Category: SouthEast

One of the political allies of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate in Cross River State, Elder David Okon, has inaugurated coordinators of Tinubu/Shettima Grassroots Independent Campaign Council in the state.

Okon, the chairman of the APC Elders Forum, was the standard-bearer of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Cross River State.

He has been the chairman of Tinubu Support Groups in the state as well.

Speaking during the inauguration of state, senatorial and local government coordinators of Tinubu/Shettima Grassroots Independent Campaign Council for Cross River in his office in Calabar, Elder Okon gave reasons why he believed that Asiwaju Tinubu would win the forthcoming presidential election.

He said Tinubu’s massive grassroots support, which comes as a result of his disposition in infrastructural and human capacity development, were enough to give the former Lagos State governor victory in first ballot.

“I have said this on several occasions without any equivocation that Asiwaju Tinubu and his running mate, Sen. Kashim Shettima, will win in first ballot. This is because apart from the level of acceptability and love for Asiwaju Tinubu across the country, the campaign is generally grassroots-based.

“The phenomenon called Tinubu has, apart from touching lives, made things to happen where it would not have ordinarily worked. What he did in Lagos State stands him out as a colossus in capital, infrastructural and human development and I know all of us will want a situation where such feats are replicated in Nigeria.

“He is progressive and is one man that can make things to happen. This is why Nigerians want him; this is why he is going to win massively to create a new paradise with renewed hope for this nation.

“The support he is getting is from the grassroots and I know he does not play elitist or metropolitan politics,” Okon said.

The Young Progressives Congress (YPP) in Akwa Ibom State has accused Governor Udom Emmanuel of using unbudgeted state resources to fund the campaigns of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

YPP said it was an act of ‘favouritism’ for the PDP-led state government to deploy public and tax payers’ money to fund a political party, adding that such money was neither appropriated for nor approved by the House of Assembly.

State Chairman Dr. Nyeneime Andy, who made this known at a news conference at the weekend, queried Emmanuel’s donation of 31 Hiace buses costing N1.24billion to the PDP for the campaigns of its governorship candidate, Pastor Umo Eno.

He said the state government, through its contractors, donated bullet proof cars and Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) to the PDP governorship candidate while he was still serving as commissioner for Lands and Water Resources in the Emmanuel administration.

He said: “At a New Year get-together with the PDP on January 4, Governor Emmanuel donated 31 Hiace buses, costing over N1.24billion, to the state PDP, for Pastor Eno’s campaigns.

“Was the amount used in the purchase of the buses appropriated for and approved by the House of Assembly? Does the state government have a right to use public and tax payers’ money to fund a party?

“Before now, the state government, through its contractors, had donated bullet proof cars and SUVs to Eno even when he was still the commissioner for Lands and Water Resources. Let us put this side by side with the recent case involving Senator Bassey Albert Akpan with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Ekerete Udoh, denied the allegation and described the YPP position as politically- motivated, aimed at diminishing the transparent disposition of Governor Emmanuel.

He said: “Governor Emmanuel is an epitome of transparency in governance. A fact attested to, by dispassionate Nigerians.”

Arrangements have been concluded for the proposed mega rally of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and his running mate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Sen. Kasim Shettima, in Anambra State this month.

Food items worth over N149 million have been donated to members of the party in the state in support of the Tinubu/Shettima presidential ambition.

The state Coordinator, Tinubu Shettima Campaign Council, Sen Maggery Okadigbo, who briefed reporters yesterday, said the 327 electoral wards in the state had concluded plans to receive the presidential candidate across the 21 local governments.

Okadigbo, who is also the chairman of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd, said the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Council had begun visit to the wards to ensure a hitch free campaign.

She dismissed as unfounded and machinations of fifth columnists, the belief that Tinubu was not loved by Southeasterners, stressing that “in the history of Tinubu in politics, the Igbo have been favoured.”

Okadigbo urged the electorate to disregard the rumour and embrace the move towards electing the next president.

The Deputy Coordinator of the campaign council in the state, Sen. Emma Anosike, said the donated items were in support of Asiwaju Tinubu and his running mate, Sen. Shettima.

“What we have done so far is to carry our party members along because they are the foot soldiers in this coming election. As a party, we find it instructive and essential for us to continue to interface with our party men and women at all times.

“The campaign is not only for the candidates to carry the burden alone, because the victory of the presidential candidate is a victory for all party members.

“In this modern world of politics, you don’t expect the candidates to exhaust themselves because of election. But when you contribute your quota to that success story, you gain from the victory,” he said.

Insisting that there were two major parties in the country, Anosike said APC would emerge victorious in the presidential election following the achievements recorded under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

He challenged APC critics to present reasons why the party and its standard-bearer would not win the election in view of the projects and juicy appointments given to the people of the Southeast by the APC government.

“When people talk about the APC and the government, they forget the achievements of the party in the Southeast.

