The Nation Newspaper

Category: Niger Delta

Cineplex…Akwa Ibom’s home of movies, fun

For almost next to nothing, Cineplex in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital provides fun for indigenes of the state and visitors alike. But there are concerns over whether the state will reap the huge investment on the complex, writes Kazeem Ibrahym

They troop in from time to time. With excitement on their faces, they come expecting. Beauty stares them as they get to the complex. Inside too radiates beauty. It smells good too.

This is Cineplex in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital. It is part of the controversial N33billion Ibom Tropicana

Entertainment Centre awarded in September 15, 2008 to Silverbird Showtime Limited.

Governor Godswill Akpabio signed the contract on behalf of the state government while Ben Murray-Bruce, Managing Director of Silverbird signed for the company.

The Cineplex is the cinema aspect of the Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Centre. It was opened to the public on Saturday April 30, 2011, three years after the project was conceived. It has six cinema halls with 250 seating capacity for each of the hall.

Akpabio, while signing the contract, said 15 companies submitted bids for the job and three survived the pre-selection

screening before the contract was awarded to Silverbird Group.

The governor described the Tropicana Entertainment Centre as a major milestone in the efforts of the government to ginger the economy through increased revenue generation and creation of employment,saying the centre would employ 5,000 people.

Apart from the Cineplex, which is already completed and open to the public, the Tropicana Entertainment Centre when completed fully would come with the following facilities: a 250-room five star hotel housed

in a 16-storey edifice; an ultra-modern shopping mall; an international convention centre with a seating capacity of 5, 000

people; games parks (wet and dry); and a monorail. The shopping mall is completed and awaiting inauguration.

Initially, N100 was charged at the cinema. After stabilising the centre and ensuring enough traffic flow of people, the rate was

increased to N250 while the state government is still subsidising the amount.

During one of his visits to the centre, Akpabio explained that the state government was subsidising the centre to encourage the low income earners enjoy one of the best facilities of the state government.

Akpabio admitted that the economy of the state has not developed to the extent where the low income earners would be spending N1, 500 in watching a movie.

For Michael Asuquo, an indigene of the state, he believes the construction of the Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Centre is a monumental waste of public fund.

According to Asuquo, who did not mince words in condemning the state for embarking on such a white elephant project, he said: “there is endemic poverty in the state while the governor embarks on white elephant projects like Ibom Tropicana and e-Library.

“The Tropicana project is a monumental waste of public fund as the state government subsidises the cinema yet not up to 20 people are seen in the cinema hall at a time even though it costs onlyN250 towatch a movie.”

“This is a stark contrast to Silvabird Cinema in Victoria Island and Ikeja where movie watchers are ready to pay N1500 to see a movie.”

But, to Iniobong Kufre, who is a regular visitor at the cinema after the close of work, appreciated the state government for subsidising the cost of seeing a movie .

She said: “The cost is cool with most of us but at Ibom Tropicana they repeat movies a lot and movies stay for too long. We don’t know may be it is because the government is subsidising the rate.”

A member of staff of Silverbird, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, explained that there is more traffic of people to the galleria from Friday to Sunday.

July 4, 2014
‘Why Delta won’t stop demolishing illegal structures’

Delta State Commissioner of Environment Chief Frank Omare was the guest at the maiden edition of the ‘Searchlight on the State of the State’ hosted by the Warri Correspondent Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ). He fielded questions from reporters. BOLAJI OGUNDELE was there.

What alternative places have you made for those displaced (during the demolition exercise) considering the economic hardship and what are you doing about some of your men alleged to be collecting bribes?

We cannot allow people to continue to block government roads because they are poor, because they don’t have the means to have shops. If we do, they will just take over the whole place.

Abroad, we have open market on Sundays, we are not against that. But the culture of continuing to block our roads, we should discourage it in its entirety. Who is a poor man? We have provided markets, let them go into those markets and start trading. As soon as you enter Sapele, there is a market, but half of the market is a dump site, another half is abandoned.

The issue of bribe, he who alleges must prove. Why did you give bribe? It is because you are doing something wrong. If one is giving bribe, we have the social media, you can snap us, as we are taking the bribe. We are going to comb round again before the structures will take over. So, when you are building a block store where we have removed a caravan, you will tell us who gave you that approval. We mustn’t promote sentiment. Government policies and ideologies are always minority ideologies. Let us know that what government has put in place on the long run is the majority ideology.

Delta State Forest Reserve has been encroached by a lot of them. What the ministry wants to do by next week we are using the media to inform that all those forest reserves that have been encroached upon by Deltans and non-Deltans should be evacuated immediately. If you go to Sapele Forest reserve, it is as if government does not own a land there. Why should you be building on government property? If you go to Agbor, Asaba, it’s all over and I cannot fold my hands. I will take the bullets on behalf of you; Deltans and the government of Delta State. Government must make a decision and government must take a position.

Garbage removed from the gutters is beginning to litter the main roads, defacing Warri, what are you going to do about it?

Government is not a charity organisation, you generate waste, you dump them in front of your gutters and you are asked to evacuate them. You should be punished for doing that. Thank God the governor of Delta state has taken the bold step in the area of environment.

Some of the affected victims of the 2012 flooding have complained that they have not been given anything. Is this correct and what is the Delta state government doing in respect of the recent flood predicted for the Niger Delta Region?

