The Nation Newspaper

Category: Politics

  • CPC to PDP: we don’t support violence

    CPC to PDP: we don’t support violence

    The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has faulted the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) for calling it a violent party.

    The party alleged that the PDP is rather a nest of killers. The CPC, which replied the ruling party in a statement in Abuja through its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, raised six posers for PDP to answer.

    The statement read: “The CPC noted the disparaging commentary of Chief Olisa Metuh, the National Publicity Secretary of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) wherein he characterized the CPC as a party that “believes in violence and religious politics.” As a party, we have come to understand the PDP, as a party peopled by egregiously violent ones, which earned it the sobriquet: ‘nest of killers.’

    “We know that the image makers of the PDP have penchant for conjectures, insinuations and unsupportable assertions. We, in the CPC, would prefer to confront this latest impudence by the PDP image launderer with verifiable facts.

    “The CPC, as a party, under the leadership of unquestionably disciplined Nigerians, has never been involved in acts capable of injuring the fragility of the social-political equilibrium in Nigeria . Our national leader, General Muhammadu Buhari(GMB), was rigged out of national elections three times and in these times, he ventilated his aversion to the anomalies in the Law Courts!

    “The PDP leadership, having mismanaged Nigerians’ expectations for good governance in the last 13 years, now feels comfortable throwing tantrums in very despicable manner. We are very certain that the Nigerian people, being the best judges, are capable of seeing through all the carefully woven obfuscation. On our part, we remain unfazed and would continue to pursue the agenda of peace and ethno-religious harmony of the Nigerian people. God bless Nigeria”.

    The six posers raised by the CPC for the PDP to respond to or controvert are: “Fact one: On 29th November, 1999, a PDP-led Federal Government- less than one year in office- ordered the violent invasion of Odi, a predominantly Ijaw community in Bayelsa State. It is note-worthy to state that this community was not in any secessionist plot against the Nigerian state. After the dust of the invasion cleared, the Human Rights Watch concluded that “the soldiers must certainly have killed tens of unarmed civilians and that figures of several hundred dead are entirely plausible.”

    “Fact two: The same PDP-led administration, under the leadership of the progenitor of the PDP, between October 22 and 24, 2001, ensured that some communities in Benue State were violently and crudely invaded, which led to the deaths of no fewer than 300 people. The affected communities were Zaki-Biam, Tse Adoor, Gbeji, Vaase, Anyiin, Iorjaa, Jootar, Sankera and Kyado. Though the Federal Government agreed to a N41 Billion compensation for this act of unmitigated violence, we believe that the indiscretion that led to these extra-judicial killings could have been avoided.

    “Fact Three: In the eight-year rule of the same regime (1999-2007), the Nigerian polity virtually became a Sanguinary with the unresolved wicked assassinations that characterized everyday living. More bewildering was the fact that a serving Attorney General and Minister of Justice, the late Chief Ajibola Ige, was murdered in his home – in the full glare of his security details- with the origin of the murderous violence yet to be unraveled!

    “Fact Four: In October 2009, a chieftain of PDP, Chief Bode George, was convicted by a Court of competent jurisdiction for 63-count charge bordering on financial violence on the Nigerian state and sentenced to two-year jail term. After his prison sentence, the PDP apparatchiks, in a bizarre show of ethical violence on the Nigerian people, rolled out the drums and trumpets to welcome him back home.

    “It is on record that, rather than putting this man through a structured party discipline for his misdemeanor, the PDP has continued to throw him up as its champion in obscenity and indecency!

    “Fact five: On 19th February, 2011, Chief Olisa Metuh, as National Vice-Chairman (South-East) of the PDP, invaded British Nigerian Academy, Prince and Princess Estate, Abuja (the former school of his son, Derrick) and assaulted the Vice Principal, Mr. Kola Pele, a 67-year old man, for seizing a phone that Derrick had, against school rules, given to other students to use.

    “A gestapo-style invasion of the school by Chief Metuh saw him holding Mr. Pele by the throat for the effrontery in seizing his son’s phone. The PDP, being a shelter for violently unstable minds, went on to appoint Chief Metuh as its National Publicity Secretary!

    “Fact Six – Aside the violent crater the PDP dug to the nation’s resources in prosecuting its 2011 presidential electioneering campaigns, there were also tales of tears and blood. From Kaduna to Port-Harcourt (where gates were shut against people’s will and 25 people were killed), the campaigns were trailed with violent tales all over.

    “Fact Seven- In the history of the Nigerian nation, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) had always maintained its apolitical status. In the run to the 2011 Presidential election, Pastor Ayodele Joseph Oritsejafor, the President of CAN, presented to the Nigerian Christians the PDP candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, as the ‘anointed of the LORD’ in a manner that offended the non-partisanship of the religious body.

    “The subsequent call for the arrest of the CPC candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB), by Pastor Oritsejafor for unsubstantiated allegations of sponsoring the post-election violence in the North, further lends credence to the fact that, through the instrumentality of PDP’s coercive politics, CAN (under Pastor Oritsejafor) is the religious arm of the PDP!

