The Nation Newspaper

Category: Politics

  • Senator calls for national conference

    Senator calls for national conference

    Senator Ayo Adeseun (Oyo Central) has called on Nigerians to see the Sovereign National Conference as the panacea to the problems facing the country.

    The lawmaker, who spoke at the 47th memorial lecture of Late Samuel Ladoke Akintola held at Akintola Villa, Ogbomoso, said the conference will provide opportunity for the ventilation of grievances.

    Senator Adeseun maintained that there is urgent need for Sovereign National Conference so that the country can practice true federalism as envisaged by the First Republic leaders, includingTafawa Balewa, Nnamidi Azikwe, Samuel Akintola, and Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

    He also called for unity among the Yoruba traditional leaders, saying that it is the only way the region can move forward.

    He said: “It is the high time Nigerians convened a Sovereign National Conference for the goodness of the sacrifices made by our first republic leaders like Baba Akintola, Nnamidi Azikwe, Tafawa Balewa, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Amadu Bello and many others, who in the First Republic promoted national unity.

    “This is very urgent because aggrieved Nigerians, either from the West, East or Northern Nigeria, will be able to say their mind and the federal government will be able to address it.

    “I also want to advise our traditional leaders in the Southwest to see the unity of the region as the only way to move the region to the next level”.

    In his own contribution, the National Leader of the Accord Party, Senator Rasidi Ladoja said Nigerians need to work for unity of the country.

    He said Nigerians should de-emphasize issues that divide the country and celebrate issues that cement national unity.

  • ‘Osun State has made progress under Aregbesola’

    ‘Osun State has made progress under Aregbesola’

    House of Representatives member Rotimi Makinde (Ife Federal Constituency told reporters in Lagos that the House will consider the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) on its merit. He also said that Osun State will remain the stronghold of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Musa Odoshimokhe was there. 

    What are the major priorities of the House of Representatives this year?

    The House of Representatives has several tasks ahead. It intends to demystify governance and give the masses a feel of what service delivery is. We are definitely going to continue along the path of what we did last year and also improve on it, in terms of making laws that will better the lots of Nigerians. We will work with other arms of government to bring the challenges staring the nation in the face to a halt and perform other legislative duties.

    The Petroleum Industry Bill has generated controversy. Can it be passed objectively into law?

    I am a member of the ad-hoc committee that was mandated by the House to peruse the bill and I can assure Nigerians that objectivity, fairness and professionalism are our core values in the various deliberations on the matter. The petroleum sector is the key driver of our economy and making appropriate, feasible laws for the sector is the desire of the National Assembly.

    Governorship election will take place in Osun State next year. Do you think Governor Rauf Aregbesola will earn the votes of Osun people for a second term in office?

    Thank you for that question. First and foremost, the basic duty of any responsible government is to provide a peaceful and stable environment for development to thrive. This is the first thing that Aregbesola achieved for us in Osun state which is monumental. During the era of the impostors from the PDP, there was a serious security challenge in this state. Our people were living on the edge; thugs were at every nooks and crannies of this state. Our traditional rulers were living in apprehension. That was the pathetic state of things before Aregbesola came to office. Today, I can tell you authoritatively that one of the safest states in this country is Osun State. Today, people walk freely both in the day and night on the streets of Osun State without any form of harassment, intimidation or fear. Let me give you an insight to what the governor did to keep the state secure aside the usual support for security agencies. The strong bond between the governor and the people of Osun State is a pointer in the six point integral action plan manifesto which serves as covenant between them. The most interesting thing is that these action plans are in concrete terms, people can relate with them. Unlike the years of PDP maggots, they are seeing these things practically and real. Look at the process of generating employment for our teeming youths who were being used as political thugs in the past. Through the initiative of this governor, Osun State Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) has taken these youths off the streets and they are gainfully employed, becoming responsible to their families and the society. This is one of the strategies that restored sanity, communal peace and relief to Osun State. I know that my people will never return to the Egypt of PDP, not for anything. As we speak, I have it on authority that some governors are eager to learn how Ogbeni was able to fulfil his promise of engaging 20,000 youths in his 100 days in office, most especially in a state like Osun without robust purse. Not few doubted the realisation of such during the campaigns but today this has being done and it is not media creation, the people are there flesh and blood. I can tell you authoritatively that there is no town, no community that at least not one road work or the other is not ongoing right now. Massive road construction, rehabilitation and maintenance are on-going in the state and these are matters of facts. Look at education and see the various dynamism that are being injected from infrastructure, personnel, curriculum, and welfare and even on the students themselves. He recently engaged about 10,000 teachers into the teaching service. The daily feeding of the pupils with nutritious meal and the free uniform to students is nothing but an auspicious, bold achievement of a governor that overcame all odds to serve his people.

  • Awoist in conservative camp

    Awoist in conservative camp

    Chief Ebenezer Babatope is a disciple of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. As he clocks 70 this week, EMMANUEL OLADESU and DADA ALADELOKUN take a look at the man and his journey through politics.

    Ebenezer Babatope, Awoist-turned conservative politician, is on the weighing scale as he turns 70 this week.

    His political journey has provoked interest since he proclaimed himself as a student-socialist in the University of Lagos, Akoka, in the sixties. In that institution, he made name as the President of the Socialist Club and Welfare Officer of the Student Uinion.

    His role model and mentor was the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the most principled and consistent progressive arrowhead, who groomed him in the Second Republic.

    Babatope was a loyal disciple of the indomitable Awo. He continued on that path, until the ‘June 12’ crisis when ideologues and men of principle suddenly developed cold feet. He was among those who fought the military to a standstill. Later, in a curious manner, he embraced the military and became a strange defender of the Head of State, the late General Sani Abacha. When he changed his political gear, the perception of the people about him also changed. He summer-saulted in the contradiction of the turbulent era, when politicians dumped purity and joined the bad company of notorious military apologists.

    As he stands before the mirror of history, critics are bound to raise some critical questions. Is Ebino Topsy, as he is fondly called, a consistent progressive politician in the mould of Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, Senator Ayo Fasanmi, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Michael Koleoso, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Chief Wumi Adegbonmire, who recently passed on? Has he not fallen into the same mistake or error of judgment for which he castigated the late Chief Akin Omoboriowo, Chief Sunday Afolabi and Chief Busari Adelakun in the eighties? Is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) his natural political habitat?

    Ebino Topsy was a stunch disciple in the progressive vineyard of Awoism. However, latter-day Babatope, in the analyst’s view, may have mocked that rich political antecedent, which now underscores his contrasting personality as a devotee and a backslider.

    In Ilesa, his Osun State country home, politicians of varied cadres, both old and new breed, will find another moment of grand re-union on Saturday when he celebrates his three scores and one decade of eventful sojourn on earth.

    Analysts will also beam a searchlight on the journey so far. A thorough-bred politician, teacher, prolific writer, implacable activist and lawyer, Ebeno Topsy, rose to political fame as the indefatigable Director of Organisation of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). He was assisted by Mr. Ayo Opadokun, a journalist and lawyer.

    A vocal and charismatic character, Babatope was the rallying point for the youths in the party. He was an outspoken mobiliser

    Babatope is from a deeply religious family. His father was a Methodist priest. Though he initially enrolled for his primary education at Iperu in Ijebu-Remo, in 1950, in 1957, he later secured admission into Ifaki Grammar School and completed his secondary education there. Though he had earlier enrolled at Elekuro Methodist School, Ibadan, he could not conclude his elementary studies there because his father was transfered to another town.

    After a stint at the Lagos City Council as a clerk, he got admitted into the Igbobi College, Yaba for his Higher School Certificate (HSC) in 1964. Then, he was exposed to a re-orientation as he got married to social life in the city. But for the force of destiny, he once confessed, he “would have become a musician.”

    He taught at the popular Igbogila Grammar School before he secured admission into the University of Lagos in 1966. There, the instinct of political activism in him crystalised as he joined other gifted writers to fight campus ‘despots.’ He became a full-fledged unionist and thorn in the flesh of campus ‘imperialists.’

    Upon graduation, Babatope got invited by Jakande, the then Managing Director of the Nigerian Tribune Group of Newspapers, to come and work with him as a graduate journalist. He proved his mettle and thus, carved a niche for himself through diligence. By his employment, he became the first graduate to be so employed by the newspaper. He rose to become the Lagos City Editor of the paper. He was based in Ibadan.

