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Tag: Aminu Tambuwal

  • ‘Credible poll doubtful under Jonathan’

    ‘Credible poll doubtful under Jonathan’

    A coalition of civil rights organisations has expressed reservations about free and fair poll next year. The group, under the aegis of the “Nigerians for Survival of Democracy” (NSD), based its fear on what it described as the unprecedented level of anarchy and lawlessness perpetrated and promoted by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in the last two years.

    It promised to embark on a mass action across the country next month to demand a better Nigeria.

    At a news conference in Lagos, NSD’s Secretary Mr. Kazeem Adekanye said: “Nigerians should not be deluded that this administration is either honest or sincere in delivering a free and fair election.”

    He implored people to reflect on the events of the last two years to understand the dangerous and unprecedented level of division, deceit, corruption, anarchy and lawlessness either perpetrated or supported and promoted by the Jonathan administration.

    Adekanye cited the diabolical role played by the Presidency in the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) election in which the Federal Government recognised the loser as the winner.

    He cited the political drama in Ekiti State where seven Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers of the 26 members purportedly sacked the Speaker of the House of Assembly.

    The NSD secretary described as the height of impunity and abuse of power, the withdrawal of the security details of the  Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal; heavy security provided for former Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sheriff, an ally of President Jonathan; the partisan role of the police and the Department of State Security (DSS), which has become a private security of the ruling party and the police locking of the National Assembly gate against the Speaker and other legislators.

  • APC to Presidency: Plan to arrest Tambuwal is recipe for chaos

    APC to Presidency: Plan to arrest Tambuwal is recipe for chaos

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday warned that the alleged planned arrest of House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal by the Presidency could trigger a crisis that will be fatal for the nation’s democracy.

    It therefore called for caution on the part of government and asked that the plan be dumped forthwith.

    In a statement in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the federal government would be pouring petrol on a naked fired by arresting the Speaker, following the failed attempt to prevent him from accessing the National Assembly to preside over the affairs of the House on Thursday, and also in an apparent attempt to halt the current move to impeach the President.

    He said, ”Published reports have corroborated what we know: That the plan on Thursday was to prevent Tambuwal from entering the National Assembly to pave the way for his Deputy, Emeke Ihedioha, who had already been allowed into the House, to preside over the removal of the Speaker. Were it not so, why would the police even try to seize the mace from the Sergeant-at-arms, as reported? Why would the police detain the Sergeant-at-arms for his refusal? What is the business of the police with the mace, which is the House’s symbol of authority?

    ”It has also now been corroborated that the plan hatched by the PDP and the Presidency was to give Tambuwal the ”Ekiti treatment”, in which seven PDP members removed the Speaker in a 26-member House of Assembly. But for the quick thinking and action by the Honorable members who scaled the gate to access the Assembly, that plan would have succeeded and Tambuwal would have been removed as Speaker, the consequences of which no one would have been able to foretell.”

    The statement added, ”Therefore, instead of pillorying those who scaled the gate, we should be commending them for risking their lives to save our democracy. Those who shut the gate against the lawmakers and barred them from carrying out their constitutional duties are the villains, not the honorable members who acted in the nation’s interest.”

    APC said the ceaseless hounding of Tambuwal by the President and the PDP is patently provocative, to say the least, and calls into question the stated commitment of the Jonathan Administration to the rule of law.

    ”In the eyes of the law, Rt. Hon. Tambuwal remains the Speaker of the House of Representatives, despite his defection from the PDP to the APC. No matter what the PDP and the Presidency may feel, they are not the court of law, which is the only body that can make a definite pronouncement on the fate of the Speaker,” Mohammed said.

    ”The Speaker also remains the number two man in the hierarchy of the Legislative Arm of government.”

     

    which is distinct from the Executive Arm headed by the President. It is therefore not only unconstitutional but also anti-democratic and anarchic for the PDP-led government of President Goodluck Jonathan to continue to hound the Speaker and desecrate the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly, using the police force that has now become the enforcement arm of the ruling party, having dropped all pretences to neutrality and professionalism,” APC said.

    The APC said at a time the political atmosphere has become so charged by the government-backed police assault on the National Assembly, it is a perilous game to seek to arrest the Speaker, for whatever reason, unless of course the Administration is bent on deliberately plunging the nation into crisis.