    “Would that explain why Mr. President attended a ceremony (on Saturday, November 10, 2012) where Pastor Oritsejafor was presented with several-billion-naira worth air plane?”, the CPC querried.

     

  • Umeh’s high-handedness behind crisis in APGA —Menakaya

    Umeh’s high-handedness behind crisis in APGA —Menakaya

    In separate interviews with our Abuja Bureau Chief, YOMI ODUNUGA, two prominent leaders of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Chief Victor Umeh (National Chairman) and Dr. Tim Menakaya (member, BoT), spoke on the latest crisis in the party. It is indeed, a crossfire. Excerpts:

    Why is APGA always enmeshed in crisis?

    Like every other political party in this country, we in APGA have some problems in our party but not crisis as such. In spite of that, APGA will thrive to be a family, to be an all-encompassing party and we will try to hold it together so that it can be attractive to most Nigerians.

    What are these problems and can you explain why your name is being linked to the latest crisis in the party?

    Today, we have two factions in the party. We have the former chairman, Chief Vincent Umeh, and I am using the word former because of court injunction. The former national chairman of the party is always fighting a host of other people and the case is in court and it was the court that gave injunction that he should stop parading himself as the national chairman of the party.

    For a very long time, the party has been involved in one crisis after the other, there have been court cases and different verdict and you call it a family affair, what manner of family is that?

    Let me say one thing that is very important, I was talking about the current crisis that we have. Earlier on, we had similar problem where members of the party lost confidence in the chairman of the party and the chairman was voted out of office and he went to court and we had a protracted court cases which lasted for a very long time. Unfortunately, around this time last year, another one started. What you have in this part of the world is a situation where things are not done the way they are supposed to be done, things are not properly organised. We have a party where all offices in the party are taken for granted and there are no members. As I am talking to you right now, I am the only member of the Board of Trustees. We are supposed to have a minimum of 24 but I am the only member now. Before, we were two, I and our late leader, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu. The present crisis started when people came together and said the Mr. Chairman should call a meeting so that the party can be reorganised, so that the party will become functional, so that I, Tim Menakaye will not be the only person in the board of trustees, there should be at least 24 of us so that we can exchange ideas and have cross fertilization of these ideas and it has not happened. The national executive council of the party decides everything that happens over the rest members of the party, we want to run a party the way it should be done. From the inception of the party, the convention has never approved a budget for the party, so we said the one man show must stop and we must have responsibility and all hands must be on deck so that we can have responsibilities and a party that has wide acceptability.

    It has been suggested that the crisis may affect the fortunes of the party in upcoming elections in Anambra State, what are your thoughts?

    Have you ever been so pessimistic that the problems you have cannot be overcome? It borders on one single thing, as soon as the party is well organised and all the functionaries are in place, the crisis will be over and we will move on. We had the first crisis and within that period there was an election in Anambra State and APGA still won. APGA is the party for the people and people accept it as a party that leads them. Fortunately for us, we have a wonderful man who is our governor and he has improved the state, we have experienced so much development. So, it is not just the party, it is the individuals in the party. What I am saying is that the whole crisis revolves around one single person which means that after the re-organisation; APGA will become stronger than it has ever been.

    The National Chairman of the party, Chief Victor Umeh, specifically named you as one of the people behind the problem in the party and he also threatened to expose certain things concerning the death of Ojukwu. Are you not bothered by the threat?

    I cannot say much, we are waiting for the 26th which he said would mark a year after Ojukwu’s death before making the revelations. But Umeh must realise that there are few things that are sacrilege; there are few things that people don’t even say carelessly. He has gone beyond what it is supposed to be and it might not stop there but I will say we should wait patiently for the revelation. If you say you know why somebody died; are you the doctor? And I am sure it might end up being investigated to know how the man died. But from what Umeh is saying, the man did not die a natural death and he probably knows more than all of us and we cannot comment on it. All I know is that Ojukwu was ill and I saw him in Nigeria before he was flown to United Kingdom and I also visited him three times there. Since Umeh says he has a lot to tell the nation, then we have to wait for him.

    Can you tell us about the recent peace meeting in Awka?

    Before I tell you what happened at the last meeting in Awka which I attended, let me also say this: As an elder in the party, I had called several meetings. In May, I called two meetings in my own country house, it was not easy to get Umeh to attend but he finally attended. Some people queried me for calling the meeting but I did as an elder and I have every right to do that. He reluctantly attended the first and the second, he attended well. We thought we were coming to something; immediately after the meeting we saw different publications in the newspapers and we thought things were going out of hand, I swallowed all the insult and called for another meeting which I expanded and since then he has stopped attending meetings. The one at Awka last week, I was widely informed that the governor of Anambra State chose the time and date with his counterpart in Imo state, they chose 6th of November but the two of them, Umeh and Rochas Okorocha, were not there and it was very unfortunate.

