The Nation Newspaper

Category: Politics

  • Akpabio and the politics of benevolence

    Akpabio and the politics of benevolence

    Governor Godswill Akpabio is the man of the moment. While his controversial appointment as PDP Governors’ Forum chair is still generating heat, he finds himself receiving flak for uncommon generosity with state funds. Sunday Oguntola takes a look at his politics.

    Today, he easily qualifies as the most powerful governor. That the Presidency found him worthy to lead other governors elected on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says a lot about the influence Akwa Ibom Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, wields in the polity. Akpabio has been growing in leaps and bound since the election of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.

    This has been playing out in recent months. First, it was to him the Presidency turned when the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), headed by Governor Rotimi Amaechi, became too much to handle. Amaechi, the Rivers State governor, was alleged to be working against the interest of President Goodluck Jonathan. He was also a known critic of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

    When NGF became more or less an opposition forum, the presidency decided to step in. A plot was conceived to polarise and break the ranks of the governors. That idea, it was realised, will not only whittle down the influence of NGF in the polity but also provide a support base for the President’s re-election bid in 2015.

    When it was time to decide which of the governors will play the ostrich, Akpabio fitted comfortably into the mould. His support for the President is well-known. He is also from the South-South, the regional bloc of the President, just like Amaechi. The President needed someone with a strong personality and financial muscle to retain the groundswell of support among his kinsmen.

    Akpabio gladly accepted the challenge with excitement. His mandate, according to sources, is to match Amaechi words for words and cash for cash. He played out this card so well penultimate weekend during the reconciliation meeting of the party in Port-Harcourt, capital of Rivers State. There, he announced, to the discomfort and chagrin of his fellow colleagues, the donation of N1million for lunch to state chairmen of the party in the region.

    His politics

    His politics follows a simple Machiavelli’s law: never fight the man in power. The law recommends absolute loyalty to the man in power to remain relevant and rise. Akpabio has left no one in doubt he is the President’s man. He fights the President’s battles like his and takes on whoever stands against Jonathan. The overwhelmed President must have become so impressed he is willing to grant Akpabio as much authority as he needs to carry on.

    Since his emergence as Chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum, Akpabio has been carrying on like a moving train. At a courtesy call on the National Working Committee (NWC) shortly after his emergence unopposed, Akpabio said he was poised to weed out Judases among governors working against the interest of Jonathan. According to him: “What the PDP is trying to do now is to cleanse its house to try to identify the ones they called Judas and whisper it to them and say go out, the train is moving and you cannot stand, otherwise we will crush you.”

    He went on: “That’s the new PDP; it isn’t to challenge the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, but to strengthen it. We will not allow minorities impose their ideas on us, the majority. We will not allow NGF to be seen as a trade union to fight government. We cannot be fighting the federal government; we are part of the federal government. Our job is to work with the federal government to initiate best policies for the interest of Nigerians.”

    His benevolences

    Akwa Ibom receives the highest monthly allocation from the federal government. This follows the victory of the state over Cross Rivers on disputed oil wells last year. Critics say the presidency deliberately swayed the judgment in Akwa Ibom’s favour to give Akpabio a strong financial war-chest to carry out ‘’special assignments”.

    Akpabio, ever a big-spender, has not disappointed. He recently gave out 2 Toyota Prado jeeps and a cheque of N3million wedding present to popular hip hop star, 2 face Idibia and his wife, Annie Macauley-Idibia. The traditional wedding took place in Uyo where Annie hails from. Akpabio, who was at the event, also promised to sponsor 20 family members to their forthcoming nuptial in Dubai.

    Before the outcries from the largesse died down, Akpabio threw a bigger masterstroke. He announced the donation of N230million on behalf of South-South Governors at the fund raising for President Jonathan’s village church in Lagos. Most governors from the region have since distanced themselves from the donation, meaning Akpabio will effortlessly pay singlehandedly.

    Less than 24 hours later, Akpabio announced a gift of N1million to each PDP chairman in the South-South “for lunch”. How he went about the announcement left no one in doubt he was playing to the gallery.

    As 2015 draws closer, Akpabio is certain to be a strong factor to reckon with. He will be a strong mobiliser and field worker for Jonathan’s second term bid. With a strong financial war chest and presidential backing, the flamboyant governor will be prepared to crush opposition among governors and within the South-South against Jonathan.

    But in the murky waters of politics, only fate will determine how far he will go.

  • ‘Judiciary hasn’t done much on conviction of electoral offenders’

    ‘Judiciary hasn’t done much on conviction of electoral offenders’

    Mike Igini is the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Cross River State. He was in Kenya to observe the recent presidential polls and shares his experience there with some reporters in Calabar. Nicholas Kalu was there.