    The party said, ”It is difficult to fathom the reason behind the government’s increasing resort to recklessness, but it may not be unconnected with the rising desperation by the ruling PDP to hold on to power at all cost. Perhaps now that it has started seeing the handwriting on the wall with Nigerians clamouring for change, this government may be tilting towards its last option of throwing the nation into crisis to prevent the 2015 elections from holding.”

     

     

     

  • Jonathan a hair’s breadth away from dictatorship

    Jonathan a hair’s breadth away from dictatorship

    For those who think democracy is alive and well under President Goodluck Jonathan, who believe that organising elections is about the long and short of democracy, Thursday’s combined security forces’ assault upon the National Assembly to bar Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, from presiding over the affairs of the lower chamber should open their eyes. And for those who entertain the fanciful idea that Dr Jonathan is as honest with his protestations of being a democrat as his dramatic gestures and verbal flailing suggest, I offer to dreamy analysts his vengeful attacks against the opposition, governors who irritate him and his wife, the press which he loathes, and a host of other politicians and institutions that dare to sneeze near his majesty. It is doubtful whether we can find a president like Dr Jonathan, not even Olusegun Obasanjo, who effortlessly unites in himself such contradictory passions that pretend to speak to liberalism as they rhapsodise totalitarianism.

    Doyin Okupe, Dr Jonathan’s impetuous spokesman on public affairs, has struggled to dissociate the presidency from the police attack on the lawmakers. But there can be no justification for the horrendous attacks, the tear gas, the intolerable affront to the number four citizen, the display of ignorance of the police who continue to defend their atrocious behaviour, subvert the constitution, and see themselves as the private security organisation of the president and the ruling party. And there can be no hiding the fact that the attacks were inspired by the presidency and executed by presidential aides who have managed to convince themselves that their interpretation of the role and powers of the Nigerian president allow for the sickening brutality they exhibited before the whole world last week.

    The Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, it is clear, does not have the strength of character to resist the presidency’s unconstitutional behaviour, nor it seems does he even have the disposition and knowledge to draw a line between the president’s interest and national interest. And though he cannot claim ignorance of the limitations imposed on his office by the Police Act and the constitution, he is precisely the sort of official whose eagerness to please his employer is his lifeblood, as his withdrawal of Hon Tambuwal’s security aides showed shortly before he suddenly merited confirmation as the substantive IGP.

    It is inconceivable that Mr Abba acted independently in planning and executing the disgraceful assault on the National Assembly. The police claimed they received intelligence reports of plans by miscreants to cause mayhem at the legislature; but shouldn’t they have taken the leadership of the legislature into confidence and joined them in thwarting the efforts of the hoodlums and protecting the number four citizen? It is embarrassing the egregious and childish lies the police often tell. However, it has emerged that the real reasons for Thursday’s madness were connected with impeachment moves, one by pro-Tambuwal forces against the president, and the other by pro-presidency forces against Hon Tambuwal over his October defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC). It would have been foolish of the pro-Tambuwal forces to tamely give in to the police lockout, as some legal and political purists wanted, and then perhaps later resort futilely to litigation.

    The police were doubtless encouraged to desecrate the Speaker’s office and person because they knew the presidency was both remorselessly opposed to Hon Tambuwal and was willing to seize on any excuse to humiliate him. In June, at Hotel 17 in Kaduna, venue of a conference to which the Speaker was invited, soldiers subjected him to an embarrassing and provocative search. That was one of the earliest signals that the Speaker’s independence would not be countenanced by Dr Jonathan’s imperial presidency. The Senate did not see that humiliation as a dangerous precedent, let alone join hands to fight it. The harassments have since continued, culminating in the physical attack against him by the police and hooded secret service agents on Thursday. Since his defection to the APC, and notwithstanding the support he gets from his fellow lawmakers and the constitution, the presidency has been obsessed with unhorsing Hon Tambuwal using the security forces. Unknown to them, such attacks and subversion of the constitution in turn undermine their own legitimacy. They also misread the times, unable to appreciate how dangerously unstable the world has suddenly become, where revolutions and anarchy are precipitated by the tiniest of provocations. The mood in Nigeria is super tense and fragile. Does the rampaging Dr Jonathan know this?