    Prior to his graduation from the university in June 1969, Babatope’s ‘Socialist Club’ organised the 60th birthday of the late Awolowo. It was on March 6, 1969. The late Chief Bola Ige was guest lecturer. Alhaji Lateef Jakande chaired the occasion.

    But in 1970, he dumped journalism and took to teaching at the famous Birch Freeman High School Surulere, Lagos.

    In the mid-seventies, when he was the Students Affairs Officer at the University of Lagos, Babatope seemed to be in hibernation as an activist as he found it a herculean task expressing his burning progressive ideas and ideals beyond the confines of the academic environment.

    What appeared to be his journey, though harrowing, to political limelight came when he was thrown into jail by the General Yakubu Gowon-led regime, owing to his “offensive” write-ups in a campus magazine. He was sent parking from the university by the Obasanjo Administration.

    When he became the UPN Director of Organisation, he endowed his office with visibility. He worked hand-in-band with the late Chief MCK Ajuluchukwu, the party’s Director of Reseach and Publicity. He represented his leader at various functions, owing to the confidence he reposed in him.

    Following the military intervention in 1983, Babatope was hounded into jail by the Buhari Administration. He spent 20 months in the custody. When he was released, Awo advised him to go abroad to study Law. He wrote from the university to inform Awo that law was very hard. His leader encouraged him to persevere.

    When General Obasanjo released his controversial book, ‘Not my will’, in which he made some remarks about Awo, which Babatope considered to be uncomplementary, he wrote a book, ‘Not his will’, to put the records straight. The depiction recently of Awolowo by the literary giant, Prof. Chinua Achebe, as a man driven by an inordinate ambition for power at the expense of the Ibos in the civil war days, did not go down well with Babatope. Responding, he described Achebe’s view as “nonsensical and a twist of facts.”

    However, Babatope confounded his followers when he pitched his tent with the inglorious regime of the late Abacha. He was appointed Minister of Transport. He and Alhaji Jakande, who served as the Minister of Works and Housing, had often defended his nomination, saying that the symbol of the ‘June 12’ struggle, the late Chief Moshood Abiola, encouraged them to team up with Abacha. When the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere asked him to resign as a minister, he turned a deaf ear. Later, he was removed as minister by Abacha.

    In 1998/99, when the former minister signalled his intention to return to Afenifere, like a rain-beaten chicken, the unforgiving Yoruba leaders effectively shut the doors against him. His admirers were yet to recover from the shock of his backsliding under the military regime when he joined the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which, by its character, is a conservative fold.

    For him, it was a moment of emotional wrenching. In the PDP, he fired salvos at his colleagues in the progresive camp. His ambition to go to the Senate hit the rock. PDP also became an embarrassment to his region of birth, owing to the party’s poor performance at the federal and state levels. Many observers believe that Babatope shares in the blame for the rot.

    Last year, his political career was sealed at the PDP national congress. Babatope had joined the race for the secretaryship. When the table turned against him, over-zealous reporters exaggerated his plight by reporting that he wept openly at the convention. But he denied it, saying that he only kicked against the violation of convention guidelines.

    In 2005, the PDP federal government conferred on him a national award, the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR).

  • ‘No crisis in Oyo ACN’

    ‘No crisis in Oyo ACN’

     Alhaji Abas Oloko is a chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State. He spoke with JEREMIAH OKE about the Ajimobi Administration and challenges confronting the party in post-Adesina era.

    Some members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) have kicked against the endorsement of Governor Abiola Ajimobi as the leader of the party in Oyo State. What is your reaction?

    There is no faction in Oyo ACN. We do not know any group called ‘Asiwaju Omoba’ in our party. No section of the state is opposed to the endorsement of governor Ajimobi. We are all one. Normally, the governor of the state should be the leader of the party because of the experience and the exposure. Look at the people who are holding that post in any state of the federation.

    Our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is a former governor, Chief Bisi Akande is a former governor. Chief Segun Osoba is a former governor. The late Alhaji Lam Adesina was a governor. Even during the time of Alliance for Democracy (AD), the late Bola Ige was the leader of the party and he was a governor. All these people emerged as leaders. If anybody wants to contest the position, he should come out. They do not vote for a leader, but the leader of a party in a state will emerge. The blood of politics runs in the veins Governor Ajimonbi because his father was also a member of the House of Assembly between 1979 and 1983. He is not a new man in politics and he is capable to run the party.

    How do you assess the performance of Governor Abiola Ajimobi?

    He has been performing excellently. After the late Kolapo Ishola left as governor in Oyo State, we have had three democratically elected governors and none of them has performed like him. In the past, look at how dirty and unorganized the state was. If you enter the state from Lagos or Osun State, you will be disturbed by its filth.

    If you had gone round Ibadan before the emergence of Senator Ajimobi as the governor, you will see how our people were dropping garbage everywhere. They built shops at the middle of the road. Imagine people building shops under a high tension wire, which is very dangerous for them. All these were as a result of the lack of discipline of the past administrations in the state. But within a year, Governor Ajimobi has returned the state to its old glory. So, I want to say Governor Ajimobi has been doing great job in the state.

    Do you see Accord Party as a major opposition in the state?

    Accord Party is a worthless party in Oyo State. Senator Rashidi Ladoja should go and rest from politics because he is too old to contest. This administration has achieved what he could not achieve during his time. So, I don’t see them wining any election in the state. Ladoja should go and relax somewhere and, if he contests for any election again, he will fail woefully.

    Why did you leave PDP?

    I left because it is not structurally organised; everybody wants to be the leader. They are all liars and deceptive. I started PDP together with the Late Chief Lamidi Adedibu in Oyo State and I discovered that they don’t have any programme for the masses. That is why the crisis is still lingering in their party. They can never win any election in Oyo State again, even if they succeed with their reconciliation moves because they are confused.

    The people of Oyo State are progressive-minded and they will never allow the people who are corrupt, wicked and who have no conscience to come back and destroy the state for them again.

    Some people have alleged that you are a political harlot for defecting from PDP to ACN. What is your reaction to this?

    I have defected to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) before election, because the former governor, Alao-Akala, does not listen to correction. He was a stubborn fellow who always creates problem in the state.

    One of the reasons I defected was the issue of the chairmanship tussle oamong traditional rulers in the state. I went to the governor to complain that he should settle the crisis between him and make Alaafin as the permanent chairman of the traditional rulers in the state, but he objected. Even the history of Yoruba backs him up to be the head of all the kings, not only in Oyo state, but in Yorubaland. Akala even went to the extent of trying to divide Oyo town.

    Another incident was that of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). Akala lifted the ban on the activities of the union in, just to create problem in the state.

    The two incidents were aimed at creating problems for Governor Ajimobi, but the governor was so smart and he received divine wisdom from God to maintain peace in the state. With these reasons, I made up my mind and resolved that PDP is not a party of a credible people. I resigned and defected to the ACN. Even, if PDP in Oyo State resolves all its internal wrangling, it cannot beat ACN in the 2015 general elections because Yoruba people are tired of them. Their crisis is from the top. Somebody will say there is no executive of the party in the state, another person will want to be the governor, senator, and another person will want to be the party chairman. They are all having problems.

    Look at the serious problem they are having now at the national level. Do you think they can resolve it before the 2015 elections? Anyway, I am sure that, with the merger move of our leaders, we will wrest power from them at the national level in 2015.

    Do you have any regret leaving PDP?

    I do not have any regret at all because I am leaving a peaceful life now, unlike before when I was still with them, where crises, troubles were their watchword. They will keep losing elections in the Southwest.

    What do you think is the reason for the defection of prominent people like Olunloyo and others from PDP to ACN?

    We all defected because the crisis in PDP is terrible and we all want peace. Senator Ayo Adeseun is a grassroots politician and he has never lost any election. Senator Adeseun warned Alao-Akala not to venture into many things, but he refused to yield to his advice. Imagine, we went to a meeting in Lagos with President Jonathan; you need to see how rude Akala was to the President when he started banging the table, and said to his face that without him, he will win his election. That was when all of us knew that their is no discipline in the party.

    ive minded in the state.

    Some people describe Governor Abiola Ajimobi as a ‘go slow governor’. What is your reaction to this?

    They were saying that when he just came on-board. There is a reason for that because, when a new government emerges, he needs to study the condition of things in the office before he embarks on any project.

