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Category: Politics

‘No automatic ticket in Abia PDP’

Abia State Governor Theodore Orji has said that there will be no automatic ticket for any of the elected member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the next year’s election.

He assured party members of a level playing group, adding that there will be no imposition of candidates.

Orji said automatic tickets will breed mediocrity and prevent a healthy competion during the electioneering.

The governor spoke at the PDP stakeholders’ meeting in Umuahia, the state capital.

He said: “ Competition is the best way to bring out the best in any society. Appointing people to contest for elective positions does not give room for true democracy to thrive”.

Orji charged party members to shun “money politics” and vote for candidates who have vision and the love of the peopple at heart.

The governor described Abia State as the stronghold of the PDP, urging the stakeholders to sustain the tempo.

He said: “There is no vacancy for any other political party, except the PDP, to exist in the state. There is no room for any other political party to survive in Abia State because we have set a very high standard, which will be hard for any political party to beat.”

Orji recalled that the PDP won all the elections in the state in 2011, saying that the feat was unprecedented.

He said that the state started to make progres when it refrained from worshipping idols.

The governor said that President Goodluck Jonathan is happy that the state is making progress.

He added: “Whenever the President sees me, he will ask me how are my people and not how is Abia State. This shows the level of love and the value the Presidency has for the state.”

The party chairman, Senator Emma Nwaka, urged the party chieftains to work for the peace and progress of the state at all times.

Nwaka said that someone in a ruling party will not understand what it means to be in opposition. “Therefore those of you in the ruling party should hold tenaciously to what you have as being in opposition will not be to your benefit.”

March 25, 2014
Confab: Do traditional rulers deserve constitutional roles?

In this piece, Okey Nnamani examines the limited role of trational rulers and how the institution can be strengthened to play complimentary roles governance.

Many Nigerians have been agitating for constitutional roles for traditional rulers. They point out that the monarchs are critical to the progress of their states. They make reference to Imo State, where the institution is perceived as a semblance of the fourth tier of government. though with flaws.

If democracy had grown in Nigeria, there would have been a grassroots government headed by the royal fathers. Conversely, some have also argued that, given the enormity of respect and peculiar responsibilities performed by the traditional institution, they deserve definite constitutional roles in the polity.

However, others have argued that the royal fathers should be shielded from trivial matters, especially those that tend to be divisive or sectional, and that royal stools should be kept sacrosanct while the occupants should strive at all times to live above board. Every act capable of lowering their esteem should be avoided.

In the olden days, the only people that were known not to be blemish in any aspect were the traditional rulers. Their wisdom and technocracy in conflict resolution and enforcement of laws that promoted peace and good neighborliness were admired and celebrated. They were aptly described as reservoirs of wisdom. They offered good advice and moulded character. Considering their grassroots orientation, they represented the true reflections of the people. Both civilian and military administrations appreciated their strategic roles in nation building. Heads of Governments and visiting Heads of States paid them homage, apparently because they were completely detached from partisanship and sectionalism.

During the phantom coup trial in the days of the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, traditional rulers were transported to the seat of power to take a look at the purported video tape of the incident. The aim was to convince them that, indeed, there was a plot and an attempt to forcefully topple the government. The monarchs were viewed as the custodians of truth. Over time, it has become a practice for their opinions to be sought before any crucial decision is taken.

Borrowing a leaf from the Unites States of America, former Enugu State Governor Chimaroke Nnamani introduced the ‘Community County Council’, which was established in all the autonomous communities in the state. Frank Nweke (Jnr) was the Coordinator and it was visibly impactful as it fast-tracked developments in the rural areas. For either lack of political will or otherwise, the initiative could not be sustained beyond Nnamani’s tenure. But, it was laudable.

His successor, Governor Sullivan Chime, has also ensured every community has a traditional ruler. He went further to make them relatively comfortable. Also, he kept harping on their impartiality and non-partisanship. They are to con

tribute to governance by giving advice and maintaining peace in their domains. The governor has increased the welfare package for traditional rulers. But, the ovation was short lived.

The events that followed showed that those largesse were merely Greek gifts. Heavy strings were attached. Among others, they must become very partisan at the appropriate time. They must be used as vehicles to drive the petty and informal interests of their benefactor and his favoured team. Failure to do so would cost them their staffs of office and the government vehicles they have in their possessions. Those whose children, spouses and relatives are in government or enjoying government patronage would be victimised. The riot acts were read gradually and their emotions were systematically manipulated. For instance, nobody can contemplate the grim prospects of deposed royal fathers and sudden loss of pre-eminence.

When the governor unfolded his plan to retire many elders and contemporaries in Enugu State politics, he rhetorically informed the traditional rulers that the pay-back-time had finally come.Any suspected or confirmed dissenting voice must be ruthlessly dealt with.

Four traditional rulers are today having their powers and authorities being questioned by the government. Their offence: they openly associated with the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, visited his house and acknowledged the developmental projects he attracted to their domains.

For fear of being visited with similar treatment, royal fathers in Enugu State are determined to play active politics. Majority are now state government contractors. This ignoble trend is more pronounced in Nkanu part of the state, which constitutes the Enugu-East Senatorial Zone where Ifeoma Nwobodo is scheming to replace Senator Gilbert Nnaji. On her entourage are council chairmen, monarchs and other party officials. Since the inauguration of the local council administration, no chairman has actually spent one full day in office. They always accompany Mrs. Nwobodo, who is on the political tour of the district, although she has not got the ticket.

Traditional rulers in Enugu State today, apart from attending party rallies, also accompany aspirants to political campaigns under duress. To underscore the extent of misplacement of priorities, these royal fathers have now joined the campaign that, whether he performs or not, any senator in that zone must do only one term. The implication therefore, is that, once it is your turn to become a senator, you do not need to offer anything, except seeking to settle yourself, knowing that whichever way, you will not return to the Senate. What a backward and counter-productive political ideology being championed only in Enugu State and in a zone that has produced the likes of Ken Nnamani, Jim NWobodo, Chimaroke Nnamani, Frank Nweke, Bart Nnaji, Ogbonnaya Onovo and a host of retired military officers. It is more disturbing that those that should speak the truth dispassionately are being used to rubber stamp this wicked falsehood aimed at destroying some people.

However, it is not in doubt that both Jim Nwobodo and Ken Nnamani had wonderful outings at the Senate, but Chimaroke Nnamani as the governor would not allow them to continue in office, due to the political maneuverings of the moment. He deployed state apparatus to frustrate them one after another for personal gain. His successor, Chime, used the same weapon on him. And now, Ifeoma Nwobodo, the de facto governor, is unleashing her arsenal to frustrate Senator Gilbert Nnaji. The traditional rulers who today are the praise-singers of Ifeoma Nwobodo were recently disgraced at a forum in the zone. Also, they did not see anything wrong in the way their son, Sunday Onyebuchi, the deputy governor, has been humiliated in the battle for the leadership of Nkanu Zone.

The freedom of the traditional rulers has been mortgaged. In all ramifications, their senses of morality and dignity are now being ridiculed, owing to their involvement in partisan politics. Are they not being conscious of the legacies they should leave for their children and loved ones? Is it merely for material gains that they brazenly desecrate the highly revered institution? Their self respects are now being sacrificed. In the nearest future, they shall be discredited. But then, for how long do they still need to walk this destructive road to realise that their birthrights have since been up for grabs? They should be reminded of the sanctity of the royal palaces of the old, except one is being made to believe that it is only in Enugu State that such absurdity obtains.

In conclusion, the Enugu State experience has greatly undermined the agitation for constitutional roles for the royal fathers, especially in the on-going national conference.