    Why would an important personality like the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, boycott such a meeting?

    We have no problem with Rochas, he is our governor, we respect him and he is doing well in Imo State.

    There is fresh move to amend the Constitution. As an elder statesman, do you think there is anything that can be done to forestall the kind of crisis bedevilling APGA?

    There are many things we need to say about whatever constitutional amendment we are doing. One, I don’t believe in a lawless society, I believe that law and order must be there to guide us. Any country that laws are not obeyed shows that there are no laws because I cannot imagine court ordering somebody that he should stop parading himself as chairman and he still continues. People use every opportunity to perpetuate themselves in a position; they will never like to give way. For example in APGA, we said that there must be convention every year in the party. Since Umeh came in, I have only attended one so-called convention and all the meetings we did was on acclamation. The party said all the election must be on secret ballot; which means there was no convention. So, in my position, I will say I have never attended any properly organised convention. These are the problems that are facing us and I think one of the things we need to address in our constitution is discipline. We don’t have discipline. When you have a country with laws with no sanctions, then all the laws are rubbish. It has happened several times in this country where cases go to court and they say there is no case but if they go to other countries, they own up. Question of discipline does not exist. Question of share of duties does not exist and for those of us that are very religious, the Holy Book stated that in my father’s house there are many mansions. In a party, there must be a lot of mansion; i.e. there must be secretary, treasurer but when all of them are rolled into one person, do you think things will work well? These are the problems we are having.

    What is the position of APGA on merger?

    APGA is not yielding to merging with any political party but it can associate with them. We have not discussed that in any forum. So, as far as I know, the issue of merger does not come in.

     

  • ‘We must liberate LGs from governors’

    ‘We must liberate LGs from governors’

    Hon. Yusuf Shehu, a Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) lawmaker, representing Daura Constituency in Katsina State House of Assembly is the Minority Chief Whip and House chairman on inter-Parliamentary Affairs. In this interview with Isah Idris, he reflects on the state of the nation, Katsina State as it celebrates 25 years of its creation, alleging that Nigerian governors have pocketed local government councils. Excerpts 

    Nigerians celebrated the country’s 52nd independence this year. But going down memory lane, many Nigerians believe the leadership of the colonial masters was better than the leadership of the Nigerian political class. What is your assessment of the country at 52nd independence.

    From what I have observed and experienced from 1960 to date, the colonial masters and earliest leaders of Nigeria succeeded because there was high level of discipline in their time and there was checks and balances and transparency in governance; there was not much corruption as we are experiencing in this nation today.

    Obviously, the present crops of leaders are not the serious type and most Nigerians are not disciplined, corruption is everywhere and that is what is retarding the progress of this nation. We don’t have good and credible leaders.

    In Nigeria, most of our governors and even leaders at the top are being appointed and installed, they are not democratically elected. Most of the elections in Nigeria are rigged except in few states where you can see something closer to free and fair election because oppositions are strong and firm.

    From all indications, this problem is not from only National Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), the security agents are part of the problem and Nigerians are part of the problem. We have to be transparent in all our activities, especially our leaders and that is why we must involve Almighty Allah to intervene in the present predicament of Nigerians as we face global challenges.

    It seems the Executive has taken over everything from Judiciary and Legislature. As a lawmaker, are you convinced that the legislature is still capable of bailing out this country?

    Obviously, most of the lawmakers both in the national and states’ assemblies are not duly elected. Majority of them are stooges who hate free and fair elections. Except few, most of them are not even qualified to be there so that, it is mixture of the grains and the chaff. That is why the executive has pocketed the national and states’ assemblies. But there are some changes in the current National Assembly, particularly the Federal House of Representatives.

    Infant, people are presently optimistic in the House of Representatives and some states too are beginning to come of age so that not every executive’s wishes are allowed, because these things are in the constitution. I am therefore calling on the legislature to rise to the challenges to ensure that all budgets are fully implemented to the later un- like what we used to experience in the past. Most of the governors use money as bates to pocket the legislature. You can imagine a state with 100 percent single party membership such as Sokoto and few other states, there couldn’t be checks and balances.

    Local governments today are finding it difficult to embark on repairs, much less paying salaries. In fact, there is a near collapse of the local government system at the moment. What is responsible for this ugly situation and how can we reverse the trend?

    The national and state assemblies and Nigerians at large must rise up to see that we regain freedom and autonomy of local governments from the 36 state governors in the country. State governors have over time pocketed the local government councils through the instrumentality of ‘joint account’ for the state and local governments.

    Emphatically, this joint account must be phased out.

    So, when the local governments get their independence, it is then, they can do development projects. The governors should hands off from the council allocation, since the states have their own allocations, local governments should have their own allocations sent directly to them without interference from state governors.

    In 2011, there was an attempted merger between CPC and ACN political parties to take over government at the center and states but it collapsed. What is the possibility that it may succeed now?

