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Tag: angry

  • NBC angry with stations over N4.3b debts

    The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has held a meeting with owners of stations at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, over the huge debts they are owing the NBC. Assistant Editor Arts OZOLUA UHAKHEME reports.

    National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Director-General Mallam Is’haq Modibo Kawu is angry with owners of radio and television stations over the huge debts they owe the commission.

    At a meeting with the stations’ owners at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Kawu said: “One and a half years after, licencees have continued to owe the NBC over N4.2 billion. The consequence is a near paralysis of the operations of the commission. The NBC carries out its statutory functions on the basis of the obligatory licence fees that broadcasters pay. But the pattern is refusal on the part of licencees to pay, and in some cases, a few arrogantly tell us they cannot pay, because the sums are too high; or they claim that the business environment is not good enough, so NBC should accept whatever they choose to pay!”

    At the meeting were members of the newly inaugurated board of the commission, such as Alhaji Ikra Aliyu Bilbis (Chairman), Mallam Nasir Danladi Bako and Salihu Bandele Aluko. Licencees from the academia, public and private sectors such as Prof Raph Akinfeleye (Unilag), Prof. Oladokun Omojola Covenant University), Tony Akiotu (Daar Communication), Olutayo Somide (Faaji FM),  Abbas Dalhatu (Freedom FM, Kano) and Oyebisi Ashimolowo (Splash FM, Ibadan) among others were in attendance.

    The battle to retrieve the debts has been long, according to the commission. But, there is unwillingness by the stations to redeem their debts. Kawu described refusal to meet their licensing obligation as persistent.

    The meeting, a follow-up to last year’s gathering on February 27, provided an opportunity for stakeholders to discuss payment plans before the September 15 dealine. For over one hour, speakers painted gloomy pictures of the industry and their inability to pay their licence renewal fees. Their excuses ranged from huge overhead cost to low returns, low patronage from advertisers, shrinking listeners and stiff competition from major broadcast outfits, including foreign stations, such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Voice of America (VOA).

    Interestingly, none of the speakers offered possible options on how to redeem their debts until Prof Oladokun Omojola of Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State stirred the hornets’ nest. He challenged the stations to make effective use of marketing research to drive their programming. According to Omojola, with a dynamic marketing backed by research on target audience, stations will have no business complaining of paucity of funds. This, however, drew the ire of many speakers.

    Unimpressed by licencees’ excuses, the commission declared that no persuasion would change the deadline for the repayment, adding that failure would amount to removing debtor stations off air.

    Kawu, who disclosed that N4.368 billion was being owed the commission by some stations for licence renewal fees, advised defaulting stations to work out repayment plans as the commission will keep to the September 15 deadline for payment of renewal of licence fees.

    He stressed that such stations must show commitment to paying before the 2019 elections, otherwise the commission would take them out before the election’s adverts start coming in. “The payment plan between now and September 15 will not change. There must be undertakings by the stations,” he said.

    “Licence fee is a mandatory fee you must pay for you to operate the business of  broadcasting. And I cannot do anything about it. I am not a supporter of capitalist business, but in business there are no emotions. I don’t enforce emotions. I enforce the laws. You get fined if you violate the commission’s code.  On a quarterly basis we bring out report on this.  I deal with objective reality, which is that you owed the NBC. And you must pay. The obligation to pay has nothing to do with the profit you made. People confuse the two, they are not the same,” he said.

    He described licence fess as basic, obligatory and non-negotiable, noting that the plea that the economy was in a bad shape was unacceptable.

    Referring to his statement last year, Kawu said: “The first is the situation whereby many stations have refused to pay their licence fees; even the statutory act of informing the NBC, six months before the expiration of license and signifying intention to continue as a licencee is ignored. Our licencees carry on, as if they have their licences for keeps and the NBC cannot withdraw the licences.