    You were in Kenya to observe their presidential elections. How would you describe the experience?

    I would say it was an interesting experience, being the first post-conflict election; one observed the collective will and determination of a nation to avoid a repeat of the tragedy of the 2007 election. That crisis led to the death of over 1,200 people, like the post-election violence in Nigeria after the 2011 election. There are still 600,000 displaced people yet to be rehabilitated five years after the 2007 election in Kenya. But for the Mobasa separatist pre-election violence that led to the death of policemen and civilians, the general impression one got from the Kenyan people was a determination to put such ugly electoral history behind them.

    On election procedure, there were efforts to speed up the process by using electronic accreditation with standby manual registers of same data as well as electronic transmission of already counted results from polling stations. However, because there were some hitches, the IEBC had to revert to the manual processes and all results were brought in from the collation centres to be counted centrally.

    A significant difference between the system and ours was the expeditious zeal with which the judicial system handled electoral offences. For instance, a supporter of an MP was found trying to induce voters with money neatly packaged in envelopes during elections on Monday 4th, and by the next day, Tuesday the 5th, while the electoral process was still ongoing, the culprit was arraigned before a magistrate court, convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment, with no option of fine.

    One significant lesson on the use of electronic voting process is that it requires robust systems with early warning feedback loops that allow instant remediation of glitches because election processes are highly sensitive issues which cannot allow for prevarications. Also, there is a need to always have manual back-ups as we did here in Nigeria because dispensing with the manual system could be costly if very serious challenges develop.

    How would you describe their electoral system compared to Nigeria’s?

    An electoral system has many contextual peculiarities, so it is often best to talk in relative terms when comparing. However, there are significant parallels and differences between our system and theirs. As you may already know, the electoral system relies on many factors from the general country context, the legislative framework, the attitude of stakeholders and the rule of law. In general, my impression is that the same historical background of colonialism with voters aggregating around primordial ethnic comfort zones rather than policy issues, obtains in Kenya as it does in Nigeria. This is a problem that the Ghanaians had significantly overcome although there were some remnants of the problems, hence voter awareness was still a significant problem as with Nigeria. But the Kenyan electoral system has acknowledged this by introducing the presidential debate that was focused on issues of development that really matter and thus educate voters on policy benefits. Another significant difference in my view is the issue I mentioned earlier relating to the expeditious consequences for electoral fraud. In the Kenyan situation the judiciary clearly was not ready to brook such threat to their democratic progress, whereas here we would find judicial officials vacillating on the same issue which is an existential threat to our democracy. I say this with all seriousness because until 2010, it is on record that our judiciary had not done much on conviction of electoral offenders, and even when INEC made strenuous efforts to push for such consequences, we met with significant structural resistance to maintain the status quo ante, except for just one conviction we secured here in Cross River. This is bad for our progress.

    Could corruption be the reason for the failure in virtually all spheres of government?

    Any society that accepts corruption as an article of faith will never attain its full potentials. As I have just related in regard to electoral offenses, a significant stumbling block to corruption of all kinds in Nigeria is the sense of impunity built by the years of a lack of effective judicial consequences. No doubt there have been many convictions for crimes in Nigeria but regarding fraud, especially the type of fraud which threatens our economic growth and development in many dimensions, there is a significant deficit in consequences, and the judiciary should lead the way on that count, that is why we have separation of powers with the judicial arm and that is why democracy is always qualified with the mantra “and the rule of law” , for as St Augustine insisted, a country is nothing but a gang of rogues without the rule of law.

    How can corruption be addressed?

    The way we are going now with our value pyramid upside down; a society where money is everything, no sense of shame and nobody afraid of anything except death, we may have to go for death penalty. Those who do the wrong things that endanger our collective wellbeing are the very ones that would tell to go to court and boast of their influence and how they will stall trial through frivolous application upon application. Even in our churches now, pastors would announce during thanksgiving that members should take their personal effects when dancing to the altar because of stealing even in the house of God. This is how terrible our society has declined. In addressing this problem, we should adopt these three approaches in addition to others; firstly and curatively we should ensure that proven cases of corruption be met with maximum judicial consequences; second preventatively by ensuring that regulative and normative control measures in the private and public sectors are in place and effectual. Regulative controls involve the bureaucratic, financial, quality and other measures of control that are the organisational practices for decades and normative controls includes the evolving codes of expected good practices which are reviewed from time to time.