    Though Hon Tambuwal survived the attack planned mainly to unseat him last Thursday, he should rest assured it will not be the last, for the Jonathan presidency will get increasingly desperate in its plans to get rid of the Speaker by any means, fair or foul. The president’s understanding of leadership, like Governor Ayo Fayose’s, is completely distorted by traditional and monarchical influences and a poor appreciation of the concept of multi-party democracy. In spite of his constant expostulation about democratic tenets, much of it lacking in depth and coherence, Dr Jonathan has behaved more frequently like an autocrat. After managing to subvert the Senate and co-opting it as an appendage of the presidency, he has sought to similarly castrate the House of Representatives. He would have succeeded had the Speaker lacked the character to stand up to the anti-democratic tendencies of the Jonathan presidency.

    However, Dr Jonathan’s limited success in stultifying democratic practices in the legislature has not discouraged him from trying over and over again. He is satisfied that the heads of the security services lack the character to draw the line between presidential orders and the provisions of the constitution. In addition, his aides grovel before him, desperate to keep their jobs no matter what principles they are forced to disavow. The Council of State is too polite and soulless to caution the president. Some geopolitical zones, especially the Southeast and the South-South, have also completely surrendered to the president’s whims, eager to dine with him and massage his ego. As a sign of final humiliation, Nigerians have uncritically allowed Dr Jonathan to exploit religious sensibilities, thereby dividing the country largely along Christian and Muslim lines. Even the usually questioning Southwest has embraced Dr Jonathan’s hypocrisies, hypnotised by a barren national conference designed principally to hoodwink and deceive.

    With the entire country taking leave of its senses and metamorphosing into a parched land of sterile thinkers, the House of Representatives quickly became, in addition to a small section of the media, the champion of democracy and liberalism. The situation required the president to seek for imaginative ways of working with the critical House of Representatives, and harnessing the opinions and suggestions of the opposition and diverse critics for the country’s betterment. Instead, he chose not to understand the utility of dissent, and prefers to either compel support or destroy the opposition. Sadly, the president himself is surrounded by aides, security advisers and military chiefs who find it much satisfying and rewarding to tell the president what he wants to hear, indulging in the practiced buffoonery that has laid many African countries waste.

    It is unlikely Dr Jonathan will caution either himself or his overzealous police over the Tambuwal affair. He is also unlikely to find intelligent ways of getting his hostage presidency to relate with critics and opponents in a democratic manner. Thursday’s attack on the Speaker and other lawmakers, the feverish intrigues to undermine opponents, the lack of imagination in the fight against Boko Haram, the reliance on hunters to fight wars, like Sierra Leone’s Kamajors (hunters) were made to do during that West African country’s implosion, and the subversion of opposition states and governors who disagree with the Jonathan presidency, seem all designed to produce perhaps the worst dictator Nigeria has ever had. By every consideration, we are in fact only a hair’s breadth away from dictatorship. If he is allowed, Dr Jonathan will talk wonderfully about the 2015 elections, but will surreptitiously devise means of subverting the polls with all the viciousness he can muster.

    Our carelessness produced Dr Jonathan in 2011, a man so ill-suited to the demands of leadership in a modern and complex society. If he does not drive a permanent wedge between ethnic groups and religions before the next polls, we would be lucky to emerge unscathed should we have the apocalyptic misfortune of electing him into office next year. Should that happen, the first casualty will of course be democracy, followed by an exploding country no one can manage.

  • Jonathan’s Nigeria

    Jonathan’s Nigeria

    A country’ s frightening descent into banana republic

    One question that I have always remembered most times when I stumble on anything on the French Revolution was that asked by my European History teacher in my Higher School Certificate (HSC) days at the Federal School of Arts and Science, Ondo: “How did the French Revolution beget the dictatorship of Napoleon Bonaparte”? I guess someday, some students of Nigerian History would also be asked: “How did a potentially great Nigeria beget the serial incompetent and corrupt regimes hat brought it to this sorry pass”?

    It was clear immediately the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) on October 28 that the PDP would not take it kindly. I had said then that the party would resort to crude and primitive tactics instead of coming up with civilised means of settling scores, if any.