    “It is important to remind us all that all licences are PROVISIONAL, no matter how long you have held them. And for emphasis, I want to let you know that stations are owing over N5billion as licence fees. I will like to use this medium to inform you, that the NBC would be invoking the relevant laws against erring stations. Consequently, stations without exception, are expected to complete all payments owed to the Commission by the 15th of March, 2017.”

    He recalled that, in the past, some licencees exploited their political connections and got the Presidency to lean on the NBC, to look the other way, while they operated as if they had veto power over the regulator.

    “As Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission, I will have to own up to the fact that there was a historic pattern of relationship between regulator and licencee, which was based upon a notion of “nurturing” their stations. This was at the beginning of a deregulated broadcasting industry, when there were just a few private operators in the business. So, a notion emerged, that they should be “nurtured” and not allowed to go down under.

    “So, a rigorous regime of licence fee payment was not enforced. That approach might have had an altruistic motive, but was immediately seen as a point of weakness by licencees, who then began to proffer all manner of excuses, as to why they cannot pay their obligatory licence fees, either on time, or in many cases, at all,” he said.

    Kawu noted: “We cannot have anarchy in a business environment like broadcasting. There is no obligation to go into a business if you cannot afford to do it.”

    On unused licences, he said it is not what any investor should laminate and keep in his wardrobe.

    He warned broadcasting stations to desist from using foul languages to create disharmony and tension among Nigerians, saying NBC will not hesitate to sanction any station that uses broadcasting to destabilise the country.

    On the closure of Ekiti Radio, he said the station was shut for violating the commission’s code, particularly for allowing the government to announce election results instead of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the authorised agency.

    “You will recall that in 1983, it was the announcement of election results not by the lawful authority that led to the mayhem in that part of the country. We saw that there was going to be a likely repeat of such scenario, so we forestalled it,” he said.

    He however assured that the commission was working hard to reopen the station after it agrees to obey the NBC code. “It must meet all its obligations under the NBC code and give us an undertaking that it will respect the NBC code and pay all money it owes the commission. When that is done, certainly we would allow them to go back on air,” he added.

    On the purported NBC’s banning of the music by a young Nigerian musician, Falz, Kawu said what NBC frowned was the line: ‘This is Nigeria… we are all criminals.’ Unfortunately, Falz’s father Femi Falana (SAN) is not a criminal and he is one of my closest friends. So, if you generalise, we cannot afford to have such on our airwaves. In fact, we do not ban songs; what we do is issue to our licencees songs that must not be broadcast because of the lyrics or videos.

    The commission’s former DG, Mallam Nasir Danaladi Bako stressed that some stations owed the commission. He said NBC will not take responsibility for “you after taking licence to employ a chemical engineer to run your station because he is your in-law and you can’t make money”. He challenged the stations to improve and review their contents to attract quality advertisers.

    “Go and wake up and do your homework. Put on your thinking cap and improve your contents,” he said.

  • Ekiti chief angry with Governor over unpaid salary arrears

    A community leader in Iyin-Ekiti in Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area, Chief Wale Alade, has accused Governor Ayo Fayose of unleashing hardship on traditional chiefs in Ekiti State.

    Alade, who is the Aro of Iyin, said palace chiefs were owed nine months salary arrears, despite the fact that their pay is “very meagre”.

    He recalled that his monthly salary which used to be N1,800 during the last administration has been cut to N700, adding that lower grade palace chiefs received as low as N150 and N100 monthly.

    Addressing reporters yesterday in Iyin, Alade described the alleged maltreatment of Obas and chiefs by Fayose as “shameful and very annoying.”

    He explained that the traditional institution enjoyed better treatment during the tenure of former Governor Kayode Fayemi through regular payment of salaries, release of N450,000 security allowance to each community and special health mission for Obas, chiefs and their families.

    Alade said the July 14 governorship election offers the chiefs an opportunity  to vote against Fayose and his anointed candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola.

    He said: “The way forward is for us to vote him out and put somebody who is responsible there. We need a governor that will respect the leadership of our communities.

    “We need a governor that will respect the traditional institution, the Obas, their chiefs and other community leaders.