    Is it right that we celebrate 100 years of amalgamation at a time when the country is faced with issues of insecurity and others?

    It is an apt opportunity to ask ourselves why we abandoned the path of governance framework Sir Ahmadu Bello, Awolowo and Zik, after series of conferences, finally agreed on to promote rapid development? Why is it that we have refused to reconcile ourselves and build a country of equal opportunity for all? Our reality is that after these many years we have not arrived at a consensual agreement of who we are; what we want to be; and where we want to go. We are still grappling with the intricacies of nationhood. We are yet to be at peace with one another after almost 100 years. In other words we have not realistically formulated a common acceptable shared vision that would generate common determination to achieve common goals.

  • Anxiety over Tukur’s reconciliation moves

    Anxiety over Tukur’s reconciliation moves

    From the South-West to the South-East, South-South down to the North-East and North-Central, it appears the mission of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, to reconcile aggrieved members of the party is turning out to be an arduous task, reports Remi Adelowo

    It was an upbeat Alhaji Bamanga Tukur that left Abuja on that fateful Tuesday for Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State about two weeks ago. Tagged ‘reconciliation tour’, early signs that this mission embarked upon by the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may not achieve its desired objectives were brought to the fore in the ancient city.

    Invited to the Ibadan meeting included past and present PDP political office holders from the South-West, party leaders from all the states in the region, including Lagos, past and present lawmakers in the National Assembly and other stakeholders, to mention but a few. And they showed up in large numbers.

    Present were former Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin; former PDP National Deputy Chairman, Alhaji Yekini Adeojo; Interim National Vice Chairman (South-West), Chief Ishola Filani; former Governor of Ondo and Ekiti States, Dr. Olusegun Agagu and Ayo Fayose, respectively; two members of the party Board of Trustees-Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun and Chief Ebenezer Babatope and other party leaders.

    A source at the meeting told The Nation that the mood among those present was somber. Of major concern to Tukur and everyone present was how to unite the deeply divided party in the region in readiness for the 2014 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States, and most importantly the 2015 general elections.

    Appealing to warring party members to sheath their swords in the interest of the party, Tukur was also reported to have warned them that current developments in the party posed great danger to the electoral fortunes of the party if not nipped in the bud. With other party leaders taking their turns to air their grievances, the meeting ended after about four hours of deliberation.

    But for the power brokers in the party and the Presidency, the Ibadan parley, according to a source, was described as a flop. The reason may not be unconnected to the absence of former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; former National Secretary of PDP, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; the party’s National Vice Chairman and National Auditor, Chief Olusegun Oni and Chief Bode Mustapha respectively, and former Governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao- Akala.

    Obasanjo’s absence did not come as a surprise. Alleged not to be on good terms with President Goodluck Jonathan, the former president has paid heavily for this, with his perceived loyalists holding key positions in the party removed unceremoniously.

    The sacking of Oyinlola, Oni and Mustapha is alleged to be a direct fall-out of the president’s frosty relationship with the former president. At the Ibadan meeting, Obasanjo, it was gathered, neither showed up nor sent any representative. The former Ogun PDP deputy governorship candidate in the 2011 elections, Tunde Oladunjoye, who spoke on behalf of the former president, said he (Obasanjo) was not invited to the meeting, but a source at the party’s national headquarters denied this claim.

    A former senator who spoke to The Nation last weekend said the Presidency is waiting for the outcome of the yet unscheduled visit of Chief Tony Anenih, the party’s Board of Trustees chairman to Obasanjo before deciding the next line of action.

    At the Enugu parley

    From Ibadan, Tukur proceeded to Enugu on the same mission to bring aggrieved party members together.

    Though the roll call at the meeting was quite impressive, not a few party leaders were disappointed that some key political actors in the South-East geo-political zone, who were invited, stayed away. They included former vice-president, Dr. Alex Ekwueme; former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Chief Emeka Ihedioha; former Governor of old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo, Chief Chris Uba, to name just a few.

    The drama in Port Harcourt

    Days after Tukur left Port Harcourt at the end of his South-South reconciliation tour, the ripples it generated are yet to settle. Described as the most well attended of Tukur’s zonal tour so far, the meeting held at the Civic Centre in the oil-rich city was attended by all the governors in the South-South.

    Midway into the meeting, however, the host governor, Chibuike Amaechi and his Delta State counterpart, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, allegedly walked out to the consternation of their colleague governors-Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and other party members.

    Though the two governors have denied insinuations that they walked out, explaining through their media aides that they duly took permission from Tukur to attend to other pressing matters, the controversy their action generated to lingers.