    It failed because there was no time to discuss all the modalities for merger before the elections. Therefore the possibility for the merger to succeed this time is the fact that there is enough time for the two parties to negotiate why, when and how of the proposal. This is because the aim is to take over the center, especially the seat of president of the country and state governors.

    This project is a necessity because Nigerians are tired of PDP rule of gangsters. The problem that is being faced by ACN and CPC supporters are the same. So, as the two parties have started earlier with stronger teams negotiating for the merger, we are optimistic that it will be successful to enable Nigerians get relief from avoidable hardship being visited on the citizens by the PDP.

    There is all possibility for major opposition parties coming together since the overriding objective is to bail the country out of wood.

    Recently, the Katsina state branch of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), during a conference in Katsina state capital, raised an alarm on the poor state of health care system in the state. What is health committee doing to contain this situation?

    The government clinics and hospitals in Katsina state actually lack professional doctors and medical staffs.

    The government should employ qualified personnel to manage the state hospitals to guide against avoidable increase in death rate being recorded in public hospitals in the state.

  • Menakaya dancing to Obi’s tune —Umeh

    Menakaya dancing to Obi’s tune —Umeh

    Dr. Tim Menakaya has accused you of falsely parading yourself as the National Chairman of APGA in flagrant disobedience of a court injunction. What is your take on this?

    It is very sad that someone like him can refer to me as the former chairman. Who is the new chairman, did he tell you? It is very terrible when elderly people join young people to begin to peddle falsehood. Dr. Tim Menakaya, very unfortunately, has brought too much hardship to this party in the past few months; something nobody would have expected would come from an elderly person like him. He tells you that he was the only member of the board of trustees of APGA and he was appointed in 2005 alongside our late Dim Ojukwu and one Ambassador Godwin, it was by the virtue of the party that they were appointed on the first basis and then to expand it by minimum of 24 as required by the constitution. If you have followed APGA in the last seven years, you will know that when that appointment was made, it was sequel to the expulsion of our former chairman, Chief Chekwas Okorie, who immediately after that launched three litigations against the leadership of this party. While those litigations were on, Ojukwu remained the chairman of the board and Tim a member, he was just a member. He was appointed by this leadership of the party. It will be hypocritical of him to tell you that the chairman of the party prevented the board of trustees to be expanded to 24 members. Ojukwu just died less than a year and if he was the chairman of the board for five years before he took ill and died in 2011, it will become clear immediately to you that if Ojukwu was alive as  the chairman of the board for five years,  should Victor Umeh have prevented the board from a membership of not less than 24? Unfortunately, what Menakaya has decided to do was to mislead the public. At various times, Ojukwu made efforts to increase the board to 24 but nobody accepted because of the nagging legal issues affecting the party at that time. When we finally defeated Okorie in all his legal battles against the party, the final one was 29th February 2012 and immediately after that, we buried Ojukwu in March and in April, I wrote a roadmap for APGA after the legal hostility with Okorie. That memo was given to Dr. Manakaya on the 8th of April 2012 and one of the things I recommended on behalf of the national working committee would be to reconstitute the board of trustee and bring it in line with the constitution of APGA. He was the first to receive the memo and on the 6th of May 2012 at Menakaya’s home again, I circulated the memo to Peter Obi, Bianca Ojukwu and the rest of the people in attendance. So, for him to now say we don’t want to constitute the board of trustees of the party is like someone deceiving the public.

    What about the national working committee, he alleged that you only take issues at the executive level. What would be your response to that?

    It is something that you cannot hold to be true in any aspect of it.

    Have you been asked by the court not to act as the national chairman as they are alleging?

    Which court? The truth about what is happening is that Manakaya is acting out of selfish interest to attack the leadership of this party. That is what he is doing. He is just hired by Governor Obi to attack the leadership of this party and Menakaya has been part of this party in all material times. Each time he sees us doing anything, he is always carried along as an elder in the party. We have met with government two times with him; he comes here to collect money for his expenses as a member of the board. Last year, during the election campaign, he came to collect N2.7million to enable him participate in the election and this national working committee he is disparaging today was elected at a convention on 10th of February 2011 and he was there sitting on the high table along with Bianca, Governor Obi and at that same convention, APGA adopted President Goodluck Jonathan as our presidential candidate. It is the same convention that he has now turned around to deny.  Is he denying that the convention never took place? I saw a publication in the newspaper where he claimed to be taking decisions on behalf of APGA only in Anambra state. APGA is a national party but they assembled in Anambra State to dish out instructions to a national political party. So, being part of a convention that elected the national working committee of this party, it is very depressing that a man of his standing can make such claims.

    If you claim you have  been working together, what then could be responsible for the sudden sour relationship?