    Let me give you an illustration. When you want to drive a car and you begin to accelerate at top speed, that shows that you are inexperienced and that may cost you your life. It shows that you cannot drive, but when you start slowly, you will get to your destination safely and that shows you are an experienced driver. The same thing applies to the way Governor Ajimobi is running this state.

     

     

     

    He started by observing the situation of things in the state and today he has done a lot to improve the standard of living of our people. He has paid the civil servant their dues. He considered the welfare of the workers as paramount important to him and he has constructed many roads. The ongoing fly-over of Mokola junction will soon be completed in a few months time. Education in the state has witness a new dimension. He does not allow indiscipline and corruption.

    Do you have any political ambition in mind?

    My political ambition in 2015 is to ensure that Governor Ajimobi returning back to the Agodi Government House as the elected Governor of Oyo State.

    What is your message to the people of Oyo State concerning the present administration?

    The people of the state should give the present administration their full support and be patient with Governor Abiola Ajimobi towards the transformation of the state.

  • Can local council get autonomy?

    Can local council get autonomy?

    As the National Assembly is set to review the 1999 Constitution, local government employees are agitating for autonomy for the councils. But governors are kicking against it on the ground that there is no third tier in federalism. Assistant Editor DADA ALADELOKUN examines the issues.

    Local government autonomy is a critical issue that has polarised the polity, since the begining of the constitution review process. Council chairmen and employees are clamouring for the independence of the grassroots government. However, the governors have objected to the clamour, saying that there is no third tier in federalism. The governors are using the platform of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to articulate their views and resisit the push for constitutional autonomy for the fledgling councils.

    Right from the days of the colonialists, apostles of local government administration had seen it as an enviable means of getting the dividends of governance to the doorsteps of locals. To them, both the federal and state government administrations lacked the structural capacity to satisfy the yearnings of the grassroots inhabitants without ado. Therefore, all through the past years to the days of Ibadan District Council, which came into being in 1954, to the era of the Ibadan Municipal Government (1957 – 1979), which showcased impressive grassroots administrations, especially in the Southwest, it was hearty applause for the tier.

    Perhaps for the time-tested importance of the tier of government, spirited efforts were made to revitalise it at various times in the course of the nation’s chequered history. Outstanding among such attempts was the famous 1976 Local Government Reform.

    The same conviction gave birth to the Political Bureau instituted in 1986 to, among other things, make the local government system deliver its anticipated inherent goodies. Before then, there existed the Dasuki Committee on Local Administration in Nigeria. Its sole aim was how to make the system effectual through improved finance and unbridled autonomy.

    Convinced beyond doubt that the local government system was the surest purveyor of the dividends of government efforts to local inhabitants, the Ibrahim Babangida-led administration moved to consolidate it. Between May 1989 and September 1991, it created additional councils, raising the tally from 301 to 589.

    Eight years later, the number rose to 774, including the six Area Councils at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). They have since been listed in the contentious 1999 Constitution currently undergoing overhaul.

    A die-hard apostle of true federalism, former Lagos State Governor and national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Senator Bola Tinubu, actualised his belief in the efficacy of grassroots governance during his eight-year reign in the state. How? Enabled by Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution, he created 37 Local Government Development Areas (LCDAs) to further take the fruits of governance to the doorsteps of the grassroots people. Though former President Olusegun Obasanjo did the titanic to scuttle the development, he failed to have a good dance. Till today, the LCDAs carved out of the original 20 councils are still waxing strong, springing forth appreciable service delivery.

    Senator Smart Adeyemi averred last weekend that the opponents of local government administration in the country “are enemies of development.”

    Oba Abdulfatai Oyeyinka Aromire, the Ojora of Ijoraland in Lagos State, lent his voice in support of Tinubu’s effort when he told The Nation: “Before Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu came into office, Lagos was at a standstill, but when he got there, he created more Local Council Development Authorities that have really helped Governor Babatunde Fashola to move the state forward.”

    However, if asked for their candid verdict on the councils and their performance nationwide, most Nigerians – except perhaps the few beneficiaries of the perceived rots in the system – will score them abysmally low masks. For a medley of reasons, the critical roles assigned to the tier of government by the Fourth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution have not been well attended to.

    While the office holders at the level are always quick to implicate inordinate control by the states and lack of adequate funds to effectively run the system, analysts would differ a bit. To majority of them, who often accuse the grassroots administrators of ineptitude and offensive misuse of resources, they also see them as being bereft of the sense of purpose, honesty and patriotism needed to run the affairs of Nigerians at the level to fructification.

    With all these, it is not surprising that calls for either scrap or strengthen the local government system stood out among people’s demands when recently, consultations were made nationwide with the people by members of the Lower Chamber of the National Assembly in the constituencies.

    Specifically, The Senate and House of Representatives had respectively set up committees to review the 1999 Constitution. Senate President David Mark, while setting up the 47-member Senate committee, had posed a number of questions thus: “How effective are the local government? Should they be made to function independently to the states? Is the Joint State/Local Government Account still necessary?

    One of the stakeholders who expressed worry over the fate of the local government system,Dr. Ifeoluwa Arowosoge, is a member of the House of Representatives standing in for Ekiti South West, Ikere and Ise/Orun Federal Constituency. He had served as an elected chairman of the old Ekiti Southwest Council between 1991 and 1993.

    The legislator bemoaned the ill-fate of the troubled tier in a chat with The Nation. “We cannot but review the constitution for the sake of our councils. They are now nothing but mere appendages of their various states to the detriment of grassroots people,” he said.

    Underpinning his position, Arowosoge recalled his experience: “During our time, under Ibrahim Babangida, we enjoyed considerable autonomy and we had the free hand to appoint capable hands to work with us and for that, we made remarkable impacts on our people. Today, our councils have lost their so-called autonomy both economically, administratively as if the constitution is lame. Secondary school drop-outs are now councillors, and the councils now lack the wherewithal to embark on projects since the paltry sums they get from the states are barely sufficient to pay monthly staff emoluments let alone run the councils. Unless the constitution is amended to rescue the councils from the current shackles of bondage, the council will remain dysfunctional. I thank God it is under consideration in the current attempt to redeem the constitution.”

    However, to Nwabueze Okafor, National President, Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), all the new constitution under re-reconstruction needs to do is to ensure the autonomy of the their tier of government.

    “The major problem of the local government system in the country is about the erosion of its autonomy. If the new constitution can make the local government autonomy an inviolate feature, the tier will be alive to it’s statutorily responsibility again,” Okafor said.

    The rumour has been rife across the country that in the northern part of the country, the councils’ helmsmen only go to office on pay-day, share their allocations, go back home only to return for the unholy ritual the next month. This reporter drew the attention of a former governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, to the insinuation. He was also asked to bare his mind on how he felt the ensuing new constitution should address the issue.

    His reaction was vehement as he described the impression about the northern council bosses as erroneous. He explained: “It is completely wrong and unfair to say that it is only the northern council helmsmen that revel in sharing people’s resources at the level; it is a national problem. Across the whole country today, it is a story of stealing and non-performance at the local government level. It is the same sorry situation across councils in the country; no exception.”

    “The main problem lies in the fact that the state governors have never given the operators of the local government system the free hand to perform in line with the provisions of the constitution. We are now faced with a situation whereby it is the governor that influences who become the chairmen of the councils, what to give them and how they are being run. This has not helped the system and its would-be beneficiaries. Therefore, we must see to a workable arrangement whereby the executives at the level are given the leeway to work within the purview of their statutory expectations,” Musa, who is also the national chairman of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), added.

    To Chief Jide Awe, the chairman of ACN in Ekiti State, the new constitution being constructed must ensure the strengthening of the supervision of the local government system. Though my party has a stand on the issue, I have a personal opinion. My conviction is that no system is bad, but the operators’ disposition. Their attitude brought about people’s impression about the system. From the local government through the state to the federal government, there is no problem with the system at each level, it is the operators who often misbehave and mismanage the system.

    “It is really disheartening the local government today has become a sharing centre of public funds. It is equally sad that both the political class at the local government level and the administrative staff are of the irritating opinion that the system offers them the opportunity to have their own share of the national cake. All that is done there is for them to share among themselves the resources that should be ploughed into providing basic amenities like water for the grassroots people because ideally, being the closest to the common people, the local government is supposed to cater for their basic needs. But the opposite is now the case.”