    In essence, the police take-over of the  National Assembly on Thursday was quite predictable. Discerning observers of the country’s political situation knew the day would not go without incident. President Goodluck Jonathan had written to the National Assembly for extension of the state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. If that had been granted, it would be the fourth such extension and no one needs to be reminded that the emergency is not working. If more than 200 school girls could be abducted from their school in Chibok in spite of emergency; if bombs could be exploding in motor parks and other public places, including schools even in the daytime in spite of emergency, we need no one to tell us that the emergency has failed. And, as the House of Representatives noted, if you are using a particular strategy that is not working, you restrategise. There is no evidence that the government has done or is now prepared to do things differently. In the terror war as in other spheres of life, it has been tall in words but abysmally short in action.

    Ordinarily, one would have condemned the action of the House of Representatives members who climbed the iron fence at the National Assembly to make their way into the chamber. But then, that would not be fair because their action only resonates with what the ruling party has been doing and which the presidency has pretended not to see. Impunity is only begetting impunity. The most recent example is Ekiti State where seven lawmakers hired two unknown quantities to make nine, to ‘impeach’ the speaker. The same police force headed by Mr. Suleiman Abba that provided cover for those who perpetrated the show of shame in Ekiti said it had to move in to prevent a breakdown of law and order at the National Assembly. It further claimed that Mr. Tambuwal came to the assembly complex with thugs. Much as they would have to provide evidence of this, the question to ask Mr. Abba is whether he had expected Mr. Tambuwal to be walking all alone when he, Abba, had withdrawn his security details illegally?

    Weeks have passed and Mr. Abba is yet to restore the security details because, in his view, Tambuwal has ceased to be the Speaker on account of his defection. Obviously, Mr. Abba is not aware that Governor Segun Mimiko of Ondo State and the speaker of the state house of assembly also defected from the Labour Party (LP) to the PDP, and none has relinquished his or her official position; none has lost any of the rights and privileges attached to their respective offices. Should the same law that binds the masquerade not be binding on the women in purdah, that is assuming Mr. Abba is in a position to say the action was illegal? Haba, Mr. Abba!  The IGP told journalists after a meeting with Vice President Namadi Sambo  over the sad incident on Friday that: “Somebody was removing road blocks mounted by police, we have never seen this kind of thing in the whole world”. But he did not tell us where else in the civilised world the police are used for partisan purposes like the Nigeria Police Force. The police, now an extension of the PDP, and like the ruling party, are now the litigant, the prosecutor, the judge and the law enforcer. Clearly, this presidency is several centuries late in coming. Clearly too, IGP Abba does not belong to this age.

    But what all we have been seeing point at is that the Jonathan presidency is bare without the country’s security forces. Indeed, one would not be wrong to say that even the security agencies see themselves more as the president’s and his party’s security agencies rather than those of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    But things cannot continue this way for long, with democracy now being endangered by people who contributed nothing to the struggle for it. This should not be surprising though because you cannot value what you did not labour for. Unfortunately, it is the same people who were nowhere to be found during the struggle for the return of democracy that have cornered the chunk of the spoils of the bitter struggles that brought democracy back in 1999.

    However, it is instructive to point out that things were not this bad in 1983 when Alhaji Shehu Shagari and his cohorts were rendered jobless. Sadly, we appear to be following the same trajectory. When in the Second Republic the (now late) Chief Obafemi Awolowo said our economy was collapsing, the then ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN), which I consider the PDP its offshoot, said there was nothing like that only to come out with what it called Economic Stabilisation Act (1982) which spelt out some austerity measures some months later. The problem then was oil glut which brought crude oil prices to rock bottom levels. About thirty-two years later, we are back to square one. Crude prices are going down again. And, after living in self-denial for months, the Federal Government came up with its own version of austerity measures. Just as in the Second Republic, those who saw the trend coming and warned earlier were called names, with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the country’s finance minister saying the country was not broke but that it only had cash flow problems.

    This is why one can understand US President Harry Truman who in frustration demanded for a one-handed economist. “Give me a one-handed economist” he said, adding “All my economists say, ‘on the one hand…on the other’”. For God’s sake, what is cash flow problem? If the cash is there, why would it not ‘flow’? Instead of sitting down to address the looming danger which has eventually stared us all in the face, they kept assuring there was no cause for alarm. Incidentally, the same Okonjo-Iweala is coordinating minister for the economy. Apparently she was so chosen because of her Bretton Woods background, which may not necessarily be useful in our kind of situation as a developing country. A President Truman would by now be shopping for her replacement.