    To tell you why we have disagreed with them, we said the constitution of the party should be used to take decisions for the party. But people who are not within the working organs of the party will want to take decisions for the party. Before you started hearing about him, he was not criticising us until Governor Obi made his son Commissioner for Special Duties and made his brother-in-law Chairman of Dunukofia Local Government Area. Obi also told him that the governorship of Anambra State has been zoned to his own senatorial district, Anambra North and he now joined Obi to fight us. Obi told him that we said the ticket of the party should be thrown open and he said he is working for Anambra North indigene to become the governor of Anambra in 2014, that is how Manakaya emerged as an opponent of this leadership. He is being sponsored by Peter Obi. Have you ever seen or heard that he is addressing the press on behalf of APGA? These things are done for selfish interests. Dr. Menakaya is not telling the truth because, from what I have told you now, if it was possible for the board of trustee of the party to have more than 24 members, it would have been done under Ojukwu’s chairmanship. We would have not stood on the way of Ojukwu from realising that but the bottleneck we had was the litigations mounted by Okorie and nobody wanted to be part of it because they were not sure of who was in charge. You know Okorie was against Ojukwu and our leadership. It is painful to us that we have laboured to clear all the legal huddles of APGA and the moment we want to rebuild the party, people like him now emerge to castigate this leadership and he is a stakeholder as he described himself now. I challenge him to produce the result of any election APGA has won in his ward for the past ten years, even in his local government. We have never won there. Instead, he has been benefiting from our own toil and achievement for this party. Instead of making peace in the party as a father; he has decided to be the provocateur of the crisis in the party.

    He was also categorical that you were going to reveal certain things about the death of Ojukwu and that he would not stop you but that there are certain things that are forbidden in the Igbo community, what do you have to say about this?

    Menakaya is not a member of Ojukwu’s family. If I make any statement concerning Ojukwu’s family, it is not for him to reply me and I have not said anything in my statement that he is trying to be suggestive of the attack that he is putting my way. I merely called them to caution them and call them to order. I am sure that you know that as the Chairman of APGA with Ojukwu for five years, I was very close to him and within this period, Menakaya was absent in Ojukwu’s life. He was not coming to Ojukwu’s house until he became ill and indisposed that he appeared. I said they should rein in themselves and stop embarrassing the party and the Igbo people. So, for them to say that they are projecting the doings of Ojukwu today, how close was he to Ojukwu when he was alive? That was the question I posed.

    Is it possible to have peace in APGA?

    Peace is possible in APGA if the people who are chasing shadows stop what they are doing. This executive in the party was elected in a convention they attended and now they have five separate suits in the court in Nigeria challenging that same convention thereby telling the court that we did not use secret ballot to elect the officers at the convention, that we did not resign two month before the convention and these are things that are purely internal affairs of APGA.

    How true is it that 2015 is responsible for this crisis?

    It is not 2015, that one may be a far factor in the whole thing. I would say the whole problems of APGA are localized in Anambra State.

  • PDP takes massive hit in Osun

    Events of the last couple of days in the State of 0sun indicate that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is in serious trouble. On Tuesday, Nov 14, 2012n over eight. Thousand members of the party publicly abandoned the PDP and declared allegiance for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), in what has been described as a mega rally in Osogbo, the state capital.

    Political observers who have been watching developments in the state since Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola assumed office just two years ago believe that the magnitude of this defection of so many party members from the PDP to the ACN is a massive hit on the party, which could down-grade PDP’s effectiveness and relevance as an alternative political force in the state of Osun.

    Besides, the event is demonstrable evidence of how the ACN government is impacting on life in the state, economically, socially and politically. In spite of the very bitter opposition mounted against the ACN by the PDP, which were sometimes scandalous and bordering on the politically inappropriate, the party has failed to mobilize public opinion against the governor and his government.

    On the contrary, the performance of the Aregbesola-led ACN government has been steadily changing public perception and rating of how policy executions of the ACN government is impacting lives and the environment in the state of Osun. It would appear that the more vicious PDP attacks on the ACN government become, the greater impact for good the policies of government seem to be having on people and various communities in the state.

    What appeared to make matters worse for the PDP was that the more the party criticized Ogbeni’s policies, the more its own members benefited from the ACN government’s policies to the point that it was becoming not only embarrassing to thousands of PDP operatives, the very idea of opposing those policies of the ACN also became untenable. PDP members could not stand the contradiction any longer of deprecating the man who is, to all intent and purpose, making life a lot much better for their on members, than the PDP itself was able to do inside 90 months. And for that matter, all of these were happening within two years of ACN and Aregbesola at the helm of governance in the state of Osun.

    The event of November 14 in Osogbo has tremendous political significance for it points to a major shift of public opinion in appreciation for the quality of service delivery which by the ACN government is providing the state in stark contrast to what the PDP was able to “achieve” in 90 months, the Aregbesola administration has done so much more in two years and promises to do a lot more in the years ahead, that public perception is already turning 360 degree in the governor’s favour. And a physical demonstration of this is the massive members of decampees who left the PDP on Tuesday, November 14 and publicly declared for the ACN in what should translate as a public approval rating based on the impact of government policies on homes and families in the state. That impact is multi-dimensional ranging from youth employment/empowerment, environment up-grade, infrastructural renewal and a massively axpanding agricultural sector that is changing a lot of lives in the rural and urban areas.