    Amaechi’s ‘affront’ is being interpreted as a subtle way to express his alleged displeasure over the moves by the president and the party to remove him as the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the formation of the PDP Governors Forum (PDPGF), headed by Akpabio. The Rivers State Governor has not attended the two meetings of the PDP Governors Forum since it was established.

    The scenario at the North-East parley

    Held in Bauchi, two governors in the region were conspicuously absent. They are the Adamawa State helmsman, Muritala Nyako and his Gombe State counterpart, Ibrahim Damkwambo. The latter’s immediate predecessor, Senator Danjuma Goje, also stayed away.

    Nyako’s absence may not be unconnected with his battle for supremacy with Tukur over the control of the party apparatus in Adamawa. Tukur, it was gathered, is alleged to be positioning his eldest son, Awwal, a former member of the House of Representatives, to succeed Nyako in 2015, a plot the governor is alleged to be aware of and is determined to scuttle.

    More headaches in North-Central

    It was a visibly angry Tukur, who was alleged to have privately confided in other top party members who accompanied him to Makurdi, venue of the meeting, that the party has its hands full in its quest to solve the crisis bedevilling it.

    Sources revealed that Tukur was worried that none of the governors in the zone, including those believed to be loyalists of the president, attended the meeting. Only the host governor, Gabriel Suswam, reportedly sent his deputy, Chief Steve Lawani, while the governors of Plateau, Kwara and Niger states failed to show up.

    Jitters in the Presidency

    Concerned that Tukur’s tour, planned as the first in the series of reconciliation moves by the party, has recorded little success, the Presidency, according to sources, has ordered security agencies to place the activities of governors perceived to be antagonistic to the president’s alleged second term ambition on strict surveillance.

    This move is coming against the background of alleged moves by hawks in the seat of power and the PDP national headquarters to suspend Amaechi and Governor Babangida Aliyu from the party.

    Amaechi’s ‘sin’, it was gathered, is his refusal to back down from his intention to seek re-election as chairman of NGF next month, while Aliyu’s crime is his insistence that the president allegedly signed an agreement with northern governors not to seek for a second term in office in 2015.

    With the North-West remaining the only zone yet to host Tukur, it remains to be seen how the party and the Presidency intend to put their reconciliation agenda back on track.

  • Filani, Lawal in secret war

    Two officers of the recently constituted zonal executive of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West are currently at daggers drawn over the running of the party in the zone. Sources disclosed that the National Vice Chairman, Chief Ishola Filani, and the Publicity Secretary, Waheed Lawal, have severally disagreed over how the publicity of the executive is being handled. Lawal is alleged to be uncomfortable about how Filani has been allegedly usurping his duties, a development that has virtually rendered him idle.

  • Powers of Mr. President and NGF election

    There is a monumental falsehood that has been diligently promoted in Nigeria since 1999, and that is that the President of Nigeria is the most powerful leader on earth because his presidential powers are said to be unlimited and he can do whatever tickles his fancy without hindrance. It is this false contention that perhaps informed President Goodluck Jonathan’s insistence that Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State must be removed as the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) as reported in The Nation’s front-page news-story of Wednesday, February 27, 2013. Interestingly, however, the issue has naturally brought to the front burner of national discourse the question of the limits of presidential power in Nigeria.

    According to The Nation’s news report under reference and entitled, “Revealed: How Jonathan threatened PDP Governors”, President Jonathan is reported to have threatened the governors with the following three action plans unless they do his bidding over Governor Amaechi’s continued headship of their forum. The first bordered on the threat to deprive the governors of their security details. The second concerned the threat to deprive them (governors) access to funds from the illegal and unconstitutional excess crude oil account. The third referred to the threat to refrain from appending his signature to the benchmark for the 2013 budget or Appropriation Act.

    Of course, any doubts about the truthfulness of The Nation’s news report pales into insignificance when a presidential minion, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, screamed in the Sunday Punch of March 10, 2013, that, “the President has enormous powers under the constitution. The fact that he does not use up to 40 per cent of his constitutional powers does not mean weakness.”

    A major fall-out from the current political struggle over the chairmanship position of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) is certainly the resolution of some critical questions that have become inevitable. Is it true that the powers of the President of Nigeria are overly enormous and unlimited? Is it true that the President of Nigeria is above the law and can carry out actions that breach the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) without any sanctions against him? Are the powers of an unelected military head of state in a military regime the same with those of an elected civilian President in a constitutional democratic society?

    The answers to these questions will be attempted by the appraisal here.

    Firstly, the power to deploy security details for the protection of state governors belongs to the Inspector-General of Police who determines all the operational activities of the Nigeria Police Force. See section 215(2) of the 1999 constitution (as amended).