    Regrettably, not President Jonathan because, just as Nigeria does not require an Okonjo-Iweala kind of finance minister at this point, the country’s problems transcend a presidency that is applying analogue solutions (brute force, illegalities, etc.) to digital problems. The end-time signs of the Second Republic are already manifesting: bad economy, crippling corruption, crass incompetence in high places and, to crown it all, using the security agencies as crutches to sustain a corrupt and inept government. Where did Alhaji Shagari end despite unleashing the kill and go on Nigerians?

    Perhaps never in the history of mankind has the goodluck of one man become the albatross of millions of fellow citizens. A president who has spent over four years in office cumulatively does not have to be as anxious for reelection as President Jonathan is to the point of intimidating everyone considered a hindrance to this importunate ambition. If the president had worked hard in the right direction, what should be speaking for him now are his achievements. He should be telling Nigerians not just the amount of megawatts of electricity he has added to what he met on ground but how much of it is available to them. Years after he said we should be ready to dash out our generators, we are still importing more. The president should show Nigerians the dent he has made on unemployment; he should tell them what the exchange rate was when he took over and what it is now. Even on his basic responsibility of security of lives and property, he is a monumental failure. That is why, like an old woman who is never at ease when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb, President Jonathan has become so intolerant of those who think he does not deserve a second term. And that is why he is unleashing the police and sometimes soldiers on them, even as the soldiers are unable to grapple with their basic responsibility of defending the country’s territorial integrity.

    We wobbled and fumbled to this sorry pass because we failed to protest against little impunities like the ones the PDP is daily perpetrating now. The danger, however, is that, four more years in the hands of this government, the question that a great historian asked about Ghana Empire would be relevant to Nigeria’s situation: “Despite its opulence, greatness and wealth, by 1240 A.D., Ghana Empire was no more. The question now is: What caused such an inglorious fall of such a glorious empire”?

  • 2015: The Tambuwal example

    2015: The Tambuwal example

    Then House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal decided to make a bid for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), observers felt the race could only get tougher in the opposition party.

    Before him, those who had indicated interest in flying the party’s flag included former Head of State General Muhammadu Buhari, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha and Leadership publisher Sam  Nda-Isaiah.

    Speculations were rife that the Tambuwal bid could further complicate matters as he had become popular, with a section of the party and the public admiring him for his firmness.

    His relative youthfulness also counts for him. Even as a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which he dumped last month, he had succeeded in portraying the House as the more purposeful of the two arms of the National Assembly. The House usually took the side of the people in contests between the legislature and the executive. Besides, in all scandals that have been linked to federal lawmakers, none has been traced to him.

    These made many to see Tambuwal as the one who could lead the country. It took courage to turn down the gesture of his colleagues in the House who bought the nomination form for him.

    By stepping down from the race, Tambuwal has set a good example, living up to his reputation as a selfless politician. As he indicated in the statement confirming his withdrawal from the race, the gesture would promote unity in the party. An opposition party like the APC must keep rancor at bay if it is to successfully challenge the ruling party.

    At various times in Nigeria’s political evolution, the inability of politicians to subsume narrow personal interests to the general interest has led to conflagration, sometimes threatening the stability of the country. At other times, it changed the national political equation. In the Second Republic, the entry of the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe into the Nigerian Peoples’ Party’s presidential race led to the exit of the late Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim who then established the Great Nigeria People’s Party. Had the party (GNPP) stayed united, its impact at the poll is best imagined.

    In the First Republic, a clash of ambitions led to the crisis in the Action Group and the resultant political crisis that engulfed the young Republic and the eventual collapse of the democratic order.

    The ability of Tambuwal to see beyond temporary gains and despite the public support he enjoys arising from the travails he is facing from his former party’s leaders mark him out as a potential great political leader from the Northwest. Having served at the federal level as Speaker, it is good that he is going to Sokoto State to offer his services as governor, perhaps to acquire the necessary experience needed to confront the gargantuan challenges facing Nigeria in future.

    His example is commended to other politicians who are aspiring for high offices of state. Humility, firmness, determination to succeed, principles and nobility of spirit are required from all, if we are to spring out of the bondage of ages.

  • 2015: Tambuwal opts out of presidential ticket bid

    2015: Tambuwal opts out of presidential ticket bid

    Speaker likely for Sokoto governor

    House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal spoke yesterday on his political future.