    Tunde Buraimoh, a lawyer and former Chairman, Ojodu Local Government, Lagos State, is also of the view that the local government system deserves urgent turnaround across the country. “I was once in the saddle at the level and I know how it feels, not only as a ‘governor’ at the level but also as a resident. Therefore, I strongly feel that no stone should be left unturned in efforts to revamp the vital system. It is the tier of governance that feels the pulse of the commoners directly. It therefore goes without saying that the system must remain in sound health in all ramifications,” Buraimoh said.

    Now, the question remains: will the new constitution bring sanity to the ailing grassroots administration in the country? Time will tell.

  • Lagos Assembly renews focus

    Lagos Assembly renews focus

    How did the Lagos State House of Assembly fare in 2012? OZIEGBE OKOEKI examines the past legislative year, the laws and resolutions passed, and the areas of priority in 2013.

     

    There was no dull moment during the crtitical legislative year. Lawmakers achieved a shift in collective focus. Unlike 2011, the Lagos State House of Assembly passed more bils and resolutions for good governance. in 2012. The deputy speaker of the House, Mr. Kolawole Taiwo, affirmed the shift. “We have moved from establishment laws to ‘law and order’ laws and we will continue with it this year. This is because we know that if we can let our people see reason now, why we need to live based on law and order, we would have solved several problems,”he said.

    The House passed 11 bills into law in 2012. The most important of them, according to Taiwo, was the traffic law. Although the law was trailed by a lot of controversies and protests by commercial motorcycle riders, popularly called Okada, leading to destruction of property and sometimes lost of lives, the law has come to stay, more so when a suit filed by the Okada riders against the state government as a result of the law was thrown out by the courts. Many Lagosians agree that the law has instilled sanity on Lagos roads, although it has deprived a lot of people their means of livelihood.

    Other laws passed include: The 2012 Appropriation Law; A law to amend the Lagos State Law Reform Commission; A Law to amend the High Court Law Cap. H3 Laws of Lagos State; A Law to provide for Lagos State Polytechnic; A law to amend and re-order the 2012 Appropriation Law; A law to establish the Lagos State Scholarship Board; 2013 Appropriation Law, and The Cremation Law.

    The Cremation Law which was passed at the last sitting of the House in December 2012 remained controversial until the day it was passed because of the opposition of some religious groups and individuals to it. But Taiwo said that though the bill was controversial, “we passed it to correct imbalances on how we bury our dead, particularly unclaimed and unidentified corpses”. The law provides for cremation on unclaimed corpses in morgues and their voluntary cremation.

    About twelve bills are at different stages of passage. Prominent among them are: Consumer Protection Agency Bill; Lagos State Revenue Administration Bill; Lagos State Oil and Gas Corporation Bill; Facilities Management and Maintenance Bill; Freedom of Information Bill; Lagos State Lands Registration Bill; Lagos State Anti-Terrorism Bill; Lagos state House of Assembly Budget and Legislative Research Office; Local Government (Administration) (Repeal and Re-enactment) bill etc.  About seven other bills are awaiting executive briefing.

    The Lagos State Revenue Administration Bill would have been passed in December 2012 but for the disagreement between chairman, Hon. Adefunmilayo Tejuosho and Vice Chairman, Hon. Oluyinka Ogundimu and other members of the Finance Committee over the committee report presented to the House.

    The Deputy Speaker also revealed: “The Consumer Protection Agency bill is one of the ‘law and order’ bill though it is yet to be passed, it is going to assist us; we lack political will to face reality when it comes to controlling the quality of products that come into our society. We will pass the consumer protection law which will move us from quality control to quality assurance which is the global standard. And we will be sure of a quality that is acceptable to our environment.”

    The House was applaudee for recorded the early passage of the 2013 Appropriation Law. Governor Babatunde Fashola, while signing the bill into law, said it had not happened in a long time.

    The House also passed 62 resolutions in 2012 which resolved many contentious issues that could cause major crisis in the state, such as land disputes, state of roads especially federal roads, revenue and power generation, oil and gas production, local councils’ rates, deployment of indigenes of the state to crisis-prone areas in the North for their National Youths Service; demolition of faulty buildings, etc.

    The resolutions are as follows: “That the state government takes advantage of the new policy on power transmission to provide light for citizens; that the federal government should rehabilitate deplorable federal roads in the state; redeployment of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members from volatile states in the North; deplorable state of Ikorodu/Itoikin and Ikorodu/Sagamu Roads; the need to strengthen monetary policy, manage inflation and ensure economic growth; indiscriminate increase in petroleum products’ prices by independent petroleum marketers and hawking of petroleum products in the state.

    The lawmakers were also not found wanting on oversight functions.  They either undertook several fact-finding visits to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) or invited officials from the executive to come and explain one action, expenditure or the other either in the House.

    The House was also up and doing in the area of infrastructural development in the Assembly. It improved on infrastructure in the complex as it commissioned an ultra-modern legislative chamber last year. And another six-storey block of offices for lawmakers is almost ready for commissioning. It also did not relent in capacity building programmes for lawmakers and staff of the Assembly.

    In the area of Executive-Legislative relationship, 2012 witnessed the best in relationship between both arms. It was devoid of any crisis. This probably explains the early passage of the 2013 Appropriation Law by the lawmakers. And Taiwo confirmed the positive development.

    Taiwo said the House will continue with ‘law and order’ bills this year to bring law and order to the society and ensure that things move smoothly.

    “The consumer protection agency bill is another law and order law is very important to us; we will pass it to ensure that we control the quality of goods and services that come into our society,” he added.

    He disclosed: “We will carry out our town hall meetings to get the feelings of our people. We shall go round the whole state, get information about their expectations from our government.” This time, according to him, officials from the executive, particularly economic planning ministry, will be involved in the town hall meeting.

     

    “The problem of the previous town hall meeting will not surface this time around, because the executive will also be taking note. Therefore, the idea that they will not inculcate our findings in the next budget will not be there .”

    The House, according to Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji, will also witness more capacity-building programmes both for lawmakers and staff of the Assembly, locally and internationally, in the New Year.

    Making a pledge for 2013 on behalf of the Assembly, the Deputy Speaker said: ”We will not relent in making Lagos better; we will not rest on our oars; we will put the executive on its toes to solve most of our problems like electricity and infrastructure.”

     

  • Okowa: Senate ‘ll be fair to all on PIB

    Okowa: Senate ‘ll be fair to all on PIB

    Senator Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta North District) is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health. In this interview with Assistant Editor AUGUSTINE AVWODE, he speaks on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and other issues.

     

    Before the Senate went on break, the PIB got a hostile reception when it was mentioned. Any hope for the bill in the Senate?

    On the day it was mentioned, many people felt the timing was not auspicious. It was observed that the nation was in a mourning mood, following the death of former Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa and the former National Security Adviser (NSA), General Owoye Azazi. But some people, obviously, harbour some fears about the PIB itself. In their opinion, they are not satisfied with the bill as it was presented. But I think it will be taken in the early part of this year. The bill may not have been perfect, but notwithstanding the imperfections, we would look at it. That is why we are lawmakers. The executive is expected to bring in bills to us as proposals in whatever form. It is our duty to add, subtract or amend such proposals in a way that it will be favourable to all Nigerians. Don’t forget, we are expected to conduct public hearings. At such a forum, the Nigerian public, the oil companies and all other stakeholders that are affected one way or another, including governors, will have the opportunity to air their views on it. By the time we go through the legislative processes in the National Assembly, I believe that in the end we will be better informed about the bill. What we need to do is to voice our fears; yes, there is no doubt that there are obvious fears, but we should raise our fears during the second reading and allow it go into the committee stage and go for public hearing. We have been reading in the papers that the North feels a bit uncomfortable about the issue of host community fund. I don’t think that should bother anybody. To me, that money is actually coming from the oil companies. It is like, at the end of the year, whatever comes to them after taxation, 10 per cent would be ploughed back to the community to improve its economy and take care of other developmental needs. That is what everybody does all over the world. They call Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Some of the companies are already doing so, though not in an organised way. That clause is going to reassure the communities that they are part and parcel of the companies and, therefore, it behoves them to protect and keep the property of the companies in their domain. It will foster better relationship between the host communities and the oil companies because they would be looking forward to what would be returned to them at the end of the year. And it is good for the Nigerian economy because it will help to increase the quantum of production per day.