March 25, 2014
APC, PDP, LP battle for Ekiti

Ekiti State is warming up for the June 21 governorship election. Three governorship candidates-Governor Kayode Fayemi (All Progressives Congress), former Governor Ayo Fayose (Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele (Labour Party) will kick off their campaigns this month. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the issues that will shape the exercise.

On June 21, the governorship elec-tion will hold in Ekiti State. Three candidates are competing for one crown. Who will secure the key to the Government House?

The three politicians are household names in the Fountain of Knowledge. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, is the incumbent governor. He is seeking a second term. His challengers are former Governor Ayodele Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele of the Labour Party (LP). There will be other candidates running on the platforms of smaller political parties. But, they will become spectators on the election day. Before the poll, these smaller parties may form alliance with any of the three parties or endorse any of the three flag bearers.

Fayemi, the war scholar and pro-democracy activist, was elected as the governor in 2007. But, his mandate was stolen by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In 2010, the stolen mandate was retrieved. In the last three and half years, he has worked tirelessly to change the face of the state. He was unanimously endorsed for continuity by his party few months ago.

Fayose was the governor between 2003 and 2006. He had unfolded plans for a second term before he was removed as the governor. In protest, he supported Fayemi against the deposed PDP governor, Mr. Segun Oni, when the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate was struggling to reclaim his mandate. In 2011, the former governor contested for the Senate on the platform of the LP. But, he was defeated by the ACN candidate, Senator Babafemi Ojudu. He left the LP for the PDP two years ago. A street wise politician, Fayose moved swiftly to get hold of the party’s executive committee by sponsoring his associates into party offices during the state congress.

Other PDP governorship aspirants who lost to him at the primaries have discredited the exercise. Former Police Affairs Minister Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade, former High Commissioner to Canada Ambassador Dare Bejide, former Afenifere Publicity Secretary Prince Dayo Adeyeye, former Deputy Governor Bisi Omoyeni, and Senator Gbenga Aluko have protested to the PDP national leadership that the shadow poll conducted by a panel chaired by former Rivers State Governor Peter Odilli was a farce. The National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, is yet to verify their claims.

Bamidele is likely to emerge as the LP candidate. He left his original camp for the LP last year to pursue his ambition. Initially, many thought that both the PDP and the LP will combine their strengths to confront the APC. However, with Fayose’s emergence, that calculation may not hold because Bamidle may not play a second fiddle. Many are of the opinion that the House of Representatives member should have stayed on in the APC and compete for the ticket with Fayemi, instead of leaving his political family to seek refuse in the LP.

Many issues will shape the contest on June 21. In the last 14 years, Ekiti has produced seven governors and administrators. None of the governors before Fayemi was re-elected, owing to some circumstances. The first governor, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, who was in the saddle between 1999 and 2003, claimed that he was rigged out by the PDP. Fayose, who took over from him, was removed by the House of Assembly before the expiration of his term. In 2007, Segun Oni, an engineer, became the governor on the platform of the PDP. But, in 2010, he was deposed by the court for rigging. The mantle fell on Fayemi, who has in the face of difficulties and financial constraints, mustered the strength to return Ekit to its glorious period.

House of Representatives member Hon. Bimbo Daramola, who chairs Fayemi Campaign Organisation, said that the governor deserves a second term because of his performance. He scored Fayemi high on job creation, infrastructural development, road construction, civil service reforms, school rehabilitation and social security. “Governor Kayode Fayemi has lived up to expectation. He has justified the confidence reposed in him. We has served Ekiti most faithfully”, Daramola said, as he reeled details of the governor’s achievements.

There is no sector that the governor has not touched. A searchlight has been beamed on his activities and there is no iota of doubt that he has run a transparent government. Worried by the plight of vulnerable aged people, the governor set up the social security scheme. No fewer than 25,000 of them receive a monthly stipend of N5,000 each. This feat has been particularly lauded by many people because Ekiti receives almost the least monthly allocation from the Federation Account. The staff audit, using biometrics, has enabled the government to bridge the loopholes. The method has curbed the incidence of ghost workers. Workers who were short-changed in the past now receive their normal salaries as they are no more paid by middlemen.

Also, the concerted effort at computerising the school system has yielded dividends. It has boosted computer literacy among pupils. Ekiti pupils no more learn under trees. The modern classrooms provided by the government has enhanced the learning environment. Road projects abandoned by the previous administrations have been completed. The urban renewal programme has given Ado, the state capital, a facelift. Owing to the commitment to road projects, Ekiti has become a huge construction site.

Daramola also pointed out that Fayemi has created employment opportunities by reviving the Ire Burnt Block Industry, Ire, and the Ikogosi Warm Springs. The free health services for the children, old people and pregnant women have been sustained and reduced mortality. He said that, unlike the past, Ekiti is also largely peaceful. “One of the issues that will shape the contest is the performance of the governor. We knew where Ekiti was before he came in and we know where Ekiti is now. We believe that he deserves a second term because he will build on the achievements of his first tenure”., Daramola added.

Unlike the two parties; the PDP and the LP, Fayemi has a united party behind him. There is no crack on the wall. The team is solid in reputation, character and patriotism. There will be no acrimony over the choice of a running mate because there is no need changing the winning team. There are less distractions within the ruling party. Therefore, the platform will focus its energy on the governor’s re-election bid because it is insulated from post-primary crisis.

The PDP does not have this advantage. Although Fayose was declared the winner of the shadow poll by Odili, other aspirants have rejected the verdict. Ahead of the primary election, one of them, Deji Ajayi, had approached the court to stop the exercise. But, the case was not assigned to any judge before the exercise. Urging the PDP leadership to cancel the result, Senator Aluko alleged that the contest was fraught with irregularities. He complained that the ward delegate congress was skewed towards Fayose, who he described as a non-party member. Aluko alleged that Fayose’s return to the PDP was ot formalised before his participation at the primaries.

Before the shadow poll, 13 aspirants had canvassed the option of consensus candidacy to prevent post-primary crisis. But, the former governor kicked against it, describing them as unpopular contenders who wanted to get the ticket through the back door. Omoyeni explained that the option was embraced to forge unity and harmony, wondering why an individual could object to it for selfish interest. “This is laughable and mischievous and, if urgent step is not taken by the leadership, the party may be heading into a serious crisis,” he warned.

At the weekend, some PDP aspirants forwarded petitions to Muazu. They also urged President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the crisis, which they said, may slow down the PDP campaign activities. A party source said that the declaration of Fayose as the winner is not final, adding that the process should be validated. “There are complaints. 13 people are against one man in the same party. Their grievances will be looked into and reconciliation effected. If this is not done, the party may go for the election as a divided house”, he said. But, Fayose’s media aide, Idowu Adelusi, said that the complaints of the aspirants are baseless. He described them as bad losers, urging the party faithful to ignore them. He debunked the claim that the case against the primary election was in court, pointing out that it was neither listed nor assigned to any judge.

Another party source said that Fayose and other aspirants may be invited to Abuja by the national PDP secretariat for a truce.

If Fayose is handed the ticket, his running mate will come from either the North or South Senatorial District. Fayose is from the Central District.

The LP is yet to conduct its selection process. But, there are indications that the party will field Bamidele, the federal legislator from Iyin-Ekiti. Bamidele is not a baby politician. The former President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) learned politics at the feet of his benefactor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who he served as a Personal Assistant when he was a senator. Under the Tinubu Administration in Lagos State, Bamidele has also served as a Special Adviser, Alliance for Democracy (AD) Director of Research and Publicity, and commissioner for eight years. In 2011, he was a senatorial aspirant. However, the party asked him to go to the House of Representatives. He was beside Fayemi during the battle to reclaim the stolen mandate. However, during that struggle, a gulf suddenly developed between the two compatriots.