    Secondly, the President of Nigeria does not have the power to deny state governors access to the proceeds from the illegal and unconstitutional excess crude oil account. The constitution is quite clear that the stakeholders or owners of the excess crude oil account are all the three (3) tiers of government (federal, state and local governments), and that it is the National Assembly that has the final say on the modalities of releasing funds from federation funds or accounts, see Section 162 (1 & 3).

    Any doubts about the efficacy of the position highlighted here should reflect on the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case between Obasanjo’s Presidency and Tinubu’s Lagos State Government where it was determined that the President of Nigeria has no powers whatsoever over the release of local government funds to its recipients.

    Thirdly, the President of Nigeria also does not have the final say in the determination of budgetary benchmarks. See Section 81(1) and section 80(3) of the same 1999 constitution.

    From the foregoing, it is clear that all the three issues which President Jonathan reportedly used in cowing or intimidating some PDP governors into doing his bidding over Governor Amaechi’s continued headship of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum were mere hot air without any force of law.

    As we march towards the month of May 2013, when the election of a new chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum will take place, it behoves on well-meaning Nigerians to mobilize their governors into ensuring that Amaechi retains the position.

    While it is true that President Jonathan has the constitutional right to contest the 2015 presidential election, so it is for other Nigerians in the PDP like Sule Lamido, Babangida Aliyu, Chibuike Amaechi, Atiku Abubakar, etc. In the final analysis, it is the Nigerian electorate that will decide who gets sworn-in as President on May 29, 2015, and not any cabal masquerading as PDP Governors’ Forum or the national leadership of the PDP.

    In conclusion, the point has to be made that the powers of the President of Nigeria are not unlimited or all that enormous as those who have difficulties appreciating the meanings of the constitutional provisions would have the world believe. The office of the President of Nigeria was created by the constitution. The same constitution also enjoins the President to act within the confines of the law.

    So, the President of Nigeria, who is just one of the authorities in the land, does not have any constitutional powers to punish or remove a sitting governor from office for failing to do his political bidding.

    Mr. Nkemjika, a research writer and strategic thinker, is the Chairman of Mezie Ala-Igbo Foundation.

  • Scramble for grassroots power

    Scramble for grassroots power

    The three major political parties-Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Accord Party (AP) – are warming up for the local government elections in Oyo State. Correspondent OSEHEYE OKWUOFU examines the strengths and weaknesses of the platforms. 

    When Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi assumed office on May 29, 2011, he promised to ensure effective grassrooots governance in the Pacesetter State.

    The governor sacked the members of the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) set up by his predecessor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and appointed caretaker committee chairmen to administer the councils.

    The governor also hinted that plans were underway to set in motion the machinery for the conduct of democratic elections in the 33 councils in the state.

    This however, did not go down well with the major opposition party. The PDP leaders, who lost their deposits at the governorship election, have been critical of the activities of the governor since then. They claimed that he was using a delay tactics.

    However, observers contended that this was not new. They recalled that Alao-Akala, who took over from former Governor Ladoja in 2007, dissolved the previous electoral commission. But this did not stop the opposition from wiping sentiments against the administration.

    Last week, the Oyo State ACN leadership was fed up with the virulent attacks. It said the character assassination, tissue of lies, and incitement of the public against the government were unacceptable, stressing that the governor was not avoiding the council polls.

    The PDP had taken some steps to mount pressure on Ajimobi. The first step was to encourage the sacked members of the electoral body to institute legal action aganist the ACN government , challenging their removal from office. The aggrieved OYSIEC members’ argument bordered on the issue of tenure of office, which , according to their sworn affidavit in court, should lapse on September 2012 , whereas they were forcefully removed in 2011 . Now, that event has overtaken the matter in court, the applicants’ demand is the payment of salaries and other entitlements covering the time they were removed from office.

    The is not the only legal hurdle. The leadership of the PDP has dragged Ajimobi to court , praying the court to order an immediate conduct of local government elections. They complained that the government deliberately decided to put the election on hold in the last two years.

    However, the administration had explained that, as a law abiding government, which has respect for the rule of law, it would be a breach of the law to circumvent an order of the court. Undisputably , once a matter is before the court , the law stipulates that the status quo must be maintained, until the matter is resolved by the court. Observers wondered why the PDP has refused to withdraw the cases in the court, knowing fully well that the polls cannot take place, until the resolution of the cases.

    The ACN chairman, Chief Akin Oke, has declared that the party is not afraid of local election, but the only problem was the fact that the PDP chieftains would not like the election to hold because they know its not going to be business as usual .