    The issues of exploratory agency and the powers of the minister have also been raised…

    Yes, in my view, that is a good point. But rather than attack a policy, it is better to propose what you think should be the alternative. It is best for the country if we prospect for oil and get more reserve in more parts of the country. It is for the good of the nation because we believe there is a lot of oil and gas in this country that is yet to be discovered. These are issues that can actually be sorted out. As for the issue of the powers of the minister, if they are discovered to be beyond what is necessary, they can be toned down to the level of control. That is why we are legislators. We can’t say, no, let us return it to the executive. If we do that, we would be telling the public that we don’t know how to do our job. But I can assure you that this Senate knows its job and whenever there is any inadequacy, it will always fill the gaps. And, if there are excesses, we will reduce the same and tidy things up and the bill will be made perfect. The truth is that, if you are bringing in about 16 different legislations into just one whole document and expect that we would not have these challenges, then, we are not being realistic. If a thing involves so many people and does not generate complains, then it is not a worthwhile venture. But everybody is interested in this case and our primary responsibility here is to be fair to all.

    Today, the debate over the local government autonomy is raging fiercely. What is your reaction?

    The constitution as at the moment does not confer a clear level of autonomy on local government as third tier of government. It is just a quasi-tier of government in which the states themselves are to make laws governing the structures, financing and administration. That is how clear it is. I think the governors have a right to hold their views but I think they should ensure that they look at the constitution and make sure the constitution is obeyed. We must ensure that we do things the way they should be done. As far as I am concerned, all tiers of government should see themselves as collaborative; as development agencies and impact the lives of people. I believe if every state government, working together with the local councils, get serious with administration; collaborating well enough, they will be able to bring the dividend of democracy to the people. When people see what is being done, nobody will harp on autonomy and the rest. The important thing is administering government in a manner that it will bring satisfaction to the people and this is what is lacking in some places, and that is why people are shouting.

    As the chairman of the Senate Health Committee, what are the challenges facing it?

    To start with, the Committee’s field is very vast. Apart from oversight functions of the Ministry of Health, there are a lot of agencies and institutions under it. These include the regulatory bodies, regulatory councils, the various tertiary health institutions which include the universities, medical schools and Federal Medical Centres (FMC), Psychiatric and Orthopaedic hospitals. Secondly, there is the issue of the challenges of legislation governing the health sector. Since October last year, we have been relating with the minister and other agencies and offering our advice as a committee on whatever we think should be the direction and also ensuring that the funds released from the 2012 Appropriation Act is properly utilized. Unfortunately, however, the level of release in the capital expenditure was obviously far from what we did anticipate. As at the beginning of November last year, when we were considering the 2013 Budget, only about 40-47 per cent had been released to the various agencies in the Ministry of Health. It was a general thing and I don’t think that was encouraging enough.

    You spoke about the challenge of legislation. What is it all about?

    In terms of legislation, we have looked into certain things. The National Healthy Bill, which was passed in the Sixth National Assembly, was actually not signed into law. Time was too short for the executive and legislature to sort out some minor issues and so, it lapsed. We have been able to look into the bill holistically, and, we have made some revisions in it. It has gone through the First Reading, it was also unanimously supported during the Second Reading, and it has now come to the Committee Stage. We are hoping that towards the end of the month or early February, we should have the public hearing and within that month return it for the Third Reading after which it would go to the House of Representatives for concurrence.

    What are the significant aspects of it?

    It is generally important because it sets out the legal framework for the regulation, development and management of healthcare in Nigeria. As at today, we don’t have the basic or foundation laws that guide the health industry. It is just guided by policies that do not have the effect of law. We have some specific legislation like NAFDAC, the National Health Insurance Scheme(NHIS) and others that guide specific health institutions. But the background laws that should guide some norms in the health industry are not there. As at today, there are some things that are unethical and which, if they are done, you can’t really punish anybody for it because it has not been so set out. For instance, we need to regulate the usage of human tissues and we also need to have a law on how the healthy industry should be organized and the various hospitals should inter-relate with each other and also how various tiers of government can inter-relate with one another. There must be a lot of collaboration and a sure foundation. Somebody can just abuse the removal of tissues from a living person because there is no law. There was a report of a so called medical doctor who allegedly removed the two kidneys of an individual. This is an obvious case of an unethical practice but you won’t be able to prosecute him under any law because we don’t have that foundation. So, we hope that we would be able to quickly get this through.

    Also, in the law, we are providing for a guaranteed financing of the Primary Health sector through a Primary Healthcare Development Fund. We are aware that healthcare delivery in the country is facing the challenge of funding. We know that primary healthcare is more important because it takes care of at least 80 percent of the health burden of this nation. Once financing at that level is guaranteed, we would be moving faster in our development of the health sector. Through it, we will be able to address the issue of under-five mortality rate, maternal mortality rate and the general welfare of our women and children. And obviously we are not doing well at the moment.

    What is the state of the Tobacco Control Act?

    We have represented the Tobacco Control Act because we know the dangers of tobacco, especially, to our growing children. There is a version of it that was passed last year but we tended to have strengthened it through some addition to ensure that government doesn’t directly or indirectly through its actions help to encourage tobacco growth and usage in the country. It has passed through First Reading. It is our hope that both the Tobacco and Health Insurance Bills will be taken in the early part of this year. So these are the things we are doing in the healthy sector. We have also been meeting with the various teaching institutions to find out what their challenges are and they are, largely, funding issues and it is a major problem. We are trying to look at ways and means to ensure we have the best out of the bad situation because health is not properly funded in the country at the moment.

    It is now a fad for Nigerians to seek medical help abroad for the least ailment…

    It is unfortunate. It is a process that is now being abused because every person, for even the least ailment, wants to go to India. There is no doubt that we have some limitations within our healthcare system. But I still do know that we have some specialists who are well equipped to manage a lot of ailment and there are hospitals with enough equipment to attend to the need of our people. But the trend now is that people with fractured bone, instead of accessing our orthopedic institutions where there are consultants orthopedic surgeons would prefer to be flown to India. The implication is not just capital flight but a loss of confidence in the health industry and I think this is getting worse to a level that is obviously unacceptable.

     

  • ‘I advised Ojukwu against secession’

    ‘I advised Ojukwu against secession’

    Renowned novelist Prof. Chinua Achebe recently stirred a controversy in his latest book, ‘There was a country’, where he castigated the war-time Federal Commissioner for Finance and Vice Chairman of the Federal Executive Council, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, over the handling of the civil war. But in a previous interview with the foremost economist, the late Prof. Sam Aluko, he attributed the avoidable war and consequent loss of lives to the refusal of the former Military Governor of the defunct Eastern Region, the late Col. Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, to heed his advice against secession.

     

    How close were you to the late Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu?

    I will say that I was very close to him till his death. Immediately, he became governor of the former Eastern Region, when I was a senior lecturer in Economics in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he called me the third day he became governor. He said he wanted to come and see me in my university. I never met him before. How can the military governor come and see me? I said no. I told him I would come and see him, instead. I told the person he sent that he should tell the governor that I was the one who should come and see him and not him coming to see me. That was on January 20, 1966. So, when I said I was going to see him, my wife said she would go with me. She said we didn’t know the man and therefore she wanted to be present at the meeting. She reasoned that we couldn’t predict a soldier who just came. When we got to the military governor’s house, Ojukwu said: ‘Madam, I know you would come because you thought that I will do something to your husband.’

    He said he had never met me before, but those in the military had been reading so much about me and they venerated me. According to him, that was why he wanted to see me. He said he wanted me to help him to run the government of the Eastern Region. ?We discussed and he asked what role I would like to play and I said I would remain in the university because I didn’t want to leave. I promised to do whatever I could do to help him. The first cabinet that he formed, we both sat down and looked at the names of those from the Eastern Region to be cabinet members. He did not know them because he was not living in the Eastern Region. He was outside, in Kaduna and in Lagos. He spoke Yoruba better than I. So, we were speaking in Yoruba most of the time. That’s how the relationship began and we became very close. It was through him that I knew Adekunle Fajuyi, the governor of the Western Region. We continued until after the counter-coup in July. I was very sad. They killed many Igbo. Many who were not killed had cuts in the head and other parts of the body. He called me and said what could he do? What was going on in his mind was to go to a place in Benue and sack a village there. He wanted to kill as many people as possible. I said no. I said as a Christian, Christianity doesn’t allow for vengeance. As a Christian, I said he should not do that.

    Was that when the killings in the North started?