We have swamp boogies in the Delta South and Central Area, opening channels to major rivers. That is why after one hour of heavy rainfall, you see that all areas are flowing. That is one serious area the state government has been working on in the past three years.

Secondly, if the money doesn’t get to you as the community leader, you will claim that nothing has happened, it is not charity money. I know the Chairman of the committee, Rtd Justice Tabai and I can vouch that they have done a thorough job and have reported to the government of Delta state. I am sure and I am happy that my governor did not touch the money. He set up a committee and released the money to the committee.

We understand that one particular ethnic group is more affected in the demolition of the royal cemetery. Is that true?

I don’t know which ethnic group. I am an Ijaw man, I am not commissioner of Ijaw ethnic nationality, I am a Commissioner of Delta State and I am given an assignment of the Delta state government, so it can affect any ethnic group or the Nigerian society. The most important question is if what Omare-led team has done is against the law. If it is not then what is the issue? As a matter of government policy, my recommendation after the task work is that those people who have laboured government and used taxpayers’ resources be arrested and prosecuted.

Uvwie market has become a recurring decimal, what are you going to do about it? The Jigbale market still remains and caravans are still around, can Warri be clean?

The attitude of the people has propelled me to do what I should do. You are aware that overtime I have gone to the Uvwie market, if you want a financial quantification of what government has put in to clean that place, it is enough to build this house, and there will be change. But what has happened, the people are adamant. They say, ‘this is our culture, our tradition’, and thank God the paramount ruler of Uvwie and other prominent people of Uvwie have condemned their actions.

There is what we call the helicopter factor; when there is problem and you have tried all you can and it keeps returning. When twenty women, claiming poverty as excuse, will be matched to the Okere High College (Okere Prisons), they will know that government is serious, but that is what government is trying to avoid.

Please, I want you to educate and tell them, so that tomorrow, they won’t ask me, ‘did you tell them’? They should stop embarrassing the people of Uvwie. Uvwie people are clean people. I have been there on market days, when they see me, they behave, but when I’m not there, they come out. Jigbale market and caravans, we are coming.

Is the task force only for demolition of illegal structures and street trading? In some places, we see traders using umbrellas, what are you doing about it?

The position of the task force is not for only illegal structures, we cart away waste. It is sad that people are just wicked to the government. Ask this, the efforts of Omare and his team, are they not enough for people to behave well? We are putting structures in place, even though it is slow.

Some persons have admitted to doing wrong against the environment.

July 4, 2014
Bayelsa SUBEB chief under fire

President Goodluck Jonathan’s kinsmen are seeking a major revamp of his primary school amid a major crisis rocking the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), reports MIKE ODIEWGU and EVELYN OSAGIE

Washington Liverpool or Walton Liverpool, as he is famously called, is in the eye of a big storm. He is the Executive Secretary of the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and Governor Seriake Dickson’s in-law. His major problem is how he is running SUBEB. An adjunct of this problem is his claim that President Gooodluck Jonathan’s alma mater, State School One, in Otuoke is not in a state of disrepair.

State School One is the product of the split of St Stephen’s School, Otuoke, where Dr. Jonathan had his elementary education. At the time he attended the school, it had only primary one to three. After completing Primary Three in the school, Jonathan moved to St. Michael’s Primary School, Oloibiri, to continue his primary education.

When The Nation visited the school, pupils of State School, Otuoke had no chairs. They were learning under unpleasant conditions and trekking a long distance before using a lavatory. Like in the case of the president, some had no shoes on; others wore rubber slippers or ‘shoes now turned slippers’. There were tattered-looking uniforms as there were those who wore neat ones with shoes and/or stockings neatly folded.

The school was founded in 1937 by missionaries. At that time it was beside the Anglican Church where the Town Hall now stands. At a point, the name was changed to All State School under Governor Rufus Ada-George and later to State School. Eventually, it was divided into State School One and State School Two to manage the number of pupils.

The L-shaped and M-shaped buildings (split in the middle by an independent building housing the library) located at the far end of the large compound houses the two schools. The school is next-door neighbour to Jonathan’s Country Villa, containing three magnificent edifices, with Otuaba road separating both structures. And on the Main Road, it is directly opposite the Anglican Church on the Yenagoa/Otuoke Road. And not far away from it is the Federal University Otuoke (FUO).

The bright coloured-yellow-and-green paint coating on the wall of what appears as new buildings, with most windows facing the Main Road intact, are deceptive of the decay that lies within.

The pupils, particularly those in State School One, are learning under very harsh conditions and unpleasant environment. The situation has not changed, though chairs have been supplied but cannot be used because there are no doors on the classrooms to secure them.

Aside Primary Six that has all its doors and windows intact, other classes lack doors with some windows that have fallen off at the back, thus, giving free entry to sunlight and rain. The pupils often suffer the harsh rays penetrating into their room and are drenched, especially when it rains heavily.

In some classes, blackboards are held up by wooden or plastic chairs or tables; the floor and ceiling boards have cracks in them; and there are not enough benches and chairs to go round. For instance, in a class of 60 pupils, the benches and chairs might not be more than 10. As a result, the pupils are forced to receive lectures sitting on dusty bare floors. Pupils were seen struggling for the little available seats. Most of their clothes were worn-out, perhaps due to the wear and tear of the constant washing that comes with sitting on a bare floor.