    “This is what we want our people to do; we are mobilising ourselves and we are going to vote him and his candidate out.

    “It is very shameful and annoying that we have a governor who calls himself a chief, the Apesin of Ado-Ekiti, maltreating us.”

    Alade added: “It is frustrating to be paying us N700 and still be owing nine months’’.

    the chiefs in various communities in Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government, the local government of Fayose, who happens to be the current governor.

    “He paid September 2017 and we are having outstanding arrears of nine months despite the annoying salaries we are collecting from the government now.

    “There are some of us who are collecting as little as N150 in a month, those who are in ‘Elegiri’ category. At times, they collect, N100 and at times, N110. These are facts that can be verified in our various communities.

    “Even the Obas, are they paid properly? Are they given what they are supposed to have? This is the situation, we are suffering and when you see us wearing beads all around, you will think we are having money.

    “The whole thing is from the government and they tell us that if we are not satisfied with what they are giving to us, we should leave it.

    “The senior chiefs have cried out to the governor but nothing is forthcoming at all. We collect salaries by hand, nothing to sign, no voucher, no document.”

     

     

     

  • Why Obasanjo is angry, by Presidency

    The Presidency said yesterday that former President Olusegun Obasanjo is angry with President Muhammadu Buhari because “Buhari is fixing Nigeria with improved power supply and OBJ (Obasanjo) is angry”

    In a tweet yesterday, Special Assistant to the President on social media Lauretta Onochie lashed Obasanjo for failing “to answer a simple question posed by our President who inherited a nation in darkness.”

    She added: “It’s now a clear choice between Pres. Buhari and a coalition of past corrupt leaders coordinated by ex-Pres Obasanjo.”

    Read Also: Obasanjo ’s administration one of Nigeria’s most corrupt – Sagay

    President Buhari on Tuesday while receiving a delegation of the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO) led by Customs Comptroller General Hammed Ali, challenged Obasanjo (although he did not name him), over his claim of spending $16 billion on power asking: “where is the power.”

    But Obasanjo swiftly rejected the accusation saying he was ready for probe. A statement by his media adviser Kehinde Akinyemi added: “The answer is smple: The power is in the seven National Integrated Power Projects and eighteen gs turbines that Chef Obasanjo’s successor, who originally made the allegation of $16billion did not clear from the ports for over a year”.

  • Owner of Mercy Aigbe’s birthday dress angry, as designer claims dispatch error

    Owner of Mercy Aigbe’s birthday dress angry, as designer claims dispatch error

    The ongoing drama on the red dress worn by actress Mercy Aigbe on her 40th birthday is yet to abate, as the excuse preferred by the designer, @Rikaotobyme, has only heightened anger.

    The designer, who had been quiet since the allegation, attempted an excuse late Tuesday, blaming the problem on dispatch error.

    She wrote on Instagram: “Our attention has been drawn to the ongoing chaos surrounding a dress and one of our esteemed clients on Instagram and possibly on other blogs and social media sites,” said @rikaotobyme.

    “We would have preferred if this matter was addressed directly to us for a quick resolution and to avoid the media frenzy, but unfortunately it wasn’t.

    “We hold our clients dearly and offer our services on first come first served bases with no iota of discrimination or insinuation of such. We admit that a dispatch error occurred in the delivery of a dress to Miss Lawrentta, who was set to get married on the 30th December, 2017 and the pickup of another dress on behalf of actress, Mercy Aigbe.

    “Please note that both dresses were of the same style, the same colour (red) and almost the same measurement. On realising the error on dispatch, we quickly tried to rectify the mix up. But it was too late as the wrong dress was already on its way to Edo state for the bride to be, she further explained.

    “We contacted the bride and explained we had an issue and asked if she would be comfortable with another dress, of same kind (which was the one meant for Mercy Aigbe), the bride agreed, so we allowed the dress to be delivered as time to recall dispatch was short in relation to the time of the wedding. We have already apologised to Miss Lawrentta, but once again use the public fora to tender an unreserved apology to her and by extension to Mercy Aigbe who shouldn’t have been dragged into this.