    But of special importance was the fact that when the governor welcome the new converts from the PDP (over 8000 of them) to his party, he chose pointedly to highlight only one aspect of his policy thrust that is being felt in every home in the state of Osun-EDUCATION. The statistics below are a measure of the difference between the PDP and the ACN in their approach toward funding education.

    During Brig. Oyinlola’s PDP administration, funding for primary schools, calculated pro-rata on the number of school children, was 7.5million naira, while for secondary schools the figure was 116.6million naira and Technical colleges got 1.44million naira , yearly.

    In contrast, the Aregbesola administration has increased that to 424 million naira for primary schools; 427 million naira for secondary schools and 5.3 million naira for technical colleges yearly. Also the governor on assumption of office brought down university fees paid by students by 50 per cent and increased bursary from 4000 naira to 10,000 naira.

    Another policy thrust which has resonated positively across the state of Osun is that of care for the elderly. Helpless elders, across Osun have been identified and are being assisted with 10,000 naira every month. This action by the governor has touched the hearts and changed the minds of many in Aregbesola’s favour and his party , the ACN, is gaining a lot of political capital from it at the expense of the PDP.

    Although the party is trying to play down the impact of the latest defection of its member to the ACN, the public in general and political observers in particular see the event of November 14 as a big minus for the PDP in the state of Osun which could well signal the irreversible decline of the political fortunes of the party in the state of Osun.

    Waheed Alao is of the Directorate of Publicity, Research And Strategy, ACN, Osun.

  • PDP leaders angry with Oke

    For filing a petition at the tribunal, challenging the re-election of Governor Olusegun Mimiko contrary to the position of its party leaders, the PDP candidate in the recently-held Ondo State governorship election, Olusola Oke, may have incurred the wrath of the powers-that-be of the party. Sources disclosed that Oke’s decision to spurn the advice of party elders, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, asking him to take the outcome of the election in good faith, is presently causing ripples between top officials of the party in Ondo and Abuja. But in spite of alleged threats to sanction Oke by the party, the Ilaje-born politician is reported to have told his close associates that he is ready for whatever consequences that may follow his decision.

  • Benue 2015: It’s Mark versus Suswam

    Benue 2015: It’s Mark versus Suswam

    Dare Odufowokan examines the contending forces in Benue State politics ahead the 2015 governorship election.

    While analysts are likely to describe the political situation in Benue State, ahead of the 2015 general election, as getting more interesting, politicians in the state vow that the permutations have indeed become very complex.

    But ask the people on the streets of Markurdi, Gboko, Katsina-Ala etc and they will lament the confusing political atmosphere currently pervading the acclaimed food basket of the nation.

    And at the centre of the murky political situation in the state are two illustrious sons of the state and erstwhile allies, Senate President David Mark and Governor Gabriel Suswam.

    The bone of contention, we learnt, is nothing other than the control of the state chapter of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). For the two leaders and their associates, the control of the party machinery in Benue is the beginning of electoral fortunes in 2015.

    This mindset probabaly explains why the power play within the ruling party is currently very tense. So upbeat is the scheming in the state today that the rival camps within the state are daily working out plots to outwit one another ahead of the forthcoming polls.

    While neither of the two leaders would be gunning for the position of the governor of the state in 2015, both are interested in who becomes the governor of the state when Governor Suswam completes his term in May 2015.

    For Suswam, who, hmany say, have his eye on a senate seat in 2015, the need to leave a trusted ally behind in Government House is behind his current political war with Senator David Mark who on his part, we learnt want to install one of his associates from his Idoma speaking part of the state.

    The governor, who got reelected in 2011 on the strenght of his alliance with the Senate President, wants to control the party so as to ensure the emergence of his preferred candidate come 2015.

    Although both Suswam and Mark are said to be rooting for a governor of Idoma extraction, they are said to be backing the aspiration of different candidates at present.

    While Mark is interested in who governs the state so as to maintain his relevance in Benue politics, Suswam is said to have learnt from the experience of his predecessor and benefactor, Senator George Akume who was forced out of the PDP by the power play that ensued between him and the governor shortly after the 2007 general election.

    The Suswam and Mark camps had ganged up to checkmate Akume politically as the 2011 general election approached. And backed with both federal and state mights, the coalition succeded in uprooting the former governor and his allies from the PDP in the state.

    Down but not out, Akume was to pitch his tent with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) where he had to, against all odds, engage in the battle of his life to retain his seat in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    But today, Suswam and Mark, though still in the same party, are on opposing sides of a bitter political struggle that has left the state panting from the various moves and counter moves embarked upon by them.

    Nothing is being spared in the ensuing struggle. No institution in the state and the party is left untouched. The quest for control has divided the state assembly into camps; turn party leaders and executives into factions and threatened the peaceful conduct of the forthcoming local government election in the state.