Significantly, the classrooms are too small for the number of pupils crammed into it. A single class now has more than 50 pupils. In some cases, two classes are merged into one to contain the pupils. The ceiling board and floors are bad. Five to seven pupils force themselves to sit on one seat. The Christ Embassy donated 50 plastic chairs and tables for Primary Six. For security reasons, they are packed after closing hours and locked up somewhere safe.

But Liverpool insists the school is not dilapidated. A source told The Nation earlier in the week that following the reports on the school, the SUBEB boss came visiting last Friday and was really livid with the headteacher.

Said the source: “Last Friday, as a result of your publication, the SUBEB Executive Secretary, Mr Walton Liverpool, came to the school. He was angry over the fact that the school’s Headmaster talked to you, the press, about the present state of the school and various visits and intervention made so far by the government and the SUBEB, saying he had just come from a summon by the governor over the report.

“He threatened to transfer the Headmaster to a faraway school in an Island surrounded by water or even sack him. As of now, we don’t know what will happen to the Headmaster. We are still watching to see the outcome.”

The Nation learnt that a contractor was in the school on Tuesday on the instruction of the Ministry of Education.

“They said the governor gave them the contract to renovate the school; but the community resisted them. The community demanded that beyond renovation, a new school should be built instead because the school is too small for the pupils there now. Even though they may not have enough land, they demanded that the school be turned into a more modern structure of one-storey building.”

Aside his woe as a result of the president’s school, Liverpool has so many other worries. He is at loggerheads with members of the SUBEB board and the House of Assembly.

When Dickson inaugurated SUBEB, he urged it to give the primary schools a major push. The major components of the plan for the primary schools are free tuition, improved infrastructure, free uniforms, sandals and desks for all pupils. SUBEB was also mandated to take and execute critical decisions on teachers’ recruitment, promotion and welfare. These were the components of the emergency declared by the governor on the sector.

But several months down the line, the objectives of the emergency on education are far from being realised. Pupils are still paying some fees charged by their school management. Free uniforms and sandals are nowhere to be found and pupils are embarrassingly sitting on bare floor to receive lectures in some classrooms owing to lack of desks.

In fact, many say the board has failed in its mandates. Liverpool is at the centre of the failed board. He has been the focus of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly since the lawmakers began their probe on problems besetting the educational sector.

Recently, the board members washed their dirty linens on the floor of the House. Aggrieved members took Liverpool to the cleaners. They accused him of acting like a King Kong and placed all crises rocking the board and the sector on his doorsteps.

They said Liverpool is running the board like a sole administrator and using his relationship with the governor to intimidate them. They lamented that the highhandedness of Liverpool had made nonsense of the existence of the board, alleging that the secretary had usurped the functions of the Board Chairman.

According to them, Liverpool was carrying on as if the board never existed and that his actions had negated the good intentions of the emergency declared on education by Dickson.

Members of the board were never part of most of the activities and programmes, including the ongoing employment and promotional interviews executed by the board, they said.

A member of the board, Mr. Austin Dressman, said Liverpool was fond of going against the collective decision of members of the board. After taking some collective decisions, he said Liverpool would turn around to implement his sole decision. He said statutory board meetings were reduced by the secretary as forum to merely inform the members of SUBEB activities.

“The governor declared a state of emergency in education and in his wisdom appointed us to midwife and execute the programme. But the functions of this board are not being carried out,” he said.

Dressman, a who said he had 30 years experience in management, decried the attitude of Liverpool, saying the board members had been rendered redundant. He said the board met formally about three times since its establishment, adding that the meetings always ended up in disagreements and chaos.

The SUBEB secretary was also accused of favoritism and deliberately allocating more slots to his Sagbama Local Government Area than other councils during the recruitment of teachers. When asked by the House to state how the employment was distributed, Liverpool said he could not remember.

Though other members of the board perhaps out of fear were not firm while responding to interrogations from the Speaker of the House, Mr. Kombowei Benson, the Board Chairman, Mrs. Florence William-Ebi, did not waver.

Mrs William-Ebi said she was relegated to the background by Liverpool. Citing an example, she said she knew nothing about the ongoing promotional examination for teachers in the state until she got the information from outsiders.

“Virtually nothing is being done the way the law prescribed our existence. The board is not moving smoothly. Each time we meet, we always argue on issues. Even when we decide on something, another thing is implemented,” she said.

But, Liverpool denied all the allegations and said members of the board were involved in its management. “It is not true that I am a sole administrator of the board. We have been meeting as recommended by the law,” he said.

The rattled SUBEB secretary is further accused of neglecting schools in Ogbia, Jonathan’s local government area.

Liverpool is also at the centre of the controversies surrounding an alleged illegal suspension of about 400 teachers. He was said to have overstepped the decision of the board to relive the teachers of their jobs.

All efforts to get the SUBEB chief to reverse the decision proved abortive, even after the teachers had gone through series of verifications by a team led by Chief B. Isagara. The team was said to have recommended that the teachers should be retained while more teachers of science background be employed. The governor reportedly adopted the recommendations and approved that their salaries should be paid.

The teachers later complained that Liverpool gave counter directive but that after dilly-dallying he issued fresh employment letters to them and placed them under three months probation.

Shortly after that, the SUBEB boss was said to have overruled the fresh employment and immediately went on air to announce the suspension of the teachers who had discharged their functions for three months.