    “We assure all our clients, past and future that our resolve to deliver top notch designs to clients within the country and beyond will not be compromised and the error that led to this unhappy situation has since been corrected.”

    However, it was obvious the designer’s response did not placate the bride, who tagged the designer wicked, and went ahead to dismiss her claim by asking further questions.

    “Reading your reply @rikaotobyme to the pain and embarrassment you deliberately caused me for financial profit on the eve of and on my wedding day, I am convinced that you are indeed wicked, A wickedness that has consequences.” Lawrentta said.

    “Firstly, in your response you claim there was a dispatch error. Was the error of dispatch the cause of the delivery agent’s number being “not reachable” as you claimed? Secondly, you also claimed the “dispatch error” was too late to be rectified as the wrong dress was already on the way to Edo state. At what point was the “dispatch error” discovered since your staff Kate, dropped off the dress at Ojota at around 9pm for night bus delivery?

    “Thirdly you claimed also that similarities in the dresses caused the “mixup”. If that was the case why did @realmercyaigbe on receipt of a dress that wasn’t hers still go ahead to wear it for her 40th birthday shoot and post on social media on the 31st of December?”

    According to Lawrentta, the wrong dress which was eventually delivered to her was not in any way new.

    “Mind you, the dress you sent to me was torn and musty on delivery, not in any shape for a client how much more a celebrity. While that which conveniently landed with Mercy Aigbe, was a fabric I purchased myself from @bshani_bridalfabrics. Lastly in your response, you lied about apologizing to me. Since the 29th I have not heard a single word from you and there is not a chance in hell that what you called an apology on “public fora” or the chat above would suffice.  In all of this, it’s blatantly obvious from your statement you have refused to accept responsibility like a true professional should and sincerely apologize for your moment of indiscretion and weakness.”

    Actress Mercy Aigbe has however remained silent in the ongoing drama.

  • Chris Uba angry over PDP’s loss

    Chris Uba angry over PDP’s loss

    A member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Chris Uba, has warned his party against impunity or face more calamity.

    Uba, who expressed anger yesterday while addressing reporters in Awka, the state capital, on the outcome of Saturday’s election, said PDP failed at the poll because former Governor Peter Obi imported a foreigner and made him the party’s candidate.

    He recalled that the last time PDP won an election in Anambra was in 2003, when he made Dr Chris Ngige the governor.

    The Anambra political “godfather” said his heart bled because his efforts in the PDP had gone to the drains.

    Uba said the party, which was dreaded in Anambra, came a distant third in Satrurday’s governorship election because it failed to do the right thing.

    According to him, what has happened to the PDP and its members is painful.

    The PDP chieftain said the outcome of the poll was a warning to the party on the forthcoming national convention on December 9.

    He said Obi, who anointed Oseloka Obaze as PDP’s candidate, never won election in the state on his own without him (Uba).

    Uba said people like Rev Ejike Mbaka and Most Rev Maxwell Anikwenwa could attest to his claim.

    The politician said it was former President Goodluck Jonathan who brought Obi into the PDP, adding that the earlier the party stopped impunity, the better for it.

    He said Obi had no capacity to make anyone governor in Anambra without people like him supporting the candidate.

    Uba urged the former governor to apologise in five newspapers or he (Uba) would do the needful.

    The PDP chieftain said the party had eight members in the National Assembly but only one followed Obi.

  • Why Nigerians are angry – Onaiyekan

    The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, yesterday said anger and dissatisfaction expressed by people would continue in the country, when federal character principle leads to injustice and margina-lisation.

    To address the ongoing agitation in Nigeria, the Onaiyekan advised the Federal Government to change the rules of governance in addition to yielding to call by Nigerians to restructure the country.

    Onaiyekan, who stated this at a press conference on the Centenary of the Late Eminence, Ignatius Cardinal Ekandem, the first Episcopal Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Metropolitan, in Abuja, described him (Ignatius) as ‘a real man of the church’.