    Recently, the battle between the two camps shifted to the state assembly complex. In what has been described as a deft political move by the Mark group, the Speaker of the legislative arm was removed by a majority of the lawmakers.

    Last minute efforts to save the embattled Speaker by the state government failed as the lawmakers refused to be swayed by the appeals and cautions of the deputy Governor, Steve Lawani, who stormed the complex as the impeachment battle was raging.

    Though the Speaker lost his position, an attempt by the victorious faction to elect a new Speaker was folied as hoodlums and hired politcal thugs invaded the legislative complex and chased the lawmakers out of the building.

    Accusation and counter accusation have expectedly trailed the show of shame. But nobody is left in doubt that the incident is a manifestation of the power tussle within the ruling PDP.

    “It is becoming more and more difficult to explain what is happening within our party. With the assembly and the executive under the control of different groups within the same party, the state may soon explode in violence unless something urgent is done.

    We are determined to produce the next governor but the infighting within the party may cost us the chance to continue to rule the state. The people are daily disturbed by these news of warring factions in PDP,” Elder James Egoche, a chieftain of the party in the state said.

    Before the impeachement saga, the two factions have battled over the composition of the party’s state executive committee with the Mark camp accussing Suswam of rigging the last congress in favour of his allies. Unpertubed, the Governor kept the executives in office as part of his 2015 political gameplan.

    But on July 28th, after its National Working Committee meeting in Abuja, deputy national chairman, Dr Sam Sam Jaja, announced the sack of the party’s state executives in Ogun, Taraba, Ondo and Benue States. With this, the Dr Emmanuel Agbo- led executive in Benue State became illegal.

    For Suswam, this was a political blow. He quickly blamed it on Mark, ywho he accused of planning to distrupt the peace within the party in the state. He refused to bow and kept the sacked executives in office.

    Undettered by the Governor’s defiance, the Mark camp kept up its agitation for a fresh congress in the state to elect executives for the party. And as if on que, the national leadership of the party is insisting that a repeat congress is the best for Benue.

    And to set the tone for the next round of political battles ahead of 2015 is the local government election coming up soon in the state. There are indications that Suswam, using the Agbo-led party executives, got the names of his preffered candidates into the list of PDP candidates in all the council areas leaving Mark and his supporters empty handed.

    With some aggrieved candidates already in court to challenge what they called the imposition of candidates by the party leadership in the state and aggrieved party men and women vowing to stop Suswam’s men from emerging as council bosses, things appear to have fallen apart within the ruling party as the gladiators continue to lock horns in an unending battle for the soul of the PDP in Benue State.

  • APGA on her knees

    War of words by leaders of APGA has helped to frustrate rather than reconcile opposing forces, reports Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu

    As the war of words over the policy direction and leadership  of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) continues to deepen, there are indications that the party may have been crippled technically.

    Also, insiders said that the multiple court cases instituted by various interest groups, desperate to remove the National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, may in a way, further complicate and deepen the crisis.

    To resolve the matter, there have been numerous meetings held in Awka, Owerri, Abuja and Lagos to resolve the crisis but such meetings have not only failed woefully but have, themselves ironically acted as the bases for the furtherance of the crisis. The latest was the November 6, 2012 meeting convened in Awka, the capital of Anambra State State by Governor Peter Obi. Although Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and Chief Victor Umeh, the party’s National Chairman, were allegedly invited to the peace meeting, they were absent, a development that has set tongues wagging over the deteriorating relationship between these once happy political family.

    Since then, the verbal war had gathered more arsenal. Obi’s loyalists, for example, have not only alleged that Rochas and Umeh now belong to a different camp but added that they are also not willing to be part of any peace initiative from Obi’s camp. But Umeh, who, together with Okorocha, was reportedly away in London when the meeting held, and who only returned to the country last week, said the organisers of the said meeting were being economical with truth.

    Author of the crisis:

    APGA has been bogged down by leadership crisis for years, dating back to the prolonged battle between the pioneer National Chairman, Chief Chekwas Okorie and the current leadership led by Umeh.

    But the current crisis can be traced to moves by some members, mainly from the Anambra State chapter of the party, who rose up in 2011, demanding Umeh’s replacement.

    Rejecting claims that he is the central cause of the crisis, Umeh told The Nation during the week: “The present crisis ravaging APGA is being sponsored by Governor Obi since 2011. But, he had kept denying this until it came to the centre stage where he now took over.”

    Insiders in the party however revealed that the party’s problems are nothing more than the politics of Anambra State and 2015 presidential elections.

    According to the source, “Obi is of the view that APGA has no candidate for 2015 presidential race but Umeh thinks otherwise. This crucial disagreement has affected their views on the local politics of Anambra State, like council elections, the next governorship candidate in the state and the overall politics of APGA,” the source said.

  • Saraki: A death, a coronation

    While the country mourns the passing away few days back of second republic Senate leader and strongman of Kwara politics, Chief Abubakar Olusola Saraki,  the people of the state are also eager for the coronation of his successor.