“This is the same reengagement he publicised in the media as having followed due process. It is painful that our arrears of salaries before our employment was suspended have not been paid.

“Even the three months we worked after our reengagement have yet to be paid. So, we are compelled to believe that this whole thing is political,” the teachers said.

The teachers, after waiting in vain to be reinstated, took their matter to court. Niger Delta Report recently gathered that the court had ordered the parties to engage in out-of-court settlement.

But, Liverpool has always defended his actions. He described public primary and secondary schools in Otuoke as the best in the state.

He also reinstated the board’s commitment to supply seats to all the primary and secondary schools across the state. Liverpool, also said that the government was set to distribute over 13,000 seats and desks to schoolchildren across the state.

He also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to providing conducive learning environment to schools in the state.

The SUBEB boss said: “In continuation of the government’s policy to equip schools in the state with necessary infrastructure, the board has concluded plans to provide over 13, 000 seats and desks which will be distributed to all schools soon.

“This is in addition to the ones already provided since the inception of the current administration. The target is before September 2014, every schoolchild in the state will have a comfortable seat to study.”

According to him, about 200 seats and desks were ready for some primary schools around Otuoke and other communities in the area that were devastated by the last floods.

Liverpool also spoke on completed school projects in the state, saying the board had completed 25 community primary schools and Basic Junior Secondary schools.

Some of the completed schools, according to Liverpool, are CPS Biogbolo, Swali, Opolo, Okolobiri, Ogbia- CPS Elebele, Otueke, Ogbia Town, Ebedebiri, Okunbiri, Sagabama town, CSP Ekeremo and BJSS (Basic Junior Secondary School.

How long he withstands the storm remains to be seen. But what is not in doubt he has murdered sleep and sleeping easy should not be a luxury for him.

July 4, 2014
Ex-militant leaders hail Fed Govt

Former Niger Delta Militant Leaders have commended the Federal Government over the just concluded Non-violence and Entrepreneurship Training for Phase 2 ex-militant Generals in the Niger Delta struggle, which took place in Calabar, Cross River State.

Speaking with reporters at the conclusion of the training programme, the National President, Phase 2 Ex-militant Leaders, Gen. Aso Tambo, aka General Kpala, stated that the training was a huge success as ex-fighters were equipped with entrepreneurship skills, non-violence and conflict resolution know-how, as well as self-reliance and on how to be employers of labour.

Gen. Tambo noted that ex-agitators came from within and outside the country to attend the training programme and thanked President Goodluck Jonathan and Mr. Kingsley Kuku for the brilliant ideas inculcated in the psyche of former fighters.

He noted that the quest of Niger Delta agitators was that the region be developed like other places such as Lagos and Abuja with basic necessities of life put in place, stressing the successful training of former militants on vocational trainings should also go hand-in-hand with their integration into various endevours in the workforce.

“My expectation is that the ex-militants will have a standing MoU with the Federal government that our need is put in place and when that is done, we are okay, we are not fighting for a divided Nigeria. But our quest and our fight is that let Niger Delta be fully developed like Abuja and Lagos with basic necessities of life”, the ex-militant Leader said.

Also speaking, Gen. Kingsley Muturu (Delta State Chairman), Gen. Collins Arigo (National Vice-Chairman), Gen. Stephen Ebisinte (Bayelsa State Chairman) and Gen. Olotu Wanemi, they jointly warned Nigerians who are fighting for division to steer clear from the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme, NDDC and Niger Delta Ministry.

The group vehemently lampooned the statements made by the northern delegates at the National Conference on their aforementioned Federal Government bodies, warning them not to play politics with the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme as such could result unwarranted consequences in the polity.

They noted with one voice that the Niger Delta struggle was clearly for fair share of their God-given resources which was supported by the world over, unlike the current carnage carried out by Boko Haram in killing and maiming innocent citizens in the country.

They emphasized their unflinching resolve to ensure full support for President Jonathan in his efforts to bring transformation to the system, even if forces were bent on discrediting his good agenda for Nigeria and her people.

July 4, 2014
Brothers in competition

Calabar has an advantage. Behind it is a rich history which brought with it development and global recognition.

But, Uyo has cash. In abundance. Some of this cash used to belong to Calabar until the law stopped it. Yet, long ago, Uyo was nothing. It was just one of the towns in the old Cross River State. Calabar was the state capital. Before it became the capital of the old Cross River, it was Nigeria’s capital. That was before independence.

The competition between Uyo and Calabar began when Uyo became the capital of Akwa Ibom State, which was carved out of the old Cross River State. Calabar now is the capital of Cross River State. Obong Victor Attah, an architect and former president of the Nigerian Institute of Architect (NIA), became the governor of Akwa Ibom State in 1999 when the country returned to democracy. He started by fine-tuning a Masterplan for the state, especially Uyo. But, Uyo’s race to catch up with Calabar took a new dimension when Obong Godswill Akpabio, the man who was Attah’s Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, became governor.