    He suspended his presidential ambition as a sacrifice for the unity of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Tambuwal said the nation was in urgent need of change, which only the APC could offer.

    He said he joined the APC to build the party and would not want his presidential aspiration to cause disunity among members.

    In the Speaker’s view, the presidential aspirants: Ex-Head of State Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso,  Governor Rochas Okorocha and Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah are eminently qualified to lead the nation.

    There were strong indications that Tambuwal might gun for the APC ticket to contest as governor. He did not speak on this yesterday.

    Tambuwal,  in a statement in Abuja, said: “When upon genuine conviction I decided to commence extensive consultations towards taking a decision as to whether or not to participate in the contest for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it was not to actualise a personal ambition, but rather to actualise our dream for a new Nigeria.

    “ Ever since news of the possibility of my participation in the presidential contest got into the public domain, it has generated monumental interest, analyses and commentaries. I have also, both personally and through prominent leaders across party lines and beyond, consulted extensively and I must say that I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and interest.

    ”I have carefully considered the concerns expressed by some of our leaders, whom I deeply respect and whose support and counsel I enjoy, to the effect that my entry into the presidential race at this point may necessitate having to rework some equations on the political chessboard of the party.

    “Having consulted widely, taking into consideration the concerns of some elders of the party, I have decided to suspend my participation in the presidential contest for now.

    “I have done so as a sacrifice for the cohesion and unity of the APC. I am suspending my participation in the presidential race for now because I do not have any inordinate ambition to occupy any office.

    “Nigeria is a country too great to sacrifice on the altar of partisan politics and personal ambition. What any one becomes in life is exclusively in the hands of God. Only God gives power to whoever he pleases.

    “I pledge my loyalty to our party the APC and cooperation with my uncles and senior brothers and colleagues who are already in the race for the APC presidential ticket : I refer to General Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Governor Rochas Okorocha and Mr. Sam Nda- Isaiah. There is no doubt that they are all eminently qualified.”

    Tambuwal pleaded with the 80 members of the House, his associates and friends who bought a nomination form for him to accept his decision in good faith.

    Tambuwal added: “I came into the APC to enhance and build. Therefore,  in the interest of our great party, the APC, and indeed in the overriding national interest, I wish to appeal to all my associates, colleagues, supporters, admirers and friends nationwide to show some understanding.

    “ It has not been easy coming to this decision and I very well understand the frustration, disappointment and disbelief of many who have committed so much to the project, including sacrificing not only their physical, financial and intellectual resources but indeed their personal ambitions in the 2015 electoral contest.”

    “I wish to seize this occasion to commend, most highly, these patriotic and selfless colleagues, admirers, individuals and groups for their sacrifice, diligence and single-mindedness in the pursuit of what they honestly believe is in the best interest of our fatherland.

    “ I am fully aware of the physical, financial and intellectual resources all of you have expended in this regard besides the sheer volume of valuable time and the travel risk of crisscrossing to compare notes and confirm projections. Indeed I can not thank you enough.

    “To all my associates, colleagues, friends, admirers across Nigeria who have faith that I am that instrument for the change we all desire, I assure you that your faith is not in vain, it is noble and will endure until this great nation of ours is rescued from the clutches of institutionalised corruption, gross incompetence, greed and divisiveness.

    “I charge you to be comforted that your strength lies not in the limited capacity of a single leader, but rather in the collective capacity of the millions of great citizens of this nation. One day, and I believe not too long away, this formidable collective capacity will be ignited and the good Lord will lift Nigeria high up where she belongs.”

    The Speaker said he was prepared to work with APC leaders and members to rescue Nigeria from the brink.

    He added: “ On my part and with the greatest sense of modesty and responsibility, I wish to assure Nigerians that I am fully prepared, ready, willing, determined, available and armed with the requisite plans, programmes and ability, to undertake the great mission of rescuing our dear country from the clutches of institutionalized corruption, gross incompetence, greed and divisiveness.

    “ I am prepared for the great task of rescuing Nigeria from the security problems, the scandalous youth unemployment, and the economic and social malaise that plague her.