A party source said: “During that time of liberation battle, as we now call it, it was suspected that the former Lagos commissioner was warming up for the governorship, thinking that a structure should be on ground for progressives, if the case failed at the Court of Appeal. It was about ambition, or a clash of ambition, that led to the problem between the two friends. But, one would have expected our leaders to settle the difference or quarrel that came out of that. Since that mutual confidence collapsed, the two, psychologically speaking, parted ways.”

For now, many believe that the LP has a weak structure in Ekiti. How far the LP aspirant can re-organise the party and reposition it for the June 21 contest is a challenge. There are fears that Bamidele’s entry may divide the APC votes. But, Daramola rejected this argument. “Even, in Iyin Ekiti, Fayemi will beat him,” said Daramola.

March 25, 2014
2015: PDP, APC, APGA battle for Imo

Three political parties-the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)- are battling for the soul of Imo State. The PDP is scheming to bounce back. But, the ruling APC is consolidating its hold. APGA is also not sleeping. Who produces the next governor? Correspondent SANNI OLOGUN examines the struggles of the parties for power in the Southeast state.

For eight years, Imo State was the stronghold of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). That was between 1999 and 2007 when Chief Achike Udenwa was the governor. But, things took a dramatic turn for the party in 2011 when the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) produced Governor Rochas Okorocha, who has now defected to the All progressives Congress (APC).

Ahead of the next elections, the three parties-the PDP, the APC and the APGA- are in the battle for the soul of the Southeast state.

The PDP National Leader, President Goodluck Jonathan, has said that the party will bounce back in 2015. The APC Governor, Okorocha, has described the statement as a joke, saying that the PDP leaders are day dreaming. The APGA is also mobilising ahead of the poll. The question is: who produces the next Imo governor?

The PDP’s Southeast/Southsouth rally at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri, where the President made the statement, was a carnival of sorts. The rally was organised to welcome Senator Chris Anyanwu, Udenwa, Senator Ifeanyi Ararume and Chief Mike Ahamba back to the fold. But, the President used the opportunity to flag off the battle for the Imo Government House.

The PDP has a formidable APC governor, Okorocha, to contend with on the field. He has raised the stakes in the state. However, the defection of some politicians to the PDP has motivated the to renew its spirited fight for power.

Senator Anyanwu returned to the fold to position herself. She was voted to represent the Imo East Senatorial District in 2011on the platform of APGA. Her return to the PDP was not a surprise. Her sojourn in the APGA was borne of political exigency. She would not have moved to the APGA, if she was not robbed of the PDP ticket to return to the Senate. The PDP ticket was given to former Minister of Aviation and now, National Woman Leader of the PDP, Mrs Kema Chikwe.

Anyanwu moved to APGA where she was welcomed with open arms by the leaders of the party and was handed the party’s senatorial ticket. Today, APGA is not as formidable in the Southeast as it was in 2011. The death of its National Leader, Ikemba Chukwuemeka Odimegwu – Ojukwu, and the leadership tussle that plagued the party have made it unattractive to its members who have ambition for 2015.

Although the APGA defeated the PDP in the governorship and legislative polls in 2011, the defection of Governor Okorocha to the APC changed the political calculation in the state. Most PDP and APGA members, are banking on the support of the PDP government at the centre to relaunch their struggle to recapture the Douglas House, Owerri, in 2015.

The recent Southeast/Southsouth rally was meant to rev up the PDP’s 2015 electioneering machinery. Those who were received into to the fold also included Mr. Cosmas Iwu, Mr. Lambert Ihenacho, and Hon Independence Ogunewe. The calibre of PDP dignitaries at the occasion underscored the priority the party accorded Imo State. President Jonathan, was accompanied by Vice President Namadi Sambo, Senate President David Mark the PDP National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Emeka Ihadioha, Chief Emmanuel Iwanyanwu, and ex-Governor Ibrahim Shekarau. Others are Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mrs. Viola Onwulriri, Prince Arthur Eze, Senator Barnabas Gemade, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Senator Hope Uzodinma and ex-Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu.

Governors at the rally included Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Theodore Orji (Abia), Sullivan Chime (Enugu), Captain Idris Wada (Kogi), Martin Elechi (Ebonyi), Liyel Imoke (Cross River) and Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa).

To Anyanwu, the defection underscored the party’s resolve to reclaim Imo State in 2015. The lawmaker said: “We are positioned now to recover power for the real people of Imo. We are ready to join forces with our brothers and sisters under the large umbrella of the PDP to rescue power from the confused, deceptive and misguided adventurers, who have aborted the people’s dream for a more promising and assured future. We have returned home and I hope that nothing will stop us.”

She added: “Today is a great day. If look around here, you will see the grand masters of Imo politics, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Arthur Eze, all the former governors are here. The intellectual power house of Imo Stateare here. The business movers and shakers of Imo State are here, and, if all these people are all here, who is left in Imo State?

It is good to be back home. I have come home with thousands of APGA members, including 27 Local Government Chairmen, half of the State Executive and over 800 APC members from my local government alone. Imo is for the PDP now. The children of Imo have decided to come under one roof. I have brought the children of Imo State. The PDP should open its hands and receive them. It should not let them run away again.”

Addressing the Imo State Executive Committee of the PDP at its state secretariat along Okigwe Road, prior to the rally, Anyanwu described her return to the PDP as a home coming. She said although she represented APGA in the Senate, she had remained emotionally bound to the PDP. She said she was pained to see the PDP losing grounds in the Senate and therefore, decided to return home to join like minds to salvage the party.

She said: “I was hurt watching the PDP being plummeted like that and I had difficulty coping. I just made up my mind at that time that it was time to go home. We are back to lend our energies and our strength to your energies and strength to rebuild the PDP and make it strong, viable, on top and centre in this state and in this country.”

Anyanwu insisted that Imo State had no business being on the periphery of national politics. She added: “We must return Imo State to its rightful position. Things went wrong in the past, we all know. We hope we have all learnt the lessons of our past mistakes. Never again do we go back there and do those things that made us wobble.

“We hope that our experience, what we have learnt out of this experience will strengthen us to now pursue and fulfill the mission of the PDP as the strongest, the largest, the most viable, but also the party that has all the strength, compassion and sense of justice, where people can feel a sense of belonging and be assured that things would be done right.”

Udenwa, Ararume and Ahamba, said that the accident that led to the whipping of the PDP in 2011 would not happen again. Udenwa, said: “The accident that happened in Imo State in 2011 shall not repeat itself because it is not everyday that accidents happen. Imo today is completely a PDP state. We are on a rescue mission to re-rescue Imo State.”

Ararume said the party leadership would not allow the division that led to its defeat in 2011 to reoccur, while Ahamba noted that the defection marked the beginning of the battle to reclaim Imo for the PDP. The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) added: “Today, I have returned to my ranks because we found ourselves in a situation where the opposition in power has nothing to offer except disruption. The battle to rescue Imo has just begun.”

President Jonathan described the rally as a clear demonstration that the PDP has regained Imo State. He promised that the party would not discriminate against the returnees.

The President said: “The political timbers of Imo State are all here, which is an indication that the PDP has regained the state. This state has been a PDP state and would continue to be so. We formally welcome our brothers and sisters, who for one reason or the other, became angry and stepped aside. But everybody has stepped back and we have listened to all of them. These are great men and women. Imo State knows their worth in the politics of Imo State. Without them, there is no politics in Imo State.