    Speaking on the process entailed in the canonisation of Archbishop Ekandem, who lived between 1917 to 1995, Onaiyekan said Nigerians were displeased with the way and manner government runs the country.

    His words: “We all know what is causing people to be angry, and if you want to be sincere, there is no part of Nigeria where there is no cause for anger, no part. May be some people are expressing their anger more than the others. But everywhere, people are dissatisfied. And this has nothing to do with who is president and who is not the president?

    “It goes in my opinion to the rules of governance. How we governed ourselves, the whole area of justice system, equality before the law. The whole concept of federal character supposed to be that no part of the country is left behind. Federal character can not mean that some parts of Nigeria will be favoured over others.

    “If the federal character leads to injustice and marginalization, then, it does not make sense. We must change the way we are doing thing, we cannot continue like this. Definitely, if we do, there will be more anger, more calls for change and we don’t know who will be able to mobilize more people to cause more problem. Don’t forget that this was the one of the major positions held by the Boko Haram.”

    Onaiyekan maintained that the lackadaisical attitude displayed by some of those at the helms of affairs would do no good for the country; rather, they should look at the agitation holistically to correct the imbalance in the land.

    He said; “The issue is, what are those things that are happening in Nigeria now, which we need to critically and effectively look at, in such that, this sense of dissatisfaction, exclusion, injustice that people are feeling will be reduced to the minimum? So, some people put it under big title of restructuring.

    “Some people think that restructuring is to create more states, as far as am concerned if you create more states and the system remains the same, you will only have more problems. The problem is not about how many states or regions but how does government function? How do I as a Nigerian feels at home in this country? And how do I as a Nigerian expect that I will be treated with justice, respect and dignity?

    “We need to restructure if we want the country to survive. The truth is that things are not organized properly and it makes the people to be dissatisfied. It is not only the Biafrans who are disgusted with this country; a lot of us are, even though we still are not thinking of that. It is like a father who is very angry with his son; you will still not throw him away.”

  • Are the gods angry with PDP?

    What’s gwam is the title of a song by the Nigerian reggae artist Ras Kimonos released some years ago. The message it conveyed when the musician first used the word was unmistakable: something wrong of alarming proportion in the air- real apprehension everywhere in the land.

    That is how I see the rapidly sinking fortune of the PDP- a once beautiful and powerful political party but now sick, pale, weak, disorganized, powerless, disoriented and seems on the path to disintegration. What a pity! It once held high hope for real national unity, meaningful development and prosperity and thus commanded the respect, love and support of many citizens. This was largely because of its national spread.

    Now it is no longer in that position of grandiose power and favour having fallen from the graceful high-horse of authority to the plebeian grass land of ordinariness. Today the party is ridden by a seeming unending self-generated crisis and self-imposed conflicts. The internal strife is deep and well entrenched and it is fuelled by well endowed, wealthy rivalry groups of elite within the party and outside it as some have suspected.

    In a way, the ambition of some Nigerian elite is really the problem and greatest source of threat to the party. Political wars are elite’s game and it could be very bloody because each party has the wherewithal to test the will of the other. However, as the Bible teaches, everything on earth has its season. In politics every party has its turn and in a democracy, the voters determine whose turn it is to be in power.  This sure is the season of woes for the People’s Democratic Party in Nigeria.

    For 16 years it ruled the country unchallenged and unchallengeable. One way or the other, it was the ‘choice’ of the people, the acclaimed ‘darling’ party of the voters- with the immediate plan to rule for the first 60 years from 1999. But today, things have changed for the worse for the party. It is no longer in power. Since 2015 when it lost the presidential elections, its fortunes had rapidly sunk deeply into the troubled sea of confusion, treachery and death. It has not been able to manage failure- to get up to its feet since its fall from power.