Under Akpabio, Akwa Ibom’s fortunes increased. For this to happen, it had to do battle with its neigbour. Both had to compete for oil wells. It was a bitter legal duel that took God’s grace to prevent bloodbath. Wise counselled was allowed to prevail and Akwa Ibom’s fortunes took a major leap when the Supreme Court gave all oil wells which entitled Cross River to the 13 per cent derivation fund to it. It was a decision which saw these brother-states quarrel seriously. In case you don’t know, the states are also governed by two men who have come a long way. Akpabio and Governor Liyel Imoke were mates at the Nigerian Law School (NLS).They belong to the Class 88, having graduated 26 years ago. The decision of the apex court made Akpabio and Imoke almost become enemies. The media made a lot of money on advertorials by both parties on the court’s decision. Somehow they were able to manage and life has since continued and for over one year now, Cross River has not received one kobo as derivation fund and this has affected it seriously. Its loss has been Akwa Ibom’s gain and Uyo is happy for it.

Uyo has changed. It really has. It is no longer the ‘village’ it was when the military pronounced it a state capital. There are flyovers and bridges. So many beautiful things are happening in Uyo. But there is a trend I have noticed. Uyo seems interested in everything in Calabar. Or is it Calabar that is after Uyo? Or is it a case of Imoke and Akpabio not wanting the other to take the first slot?

There is a nice complex in Uyo. It has not been completed. It is known as Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Centre. Within this complex is Cineplex. It is the cinema arm of Ibom Tropicana. There is also a mall. And when fully completed, there is going to be an international convention centre with a monorail somewhere around the complex. A 3-star hotel is also in the mix.

Please drive to Calabar and you will discover that it has its own version of Cineplex known as Film House Cinema– which is part of the Marina Resort. I understand it has been in existence before Cineplex. On going is also the Calabar International Convention Centre (CICC) within the Summit Hills project. Around the CICC, a monorail is also springing up to link Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort. A hotel, a golf course and a specialist hospital are also in the works.

There are a bit of difference in these projects, but the semblance are obvious. Who is copying who?

Don’t misread me. There is nothing wrong in copying, especially when you are copying something good and improving on it.

Before I forget, Uyo also has an airport, even though it is less than an hour from Calabar, which has always had the Margaret Ekpo International Airport. How viable the Uyo Airport is is a matter for another day. But I must point out that for Arik to agree to fly there, the government had to be subsidising. This led to disagreement between the parties and the deal has broken down.

The subsidy issue also brings me to the viability of the Cineplex in a state where majority of the people are poor. Similar cinemas in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja charge at least N1,500 for a client to enjoy any movie in their air-conditioned cinema hall. In Calabar, it is about N1,000. An average Uyo person cannot afford these prices. The government knew this and thus decided to subsidise. Initially, N100 was paid. Now, it is N250. Still, the six cinema halls are never fully booked.

The mall, which will be inaugurated soon, is beautiful. It sure makes Uyo the more alluring, but can the economy of the state support such? I will wait till it starts operation to get an answer.

My final take: It is good that Uyo and Calabar are being developed. It is good similar projects are springing up. But it certainly is not grand for a government to build a project and after completing it, it is still spending money on it instead of it bring in money. Cineplex is a fitting example of this. I don’t think subsidising movie-watching is a great idea. May be it is a good But certainly not a great or grand one.

Long live Uyo, long live Calabar and long live the brothers driving the affairs of these two brother-states. And long live healthy

July 4, 2014
Something for Kingsley Kuku

Time was when peace took a flight from the Niger Delta. The target was not really the people but federal establishment and the Joint Venture Partners, be it Shell, Chevron and Mobil. Anyone with white skin could easily get kidnapped, too. Gang wars went on from Port Harcourt to Okrika to Eleme to Yenegoa and the creeks of the Niger Delta. There was no better way to say it than to borrow the lines of the late Chinua Achebe’s classic novel Things Fall Apart. The centre could not hold for the governments at both the federal and state levels.

Oil revenue plummetted. Disorderliness made sure governance was on holiday. It was in the midst of this chaos that the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was ‘rigged’ in as president. In his maiden speech, the late Yar’Adua admitted the flaws in the polls which saw him becoming president. He made a lot of promises and one of them was that he was going to curb the lawlessness in the Niger Delta. Not a few wondered how he was going to do it. It did not take long before he unfolded his agenda. He unveiled an amnesty package for militants in the religion. Give up your guns and be entitled to some favours from the government. The leadership of the militant movements also received juicy contracts in millions of dollars.

Guns of all shades and sizes surfaced. Not a few were fooled that some were not kept away in case the government reneged. It is believed that some of those kept away are being used to support the high level of illegal bunkering and oil refineries still going on in the region.

But the concern here is how the lawlessness will not return on large scale. Some days ago, two young men who looked nothing like ex-militants walked into this newspaper’s corporate office in Lagos. Their identification cards and some other documents show they are ex-militants who were invlved in illegalities in one of the many militant camps which used to dot Delta State.

Going by their account, they embraced amnesty and were enjoying the benefits until their cap leaders who wanted a cut of their benefits connived with people at the Amnesty Office to stop them from enjoying these benefits.

Phillip Ukange and Avurakoghene Ogofotha said after laying down their arms, they thought they would never have cause to think of going back that bad road again.

Ogofotha enrolled at the University of Benin. Now, he is troubled that his education is under threat as the expected source of funding has dried.

He said he was entitled to N65, 000 monthly allowance; he said he only got paid for six months.

The young men claimed they were victims of corruption in the Presidential Amnesty Programme having being enrolled in the 2012 phase two of the initiative.