    The ACN scribe, Hon. Kolawole Dauda, corroborated the views of Chief Oke , saying that the party is fully prepared for the council poll . He blamed the delay in conducting the election on the PDP which , according to him, had bluntly objected to what the governor is doing to reposition the local electoral process. “ Some cores issues have remained unresolved”, he stressed.

    Dauda said that, when the coast is clear, ACN is ready for the elections. The party official boasted that the ruling party will win the polls in all the councils.

    In the last two years, caretaker committees have been administering the local governments. This is against the constitutional provision that democratically elected councils are fully guaranteed. Having spent two terms of six months each , the 33 caretaker chairmen may likely be spending their last tenure in office, going by the renewed agitations for the elections by the opposition parties.

    The ACN is not indifferent to these agitations. Last week, the party commenced the re-registration of its members in the state , an indication that the court is likely to resolve the knotty issues very soon.

    Besides, a section of the PDP has been mounting pressures on their members who had gone to court over the council election. PDP wants the elections to hold now, so that it can profit from the sentiments generated by urban renewal exercise going on in Ibadan, the state capital. The opposition has been misinforming the public that the governor’s uncaring attitude had led him to the demolition of some structures, including markets, with severe consequences on their owners.

    Last week, PDP leaders met at the Jogor Centre, Ibadan, to rub minds on how to wrest power from the ruling ACN.

    Alao-Akala, who was at the meeting, fiegned ignorance of the suit challenging the government on the delayed polls, when he criticised Ajimobi for running the local governments with caretaker committees for almost two years.

    How the parties stand

    PDP

    It is evident that the PDP has not learnt lessons from its 2011 electoral defeat. The party is still a disunited fold rocked by the protracted intra-party crisis.

    The party is still battling with the leadership crisis and other internal wranglings among members, inspite of efforts made by the concerned leaders and the National Working Committee to mediate and bring all the warring factions to amicable settlement of their differences.

    The situation has remained so since the demise of the strongman of Ibadan politics, Chief Lamidi Adedibu, who has been the uniting force. With his absence, everyone wants to be a leader ,and has left members floating in different direction.

    Many reconciliation committees have come and gone , yet the centre has cannot hold. Consequently, many members have defected to the ruling ACN and Accord Party in search of a viable platform, which the PDP cannot provide. Although efforts were being made to reconcile the members, it seems that the problem has to do more with sincerity , trust and forgiveness . A good attempt at uniting the warring factions was made at the Jogor Centre with a measure of success. Many boycotted the forum, which was ostencibly meant to unite the fueding leaders .

    According to observers, the only panacea to the leadership crisis in the party is for all the warring leaders, including Akala,Alhaji Hazeem Gbolarumi, Senator Lekan Balogun,Alhaji Yekini Adeojo, and others to relinguish their ambitions and allow the youger generations to hold sway . If leaders like Adeojo, Balogun, Oyelese, and Alao-Akala can mobilise their followers and work assiduosly for the good of the party, PDP has the chance of winning some of the local government areas.

    ACN

    The ruling party has alot to do to win the majority of the councils . To begin with, the party’s leadership must pacify aggrieved members, who are complaining of politics of exclusion.

    No doubt, there is crisis in the party and the way it is handled will determine the success of the party in the forth- coming election. The popularity of the party in the Southwest, bouyed by the sterling performances of the ACN governors, will definitely contribute to the success of the party. But the power of incumbency and the performance of the governor in the last two years are important success factors.

    Accord

    The party, unlike PDP and ACN, enjoys cohesion and unity among members. Its presence only in Ibadanland (11 councils) is not good enough. However, going by the personality of the leader, Senator Rashidi Ladoja,it is likely the party will win more support from other zones, including Oyo, Ogbomoso, Ibarapa and Oke-Ogun .

    There is the need for the members to reach out , and not to rely only on the feat recorded during the April 2011 general elections . Besides, Accord Party is a party to beat in Ibadanland in the forth-coming council poll.

  • How Nigeria should handle Boko Haram, by McCulley

    How Nigeria should handle Boko Haram, by McCulley

    The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Terrence McCulley, incurred the wrath of the Federal Government last week over a statement he made about the way the country is handling the Boko Haram menace. Foreign Editor DAYO FABORODE was at the session where McCulley spoke on Mali and its connection to the dreadful sect.

    Is there a link between the military operation in Mali and the terrorist activities of Boko Haram. Can we say the military operation in Mali has reduced the terrorist activities for Boko Haram in Nigeria?