“Most of those abandoned projects of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been completed by the APC government; from road construction to second Niger Bridge as well as reviving of moribund sea and dry ports in the Southeast and Akanu Ibiam Airport,” Anosike said.

The Nation gathered that the items, including 220 bags of rice, were donated by party stakeholders for the Yuletide, while Okadigbo donated 21 cows to the 21 local governments.

She also donated 1,200 bags of rice and 3,000 cartons of spaghetti, which were distributed to the 327 electoral wards.

The Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology (NILEST) is constructing a N320 million mini tannery in Delta State, its Director General, Prof. Mohammed Yakubu, has said.

According to details from the 2023 budget, the tannery project, located in Orogun, Delta Central, would be equipped by the institute.

Yakubu confirmed this in a chat with The Nation.

The director general has been under attack for siting a similar project valued at N350million in Daura, Katsina State.

The group had urged the institute to reverse the decision to establish the tannery project in Daura in the spirit of federal character and fairness.

But Prof. Yakubu explained that he was only trying to redeem a pledge made by previous director generals of the institute.

He said: “The said tannery (in Daura) has been in our budget since 2016. I only assumed office two years ago. I’m just trying to redeem the pledge my predecessors made then.

“But currently we are building a tannery in Delta State. Please check our budget for 2023. I will send a copy to you to see for yourself.

“I have in the past two weeks been attacked from the North, West and now the Eastern part of Nigeria for unknown reasons.

“If building a tannery in the North is obnoxious to the sensibilities of the Western and Eastern Nigeria, I wonder why I should now be heralded by the Northern Youth Movement.”

An elder statesman and Chairman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Council of Elders, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has advised his kinsmen to reject politicians seeking elective positions, who will not use the mandate given to them to serve their collective interest.

He also urged stakeholders at Mbaitoli and Ikeduru local governments of Imo State, popularly called Mbaike, to respect the established principle of zoning for political offices, for equity, justice and fairness and to avoid domination of one council area against the other.

Iwuanyanwu spoke in Owerri at a meeting of Mbaike People’s Assembly- the apex socio-cultural organisation of the indigenes of the two councils, during which he inaugurated the constitution drafting committee.

Iwuanyanwu, the grand patron of the assembly, warned politicians from the two councils seeking elective offices to shun personal aggrandisement and use their mandate to serve the people who will elect them.

“Anybody wishing to represent us after the forthcoming election or given the mandate must know that he is there with our mandate to serve us and not line his pocket,” he said.

The business mogul, who decried the rising wave of youth and women unemployment in the areas, directed the assembly to set up a committee of prominent leaders, who would ensure speedy implementation of youth and women empowerment programmes, to reduce the hardship facing the people.

He also directed the committee to pay attention to youth and women education, health as well as effective sustainable agricultural practices by the people.

He enjoined the leadership of the assembly to establish a secretariat and ensure judicious management of the funds raised for the assembly.

“I want this assembly to be a source of prosperity and a source of wealth to all of us. We will not allow any individual, group, association or even government to deny us what rightly belongs to us. But at the same time, we should not indulge in any form of criminality.”

The President-General of the assembly and former chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Chief Marcillinus Nlemgbo, commended Iwuanyanwu for his charity to the poor through his Iwuanyanwu Foundation, noting that over 80 per cent of unemployed youths within and outside the state had been offered employment by the octogenarian.

He admonished indigenes of the two councils living outside the state to establish branches there and keep contacts with the headquarters at home.

The Chairman, Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Lauretta Onochie, has described the commission as a shame to the Niger Delta and the country.

 She said despite the humongous funds allocated to the commission over the years, the region had remained grossly underdeveloped.

Onochie spoke shortly after assuming office at the headquarters of the commission in Port Harcourt yesterday.

 The former acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, formally handed over to the newly inaugurated board, which has Bayelsa State-born Samuel Ogbuku as the Managing Director and Delta State-born Onochie as the chairman.

Onochie lamented that that money earmarked for the development of the Niger Delta was being squandered in Abuja, Lagos and overseas, while the people of the region lived in squalour and abject poverty.

She said: “Today is a historic day, not just for the people of the Niger Delta, but also for the women of the Nigeria. And being a historic day, we have a lot of things going on today. Let me remind us why we are here.

“This organisation (NDDC) was inaugurated specifically for the people of Niger Delta. It is an interventionist agency that is supposed to bring about prosperity; it is supposed to bring development in our region.  

 “This organisation was set up in the year 2000. And, if you go round the Niger Delta to date, there is little or nothing to show for it. NDDC has been a shame of the Niger Delta and a shame of our nation.”

 But Onochie said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration had shown commitment to turn things around since it assumed office over seven years ago.

 She said: “As I said yesterday, at our inauguration, he (Buhari) never does things in his own interest. Everything he does, he does in the interest of Nigerians.  And this board you see here represents that interest. 