“So, where is the other party? There is no other party in Imo State. The time to join us is now. The party is open to everybody. It is the party that believes in justice and equal rights. For us, Imo State PDP has come to the level where everybody has to preach equal right. There is no discrimination.”

To Anenih, the desire of the PDP to “capture” Imo State in 2015 would not succeed, if the party continues on the path of political squabbles.

Anenih said: “It is only when we are united that we can get things right. The PDP is the pan-Nigeria party that will take care of everybody. Unless you are united, we will lose Imo State again and God forbid.”

Mu’azu blamed internal wrangling for the loss of the state in 2011. He was however, optimistic that the party would regain its lost glory in 2015. Ma’azu said: “With the returnees and other members of the PDP in Imo State, we will sweep all elective positions in 2015. I want to appeal to all aspirants to know that this is the dawn of a new era. We must ensure that only our first eleven is presented in any election.”

The former Bauchi State governor urged for the Imo PDP to work together victory in the next elections. “Part of our visit today is to receive our members who strayed and went to see the other side of the world. They have seen that there is nothing good on the other side and they are back home,” he added.

Mark, said that the PDP was on the path of regaining Imo State. He said he was particularly overjoyed that Anyanwu, who earlier “strayed” from the party, decided to retrace her steps. He said: “PDP is Imo and Imo is PDP; you cannot separate the two. Whatever mistake was made in the past is now history, whether we counted rightly or wrongly is for historians to judge. The fact is that Imo has returned to PDP.

“I welcome all of you my brothers and sisters of the PDP family to the gathering here today. For me, it is a joy because we are getting one of our own, who mistakenly strayed back today and she is here live. When she comes back, I believe that Imo State would have completed the circle and the light in the state would be brighter. There is no harm in missing step, but when you miss a step and you realise and trace it back, then, you are a good person.”

Former Governor Ikedi Ohakim, said that the PDP’s defeat in 2011 was not due to lack of “votes,” but loss of “calculation.” He said the incident was a lesson well learnt. According. “What happened in the past was a lesson. We did not fail. We went to school; we have learnt the lessons; and we have come back together.”

Ohakim said the PDP was ready to fight with the last drop of its blood to regain its lost ground. “I want to say that joining with our brothers and sisters here, we will resist with the last drop of our blood, anything that would create division in this party again, because we don’t have anywhere else to go. This is our last bus stop, as far as politics is concerned. We want to protect this party.

“Let everyone who comes to this party respect himself. And I demand respect from everybody. Political party is like a football match. The person at the goal post is not the one that scores goals. If your position is the mid-field and you abandon it and go ahead to do another thing, thinking that the defense man would come to score a goal, before you know it, a goal has been scored. No matter what we say here, if you don’t come together, it will not be a right talk. But the luck we have today is that great men and women have joined us.”

Governor Okorocha described the defections as good riddance to bad rubbish. He insisted said the defectors have lost political relevance in Imo State. He said Imolites were angry to hear that the PDP is plotting to “capture” the state.

Okorocha described as cheap propaganda the insinuation that he was not disposed to receive President Jonathan to the state. “In fact, they are making the people even angrier by saying that. It is not true that Imo is PDP. Imo is not the PDP, it has since left the PDP. But what shocked me was that, aside, from the funfare of the rally, not one of them was able to request from Mr. President what he can do for Imo people, nothing. All they were talking about was how they will capture power. But after capturing the power, what next?What have they done with the power given to them in the last 12 years in the state?

“But, I am happy, if you listened to them very well, none of them has said that this government is not performing. I think they did not find any reason at all to advance. And again, it is very important to set certain records right. Those who have joined the PDP today are very expired like expired medicine in a medicine shop. So, for me, it was rather painful that the Presidency can spend as much as N200 million, mobilising who is who in Nigeria to come to Imo State to buy products that are not up to N1million put together, politically in value.”

March 24, 2014
Will conference end in jamboree?

Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU highlights public expectations about the National Conference as delegates resume today from their one week break.

For the next three months, eyes will be on the National Conference holding in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As delegates resume today from their one week break, stormy sessions are expected. Pro-Sovereign National Conference delegates are warming up for discussions on the fundamental issues that necessitated the convocation of the conference by President Goodluck Jonathan. Those bent on sustaining the status quo will also not relent . The All Progressives Congress (APC), the only political party that has distanced itself from the exercise by refusing to send delegates, will not sit on the sideline. Its officials will be firing salvos at the conference.

The National Judicial Institute (NJI) Hall, Abuja, was filled to the brim during the inauguration. A mini-carnival unfolded as many delegates alighted from their luxury cars, exchanging banters. The assembly was a blend of septuagenarians, octogenarians and men and women in their late 50s and 60s. Except the couple, Mr. Yinka Odumakin and Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, and the rights activist, Wale Okunniyi, who are under 50, other delegates are old men. Majority of them are powerful and influential Nigerians, having been part of the previous administrations. For the retired Generals, former governors, ministers and legislators, who are also delegates, it was a reunion of sorts.

Seven categories of delegates attended the opening session, which was opened by President Jonathan last week. The first set comprised few patriots, who were in sober reflection. They had embraced the conference as a call to duty to salvage Nigeria. These eminent Nigerians did not supply their account numbers on the accreditation sheet. Leading the pack is the activist cleric, Pastor Tunde Bakare, a delegate from Ogun State. The founder of the Latter Rain Assembly and APC chieftain also suggested that delegates who were accompanied by aides should not expect any extra-allowance for their upkeep. A National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) chieftain, who refused to fill the space for account number, said that he came to render a selfless service. “I am skipping that. I am not here for a jamboree. I am not interested,” added the retired university don and pro-democracy activist.

The former governors, ministers, and legislators were in a class of their own. They are likely to form a powerful bloc and lobby group at the conference. This group is led by the veteran journalist, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, former governor of Ogun State. During the discussion on sitting arrangement, a delegate had suggested that participants should sit according to states of origin. But, Osoba held a contrary opinion. He suggested that, since the conference is expected to acquire a national outlook, delegates should sit as they arrive the venue. His advice was received with acclamation and adopted by the chairman, Justice Idris Kutigi (rtd).

The retired Generals are also a factor. This class has been blamed for the political and economic adversity of the country. These men of affluence do not represent the diverse tribes, but the Armed Forces on which back they rose to limelight. As soldiers, who displaced legitimate authorities and foisted the unitary system on the beleaguered country, they may not have the solution to the mess they created when they were in power. In their blissful retirement, they have aligned with a political party and joined forces in heating up the polity. Critics have pointed out that it is debatable that they are now eager to correct their past mistakes, which continue to take their tolls on the component units.

There were also the ‘President’s men’, who, it is believed, are in the confab to protect his interests. Among them are the eminent Ijaw leader, Senator Edwin Clark, and former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamisyeseigha. A source said that the proposal for a single term of five or six years for the President, the Vice President, governors and their deputies may emanate from this category. But, another delegate from Bayelsa State said that it is not true, saying that the President has no agenda.

At the accreditation centre, a drama unfolded. When a delegate sighted his old friend, he exclaimed: “You made it too”. They hugged and started a long discussion. It was evident that, for many delegates, the conference is an extension of political empowerment and another avenue for sharing the national cake. N7 billion has been voted for the exercise, and if it does not wind up in three months, the conference budget may be adjusted. A delegate to the 2005 Abuja Conference, Mr. Olorunfunmi Basorun, was irked by the presence of some people at the conference. He said: “There are many people there who should not be there”. The former Secretary to Lagos State Government pointed out that many delegates lack the understanding of the issues on the front burner.