“I want to do something meaningful with my life. I am an ex-militant of the second phase of the amnesty programme, I have not been paid since 2012 when they started paying money into the account of the second-phase ex-militants.

“As at the time, they gave us a phone contact of a man called Tony (he said he couldn’t recall Tony’s full name) who was said to be the paymaster. We called him but to no avail. We also tried to go to the office but whenever we attempted going there they would bar us.

“Although some other affected ex-militants have gone to lay complaints but nothing was done; sometimes we would be molested by the military men there.

“I am not the only one, we are over hundred. Some got their money for a number of months while others were partly paid,” Ogofotha said.

As head of the Amnesty Office, Kingsley Kuku needs to look at the case of these young men and others who have alleged that their camp leaders have cut them off from enjoying their benefits. The camp leaders are practically faceless to Nigerians. It is the Amnesty Office, Kuku and President Goodluck Jonathan that Nigerians know and when anything goes wrong with the programme, they are the ones to be held accountable. This allegation must not eb left uninvestigated.

July 4, 2014
‘We’ll wipe out kidnappers in Bayelsa’

Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police Mr. Hilary Opara promises to wipe out kidnappers. He spoke with MIKE ODIEGWU.

How safe is Bayelsa?

Bayelsa is very safe. The good people of Bayelsa State and all the people living in Bayelsa State are going about their lawful businesses without molestation. You can see that Bayelsa has played host to so many national and international events and we are still playing host to more. We are still expecting many national and international events in the state. This goes to show that Bayelsa is safe for law-abiding citizens. But Bayelsa is not safe for anybody who is here to perpetrate any act of criminality or terrorism. It is only safe for only law-abiding citizens. We have not had any case where investors are being harassed or expatriates are being molested. Many of them are already here. We have companies like Julius Berger, Chinese companies and many others operating in the state. They are going about their businesses and they have never complained to us that they are being harassed. That is why we can say that the state is very safe for law-abiding citizens.

But the state is still in the news for kidnapping?

Kidnapping is one of the challenges we have. But it is not peculiar to the state alone. It has not overwhelmed us. We have arrested many kidnappers and they are in the process of investigation and prosecution. We still have pockets of them that have not been arrested. These are the ones engaging in kidnapping in the creeks. It is true that the creeks are not easy to navigate but we are dealing with the situation. We are going after them and we have beamed our satellite on them.

Recall that we arrested some of the kidnappers that abducted the Dutch nationals. One of them was arrested in Warri after the Dutch had been released. We are still on the trail of others. The one we arrested confessed to the crime and he is still with us. The ones that kidnapped a pregnant woman after robbing her and her husband; we arrested six of them and they are being investigated. They will soon be arraigned. So, it is a gradual process. We are in the process of wiping them out completely.

How do you handle kidnap cases?

We handle cases of kidnapping with utmost professionalism and that is why no kidnapped victim has been killed by the abductors. If a victim is in the kidnappers’ den, you don’t go there and begin to open fire on them. The primary objective is to rescue the kidnapped victim. That is why we are always careful until after the kidnapped victim has been released. Then we go out full blown to attack the kidnappers. Sometimes, you hear that someone has been kidnapped and the person is in the kidnappers’ den for two weeks. It is not that we don’t know how to go and raid the den. If you raid the den and in the process, there is an exchange of fire and the kidnapped victim dies, then the objective is defeated. That is why we are always very careful. So, when the kidnapped victim is released, you can then retstrategise and go after the kidnappers. That is what we have been doing in the state.

Why has kidnapping persisted despite the new law that prescribes death sentence for convicted kidnappers?

As a matter of fact, the problem is on the criminal justice system. The police is just one of the arms. There are other government functionaries in the criminal justice system such as the court and the prison. The police cannot do everything alone. What we do is to arrest, investigate and charge to court. The court will undertake their independent processes.

Before the case will go through the court process and condemn someone for kidnapping, it takes a long time. That is why the ones we have taken to court have not been tried. The court has to take its time to go through the case and ensure that any sentence it wants to pass must be sound. Even if a kidnapper is eventually sentenced, such persons requires time to go on appeal. The convicts must exhaust all the avenues available to them before they can be executed.

The kidnappers are now targeting relations of government officials?

We have observed that because of some of the cases we have the victims have something to do with persons in government either they are their mothers, their mothers-in-law, their sisters or fathers. This is what we have noticed because these bad boys want to kidnap someone with kidnap value; that is somebody whose son or daughter is in government or who is occupying a high position that will be able to pay them ransom. But what we do is to discourage payment of ransom. We always tell the relations of the victims to exercise patience and allow the police exhaust all other avenues available. Anybody who pays ransom is encouraging the kidnappers because their objective is to make money. We always advise them to work with us so as to explore ways to rescue the victim without ransom being paid. But sometimes they go behind us and pay this ransom out of fear.

There are still pockets of cult clashes. Recently, there was an incident at Niger Delta University

We are trying our best to curb the menace of cultism in the state to complement what the state government has done. The government gave the cultists the opportunity to renounce cultism and those who have renounced cultism are being rehabilitated. It is just like what we have during the amnesty period. But those of them who refused to renounce, we are having running battle with them. Many have been arrested. Many have been charged to court and many are already in prison.