    News emanating from the late Saraki’s stronghold have it that the sudden demise of Turaki means the emergence of a new strongman in the politics of the state. So, who would wear the crown?

    Given the political achievements and current positions of Dr. Bukola Saraki, former governor of the state and son of the departed political warlord, many are saying he will simply assume the mantle of leadership of both the Saraki political dynasty and the politics of the state.

    What is left to be seen therefore, appears to be if the new commander of Kwara politics will hold his own against the rampaging opposition in the state like the late godfather.

  • Of task forces and ad hoc committees

    ALL of a sudden, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the giant Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and other agencies and parastatals in the sector have come alive to the demand for good corporate practices. Our own dear Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke has come out smoking, warning that anyone who attempts to stand in the way of reforms would go with the whirlwind blowing in the industry. It won’t be wrong to call it dividend of protest.

    But, how permanent would the reforms be? Already, there is a task force charged with ensuring the institution of a transparent mode of raking in revenue. The chairman is none other than the ever ebullient and controversial Nuhu Ribadu. As chairman of the EFCC, he was an ill wind whose name spelt trouble for wrong doers. However, some soon discovered the formula for arresting Ribadu’s scud missiles- acquire the patriot missile Obasanjo. Obasanjo was the task master. He knew how to save his own.

    On the other hand, if you were perceived an enemy of the President, you automatically became Ribadu’s enemy and he would come after you like Sango in all his fury. To assist Ribadu in the task, the former Head of Service of the Federation, Chief Steve Oronsaye and three Senior Advocates of Nigeria, including ex-Nigerian Bar Association President Olisa Agbakoba and former Lagos Attorney General Supo Sasore. How well would the men acquit themselves in the prevailing circumstances? This remains to be seen.

    Restless, perhaps as a result of what she’s been made to face in recent times, Diezani has set up another task force; this time to look into streamlining and encouraging the establishment of refineries locally. One of the most virulent critics of President Jonathan’s economic policies, Dr. Idika Kalu, is chairman of the panel. He had played a major role supplying the intellectual fuel for the fire that ravaged during the anti-subsidy removal fire that burned brilliantly across the land. No one can say for sure if the plan is to entice the men away from their colleagues. And, if it’s so, would the government succeed?

    At the level of the legislature, the current fashion is to set up probe panels using ad hoc committees. The engine of the legislature runs on the committees- standing committees. As part of the vanity of the Nigerian system, there are more committees than needed. The House of Representatives has more than eighty, while the Senate has about 50. The Senate committee system is so structured that every senator, young or old, literate or barely literate, experienced or not, is either the chairman of one. That way, the money periodically released to lubricate the engine flows freely.

    But, in recent times, when it comes to work, both the Senate and the House are quick to ignore the standing committees and set up ad hoc committees. It is, in my view, an indictment of their own system. Why, for example, set up an ad hoc body to examine the issues involved in the fraud that has continually rocked the sector over the years?

    Societies do not run on the basis of perfunctory policies and temporary measures. The path both the legislative and executive bodies have chosen to tread is akin to the declaration of emergency in select local government areas of five states. What has that achieved? It was after the President took the panic measure that Boko Haram moved from the North east to the North West. The lion is really roaring, seeking whom to devour and the government is out of depth.

    I had expected that, after 13 years, the National Assembly would have perfected its act, realising the best way to hold executive accountable. All that has happened so far before the Farouk Lawan Committee, I dare submit, is grandstanding. The measures to arise the reform would, most likely, dress the window. Pray, what happened to the Ndudi Elumelu Committee that probed the power sector?

    The revelations were similar. The committee discovered that about 16 billion dollars was sunk into ensuring that the nation got steady supply of electricity and that the amount spent was not commensurate to the output in terms of generation, transmission and distribution. But, what happened? One would have thought that the EFCC would pick it up from there. The matter is as dead as door nail. Rather than pick up the culprits and get them prosecuted and public fund recovered, Elumelu was hounded, dragged before the court of justice and then quietly released.

    What would happen to all the bodies, panels, task forces and committees set up ostensibly to clean up the stable? What would happen to the reports? Already, there is an audit report by the renowned audit firm KPMG. It is gathering dust. It is shocking that the minister could claim as she did before the Lawan Committee that the report had not been officially transmitted to her? How long does it take to move reports from one government desk to another? There was that committee set up by the late President Yar’Adua to collate and harmonise all previous reports on the development of the Niger Delta. What became of it? Before then, President Obasanjo had brought “eminent Nigerians” from all over Nigeria together to discuss the future. Nothing was heard thereafter.

    This is the time for us all to speak out and keep up the pressure so that the current motion towards sanitizing the commanding heights of the economy could yield fruits, good fruits.

    This piece was first published February 12, 2012 in the wake of inauguration of the task forces. Now that the reports are generating ripples, it is instructive to reproduce it. It is time we returned to statutory means of doing things.