    Yes. That was the period the pogrom started. I said he should get in touch with the Head of State, but he said no because it was wrong for Yakubu Gowon to be Head of State because there was Ogundipe, who was a Brigadier and the most senior military officer at the time. He said when the coup happened in January, the most senior officer became the Head of State. So, he argued that when the counter-coup happened, the most senior should also become the Head of State. But the northerners will not take that at that time. Ogundipe himself did not want it because he said there were few Yoruba in the army. He said he will just be there without support and they would kill him. So, they made him High Commissioner in London. When the pogrom continued and the people were coming to the East from the North, Ojukwu said he was afraid that the easterners coming back might attack those who are non-easterners in the East.

    He then made a statement on the radio that all those who were non-easterners should leave the East. At the time, there was rumour that Professor Babatunde Fafunwa was killed because he was from the West. But Fafunwa was in Benin Republic attending a conference. Ojukwu said the rumour was a sign of what was to happen. He said they would be attacking the northerners and the westerners and claim easterners did. So, he will ask everybody to go. I went to see him in Enugu and I said: “well, Your Excellency, I will have to go back to the West.” He said no, emphasising that when he talked of westerners, it did not apply to me because I was one of them. Non-easterners in the East were scared. Fafunwa and I were the most senior in the place. Fafunwa was not around and I said: “I will have to take them to the West to make sure that they were safe.” He said it was OK and that he will give me soldiers to make sure that all the students and staff were safe. He said when I got to Benin, I should hand them over to the governor in Benin to take them to the West and I should return to my job in Nsukka.

    What of your protection?

    He said I needed not worry because I was one of them. Really, I was being integrated in the East because, at that time, Obafemi Awolowo was in the Calabar prison and I was the only one allowed to see him. Ojukwu used to give me protection to go and see him. So, I was enjoying myself. When I got to Benin, I did not return to the East. I got the people to Ibadan and then called him to say: “Your Excellency, I am here and I am no longer coming back to the East.” He said: “Doctor, don’t call me Your Excellency, call me Emeka. You are older than I and I adore you. Just call me Emeka and I will call you Sam.” I was talking to him every night from Ibadan. When the problem was brewing, General Adeyinka Adebayo was then the governor of the Western Region. He called me and said he understood that the easterners were planning a counter-coup and I would have to go to Enugu to see Ojukwu. He said that he had been trying to get him without success. I said I had his secret telephone number and I gave it to General Adebayo. But Ojukwu did not pick the phone from anybody. So, Adebayo asked the late Professor B. A. Oyenuga and I to go and see him. So, we went to Enugu and I delivered the letter. He told Professor Oyenuga that if he had not come with me, he would not have discussed with anybody. The only person he trusted was Dr. Aluko. I was not a Professor at that time. When we finished in the evening, we went to our hotel. Ojukwu came to me in my hotel room and said: “Doctor, I want to talk to you confidentially.” And he said: “Our plan in the East is that we are no longer safe in Nigeria. We want to secede.”

    What date was this?

    That was January 1967. I said: “Emeka, I don’t think you should think of secession. I said it was the Igbo that were killed in the North and not all easterners.” I said “from my living in the East and going round the East, I know that the Igbo were not very popular in the Rivers area and the Calabar area. I told him that if he declared secession, he would be fighting two wars. I told him he would be fighting internal war against people with him, who didn’t want to be ruled by the Igbo and he would be fighting Nigeria who didn’t want him to succeed. I told him not I didn’t think he could win the war. I think that made a great impression on him. He said: “Doctor, your analysis is perfect.” He said, “after all, why should I secede? “He said: “All my father’s property are in Lagos. I was brought up in Lagos. I came to the East on posting as a military governor. I have discovered that ruling the Igbo is like ruling a pack of wild horses. They are very difficult to rule. I will rather want to be away from here to another place. It is very difficult to persuade the Igbo against their will.” I told him he didn’t have to persuade them against their will, just be loyal to them. I went back to Adebayo. We had a reconciliation meeting. Awolowo, Onyia and myself were sent to meet Ojukwu in Enugu. Ojukwu insisted that if I did not come, he would not receive them. So, we went together. We discussed.

    When was this?

    That was March 1967. Awolowo was very frank with him. He told him: “Look, governor, you cannot secede. You cannot go alone. Just as you fear the North, the West also fears the North. The soldiers in the North are occupying the West. So, we have the same common interest. But don’t let us secede. Let us do whatever we can do together to unite and confront the North so that we can have a settlement on how we want to run this country.” Awolowo said, if the East left the federation, the Yoruba would have to leave the federation. That’s what some misconstrued to say that Awolowo assured Ojukwu that if he seceded, the Yoruba would join. What he meant was that the thing that makes Igbo leave the federation would also make the Yoruba leave the federation, but that he didn’t want to leave the federation. According to Awolowo, we want to enjoy and rule this federation because nobody has the monopoly to rule this federation; so, let us be in constant touch; let us unite and don’t do anything rash. When we left, I went to Nsukka and Ojukwu called me and said I should come back. I went back to him that evening.

    Where was Awolowo?

    He was in Enugu, at the Hotel Presidential. But I went to see my friends in Nsukka.

    What of protection for you and Awolowo?

    I didn’t need protection in the East, but Awolowo was protected. He was just released from prison. So, he didn’t need much protection. Ojukwu came in the evening to my hotel room and said he did not want to be very frank with us because he didn’t know Awolowo and Onyia. But he knew me. He said what he wanted is to make Rivers, Benue and Niger the boundary between the North and the South. He wanted a confederacy of the country so that the South will be Southern Nigeria versus Northern Nigeria and if Northern Nigeria wanted to go away, let them go away. I said: “look, I don’t think we should do that. I don’t think it would work. I have told you that the West has not suffered the way the East has suffered. How your people are angry is not the way and manner our people are angry. So, if you declare unilateral secession, you won’t get the whole West to follow you.” He said I had said so before and would not do it. So, I came back to the West and reported to Gowon what we discussed in Enugu.

    You told Gowon all that Ojukwu told you confidentially?

    Yes. I told Ojukwu I would brief Gowon. He liked Gowon and the only thing he had against Gowon was that he ought not to be Head of State. He said it was usurpation. I said but Gowon was already Head of State. That is how I became an intermediary between Gowon and Ojukwu. Gowon told me that he had been trying to get Ojukwu but he would not take the telephone. I said he had three secret telephones. There was one in Enugu, one in Onitsha and one in Nnewi, which he gave to me. At that time, it was the ground phone that was available. I gave them to Gowon. On the night before he was to declare secession, Adebayo called me that despite the assurances by Ojukwu, he learnt that he was going to declare secession tomorrow. I said I spoke to him last night and he did not tell me that he was going to declare secession. So, I called him and said: “Emeka, I have just learnt from the Head of State that you want to declare secession tomorrow.” He said, yes, that the people met and said if he wanted to continue to be military governor, he should either declare secession or quit.

    He said that to quit meant death. I said, “but you are a leader and a leader is not supposed to follow? People are supposed to follow the leader. Try and dissuade them from declaration. Let us see if we can do a number of things.” Anyway, he declared secession. Much later he said, “Sam, I have declared. I am sorry. We will continue to talk.” I said: “Look, this declaration is only declaration. The war has not started. We can still talk. If you want confederation, we can still talk. I said Canada has a confederal system.” We ended at that. So I told Gowon that Ojukwu was willing to talk if he could have a place to talk. Gowon said if Ojukwu would come to Lagos. I said Ojukwu would not come to Lagos. He said what of Benin? I said Ojukwu would not come to Benin. I said he regarded those as part of the enemy territory. That was how we settled for Aburi, in Ghana.

    Who suggested Aburi?

    I suggested Aburi to Ojukwu. He was first thinking of East Africa, like Tanzania. I said it was too far. I told him that if he was away Gowon was away in this turbulent time, they could plan coup against Gowon in Nigeria and plan coup against him in Biafra. I told him he should go to a place where he can go in the morning and come back in the evening. That was how we settled for Aburi. He also thought of Liberia. But I said Liberia was a bit far. At the Aburi meeting, you know Ojukwu is highly educated; so he prepared very well. Gowon went there with the hope that he was going to discuss with an old friend soldier and agree, like the Yoruba way of settling disputes, that, nobody is guilty, let us go on as we are doing.

    He did not go with the Awolowos and Permanent Secretaries?