“We are here to reposition NDDC. We are here to serve people of the Niger Delta and by extension people of Nigeria. We are here to do things differently. 

“When I returned from the diaspora in 2014 to join his (Buhari) campaign, what I heard everywhere was ‘that’s not how we do it here. Madam, this is not London; this is not UK.

“We are here to do things differently. We have come with ideas and I believe that each and every one of you seated here has great and beautiful ideas. 

“If you have been lost in the system of doing things in the way it used to be done, please dust it and throw it away. We have new ideas and we welcome the same new ideas from you. 

”We are going to improve the working environment because if you are not happy at the place you work, then those of us at the head will not have your 100 percent. You have 100 percent to give, but we demand 110 percent.

“From what we gathered, there are a lot of politics going on here, not just here, in the ministries as well. We will not tolerate that. Over 20 years, the monies that were expended in this region, they found their ways to Abuja, to Lagos, to Dubai, London, United States, everywhere, except the Niger Delta.

“And when the President or the government tries to correct things, they use some of the money to mobilize these same people they have put under them to protest against what the government is doing in their own favour.

“The time has come to say stop. Let us serve Niger Delta. I believe that there are some of here who are where they shouldn’t be. There are some who are not where they should be. All the injustice we have seen in this Niger Delta, we will correct them.”

The new NDDC Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, said the management had not come for witch-hunt.

He said: “I want to first of all assure you that we are not to antagonize anybody. We are here to also depend on your experience. NDDC administration needs experience. We need your support; we need your cooperation.

“We are not here like one party handing over from one party. We are not here to fight anybody. We are all people from Niger Delta. I want all of you to be rest assured that, based on your competence, you are going to be working with this administration. “

He said that the new management would do an appraisal of what it met on the ground and study the recommendations made by his predecessor.

Ogbuku said: “We are definitely not going to look at mediocrity. Everything has to be based on your competence. If you show ingenuity, you have a chance to work with us.

“Out there, everybody believes that NDDC has failed. So, you are stigmatised to the part of the failure. I am saying what people out there are saying. It may not be fact, it could just be an assumption.

“But, the staff work here seems to have some level of stigmatization. I don’t blame you; may be, you have not been given the enabling environment. I believe all of here are well experienced, well trained to give the people of Niger Delta the best.”

The umbrella body of Ijaw youths, Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for forming the substantive board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), seven years after intense agitation. 

The national spokesman for IYC, Comrade Ebilade Ekerefe, made the commendation yesterday in the group’s New Year message and review of previous years in the region. 

Ekerefe urged the new Managing Director of the NDDC, Dr. Samuel Ogbukwu, not to waste more time, but to hit the ground running. 

He said: “While a seemingly stable management team has been put in place at the NDDC after seven years’ calls for a substantive board, the IYC hails President Buhari for acceding to the cries of the people by appointing a substantive board for the NDDC. 

“We commend every individual or group, friends of the region and particularly, the media, who joined the IYC in participating during the long struggle for a substantive board to be appointed by President Buhari.

“While we congratulate Dr. Samuel Ogbuku for his successful inauguration as the new managing director of the NDDC, he should waste no time to hit the ground running. In doing so, he should be rest assured of the IYC’s commitment to ensure he succeeds as a former leader of the IYC at the formative years, who is now in the saddle of regional development.”

Ekerefe said the region was yearning for aggressive development, most especially, human capacity building programmes that would place priority on the youth of the region with a non-partisan posture. 

He enjoined the new board to take note that the failure of past leadership of the commission, which led to the non-appointment of a substantive board for over seven years, was caused by the corruption of successive administrations. 

Ekerefe said the penchant to repay political god-fathers and misuse of the funds meant for regional development that would benefit all should be discouraged. 

He noted: “This attitude of successive management jeopardised the development trajectory of the region and further exacerbated the problem. 

“The new board members under Dr. Ogbuku should learn from the past and resist the temptation of using the commission’s funds meant for regional development to sponsor candidates of political parties to win elections in 2023, as this will not be tolerated. 

“Any attempt or traceable evidence to show open partisanship that will derail the board from achieving its core mandate, the IYC will not hesitate to call such individuals out and call for their sack to act as a deterrent to others who may have such mindset.”

On post-flood, Ekerefe frowned at the Federal Government’s lackadaisical attitude towards addressing the effects of the devastating flood in the Niger Delta, especially Bayelsa State that was adjudged to be the worst hit. 

He said: “We expect serious interventions from the Federal Government to help the affected states of the region, especially to fix roads that were washed away, provide grants and soft loans to farmers to start all over again and provide medical support to fight cholera and other communicable diseases.”

The spokesman lauded the bold decision taken by the Nigerian National Petroleum Ltd to award crude oil pipeline surveillance jobs to indigenous companies, particularly Tantita Security Ltd, owned by Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo.

He said the initiative was already yielding the desired results.