’t forget that the person that is now mentioned globally is Olusegun Obasanjo. He is ageing but Jonathan is a younger person and he is able to represent Nigeria, attract friends and investments into Nigeria. That role falls on his shoulders very well and I encourage him to keep that position and be Nigeria’s number one image maker. He is well-suited for that and I wish him the best of luck in achieving that. He is an adult and he takes his own decisions. He is able to assess the circumstances. But I don’t believe he will go to APC.