    From all indications, it looks it is going to take some long time to retrieve it from the danger zone.  The reports from the war zone are depressing and disappointing. Attempts to mend fences had continually failed. A good example was the peace meeting called in April by former President Goodluck Jonathan which again failed to achieve the desired result as one the key gladiators –Ali Modu Sherriff – the party’s court certified chairman walked out of the talks. Consequently an important member of the party-Governor Ayodele Fayose chairman PDP Governors Forum vowed never to discuss with Sherriff on the matter again. These are bad enough for a patient on oxygen at the intensive care unit.

    Already there are signs of wide blisters from a freezing cold winter and it promises to be a long nasty season for the party. It has been observed that those that the gods want to punish, they first make mad and there are grounds to wonder if the gods are perpetually angry with the PDP.  It can be said that in democracy, the political parties the voters want to punish, they first make to lose power. Ever since 2015 when Nigerian voters showed the PDP the red  card, the party has never known  peace.  It has been behaving like mad person and jumping from one crisis to another without resolution. Internal strife, leadership crisis and disunity had been its lot.

    When the feuding parties went to court, I thought the end of the crisis was near in sight. Alas, I was wrong.  When judgement was made in favour of Sherriff, some interested party big wigs to the feud refused to accept the court’s judgement. The crisis has thus continued to the detriment of our institutions. For many reasons, many patriots are no longer at ease. How can they feel easy when there is fire in the next house gutting it down?

    I think the court actually offered some windows of opportunity to resolve the party’s crisis. There is the need to respect the judgement, appeal if necessary… But first thing first: the respect for the rule of law is the first principle of representative democracy. This is playing by the rules of the game – rules set before the game- and not during or after the game.  Without respect for laws, we are in the wild jungles where only the fittest survives.

    Not long ago President Trump just after being sworn in as President of the USA issued some orders concerning visits to the U.S. It was challenged in a court and the court made a ruling that was not in favour of the president. Eventually the American President complied even as he seeks other ways to achieve the same goal. The judiciary was strengthened, the American institutions were better off.

    Methinks the PDP should get all parties to the feud to respect the court ruling and use other legal means to redeem the party from its avoidable path to perdition. Men erect and nurture institutions by words and actions. A disdainful attitude to national institutions is not the way to build and strengthen them. Let the Nigerian elite learn to respect our public institutions. It is the best way forward.

    There is nothing wrong with a party losing an election. The greater strength is in its ability to learn and reorganize for the next contest with the hope of winning it. The PDP has found this very hard to do. But this is usually easier for a party with strong ideological foundation. From what we see, it is clear that the People’s Democratic Party lacks a noble and binding ideology beyond the personal greed for power and wealth by some individuals.

    Other than the greed for political power and wealth for selfish reasons, the party had no sound philosophy to bond members together under the rain or in the sun, no party sentiment and discipline to cause attachment and deference to it.  The party’s interest was subjugated to interest of many individual members.  In a word it was a hollow party of many money bags bereft of noble political ideals.

    The negative effect is too obvious to be ignored today.  The PDP is down and in very bad shape and thus it can hardly be counted on as alternate power- party. Yet, the country needs a strong opposition to avoid the baneful effect one party dictatorship. Thus it is in our collective interest that the PDP is saved from crashing. I believe in two party system and a place for strong opposition party. And the PDP initially held that prospect until it went into disarray. Now with very serious internal strife rocking it since its fall from power, it has lost the steam to play well the opposition role.

    The political elite are adept here but we must all do our best to nurture the growing positive culture of two party system. The PDP must be saved from self- destruction in the national interest.

     

    • Dr. Abhuere is of Centre for Child care and Youth Development, Abuja.
  • Ekiti workers angry with Fayose over Ozekhome’s N75m legal fee

    Ekiti workers angry with Fayose over Ozekhome’s N75m legal fee

    Civil servants in Ekiti State have condemned Governor Ayo Fayose’s alleged payment of N75 million as legal fees to a legal practitioner,Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), for handling his case against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    An interest group in the state workforce, the Enlightened Workers Forum (EWF), said payment of what they called a “huge amount” on Fayose’s private case was sad, condemnable and unjustifiable at a period workers are owed six months’ arrears of salaries.