Many Northern delegates are tribal irredentists like many of their Southern counterparts. Since oil is domiciled in the South, the prime motive of the North is to retain political control for the purpose of allocating its proceeds. While delegates from the South were reiterating their call for fiscal federalism, many Northern delegates, who spoke with reporters, shsorthly before the in auguration, packaged a tactical response, avoiding a categorical statement. Yoruba and Igbo and Southsouth delegates, including Ayo Adebanjo, Olaniwun Ajayi, Chukwuemeka Ezeife and King Diette Spiff, said that true federalism is the answer to the defective system. But, Ambassador Yusuf Mamman, a representative of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) at the conference was evasive. He said, diplomatically: “We will discuss the contentious issues”.

There are also the political war horses. These old men supported themselves with walking sticks. They were assisted into the hall by aides. Some of them were around during the constitutional conferences preceding independence, either as delegates or lieutenants of the three pathfinders-the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the late Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe and the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. They had participated in all the political dispensations, served under discredited administrations and collaborated with the military to wreck havoc on the country.

As these delegates resume from their one week break today, opinion is still divided on the desirability of the national dialogue. A lawyer, Tunde Kolawole, objected to its composition, saying that many delegates are unfit for any rescue mission. He said that Nigeria knows how to recycle delegates. “They are responsible for the problems and they are not likely to find solution to them”, he stressed. The lawyer also chided some of them for complaining about accommodation problem. He said it is curious that they are raising accommodation issue because many of them have big mansions in Abuja. Flaying them for expensive lifestyles, he said that they may like to live in five star hotels at the expense of the state. “Many see the conference as a meal ticket. They only deserve sitting allowance. Those who have said they will not collect can collect and give to charity,” he added.

However, Basorun’s view differed slightly from Kolawole’s. He said there are good people at the conference. He also said the work of the conference has been made easy by the previous Abuja conference. The elder statesman said that what the Kutigi-led conference should do is to retrieve the dumped report and adopt its relevant recommendations. “They should go back to the archive and check the recommendations of previous confabs. For instance, I was at the 2005 conference and we decided that local governments should be ceded to the states. That is not new. They should look at our reasons for the decision that power should be devolved to the states. Everything is stated there. We recommended that there should be state police to implement federal laws. They are not new”, he added.

Basorun said the main task before the conference is the decentralisation of power. If this is done, he said there will be the revival of federalism in Nigeria. “It is only those who want this country dissolved that will be playing with these recommendations. I am opposed to power being concentrated at the centre”, he emphasised.

For the Methodist Church prelate, Dr. Chukwuemeka Uche, the delegates can only succeed in the arduous task, if they shun personal interest and focus attention on the suffering of the masses. The priest said that the process is important. But, he also emphasised that the end is more important. Thus, he enjoined the President to implement the report of the conference faithfully. In a statement by his media aide, Rev. Oladapo daramola, the Prelate said that the debate is timely. “The deliberation can only be successful and fruitful, if it guarantees and secures a meaningful life for the ordinary Nigerian. I am happy about the quality of persons appointed for the Conference and I have faith in the quality of deliberations that will be witnessed. I also trust that President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly, working hand-in-hand with all relevant agencies and institutions, will see that the reports that will emanate from the conference will be fully implemented because the future of the country is dependent on it,” Uche added.

Rev. Uche lamented that the country is suffering, despite its huge resources and opportunities. The prelate said the recent tragedy, whereby job seekers lost their lives, should guide the thoughts of the delegates. Uche urged them to proffer solutions to state fragility to prevent state failure. “The conference must bring lasting solution to the home grown terrorism, religious intolerance, endemic corruption, failed schools, failed hospitals, failed roads, failed security, failed power supply, Niger Delta militancy, oil bunkering, kidnapping, the vanishing opportunities for our youths, the widening gulf between the rich and the poor, the receding faith in Nigeria by Nigerians”, he said.

March 24, 2014
Fresh intrigues over Kaduna missing mace

The decision of the Kaduna State House of Assembly to investigate the whereabouts of its missing mace, six months after, has sparked off fresh fire in the intriguing Kaduna power game, reports Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu

As the Committee on Ethics of the Kaduna State House of Assembly investigates the whereabouts of the missing mace, observers of the lingering leadership crisis of the House are hopeful that the move, which has already kindled fresh sparks amongst political opponents in the state’s power game, may finally break the ice and open up the politics of the state for the future.

It would be recalled that when the mace disappeared on September 24, 2013, shortly before the controversial removal of former speaker, Alhaji Muazu Gangara, close observers cried for the need to reduce the heavy burden that was threatening to drown the state politically.

Reacting to the development then, the President of Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, Shehu Sani, in a statement, said the removal of the Kaduna State Speaker, Alhaji Gangara, was nothing but “an elitist exercise in the game of power.” Sani added that there was “nothing to mourn about the exit of the old speaker neither is there anything to celebrate about the entry of a new one.”

He said: “The impeached speaker deserves no sympathy and the new one deserves no hope. I call on all legislators to save the House from its present image and stand by the spirit of their mandate and of their conscience in the best interest of the state and its people.”

That reaction, in a way, captures the complex political web associated with the missing of the mace last September and the impeachment that followed.

How Gangara lost out

The leadership crisis and the intrigues surrounding the Kaduna missing mace can be traced back to June 6, 2011, when Alhaji Mu’azu Usman Gangara, representing Giwa East constituency, and Dr Mato Dogara, representing Lere West constituency, took the oath of offices of Kaduna House of Assembly as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively.

We gathered that their emergence was not supported by many members of the House, who swore not to give them any breathing space.

So, from that very day, the House was largely divided and, soon, impeachment plots against them became almost a routine. The Nation gathered that the plot then was not only against Gangara and his deputy, but also against most of the other principal officers of the House.

Aware of the situation, they also set out to survive but they could only hold forth for two years and three months of intense politicking and intrigues.

Insiders said within this period, they narrowly survived not less than three impeachment plots before that fateful Tuesday, September 24, 2013, when Gangara and his deputy tactlessly absented themselves from the sitting, thus making it easier for their opponents to execute the pre-planned impeachment.

The first legislative session was relatively easier for Gangara. But at the end of that session, his opponents had become more determined as some of them held a special meeting immediately after the plenary session, where they demanded for the impeachment of the speaker, alleging that he was too weak.

At this point, the aggrieved members began an impeachment process but this failed as they only secured the signature of 20 members instead of the required 22 signatures.

Our source, a member of the House, who would not want to be named, also recalled that at this stage another closed-door meeting of the dissatisfied members and others who wanted to save the then leadership was held on August 14, 2013 at an undisclosed venue, after which “members gave the leadership of the house a 30-day ultimatum to either change its leadership style or resign.”

So, when, on September 14, 2013, the 30-day ultimatum expired, the political tension in the House peaked.

It was under that circumstance that Gangara and his deputy were impeached. On that day, Gangara and his deputy stayed away from the House sitting without notice. Also, most of his supporters stayed away, leaving only 18 members. Our investigation also confirmed that when the members present resolved to continue with the day’s business, they discovered that the mace, the symbol of authority of the House, was also missing. So, they decided to open the store and collect the back-up mace, with which they convened the sitting.

The drama began when the Clerk of the House, Barrister Umma Hikima Aliyu, told members that the speaker and his deputy did not communicate the reasons for being absent to her. She then explained that order 1, Rule 8 of the House rules allows the house to appoint a Speaker Pro-tempore to preside over a sitting in the absence of the speaker and his deputy.

So, the 18 members present nominated Philemon Gidan-Mana Usman as Speaker Pro-tempore to preside over the sitting.

Immediately after going through the agenda for the day, the members present proceeded to impeach Gangara and Dogara.