    No. He went with a few people. And so, Ojukwu outwitted them there and got all he wanted as a confederal system.

    Who went with him?

    He went with soldiers. He went with officers of the army. So, when they returned and published the agreement, Ojukwu was very happy. It was published by Nigeria. But top civil servants, like Allison Ayida and others said this was disintegration of Nigeria. They said there was nothing left for Ojukwu to sever within one day. It was less than a confederation. It was virtually creating two countries. That was how Gowon developed cold feet to implement the Aburi agreement.

    You did not go to Aburi?

    No. I didn’t. Immediately he came from Aburi, he called me and said: “The agreement was fantastic. When we implement it, you will have to come back to your job in Nsukka.” He called me from Port Harcourt because he was then in Port Harcourt. When the Aburi agreement could not be implemented, he said Biafra Republic is indissoluble. No power in Africa can dissolve it. But I was going almost every month to Enugu, Nnewi or Onitsha to see him. What worried me, as I told him, was that whenever I was going from Onitsha to Enugu or Onitsha to Nnewi, soldiers who are eastern soldiers would say: “Doctor, please tell Governor we don’t want to fight. We have suffered enough.

    We don’t want to fight.” So, I will always tell him: “Emeka, the people you say no power in Africa can stop, are not willing to fight. They are not with you 100 percent. This is what they tell me.” He said he knew but there was no going back and that he had secured the confidence of the French, British, the Americans and some African countries. I said: “Don’t rely on Western powers. They are talking to you now because you are controlling the oil. Immediately there is war and they take the oil from you, they will desert you. It is because the oil is in the East and you are military governor in the East. But with what I see, immediately those in Rivers and Cross Rivers desert you and they link with the Federal Government and the Federal Government take those places from you, Britain, America and France will leave you,” which is what they did.??What I like about Gowon was that throughout the period, he was always in touch with me and I was always in touch with him.

    But the soldiers were always coming to my house in Ife, saying that I was a saboteur and that I was linking with rebels and that I was the ambassador of Ojukwu in the West. They would come and search my house that I had arms and so on and so forth. They did that until Gowon told them not to worry me again. They didn’t know I was in touch with Gowon. Every night, I will call Ojukwu and he will call me even when he was in the bunker. I once asked where he was calling? He said he was calling from the bunker in Aba. I reminded him that he said he was in Enugu and he said Enugu meant hill and anywhere he was hill. When the war started and the Nigerian soldiers started getting upper hand, he still believed he could win.

    What was he saying when Nigeria had upper hand?

    He believed after some time, they would collapse because he was also winning some skirmishes. He killed some soldiers in Awka. He killed some in Asaba. So, he was winning some small, small wars too. But I was a bit against him that there was no way he could win. About the end of 1968, I called him and said, “look, Emeka, try to make approach when Dr. Azikiwe defected.”

    Why did Azikiwe leave him?

    Ojukwu did not like Azikiwe.

    Why?

    Two masters cannot be in a boat. Azikiwe was so dominant in Nigeria and he was living in the East and Ojukwu was the military governor of the East. So, obviously, he would be looking over his shoulder because of Azikiwe. He might think he was more important than him (Azikiwe) as the military governor. It’s under-standable. In fact, he told me once that he had a lot of people watching Azikiwe. Finally, Azikiwe defected and came back to Nigeria. I said; “Emeka, I told you there is no way you can win this war.” I said use Azikiwe as intermediary between Gowon and yourself and let us settle this matter. That was at the end of 1968. We were talking in Yoruba. We always talked in Yoruba. We continued talking like that until the eve of his departure to Ivory Coast. After sometimes, he believed there were a lot of saboteurs in the East, who were no longer willing to fight. The French, British, Americans and even the Russians did not support him.

     

    •The interview was first published in The Sun of February 8, 2012.

  • Dwindling fortune of Southwest PDP

    Dwindling fortune of Southwest PDP

    Southwest Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is addicted to crises. Assistant Editor AUGUSTINE AVWODE writes on the dwindling fortune of the polarised party and implications for 2015

     

    These are trying times for the Southwest Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Between 2003 and 2007, the party loomed large in the region. Little did its leaders guess that power is transcient.

    In the six states-Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti-the party has lost power.Thus, top party leaders are left in the cold. Also, crisis is tearing the party apart at the national level.

    Indisputably, PDP is back to its pre-2003 period in the zone when it only had one senator, Gbenga Aluko who defeated the former National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, to the surprise of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), which produced the six governors in 1999.

    However, the emergence of General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd) as the President was a plus for the zonal chapter, although AD floored PDP in his native Ogun State at the governorship and parliamentary elections.

    In 2003, the story changed dramatically four years later in 2003. The party displaced AD in five states. Only Lagos State survived the onslaught led by the former President. In 2007, the party maintained its hold on the region through massive rigging. Again, only Lagos State survived the desperation to capture the region.

    The reward for political relevance was not in short supply for the Southwest PDP chieftains. Many of them got plum federal appointments. The beat changed when the Appeal Court deposed the PDP governors in Ondo, Ekiti and Osun states.

     

    Reversal of fortune

     

    The April 2007 general elections marked the begining of the reversal of fortune for the Southwest PDP. The party went into the 2011 general elections with only two out of the five governors. After the polls, the party lost the Ogun and Oyo states. It also lost National Assembly seats.

    Now, the ACN has 14 senators and Labour Party (LP) has three, the PDP could only manage to produce a senator from Oyo North, Chief Hosea Agboola, a former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters in Oyo State.

    Observers contend that the party faces an uncertain future in the region. Gone with the wind were influential positions held by the party chieftains. They include the Senate Majority Leader, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and chairmen of Senate Committees on INEC and Appropriation.

    The loss of the Speakership was dramatic. On June 6, 2011, House of Representatives member from the Northeast Aminu Tambuwal defeated Mrs. Mulikat Akande-Adeola from the Southwest to emerge as the Speaker. He polled 252 votes to defeat Adeola, who polled 90 votes. The election was significant in many respects. Adeola was the candidate endorsed by the PDP national leadership and the Presidency to ‘compensate’ the party in the zone, because it had lost other relevant positions to other zones. The emergence of Tambuwal dealt a blow to the party’s zoning arrangement. It also stopped the move by the Southwest PDP to produce three Speakers of the House in a row. Southwest PDP had produced Mrs. Patricia Etteh, who was forced out in controversial circumstances, and Mr. Dimeji Bankole, whose re-election bid failed. Interestingly, the opposition parties, including the ACN, insisted on Tambuwal.

    However, the Southeast zone produced the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and House of Representatives Deputy Speaker, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha.The only position of note, which Southwest PDP could boast of in the aftermath of the 2011 general elections, was the Board of Trustees (BOT) chairmanship occupied by Obasanjo. But he resigned from the position on April 3, 2012. Now, Southwest PDP is pleading with the BoT to choose its chairman by consensus so that the position can be retained in the zone.

    Rising from the joint meeting of the BoT members from the Southwest and the zonal working committee members, in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, the party urged the national leadership to compensate the zone with the slot.

    PDP Zonal Publicity Secretary Kayode Babade told reporters that the party should not choose the BoT chairman by election. “The leadership of the party should be encouraged to elect the chairman of the BOT by consensus in the interest of peace, harmony and cohesion of our great party at the highest level, he said.”

    Recently, the PDP National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, was deposed by a Federal High Court. Although he has appealed the ruling, the tragedy was felt by the zonal chapter. judger.

    Southwest PDP is not a cohesive body. The Ogun State chairman, Chief Adebayo Dayo, had filed a suit challenging the nomination of Oyinlola by the Southwest caucus on the ground that two court judgments had nullified the Southwest Zonal Congress where he was nominated. Defendants in the suit also included the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    In his judgment, Justice Abdul Kafarati held that the actions of PDP and Oyinlola had violated the two court orders. He ordered Oyinlola to vacate the seat. Justice Kafarati stressed: “The conduct of the defendants constitutes flagrant disobedience to a subsisting court order and also constitutes a criminal contempt of court and any step taken thereafter by the PDP secretary is a null and void.”

    The party has obeyed the court ruling by naming the national deputy secretary, Solomon Onwe, as the acting national secretary.

    Analysts said Oyinlola’s sack portends grave danger to the Southwest PDP. Senator Lekan Balogun, a PDP chieftain in Oyo State, said Oyinlola’s sack was welcomed. But he lamented the attitude of the party leadership in the zone. He singled out former President Olusegun Obasanjo as the man to blame for the woes of the party.