For instance in Sagbama last week, six of them were arrested when they went to forcefully initiate one boy. We have charged them to court and they have been remanded in prison custody.

July 4, 2014
Tambuwal, Imoke urge lawmakers to empower youth, women

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, has urged federal legislators to promote youth and women empowerment in their constituencies in order to assist in reducing the rate of unemployment in the country.

Tambuwal spoke in Calabar during the empowerment programme of the Federal Legislator representing Calabar South, Akpabuyo and Bakassi Federal Constituency in Cross River State, Mr Essien Ayi, said he was willing to encourage members of the Lower House to give back to their constituents by personally attending such programmes.

Tambuwal, at the event where 107 members of the constituency were empowered with cars, computers, hair dressing equipment, among others, said the challenge facing the present administration was job creation and appealed to wealthy Nigerians to bridge the gap by generating ideas that could help solve the problem.

“I would want to see more of this from our Federal Lawmakers and I promise to personally attend such a programme to encourage them. Of course, programmes like this touch directly on the lives of the people,” Tambuwal said.

The Speaker commended Pastor Essien Ayi for identifying with his constituents and called on other Legislators to emulate his example.

Governor of Cross River State, Liyel Imoke, said youth and women empowerment was a mandatory obligation of any representative of the people.

He said representation comes with the duty to identify with the people and to bring democracy dividends to them, which will reduce joblessness and poverty in the society.

“Empowering the people is an obligation to any representative. If you want to represent the people, you must tell them what you will do for them. We have gone past the time when the people cannot ask their representatives what they have been able to achieve for the people,” Imoke stressed.

He also commended Ayi for exhibiting what he called an exemplary leadership by donating fifty cars and other empowerment items to his constituents and urged beneficiaries to put the items to good use.

Director-General of National Directorate of Employment, Mallam Abubakar Mohammed, whose organisation partnered with Essien Ayi to train the beneficiaries, said the organisation ensured that all the artisans among the beneficiaries were properly trained to provide opportunities for others and assured that there was reduction in the labour market.

Ayi said he was only fulfilling his promise to his people as he had empowered the people in the past, “though not at a scale such as this.”

Highlights of the occasion was the presentation of 50 cars of different brands to some beneficiaries, more than 100 computer sets, sewing machines, Lawn Mowing equipment, among other items.

July 4, 2014
African Bishops storm Port Harcourt

Religious leaders from all over the world gathered in Port Harcourt, Rivers State last weekend for the African Prayer Summit, a three-day programme with the theme, ‘Pulling down the Wrong Foundation in Africa’. It was organised by I Care Ministry International Church in Akpajo, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, in conjunction with Africa chapter of Yesua Embassy Network of Churches International led by Archbishop Richard Ngozi Innocent.

The organiser, Bishop Maxwell Oghenerume Okoro who is President of I Care Ministry, said it was to uproot all wrong foundations in marriage, family, religion, politics and economy, adding that wrong foundations are limiting people from achieving God’s purpose in their lives. He said that the only way to be free from certain bondages is to demolish their satanic foundations.

Preachers at the programme included Bishop Franklin Mondo Muguisha (Uganda), Bishop Onana Compbell David (Cameroon), Bishop Dr. Denis Ejila (Gambia), Bishop Dr. Momodou Daffeh (Gambia), Apostle Dr. Israel Momo (Sierra Leone) Apostle Prince Ukandu (Liberia) and Apostle Livingstone Banjagala (Tanzania).

There were a lot of shocking and unbelievable testimonies at the end of the programme. The representatives of the conference of Bishops also went out for evangelism, preaching to people to accept Christ. They also took the gospel to the palace of His Royal Highness Eze Wellington Nkpor, the Paramount Ruler of Akpajo Town, and the palace of His Royal Majesty Eze Robinson O. Robinson of Ekpeye land.

Bishops, who spoke to The Nation during the prayer summit, said they were in Nigeria to destroy the wrong foundations which they blamed for the Boko Haram insurgency and other crisis in Nigeria. They noted that poverty, political assassinations, nepotism and corruption in African countries are due to wrong foundations which must be destroyed before Africa could have peace.

Bishop Momodou Daffeh said God brought them together to pray for Africa and to free Africans from several bondages which have limited African countries from achieving and overcoming many challenging affecting them. “I want to thank God that we are in Nigeria. Our leader Archbishop Innocent, who God has used to gather us for a great spiritual work like this, visited my country sometimes ago. While he was there he said Africa must be prayed for. This is because when you look at the African countries today you will see crisis, nepotism, corruption, tribalism, lack of education, unemployment, killing etc. It is happening everywhere including Gambia and Nigeria. These are things that would undermine the development of African countries. African moral is no longer there, so the vision came that we should pray for Africa and Nigeria was chosen as the host country while I care Ministry in Port Harcourt was the venue. We are here to pray for Nigeria’s wrong foundation especially the issue of Boko Haram which we know came as a result of wrong foundation.”

He said the men of God also used the summit to pray to God to give African leaders the wisdom to understand that Africa cannot go anywhere until they recognize the need to involve the new generation. “I feel we can do it, I feel we can stop corruption, political assassination, nepotism etc. and to introduce the youths to the new way of doing things where they could take over in future. The reason why youths take up arms in Africa today is because of lack of respect, we don’t give them what belongs to them, there is no job and you are riding big cars before them when you know that they are jobless.”