Before moving the motion for their impeachment, the member representing Zonkwa constituency, Hon. Irimiya Kantiok, denied allegations that they were influenced monetarily and that the impeachment plot was hatched at a meeting linked to Vice President Namadi Sambo.

So, when the Speaker Pro-tempore asked the members if they wanted Honourable Muazu Gangara and his deputy, Matoh Dogara, to be removed, they all echoed ‘Yes’. So, he declared: “Honourable Mu’azu Gangara and Matoh Dogara cease to be the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of this honourable Assembly beginning from now.”

Soon after this, Hon. Esther Abu nominated Shehu Usman Tahir as the Speaker. Hon. Bala Yunusa also nominated Hon. Peter Adamu as Deputy Speaker. There was no objection to these nominations, so the oath of office was immediately administered on the duo.

Though the impeached speaker vehemently opposed his removal, describing the sitting that led to his impeachment and that of his allies as illegal, Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero put paid to the debate as he immediately recognised Tahir and Adamu as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House, respectively.

The new order

It was on Wednesday last week that the Kaduna State House of Assembly directed its Committee on Ethics and Privileges to investigate the whereabouts of the official mace.

Speaker Tahir gave the directive following a motion by Alhaji Aliyu Jigo, a member representing Kakangi Constituency in Birnin-Gwari Local Government of the state.

Jigo had argued that the reason for moving the motion was to protect the integrity of the House.

“It has been noticed that the mace usually used for conducting the business of the House is not there, the House has been using the back-up mace to conduct its business,” he said.

He further described the mace as the symbol of authority of the Assembly, adding, “I feel it is very wrong for any member to remove it from the house.”

But now that the House has directed its committee on ethics and privileges to investigate the disappearance of the mace, we gathered that each of the groups in the House has been meeting to streamline their position.

Some insiders, who allege that it was the impeached speaker that came to the House earlier that fateful day to remove the original mace, are saying his group is now deliberating whether to release it or not in order to find final peace in the House.

“Some of us are already tired of the icy relationship although we know that what transpired that day was pure political injustice,” one of the Gangara allies told The Nation on Friday. He confided that many of their members, when they met on Thursday, do not want to be so cheated, “but some elders are persuading us to allow peace to reign in the state,” he said.

March 23, 2014
Ripples over Boko Haram at the House of Reps

As Boko Haram members continue to wreck havoc in the North-East, the House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to review upward its earlier allocation to the region from N2 bn to N12billion.

The House also told its Committee on Appropriation to find a way of increasing the allocation in the 2014 budget’s Sinking Fund for Infrastructural Development, which is under the capital supplementation head.

The lawmakers’ decision was reached sequel to a motion under the matters of urgent national importance moved by Rep Abdurrahman Terab (APC, Borno), who said that the N2billion contribution by the federal government for the rebuilding process could not be adequate to address the huge economic challenges of the region.

Terab said, “funds provided for future purposes under the Capital Supplementation Head of the 2014 budget do not compare in priority when the country is losing one sixth of its territory to unimaginable magnitude of destruction.

If the effort for reconstruction is not taken seriously despite the quantum of destruction, public confidence will continue to dwindle, while also vindicating the sympathisers of the insurgents that the country does not care about its masses at all,” he said.

Deputy leader of the House, Rep Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta) while contributing on the motion, cautioned on the earlier prayer of the motion mover to increase the allocation to N12 billion.

Rep Ogor (PDP Delta), opposed the motion, saying if the House adopted the motion, it would open the floodgate of members coming up with issues of their constituencies to be inserted in the 2014 budget, which would spell doom for the fiscal year.

Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal while ruling on the matter said the Appropriation committee would have to look inward and find ways of increasing the amount, without having to take N10 billion from the Sinking Fund in the budget.Tambuwal tasked the committee to find avenue of increasing the amount, saying that since the House agreed for the review of the allocation, there would not be specific amount for the monies to be increased to.

March 23, 2014
APC’s roadmap to recovery

The launch of the All Progressives Congress’s draft position on key national issues ahead of the 2015 general elections is a positive development and a progressive step. For too long, we have held elections based mainly on abuses and personality clashes. Politicians therefore promise nothing and deliver nothing.

I have pored through the skeletal document and, as a first step forward, a trailblazer in recent times, it is commendable. It provides a deed by which the party could be taken to task during electioneering, and on which it could be held accountable if installed in power. Such decisions as a commitment to establishing a state police, granting mining rights to the communities and people and paying serious attention to the poor and needy shows that the party actually cares about the future of the country.

However, the document’s silence on issues such as federalism, that is, what should be the federating units; devolution of power and resource control could not have been mere oversight. It is obvious to all that this country could no longer be run as one from the centre. Dodging this very serious issue is playing ostrich on an issue that is at the heart of national unity, stability and security.

The failure of the APC to take a stand on resource control, to me, is indicative of inability to generate a consensus on it. It speaks to the inorganic nature of the party and what could yet afflict the country if it should win the presidential election and control majority of seats in the National Assembly.

We would also like to have more details on how it intends to achieve its limited objectives. It does not help to say the party is unwilling to publish its working documents since they are trade secrets. The essence of the roadmap is to convince the electorate. It does not amount to much to pledge a commitment to free education at primary and secondary school levels and to science and technology students of tertiary institutions if we have no way of understanding that the party realises the enormity of the cost implication.

The social welfare scheme is quite ambitious, especially if taken along with the resolve to provide jobs. The party is promising the creation of 20,000 jobs in every state as soon as it takes over. It is promising to introduce a re-orientation of the education system towards science and technology. It is committed to the care for the youth post-National Youth Service Corp, pledging to keep them on the payroll for 12 months after the service.

The APC has a duty to convince us that it did not hurriedly put together a document to win votes. We cannot afford to travel the same way we did in the Second Republic when the National Party of Nigeria said it stood for Green Revolution and massive delivering of Housing to Nigerians. At the end of four years in office, asked what his administration had achieved, Alhaji Shehu Shagari said, “peace and stability”. Three months after it forced itself on an unwilling people again, the regime was overthrown by the military.

In a similar circumstance in 1955, prior to introducing the revolutionary free education programme, the Action Group released a blueprint on how it would be accomplished. It comprised how many children were in school at the moment, how many more were expected to be accommodated, how many classrooms had to be built and the cost of doing so. It also explained how to recruit the teachers. The likes of Chiefs Adekunle Ajasin, S.O. Awokoya and Sanya Onabamiro worked out the details.

This is a challenge to other political parties. Let us hang the next elections on development issues. Let the PDP and APC come up with their manifestos and roadmaps. Let’s take the federal and state governments to task on what they have done for the people. There is no doubt the system as it is has failed to work; the Nigerian state is failing and the ship of state is threatening to sink. We can no longer pretend that it is business as usual. Playing politics with religion, ethnicity and other primordial values has made us all victims. Only a leadership that could think out of the box is suitable for this period. An inept, confused and clueless administration can only compound the national crisis.

The next elections must be about the party that has the best agenda for pulling Nigeria out of the woods. It must be about the Nigerian children and their future. We cannot afford to fail the coming generations.

In 2015, Nigerians have a duty to ask all the necessary questions and demand answers. Politics is too serious an issue to be left to politicians alone. The critical mass, the educated, the professionals, must rise now.

March 23, 2014
2015: Taraba South in search of consensus candidate

Taraba South Senatorial District is in a frantic search of a consensus candidate that would effectively wrestle with the Acting Governor, Garba Umar, for the ruling PDP governorship ticket. Senior Correspondent, Fanen Ihyongo, explores the scenario in the ongoing race in a state that is being run by two governors – one in acting capacity and the other as a ceremonial figure.