    “The poor fortune of the party in the Southwest is unfortunate. It is a leadership problem. It shows that the leaders have mismanaged the enormous goodwill of the people, once they came into positions of authority. They are to blame. Whatever is bedevilling the party in the Southwest today is a creation of leaders who took the followership for granted.”

    Balogun however, said that, if the party could put its house in order and do the right thing, it could regain its lost ground.

    But Oyo State PDP chairman Yinka Taiwo said the party has not lost anything. He urged all to wait for the outcome of Oyinlola’s appeal. He also expressed optimism that the party would consider the zone for the BoT chairmanship. Taiwo was however, silent on the chieftain the zone would sponsor for the position.

    “I can tell you that the party’s fortunes have not dwindled and it has not lost anything because Prince Oyinlola has appealed the judgment. I would like to advise that we wait for the outcome of the appeal before we say anything.

    “As for the BoT chairmanship, we can still have it. You know it has not been elected and we believe that the zone would be considered by the party. I can’t tell you the person we would present now, but certainly we would make it”, he said.

    A chieftain of the party from Ogun state, who craved anonymity, submitted that the party needed a lot of soul searching. He said it is too early to conclude that it has lost it all.

    “I don’t want to say that we have lost it all. But the first question we should ask is how did we manage to get to this point? If the party works hard at solving its internal crisis in all the states of the Southwest, it can still make a reasonable impact. You see the showing in the last Ondo governorship election. That shows that, if we had worked as a united team in the zone, we could have taken the state. But many people have their own agenda, different from that of the party in the zone”, he said.

     

    Sunset for PDP?

     

    Notwithstanding the optimism being expressed in some quarters about the ability of the PDP in the Southwest to bounce back and reclaim what it lost in 2015, it is believed that the sun might have set for the party. The PDP national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, is anxious to reposition the party. He had expressed deep concern for the troubled Southwest chapter, urging the warring members to close ranks.

    Tukur lamented the PDP’s electoral loss in the region. He said, if the trends persisted, it could affect the fortune of the party in the future.

    “In the Southwest, the image of the PDP had gone down to level zero and I don’t think there is anything it can do to redeem the image. And I don’t see any miracle it can perform between now and 2015 that would give it any in-road to the Southwest”, he added.

     

  • ‘Revenue allocation should be reviewed’

    ‘Revenue allocation should be reviewed’

    Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio spoke with reporters on the offshore/onshore controversy, lopsided federal structure and imperative of a new revenue allocation formula. Emmanuel Oladesu was there.

    What is responsible for the raging controvery over the onshore/offshore dichotomy?

    When we had the onshore and offshore problems in 2000 for about nine months, President Olusegun Obasanjo offered a remedial measure. N600million was given to Akwa-Ibom. That lasted for about nine months. The situation was corrected and Akwa-Ibom started to receive derivation revenue.

    Also, in September, 2000, and the records are available at the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC) and Ministry of Finance, my state also collected N3.7 billion. At that time, the state that collected the highest derivation was Delta. I think Delta collected N5 billion or more, Rivers came second, Bayelsa came third and Akwa Ibom came fourth. Later, Rivers used to come first, Delta second, Akwa-Ibom third and Beyelsa fourth. Later, Akwa Ibom came first, but it used to change, based on oil production and militancy.

    There is a dichotomy on revenue from oil. The onshore and offshore issue is still there. It has not been totally removed. The compromise position was that states are to be paid for oil wells located within 200 meters isoberg. They said they have agreed on 200 nautical miles; that was said in an interview to incense the North. Two hundred nautical miles on international waters, no African country has the capability to produce oil there. But what the man said in his interview was that they are paying derivation for 200 nautical miles, that is, deep on international waters. There is an element of falsehoodin order to cause violence. He knows the truth; he said it so that he can get support. I know Nigerians. If the totality of dichotomy is removed, Lagos will produce the highest quantity of oil because, Bonga oil field is located within the Lagos area. It is a deep sea oil, it can produce 800,000 barrels of oil a day. If the issue of dichotomy is removed today and they say there is no longer dichotomy, the state that might be the highest oil-producing state in Nigeria is Lagos. Go and look at the amount that they pay derivation on. It is not commensurate with the oil sourced because the rest of oil wells are beyond 200 metres isoberg. The governors are saying that exploration is affecting aquatic life, it impacts on the sea, on the livelihood of the people on the shore because life there can never be the same.

    How did militancy affect it?

    When the activities of militants reduced, Shell could tap a lot of oil. Then, the production in the Niger Delta would pick. So, what they have done now is that they are calculating derivation on monthly basis because sometimes, Mobil can have oil spill and you cannot but suspend production. So, for that month, our own resources will have to dwindle. Then, it may go down because you have a major spill and that, of course, will eventually affect the final derivation. In that wise, for that month, we might come to number four or number three.

    Generally speaking, we have, at least, four major states that collect their derivation levies; Delta State, River State, Bayelsa State, and Akwa Ibom. Now, Edo and Ondo have also joined.

    The money being so much does not translates to development. It is the vision, it is the dedication, it is the sincerity, it is the commitment, it is the totality of your being.

    How are you fighting unemployment in your state?

    I was at a Council of State meeting in 2011 when a deputy governor was telling us about Borno State economy. He told us that his governor left behind N64 billion. But if you look at Borno and how much it gets in a month, for Borno to have saved up to N64 billion, and the new governor met N64 billion, the press should have asked questions. What did he leave behind? He left behind Boko Haran and N64 billion in the bank. That is why sometimes, they say if you don’t give to God, you will give to devil. If you don’t spend the money for the benefit of your people, you will use the money to cure the problems you have created.

    The reaction to the neglect of the poor, pauperized and the weak, to the neglect of human capacity building, would come. In an attempt to say you are not corrupt, you keep billions in the bank in order to attract interest. And your business is booming while the society is dying and you are now saying, if the EFFC comes, you can account for the money. Is that governance?

    Why do you often describe yourself as an angry governor?

    I served as commissioner for five years and I knew that where I met the state is not where it ought to have been. I used my money to repair this Calabar-Usi Road when I was commissioner. Obansajo was to pay a visit to the state. I went and brought a heap of sand to fill potholes along the road. So, I went to the governor at that time. I said sir, let’s do something about the road. He said, get out, is it my father’s road? Let him (Obasanjo) come and see how he has been neglecting Akwa Ibom. I said sir, but the visitors that are coming, they would think this government is not performing. He said, is it my business to fix the federal roads? Will you get out of this place? So, I was a man who over advised. If you over advised government, you become an opposition, despite your good intention.

    An international award was given to me in Kenya and a television correspondent who came to interview with and asked: ‘what was your motivating factor for all you have achieved in your state which won you the award? I was stunned because that was not the question I expected he would ask. I said anger. What motivated me was anger. Do you know that after my speech, they set up a panel of discussants on Kenya Television to discuss ‘the anger of the Akwa Ibom governor? And the conclusion was, let Kenya produce many angry politicians who can on the spur of anger bring monumental and phenomenal development to the country. If you are not angry with the state of insecurity, underdevelopment, poverty in the society, lack of infrastructure, and lack of employment, then, you have no business in governance.

    Can you say you have honestly fulfilled your campaign promises?

    Obasanjo came here and described the three segments of Akwa Ibom society, those who support Godswill Akpabio, those who are neither here nor there and those who are in total opposition to Godswill Akpabio. Those who are in support of Godswill Akpabio said ah, the governor is performing excellently. Those who are neither here nor there say the man is trying and those who are in opposition say yes, he has done well, but he has money. My prayer is that anybody that is coming to Akwa Ibom should have money and should also do well. The fact is that what Akwa Ibom is receiving is 0.00001 per cent of what comes from the Federation Account monthly. On a monthly basis, what I use is 0.00001 per cent of the Federation Account.

    All the states in the Federation collect 24 per cent of Federal Revenue. What the states draw collectively is 24 per cent, the local governments collect 15 per cent, the Federal Government takes 52 per cent, the collectible fund is about 3 per cent, nine per cent goes to the FCT and another one per cent is Intervention Fund. If the Federal Government has agreed to increase derivation and Akwa Ibom is able to get one per cent, I would have transformed Akwa Ibom to a small Dubai and you wouldn’t need to go abroad again.