    In a statement issued on Friday by EWF Coordinator, Mike Bamidele, the workers said Fayose should explain to workers and people of the state on why he shelled out N75 million as “part payment” to Ozekhome which they said has further dented the image of the state.

    They wondered why they are still being owed six months’ arrears after the Federal Government had released N9.6 billion bailout, N8.88 billion and budget support funds for nine months amounting to N10 billion within a space of one year and two months.

    The workers’ body said Fayose has much explanation on how the financial reliefs received from the federal government were spent and why they are still being owed arrears.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a counter-affidavit filed before a Federal High Court in Lagos claimed that the N75 million was part of the proceeds of the alleged loot from the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd).

    The EFCC filed the counter-affidavit in opposition to an application by Ozekhome seeking to unfreeze his account which was blocked by the anti-graft agency.

    The EFCC averred that N75 million transferred to Ozekhome’s account domiciled in Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) was part of the N2.1 billion allegedly paid to Fayose from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) under Dasuki’s watch shortly before the June 21, 2014 governorship poll in Ekiti State.

    But the workers said evidence given in court by former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, was a proof that the EFCC action was not politically-motivated as alleged by Fayose urging the governor to leave them (workers) out of his trouble with anti-graft body

    The statement reads: “Releasing a whopping sum of N75 million to Ozekhome as part payment of legal fee in the governor’s private case with the EFCC, particularly at a time when he had bluntly refused to pay salaries and pensions.

    “No matter the amount of coloration given to the case, it is not a state case; rather, it is purely a private one involving him and the EFCC and therefore should have been prosecuted with his personal fund.”

    The workers recalled that Nigerians were shocked when Fayose claimed that his campaign was sponsored by Zenith Bank only for the bank to deny the claim adding that revelations from the court is a challenge to the governor that he owes Ekiti people explanations.

    They said further: “By the way, what impression is Fayose trying to create in this case? Is he trying to turn to white what the whole works already knew as black? He said the money found in his account at the Zenith Bank was donated by the bank to sponsor his 2014 election but the bank promptly denied.

    “The EFCC said it was his own share of the diverted N2.1 billion arms fund. Senator Obanikoro who brought the money to him did not only come out to confess but had begun to pay back his own share.

    “His personal assistant corroborated the statement of the senator, the bank manager confirmed it, driver of the bullion van did same so also is the pilot of the plane that brought the money. Yet, Fayose insisted, it was his money but from what source?”

  • Are the gods angry?

    Who is safe in the country today? With what is happening nationwide, it seems nobody is safe except those in power. Even at that how safe are they? Most of them move about with a busload of security men, carrying guns and bombs when we are not at war. Those who can afford it hire private guards and arm them to the teeth. With their money, they secure their lives, yet they are not safe too. They are not safe because they cannot move about freely like you and I . They know the consequences of trying to walk on the streets alone.

    They cannot engage in the leisure of a stroll. To take a stroll could amount to ending up in the lair of kidnappers. For every Nigerian, whether young or old, rich or poor these are not the best of times. These are times that try the souls of men. Every day we are confronted with evil not only at night but also in the day time. The evil doers no longer strike under the cover of darkness; they have become so daring that they strike under the brightness of the sun. To them, there is no difference between sunshine and darkness.

    It was in days past that daylight frightened evil doers; these days, it emboldens them because they control the instrument of fear – arms. It was the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe that said only a mad man will argue with the man with a gun. How true. Only God knows where they get the guns from. The worrisome thing is that those carrying these guns are teenagers, young boys barely out of school, but who have chosen the world of crime. Under the guise of unemployment, they have turned themselves into criminals. They engage in everything evil, believing that, that is the easiest way to wealth. Unfortunately, many of them are graduates. Instead of using their knowledge for the betterment of society, they are using it to kill, maim, rape and kidnap.