If Governor Danbaba Suntai was in charge of the reins of power, this scenario would not have been playing out in Taraba State. But when he got involved in an air crash in October 2012, the political configuration began to change. The governor hails from Central Senatorial zone and is willing to relinquish power to the south. He took over on May 29, 2007 from Jolly Nyame who hails from the north and ruled for 10 years.

Although Taraba does not practice rotational politics, Suntai was said to have argued that the fairest thing to do was to help the southern zone produce governor when he bows out next year after serving his two terms.

But after he was hit by the blow of fate, his deputy, Garba Umar, who is from the north of the state, has reportedly consolidated his hold on power and is kicking against power shift. Umar has declared his intent and his posters are already out.

Faced with this phenomenal challenge, Taraba South is in a frenzied search of a consensus candidate that will likely face Umar at the PDP primaries.

The essence, according to insiders, is to build a formidable moral and financial support for any aspirant who emerges as the zone’s consensus candidate. That would also help delegates to concentrate their votes on the said candidate. But that seems to be a hard nut to crack. Over 10 well-known sons of the zone are rumbling for the preeminent office and it has been pretty difficult picking just one man out of the crowded contenders, especially as they have to make the choice by themselves.

Initially, it was thought that former Defence Minister, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, would anoint a candidate but he turned down the task. Sources say he asked them to go and slug it out by themselves. Danjuma, an elder statesman from Taraba South, has not hidden his opinion that power should shift to the south. However, he is said to have considered all the aspirants as his sons.

When the aspirants converged in Abuja last week, it was like trying to fetch water in a basket. None of them appeared to be ready to back down for another. Reading from their faces, it was discernible that each of them seemed determined that if he was not the chosen one then there would be no consensus. It is obvious some of them have scores with one or two others to settle. The situation is counting seriously against them but to the advantage of an enchanted Umar.

Damian Dodo, Joel Danlami Ikenya, Emmanuel Bwacha, Agbu Kefas, David Sabo Kente, Efraim Kifasi and Darius Shaku are among the array of aspirants who are coveting for a consensus candidate from Taraba South but are being selfish going about it.

Behind them is former Governor Jolly Nyame who has now changed his mind to support power shift. Nyame became governor at the creation of Taraba State from 1991 to 1992. He did another eight years from 1999 to 2007. He initially wanted to handover to a fellow northerner until providence compelled him to pick a successor (Suntai) from the Central zone. Of late, he reconciled his long-standing feud with Suntai and is wishing to assist him get a successor from the south.

The southern geopolitical zone, with five local government councils: Ibi, Wukari, Donga, Takum, Ussa and a Special Development Area known as Yangtu, has only played second fiddle during Nyame’s reign. The incumbent governor, now serving as a ceremonial figure, picked all his deputies from the north. Suntai’s first deputy, Sani Abubakar Danladi, is a kinsman of the acting governor from Karim-Lamido Local Government Area. It was Danladi’s impeachment that paved the way for Umar to come to the limelight.

When Umar came on board, he was thought of as a neophyte without a political machinery on ground. But as time went on, he systematically exerted ascendancy over Suntai loyalists. Umar started by embracing Suntai’s foes, then he infiltrated his boss’ camp unimpeded, wooing many to his side. He has tested many waters and passed the experiment of his potentiality in emphatic fashion against a dismal Suntai group. One of such tests is the fact that a candidate he sponsored, Daniel Tsokwa, won the Takum House of Assembly bye-election to occupy the vacuum left by the late Speaker Haruna Tsokwa. This was against the wish of Suntai’s loyalists who sponsored a different candidate.

Minister Darius Ishaku, a gubernatorial aspirant from the south, was in Takum to support Yakubu S Yakubu against Umar’s candidate. Unknown to him, Darius was working with Tsokwa who worked behind the scene to ensure Umar’s candidate won.

Umar is gradually polarising the south by embracing those who are not obsessed with the clamour for power shift to the zone. For instance, Tsokwa and former minister, Mrs. Salome Jankada, are among those who do not feel that power must shift to the south. Thus, they have embraced Umar’s candidacy. Sources said the acting governor will also pick his deputy from the south to polarise the people of the zone and it is alleged that the speaker is his choice. Kente’s supporters said the speaker may accept the offer if he is jettisoning his ambition to run for the House of Representatives.

Umar refused to revert back to his constitutional position as the deputy governor when Suntai returned from his medical trip abroad last year. The governor purportedly dissolved his cabinet (Commissioners and Special Advisers) but Umar ordered them to return to their duty posts. He and the late speaker, Haruna Tsokwa, proclaimed the governor as unfit to take charge despite a letter he transmitted to the House of Assembly informing lawmakers of his readiness to resume duty.

Suntai sued the Assembly over the matter, but the acting governor and the speaker, Josiah Sabo Kente, have continued to ignore court injunctions reportedly restraining them from screening and swearing in new officials.

To assert himself for power next year, Umar has rejigged the composition of his Special Advisers. He appointed 24 new Special Advisers and 24 Special Assistants. In the new composition, Umar scrapped some offices and created new ones. There are growing questions as to whether it is legitimate for him to make such changes when his boss, Danbaba Suntai, is back in Government House.

Although Umar has always pledged 100 percent loyalty to his boss, that the government he is running is the Suntai administration, his latest appointments is a sign of a man who feels he is fully in charge as the executive governor.

Some political elites have advised Umar that his 2015 governorship project is a risky venture not worthy of getting on, but Umar has insisted on taking the gamble. This makes all the aspirants from Taraba south to plot against him and they have not hidden their disapproval of his scheme to run for the governorship. Umar’s sin, they alleged, is that he has betrayed his boss who brought him from obscurity to be his deputy a few days before he was involved in the plane crash.

For now, the southern zone has not gotten a consensus candidate yet. Their earlier meeting was a stalemate. To reach consensus, the aspirants must resolve their internal squabbles. The ‘consensus’ candidate must also be the choice of the entire zone. If they fail to get such a candidate, the crowded contenders would have to test their popularity.

Already, some of them are threatening to run against Umar under the opposition APC should Umar hijack the ruling party’s ticket.

Meanwhile, reports say Suntai is getting stronger by the day. He is also banking on his court case to take charge. If he does, he can pick up his bedraggled loyalists and groom a successor from the south, a development that may neutralise the influence of the acting governor.

But Umar is not leaving any stone unturned. He is allegedly thrilled that choosing a consensus candidate from Taraba south so far seems to be an exercise in futility.

March 23, 2014
‘APC will take over Abia in 2015’

Donatus Nwankpa, a former Minority Leader in the Abia State House of Assembly and former House of Representatives candidate of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPA) for the Obingwa/Ugwunagbo/Osisioma Federal Constituency in 2011 is the current state Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State. In this interview with Sunny Nwankwo, he speaks on the party’s readiness to win the state in 2015, his emergence as the chairman of the party in the state and the activities lined up to strengthen the party for future challenges in the state. Excerpts…

There is this claim that there is no APC in Abia State. Is the APC really dead or is it on ground in the state?

There is a book which says that Africa did not have a political system. In my response to the book, I noted that when Lord Lugard, the colonial master, came to Nigeria, he said the aim of the indirect rule was to start from the existing political system in Africa and not to destroy the existing political system at that time. My question was this, if Lord Lugard, who came, saw and felt the system at the time in Africa, declared that it existed, then how come that someone who was in Europe said there was no existing political system? Who is right and wrong? You are talking to the state chairman of the APC in Abia State and before this interview, we just had a state working committee meeting. You can now decide whether the APC exists or not.