Apostle Israel Momo from Sierra Leone said they have decreed into the land of Nigeria for peace to reign, assuring that very soon Nigeria will begin to witness peace in abundance.

“In Egypt God raised a foreigner in the person of Joseph to solve their problem, in Africa God has raised us to solve African spiritual problems through the word of God. So no matter what the Boko Haram is doing they cannot do more than the power of God. We have already started a great job that will make Boko Haram to flee the country. ”

He said their gathering at the palaces of the paramount ruler of Akpajo and that of Ekpeye Land was to ensure that God enters the heart of the indigenes and free them to possess their possessions.

“We gathered at the kings palaces and I saw that the indigenes of this state are going to take their possessions. It is time for foreigners in Niger Delta region to line up at the back of the indigenes. This is an environment they had told me has enormous resources. It is time to take charge of their resources that is the reason we are here to pull down the wrong foundations so that people and countries can be free.”

The host, Bishop Maxwell Okoro said Africa is a blessed continent and Nigeria is abundantly blessed. He regretted that wrong foundations have jeopardized the manifestation of God, making people and countries to live under the influence of darkness.

“These things cannot be fought with dynamites, terrorism, gun; the only weapon strong enough to change the face of this country is fasting and prayer. God Almighty gave this inspiration to our Archbishop who spoke to me to host all the great men of God. Our prayer is for the breakthrough of the Niger Delta region, Rivers State and Nigeria as a whole, Port Harcourt is the womb of Nigeria and Niger Delta produces the resource of Nigeria. Anything that happens in Port Harcourt affects the Niger Delta and Nigeria. We prayed for economic stability, redirection of political economy, infrastructural development and everything that is inimical to the transformation of this country.”

Bishop Okoro, who revealed that he was born deaf and dumb said God changed his testimony. “My mother is still alive, she stays here with me in Port Harcourt, you can ask her. According to my mother, I was in her womb for 11 months, and she delivered me deaf and dumb on January 18, 1968 at Imode Town, Ughelli, Delta State. As it is expected of every child to cry when they are born, but mine was different. I didn’t cry even my two hands where folded. They did everything humanly possible to ensure that I cried. My mother said the whole village gathered to initiate ideas on ways out. You can imagine a new born baby receiving a serious beating on his bottom just to ensure that I cry, yet I didn’t.”

He said while the community gave up on him that he would amount to nothing, his mother stood by him until God intervened and opened his mouth.

“It is God and my mother that kept me alive, because everybody had agreed to throw me into the forest but my mother insisted that she will accept me the way I am. But after three months when my mother was water-feeding me, she said amazingly I finally cried. So, when human effort fails, God starts working”.

July 4, 2014
Stop the madness in Edo House

For the past few weeks days, peace has taken a flight from the Edo State House of Assembly. This is not unconnected with the crisis which followed the congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. Some members of the party were aggrieved as a result of the outcome of the congress, which either did not afvour them or their political caucus.

Cross River State government took reporters round some of its legacy projects. The tour started in Calabar and terminated in Ogoja, the far end of the state which is no less than five hours away from the state capital.

Some members of the House of Assembly were wooed by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into their fold. Governor Adams Oshiomhole later alleged that each of them got N50 million to defect.They have since fired back, saying the governor has earlier offered them money too to remain in the APC. They claimed to have rejected the money.

The defection has since polarised the House with the leadership suspending the defectors, who have since teamed up with other PDP members to send peace on leave. A court has ordered them to stay suspended. They have threatened to go ahead and sit claiming to have suspended their other colleagues. A new mace has even surfaced, which it has emerged was an old one stolen in 2010.

The day they ‘sat and removed’ the leadership of the House a fracas broke out when the Speaker and his colleagues stormed the floor of the Assembly. It was a hectic day for the police. And since then, hell has come down to the Edo House.

Both parties are not ready to give in. It is like fire for fire and like they say, when two elephants fight, it is the grass, which in this case is the people, that suffers. It is a funny case in which eight lawmakers are trying to play the majority.

Oshiomhole has washed his hands off the crisis. The governor’s spokesperson has said he knows nothing about the crisis.

Justice A.M. Liman ruled on June 6 that the Speaker was right in suspending the four lawmakers but that he had no right to declare their seats vacant.

Justice Liman held that: “That the disciplinary power of the House is not subject to the judicial review of the Court, accordingly the application to restrain the 2nd Respondent from suspending the applicants from the House is hereby refused”.

This ruling cleared the way for the suspension of Festus Ebea, Patrick Osayimwen, Jude Ise-Idehen and Friday Ogieriakhi.

The APC, in a statement, said: “Despite the service of the processes including the Order of Injunction on all the parties, the suspended members have continued to create tension and chaos in the House of Assembly and its environs by forcibly entering into the premises and chambers of the House of Assembly aided by numerous thugs and (rather unfortunately) officers and men of the Nigeria Police force.

“We are informed that these contemnors claim, rather erroneously, that they can act in defiance and disobedience of the positive order of Court on the ground that they are pursuing an appeal against the order.

“It is an elementary principle of our Legal System that an Order of a Court remains valid and subsisting which all parties must comply with unless and until it is set aside by the Court which issued same or a Court of Appeal.”

The court has spoken and the law should be allowed to stand. The time to stop this madness of going against the law is now.

June 20, 2014