    I would say that, as my colleague pointed out, this issue has a regional dimension. And clearly the government of Nigeria is very concerned about the situation in northern Mali. We are all concerned with the influx, after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, of weapons and extremists. We have seen reports for years of Boko Haram extremists travelling to Northern Mali for training and then returning to Nigeria. The Boko Haram phenomena has not stopped in Northern Mali. I do believe that Nigerians feel there is a link between terrorist activity in the Sahel and their internal extremist insurgency.

    The government of Nigeria clearly needs to address this issue with what we called for, a multi-pronged approach that focuses generally on the security threat that Boko Haram represents, but also in addressing the economic and social conditions that exist in the North. 2,000 people have been killed since 2009. A comprehensive strategy that goes after extremists without injuring innocent civilians, without killing innocent civilians, respecting human rights and respecting the rule of law is required. But clearly, the crisis affecting Mali and the region in general has an effect upon the insurgency in Northern Nigeria.

    Does the U.S. have any plans for drones to be used in Nigeria? Have Nigerian authorities asked any questions diplomatically about the use of these drones and how do you address mounting concerns about the US opening a drone base in Africa after some drone strikes have killed civilians in other parts of the world?

    I think that question is probably best addressed by the Department of Defence or my colleague Ambassador Bisa Williams. The issue will still come up in the Nigerian press and it has been addressed by the Department of Defence. I don’t really think this is an appropriate forum to comment on that. The Nigerians have not raised this issue with us formally.

    How do you see ECOWAS’s handling of the Mali war?

    I am speaking also in my capacity as the United States Permanent Representative to the Economic Community of West African States. ECOWAS has a long and proud tradition of engagement in matters of peace and security in the West African region, going back to the crisis in Liberia and Sierra Leone and more recently the crisis in Guinea Bissau and Cote d’Ivoire. Since the beginning of the crisis in Mali last year, ECOWAS once again has shown great leadership and I would like to use this occasion to commend the leadership of the sitting President of ECOWAS, the Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara, as well as the President of the ECOWAS commission, Ambassador Ouédraogo. Both of them have shown great engagement in bringing together ECOWAS for a quick consensus in condemning the coup, calling for the restoration of legitimate rule and calling for the deployment of force to ensure the territorial integrity of Mali. Throughout this process the United States has been a strong supporter of ECOWAS and of the efforts of President Ouattara and President Ouédraogo and their fellow heads of states throughout the West Africa region. We will continue to provide support to ECOWAS. My colleague Ambassador Leonard has outlined the material support that the United States is providing to AFISMA to the end of the fiscal year. I expect that that support will continue going forward. We look forward to working closely with ECOWAS, with the African Union, to restore peace in Mali, to bring about restoration of the country’s territorial integrity and to ensuring that countries of the ECOWAS zone have what they need to get the job done, and beyond that, other countries that have been associated with this mission, notably Chad, beyond the ECOWAS zone. Let me stop there so that we can have time for questions, but again I would like to thank you all for coming.

    Can you speak more on French and other nations’ involvement in Mali?

    In the first place, the French forces remain in Mali and remain actively engaged in so far I can tell from reading the news reports. With regards to U.S. support to AFISMA, we are providing training through our Africa contingency operations training, which is our peacekeeping package, which is managed by the Department of State. Traditionally, we are providing lifts to the some of the troop-contributing countries. Certainly we do not envisage having U.S. forces on the ground. We are looking at training in-country, whether it be in Togo or Niger. The Nigerian contingent that is part of AFISMA, the 333rd, has just finished the training in Jaji up in Kaduna, before they were deployed to Mali. So, from the U.S. side we very much look at this as a train and equip package and a sustainment package, which will provide life support to the troops on the ground in Mali and pre-deployment training.

    Sure, I think as Ambassador Leonard pointed out in her opening remarks, the United States has already committed $96 million this fiscal year alone to help train, equip and provide life support to AFISMA and I would say that the response of ECOWAS and countries beyond the ECOWAS zone line, like Chad, has been quite impressive. In fact, according to the last count, there are already over 6,200 AFISMA troops deployed. I believe that the U.S. has a plan to provide additional training to troops that are going to be deployed to AFISMA. It is clearly a challenging environment. And from what we see, the Chadians and French in the north are really carrying the fight, but the expectation is that as we transition to a fully operational AFISMA, that it is going to effectively play the role that ECOWAS and the African Union has set out for it and I think the expectation is that AFISMA will also transition to a UN peacekeeping operation. So I think that there has been a robust response from ECOWAS thus far, given that we are really only 12 months from the outset of the crisis. The political reaction from ECOWAS was timely and once the decision was made to deploy AFISMA it was deployed with alacrity and there are many troops on the ground now.