When did you become the chairman of the party in the state?

I became the state chairman in late December and I was given the flag for the state last Saturday at the inauguration of the South-East party executive, which took place in Owerri.

Why was Owerri chosen as the venue for the inauguration?

It was a South-East meeting and not a state meeting. The states in the South-East, namely Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, Enugu and Abia were represented. At times, the people in the PDP go to Abuja to collect their flag while ours was done in Igbo land, so I think we should be applauded.

It was reported some time ago in the media that there was tussle over the chairmanship position of APC in Abia State. Was there any harmonisation before the inauguration?

Yes! It took place in December. What you said was happening before then, from October to December, and you should know that it was a teething problem of the fastest growing party in Africa. It was not peculiar to Abia State and it can be seen in any place where there is prospect. It was the challenge of a new dawn and we have overcome it.

It has been alleged that the National Vice Chairman, South-East, of your party, Dr. Nyerere Chinenye Anyim, imposed you on other members as the state chairman of the party. How true is the insinuation?

How can somebody impose me on other members? Don’t I have a political origin? I am a household name. So, with my political experience, that cannot happen. I have been a minority leader in the Abia House of Assembly, which inherently means the leader of the opposition in the state. The allegation arose because I am now taking on a ruling party. Initially, Hon Ndukwe Adindu, who is also my friend and a former minority leader before me, had a stake at the leadership position, which I also had. In our usually parliamentary disagreement to agreement method, we settled our differences and remember that the two of us have come a long way.

Can we know the other executive members of the party in the state?

Well, there is Dr Ndukwe from Bende Local Council, who is our state secretary. We have Prince Eguatu Egbulefu from Aba-South, who is our state treasurer . And Comrade Ben, our state publicity secretary, who is from Ukwa. The list includes Obi Aham from Umunneochi LGA, who is the state organising secretary, Austin Anyaegbu from Ikwuano is our state youth leader, while Hon Mrs Helen Ojukwu is our state women leader. I will not forget to mention our state administrative secretary from Obingwa in the person of Erondu Junior Erondu. This is an interim executive.

What is the mission of your executive in Abia State?

Our mission is to pilot the transformation of the APC in the state and give it a winning streak and mentality. We want to position it for the great task of administering Abia come 2015 when we will take over the mantle of leadership in Abia State. We also seek to formulate policies that will lead to a congress and to register members for the APC. There will be a nationwide registration of APC members because we do not want fictitious names in our register. We want people to know the realistic members of the APC, which is why we are going to register members from their units to the national level. Therefore, this foundation team will pilot the party to its objective.

People have alleged that some of the national executive positions appear to be dominated by Muslims and there is no prominent Igbo name there. What is your take on this?

That is not true! The National Vice Chairman, South-East, Dr. Nyerere Anyim, is an Igbo man, the Deputy National Organising Secretary; Senator Osita Izunaso, is an Igbo man. The National Women leader, Mrs. Sharon Chiazor, is also an Igbo person. The National Youth leader, Mr. Uzo Igbonwa, is an Igbo man, so I do not know what else you are saying. You either may be talking about a speculative list or probably listened to information that is intended to give a wrong impression and sabotage our party. What is the highest position held by an Igbo man in the PDP? Olisa Metu, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, holds the highest position by an Igbo man in the PDP executive. For your information, the National Chairman of our party is a southerner, a Yoruba man.

Given the slow rate of activities in the APC, do you think the party can make an impact in Abia State come 2015 general elections?

Abia is a progressive state and APC is written in the heart of the people because it did not emerge today. Will you tell me that Lord Lugard created Nigeria? All he did was to bring the Northern and Southern protectorates together to form a central administration. Having said that, APC is an amalgamation of ANPP, ACN, CPC, DPP, a faction of APGA and other interest groups.

These interest groups include the new PDP, which is now in our party. Is there anywhere they manufacture new people to play politics? You start from the known to the unknown and these people are already on ground. What is needed is the administrative tinkering, restructuring and reengineering. It is a transformation to a new level because this is the first time in Nigeria we are having a pre-election merger and not an alliance. What we have had previously in this country is a makeshift alliance and not a merger. As I speak to you, the APC is making wave in the House of Representatives and I can assure you that APC will take over the House of Representatives, if not now, in 2015. The senate is not an exception, mind you.

I also want to tell you without any fear of contradiction that we already have 16 governors in our fold while others are on the sidelines waiting to join us. There is therefore no ground to ask if we are ready for the election. Why was the Anambra State election an embarrassment to the country? It is because it was a game plan to undermine the APC and in the course of doing that, it became a show of shame to INEC and the federal government because they were unable to find a rigging style to undermine the majority of the people who believed in the APC and our candidate, Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige. By the grace of God, the stolen mandate will be upturned through the judiciary.

Are there big wigs in Abia State politics who are in the APC?

Prince Benjamin Apugo is a member of our party. Hon Acho Obioma is in our fold too. The former National Chairman of PPA, Barrister Sam Nkire, is with us while the former deputy governor of our state, Chris Akoma, will soon join us. We also have people like Chief Ikechi Emenike, Sir. Stanley Ohajuruka and Barrister K.C Ugboaja, who have equally embraced us. There are other names too numerous to mention now. APC is interested in generational change and transformation. I know the APC is written in your heart because you are a progressive and any media person who is not a progressive has problem. APC has come to change the mentality of the PDP. What is the mentality of the PDP? It is taking Nigerians for granted and that is why the helplessness of Nigerians before elections is obvious. There has always been a lackadaisical approach amongst Nigerians towards elections because they know that whether they vote or not, the PDP has already written results and nothing will be done about it. As at today, Nigeria has technically arrived at what it should be; a two party system, which means that Nigerians now have alternative choices.

Like other political parties, has your party zoned positions in the state?

I am a team player. I will not arrogate to myself powers that I do not have. The state executives, congress of the APC and members of the party will determine where they will zone the various offices. I assure Abians that in whatever we do, we are conscious of fair play, fairness and equity. We are conscious of the feelings of the people and will not play with their sensibilities.

Abia is a PDP state, do you not think that the APC will have a serious challenge in trying to win power?

Are you a believer in “as it is in the beginning, then forever it shall be?” That principle only belongs to Almighty God. The time of change has come and the wind of change is blowing across the globe and Nigeria. Abia cannot be an exception! For the past 16 years, Abia has been in political wilderness and now progressives will take over the state and lead it to its natural place, which is among the committee of civilised, advanced and comfortable states of this country. There is a divine hand that is saying ‘Pharaoh, set my people free; PDP, let my people free’, and that is what is going to happen.

Political opponents have often referred to the APC as an amalgamation of strange bedfellows and that sharing of political offices will disintegrate the coalition. It is also said that the primaries of the 2015 general election will sound the death knell of the party. What is your take on these?

Those are statements of our detractors who are consoling themselves. They said we would not last three months but we have lasted until this very moment. We participated in an election where they used the apparatus of the state brutally to the point that the Chairman of INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) admitted that the election was an embarrassment. We had an interim executive and it has worked. They said the new PDP members would not join us, but today they have joined us. This is the first time, the Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, South- South and Middle Belt are coming together to seek for change. Tell me a revolution in the world which has been carried out by strata of persons? Did strata of persons carry out the Russian Revolution? People of distinct origins, environment, and mentality carried out the industrial revolution that is taking place today in Malaysia, India, and China. The most important thing that binds us together is our ideology of positive thinking, change, fair play and equity and that is because the APC is rooted in the culture of social justice.

Any last word for Abians?

Abians should take charge of their destiny and embrace the change that the APC will bring to them come May 2015.

March 23, 2014