    “Given the opportunity, ours would be a clean, corrupt- free, competent and purposeful government : to deal with the inexplicable paradoxes that have held us hostage for over a hundred years : the paradox of ever growing abject poverty in the midst of plenty; the paradox of ever growing menace of corruption in the face of the collective capacity of Nigerians to eradicate same, the paradox of decaying infrastructure, especially epileptic power supply in the face of abundant natural resources; the paradox of glaring internal insecurity in the face of a gallant military, police and other security agencies that have excelled in peace keeping and enforcement abroad. Indeed a government that would deploy extraordinary ways and means where such becomes inevitable within the ambit of the law.”

    He said although Nigerians had become dejected with teamwork by APC administration, the nation’s developmental problems were surmountable.

    He said: “The problems I speak about are real and glaring. Over the past three and a half years of presiding over 359 equals, I often had occasion to discuss peculiar constituency problems with my colleagues but most importantly I have visited over 300 hundred Federal constituencies across the country and seen for myself abject poverty of our people particularly the majority of the population that reside in the rural areas, I have experienced, first hand, total absence of essential social facilities and decaying infrastructure, where they exist at all, and observed hopelessness in the eyes of millions of citizens. I deeply feel the pulse of dejection of our people.

    “I am convinced that with the progressive spirit and teamwork these objectives are attainable under an All Progressive Congress ( APC ) administration.”

    There were indications last night that Tambuwal might vie for the governorship race in Sokoto State.

    A source said: “I think the governorship ticket might be conceded to him in Sokoto State in appreciation of his sacrifice.”

  • House reconvenes tomorrow

    House reconvenes tomorrow

    Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal has directed the House to reconvene tomorrow.

    The development followed the request by President Goodluck Jonathan for the extension of the emergency rule in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

    The request of the President, which was the third, since the first declaration on May 14, 2013, was debated by senators yesterday at an executive session.

    In a statement yesterday with the title: “ Special session of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: Notice to reconvene the House,” and signed by the Speaker, Tambuwal said:

    “On Tuesday, 18th November 2014, I received a communication from the President, Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, requesting for the extension of the existing State of Emergency in Adamawa , Borno and Yobe States by the House of Representatives.

    “Pursuant to the powers conferred on me by Section 305 ( 2 ) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, which requires me to “forthwith convene or arrange a meeting of the House” and in order to treat the extension before the expiration of the current State of Emergency in accordance with Section 305 (6) (c) of the Constitution, I hereby reconvene the House of Representatives, currently on Recess.”

    The Speaker said the Thursday resumption has a single agenda which is “Consideration of Mr.President’s request for extension of the existing State of Emergency.

    Minority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila said recalling the House before December 3 was borne out of constitutional exigencies.

    He said: “The House will reconvene as directed by the Speaker on Thursday to consider the extension.

    “Though the state of emergency has yielded no positive results and I do not see a need for yet another extension, many may feel it is necessary to fulfill all righteousness in the spirit of cooperation and grant the extension.

    “Though I am doubtful as to its need, I will be persuaded by such an argument though blackmail in character. For us to do this however. the extension must be granted not later than Thursday as the constitution clearly states that it must be granted before the date of expiration of the state of emergency”.

    Pally Iriase (APC, Edo) said the extension would enable the military consolidate on its efforts at reclaiming lost territories.

    “It is important because we have not achieved much in the past year of declaring state of emergency in these states.

    “We have been moving back and forth; one step forward and 10 steps backward, but that notwithstanding, we still believe the requisite environment be created to enable them do their work,” he said.

  • APC: Tambuwal quits presidential race

    APC: Tambuwal quits presidential race

    Following advice from some leaders, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal on Tuesday suspended his presidential ambition.

    In a statement in Abuja,  Tambuwal said he opted to fore-go his aspiration as a sacrifice for the cohesion and unity of the All Progressive Congress (APC) .
    He said the nation is in urgent need of a new change which only the APC could offer.
    He said he joined the APC to build the party and would not want his presidential aspiration to cause disunity among members.
    He said the other presidential aspirants, ex-Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso,  Governor Rochas Okorocha and Publisher Sam Nda-Isaiah are eminently qualified to lead the nation.
    There  were however strong indications that he might go for the governorship race in Sokoto State.

  • PMAN sends SOS to Jonathan, Tambuwal

    PMAN sends SOS to Jonathan, Tambuwal

    The Performing Musicians’ Employers’ Association of Nigeria (PMAN), has sent an SOS to President Goodluck Jonathan and Honourable, Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker, House of Representatives, calling for the immediate liberalisation of collective administration in Nigeria.