    The funding for AFISMA has been very slow in coming. How effective do you think they will operate without funds?

    I would say that the funding for AFISMA has not been slow in coming. We committed very early on and provided already, an initial $34 million has been notified to Congress, $52 million is in the pipeline to provide support for equipment training and logistics. We believe that this is an international effort though, and as Ambassador Leonard pointed out in her statement, there are gaps which we hope that other donors will step up and provide support for AFISMA. We have ongoing training, we have a contract underway to provide life support to AFISMA so I would say that the money has not been slow in coming and the United States will continue to do what we can to provide support for this important mission.

  • Anambra not for highest bidder, says CPC aspirant

    Anambra State Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) governorship aspirant Mr. Ifeanyichukwu Igwebuike has said that the governorship is not for the highest bidder.

    He said the power of money will fail during the poll, urging the people to brace up for change.

    Speaking to The Nation in Lagos, Igwebuike said no amount of money by any contender will entice the electorate in the next year’s election.

    He said that, though the race may be highly monetized, the people are now wiser. The politician said that integrity, service and patriotism will appeal to the masses more than money.

    Igwebuike said the reactions of the people has shown that they will not vote for money, but for credible and competent candidate.

    The retired soldier, who lamented the absence of an airport and recreational centre in the state, said his mission is to change the face of the commercial centre to a mega city. He noted that tourism, which would have been a high income source for the state, has not been adequately explored.Igwebuike said he would have prefered to contest the election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC),if the merger works out before the election.

    He said: “Our people are now wiser than before. They will not vote for money, but the personality of the candidate, his credibility and competence. The mantra now in Anambra is collect, chop and vote for the man with integrity. Despite the money in Anambra, the state is behind in infrastructure development. Tourism, which would have been a means of income for the state, is in shambles . The roads in major cities of the state are in bad shape.

    “By the time the CPC wins the election next year, you will see rapid development in Anambra State. I want to bring succour to the generality of the people of the state and that is the primary objective of my involvement because it is God’s assignment, which needs to be accomplish”.

  • ‘Ali should apologise to Yoruba’

    A Pan Yoruba socio-political and cultural organisation, the Coalitition

    of Oodua Self Determination Groups (COSEG), has flayed the former

    National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Ahmadu Ali, for making derogatory remarks abou Yoruba.

    The group said that Ali’s description of Yoruba as an “ungrateful people”, was unfortunate.

    Also, the President of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, has also dismissed Ali’s statement, describing it as “a symptom of verbal diarrhoea”. He said: “The former Education Minister, whose mishandling of a students’ crisis led to the death of several youths in 1978, was as insensitive, reckless and narcissistic as ever.”

    In a statement in Lagos, COSEG chairman, Dayo Ogunlana, and secretary, Rasaq Olokoba, expressed disappointment over Ali’s comment, describing it as “uninformed, off the target and mischievous.”

    The group lamented that the politician had disrespected the race that has produced legenda, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Professor Wole Soyinka, and the late Professor Ayodele Awojobi.

    COSEG said: “Ali’s recent failure in the contest for the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman might have been pushing him to seek relevance in order to warm himself back into the corridor of power for political salvation and rehabilitation.”

    The group said that the Third Republic senator had come up with that “ignorant assessment of Yoruba,” urging him to liberate himself from the phobia for a first class race in the black world.

    It added: “Ali and others in his shoes should weigh their utterances before vomiting them. The foul comment was least expected of a former Minister of Education, whose role in the 1978 “ALI MUST GO” sad episode resulted in the death of over 10 university students nationwide.”

  • ‘APC will dislodge PDP’

    Ekiti State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) chieftain Chief Folorunso

    Alake has enjoined Nigerians to embrace the All Progressives Congress

    (APC) as a credible alternative to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The politician spoke at the meeting of the ACN stakeholders in Efon local government area, where he explained the mission of the new party to the party faithful.

    Alake lauded the decision by the four parties-ACN, All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)-to establish the new platform.

    He said: “APC is a mega progressive party. We want to replicate the feats of the ACN, ANPP, CPC and APGA governors at the centre. Nigerians are tired of the PDP, which has failed to give a credible leadership to the country.

    “The suffering of 14 years must end in 2015. The progressives cannot fold their arms. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, there is the determination to join forces to liberate Nigeria. I urge Nigerians to sustain the support they have been giving to the new party so that they can begin to reap the dividends of democracy as from 2015.”