    There is no part of the country where they are not found and they go by all sorts of fanciful names to instil fear in people. ‘’Fear’’, the legendary novelist James Hardly Chase said, ‘’is the key that opens the wallet of the rich’’. Fear no longer only opens the wallet of the rich but also of the poor. These young marauders do not distinguish between the rich and the poor when they strike. To them, everybody is fair game. It is after they have struck that they look at the size of their victims’ purses. May we not walk on the day the road is famished. This is the prayer we all say daily before leaving home. But the thing is evil no longer waits for people on the road, it stalks them at home.

    The other day at Arepo in Ogun State, a family was having a quiet time at home when its generator suddenly went off. The father asked the son to go and see what happened. The next thing he saw was his boy being led back into the house by some gunmen. They fled with the poor man through the river behind his house. The abductors were said to have called to demand N10 million ransom from the family. I cannot say if the family was able to raise the money, but it has been over four weeks since the incident happened at the Orange Estate. Since then, a combined team of soldiers and riot policemen has been deployed in Arepo. With their presence there has been some respite in the community, but for how long will we know peace before the hoodlums return?

    We used to be troubled by pipeline vandals before kidnappers and assassins took over. Some weeks before the aforesaid kidnap, a man was killed as he returned home from vigil. In Ondo State, a monarch was kidnapped last month in his palace. Last Monday, the paramount ruler of Bokkos in Plateau State was killed by hoodlums. Things that were unheard of in the past are now happening across the country. Monarchs that are deified by the people have become easy prey to kidnappers. It is taboo to speak ill of traditional rulers not to talk of snatching them from their palaces. All these are now in the past as these scoundrels are no respecter of persons and institutions. To them, there is no difference between a monarch and a serf. They give them the same treatment without giving a hoot about the status of the monarch. Are they not inviting a curse on their heads with their own hands? Do they really care? I do not think they do because if they did, they would not be snatching monarchs from their palaces.

    Last Saturday night, they struck at Iba and took away the Oniba, Oba Yushau Goriola Oseni, from his palace. The monarch was in his room with his wife when they arrived. Their noise attracted him and the olori and when he came out to see what was amiss, they bundled him away. They fled through the bush path behind the palace. His family has been waiting to hear from the abductors to know what they want. But they have kept the family in suspense. They are playing the waiting game; they know that the family will be anxious to hear from the kabiyesi and also from them, especially on what they want. What will they want if not money? Why don’t they just come out and make their demand and put the family’s mind at rest?

    Why is all this happening? Did we offend the gods? According to the sage, when a child trips, he walks on; but when an elder stumbles, he turns back to ascertain what is wrong.  Why are the gods angry with us? What will they take to forgive us? We need to make propitiation to stop these sacrilegious acts happening across the country.

    For how long will we be under the mercy of hoodlums who have made our lives miserable? If they can go into palaces to kidnap kings, what becomes of those of us who are not royalty? It is sad that these boys breach our security at will. At times, they strike right under the nose of security men and get away. This is why they have become terror in the land and believe that they can take out their target at anytime without coming to harm. It is in a society where there is no law that there is no crime. In a society full of laws like ours, criminals should have no place. So, Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris has a herculean task to rid society of these boys.

    Idris’ job is cut out for him. He cannot be in office and hoodlums will be terrorising the people of the country he is mandated to secure. It is not an easy job, but it is one that he must discharge so that the hoodlums will know that there cannot be two masters in a ship. The new sheriff in town must prove to these hoodlums that he is equal to the task. As the IGP, our safety lies in Idris’ hands. Will he watch and allow hoodlums to finish us off?

  • Ugbo still angry with Imoke

    Ugbo still angry with Imoke

    Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Cross River State, Fidelis Ugbo, is not happy with the state governor, Liyel Imoke. His anger may not be unconnected to the governor’s withdrawal of support to Ugbo in his aspiration to rule the state.

    The nomination of Senator Ben Ayade as the PDP governorship candidate irked Ugbo, resulting in his defection to LP.

    In a recent newspaper interview, Ugbo accused the governor of betrayal of trust, a charge the governor’s spokesman vehemently denied.