    “The forced monopoly in the copyright administrative system in Nigeria is killing entertainment business even more than piracy. We have demanded for audience and written series of letters to the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), and the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) on the issue, but have received no response,” Lucciano lamented in a chat with The Nation.

    According to Gabriel, in August 2010, a group of entertainment practitioners, under the aegis of Concerned Copyright & Intellectual Property Owners (CCIPO), protested against the imposed monopoly and the Attorney General promised to reverse the situation within two weeks.

    “Four years on, the problem is still there and this is unacceptable,” Gabriel continued, recalling that in May 2013, PMAN, alongside other stakeholders, also participated in the Investigative Public Hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committees on Justice and Judiciary, which presented its report and recommendations to the plenary session of the House of Representative on December, 18, 2013. This was followed by the adoption of the report and its recommendations which culminated in the passing of far-reaching resolutions directing the NCC to immediately end the monopoly.

    Gabriel disclosed that one of the resolutions was that the NCC should approve MCSN as a collecting society immediately. He described the continued refusal to register MCSN as casting NCC as being compromised and pursuing the interests of a particular section of the industry among others.

    “More than nine months after, the NCC has done nothing to carry out the directives of the National Assembly and this is tragic! Now we are faced with a regulatory agency which is acting with absolute impunity in order to protect the vested interests of a cabal. What NCC is saying by their determination not to obey the National Assembly’s directive is that the National Assembly is a toothless bulldog!

    “NCC is equally rubbishing the Transformation Agenda of the President, which is aimed at enthroning the rule of law and respect for the fundamental human rights of citizens and opening up the entire economy for all Nigerians to participate.

    “It is on this basis that PMAN is calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to wade into this matter and call the officials of the Nigerian Copyright Commission to order and save the music industry. PMAN equally calls on the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, to bring the powers of the National Assembly to bear on NCC.

    ”If Monopoly is bad for all the other sectors including the political sector where we have more than 50 political parties jostling for power, definitely, it cannot be good for the music and the creative industries at large,” Gabriel concluded.

  • Still on Tambuwal’s ordeal

    IR: The withdrawal of security details attached to Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives for decamping from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) will continue to raise dust in the polity. What has played out is nothing but an abuse of power, disrespect for the legislature, embarrassment to the exalted office of the Speaker, misinterpretation of the constitution and inability to exercise discretion by confusing state matters with partisan politics. The Nigeria Police had claimed that it withdrew the Speaker’s security details for allegedly violating section 68 (1) (g) of the 1999 constitution and so, was no longer entitled to police security.

    On this, the police authorities were dead wrong.

    Before now, the speaker has been accused of fraternising with the opposition and for openly criticising major policies of the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

    To begin with, it should be appreciated that Tambuwal is the Speaker of the House of Representatives and he’s more of a public servant than a mere politician. He also has the right to his opinion and association. The right way to go would have been to maintain the status quo because irrespective of the party platform that the Speaker might have emerged, he’s no longer responsible to such parties but to the National Assembly and the country, as the number four citizen of the nation, who can only be removed from that post by two-thirds majority votes of the house. Tambuwal still remains the bonafide occupant of the position and is entitled to a round-the-clock security protection by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Department of State Security and the police. As long as he remains the Speaker of the House, the PDP, the President or even the Inspector-General of Police cannot order the withdrawal of Tambuwal’s security personnel by fiat.

    This ugly episode reminds us of the urgent need to separate the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation from the Ministry of Justice, to instill sanity into the country’s justice system and prevent a situation where the AGF continues to carry out the agenda of the ruling party even if such is not in the best interest of the country.

    Nevertheless, it is heartwarming that Tambuwal took the right step by approaching a Federal High Court in Abuja, to seek redress. A responsible government should avoid being seen as lawless. This controversial action by the Inspector General of Police Suleiman Abba has reinforced the long-held convictions that there is no true separation of powers in Nigeria. It is as if security agents are only bent on protecting the executive arm. That is why the call for state police continues to be louder by the day and as long as the central police that presently obtains is subject to the whims and caprices of the presidency.

     

    • Adewale Kupoluyi

     Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta