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Tag: apology

  • Dolphins players tender apology

    Dolphins players tender apology

    Players of Dolphins  FC, led by their  captain, Sunday Rotimi have tendered an apology to the club management, Nigerians and the people of Rivers State.

    Dolphins failed to travel on time for a Confederation of African Football (CAF) Confederation game last weekend in Tunisia as players refused to get on the bus to the airport because they wanted more than they were offered as out of station allowance, or ‘estacode’ as it is more popularly called in Nigeria.

    The team subsequently missed its flight to Lagos, then Tunis and were walked over by the time they got to the stadium.

    Captain of the side, Sunday Rotimi has in turn apologised for the role of the players in the saga.

    “On behalf of my players, I want to apologise to the club management and also Nigerians concerning the game in Tunis. It’s unfortunate that we left Nigeria to Tunis and couldn’t play the game. I deeply apologise to all Nigerians and especially people of Rivers State,” Rotimi said.

    Dolphins returned from the Tunisia encounter on Saturday and will play against Abia Warriors in a rescheduled league game today in Umuahia.

     

  • Group demands apology from leaders

    Group demands apology from leaders

    Ahead of next month’s elections, a group, The Build A Nation Initiative, BAN, has demanded an apology from past and present leaders for what it described as their failure to provide effective leadership.

    BAN is an advocacy group and change agent comprising people who desire the birth of a new Nigeria of their dream. It also aims at promoting accountability in leadership, advancement of citizenship rights and creating awareness against corruption.

    Speaking during the group’s inaugural media parley at the City Hall in Lagos Island, last weekend, the Convener, Mr. Mr Emmanuel Ehiemma, said a nation without a visionary leadership was doomed.

    He said: “Most Nigerians are dissatisfied with the current state of the country. Nigerians are daily confronted with economic, social, political and security problems. The injury is mostly self-inflicted by a greedy and selfish leadership that is unable to mobilise the people to achieve their full potentialities and destinies. As a first step in the process of reconciliation, the people demand an unreserved apology from past and present leaders for their failure to provide effective leadership and stewardship to Nigeria. The apology will affirm the supremacy of the people over the leaders, restore confidence and trust of citizens in order to mobilise against the challenges ahead. This, I believe, is the essence of democracy.”

    Eizu Uwaoma, a strategist with the BAN, said: “In Nigeria, we need a solution because we all know the problem. We are concerned about the leadership rather than the election because our leaders are the same set of people. We need people who are affected by their everyday decision. People are upset and are trying to find solutions to the socio-economic problems plaguing the country, but their voices are not heard.”

    Jacob Somoye, a participant, said Nigerian leaders had yet to realise that ultimate power resides with the people.

    Another participant, Clement Nwankwo, said without a strong political activity, the system cannot work. “Leadership is a quality. True leadership is not being served, but it is in serving. If a leader is not committed, there can’t be satisfaction on the part of the citizens. We need to train one another and educate the people. We don’t know when our leaders are wrong because we don’t know our rights”, he said.

    The event featured a documentary, a lecture and an interactive session.

  • Okorocha demands apology from Ihedioha over ‘attacks’

    Okorocha demands apology from Ihedioha over ‘attacks’

    •’It’s governor who should apologise’

    Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha demanded yesterday an apology from the House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha, for allegedly embarrassing him at Ahiazu Mbaise in Aboh Mbaise Local Government during the ‘Iri Iji’ Mbaise Festival at the weekend.

    Ihedioha, when presenting kolanut to the governor, allegedly taunted him for non-performance and neglect of Mbaise people.

    He said: “My governor, we are happy to have you in our midst at this time. Mbaise people are peace- loving and hospitable. As our governor, who has graced this occasion for the first time since assuming office, we are glad that you will address issues of neglect of Mbaise people before handing over to Owerri Zone and particularly to me next year.

    “It is our collective wish that the issues be addressed soon as the 2015 general election is approaching when you will leave office for my administration as the governor to address neglect and decay.”

    But Okorocha in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, described the deputy speaker’s outburst as an unwarranted, unnecessary and unprovoked verbal attacks on his person and office.

    The statement reads: “After those attacks and the fruitless effort made to prevent the governor from addressing his people, we waited till August 17 to see whether the deputy speaker or leaders of the Mbaise nation could be guided by the rules of decency to apologise to the governor for those needless attacks and actions, but to no avail.

    “It should be stressed that before the event, Okorocha and Ihedioha had no problem to the best of the knowledge of Imo indigenes and Mbaise people in particular, except that Ihedioha is aspiring to succeed Okorocha next year, which is not an offence.  But this should not  warrant verbal attacks against the governor, especially when the deputy speaker is not yet a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but only an aspirant.”Mbaise people and indeed, Imo people, who were at the Iriji Mbaise festival, saw that Ihedioha began his verbal attacks against the governor when he was given the kolanut for the event to present to the visitors. Instead of performing that traditional assignment, he took on the governor, telling him how he would not return to the Government House in 2015 in a very disrespectful manner as if he is the mind of Imo people.

    “As if that was not enough, when Ihedioha was called upon to address the people, instead of using the opportunity to tell the crowd what he has attracted to the area in the 12 years he has been in the House of Representatives or what the PDP-controlled Federal Government has done for Imo people, he opened another round of attack on the governor, telling the people that the projects of the Okorocha administration were inferior.

    “Ihedioha began that speech and ended it with attacks on his governor. The number six citizen did not deem it fit to welcome his governor to an event he (Ihedioha) was listed as the chief host. That his governor attended such function should have been hailed by him.

    “Although those at the event were disappointed at the attacks, it should not stop at that. Ihedioha should be honourable to apologise to his governor for the attacks. The leaders and traditional rulers of Mbaise should do same.

    “It is important to use this opportunity to urge the governorship aspirants to appreciate the advantages of others over them. Okorocha has earned for himself an enviable popularity among the Imo populace. They admire him because of his sterling performance.”

    Ihedioha, in a statement by his Media Assistant, Mr. Chibuike Onyeukwu, said: “It is the governor who has embarrassed Imo people with his disrespect for traditional institutions that should apologise to Mbaise people for desecrating their New Yam Festival, which has been held successfully over the years without his presence.

    “He should also apologise to the Imo people for turning our once respected state to a laughing stock. The governor also acted similarly during the Oru Owerri Festival, where he disrupted the festival and turned it into a political event. He threw decency to the winds with his hired thugs, knowing that he has no support in Mbaise, being the strongest base of the deputy speaker.”

  • June 12: Group seeks apology

    A group, the Nigerian Democratic Awareness Forum (NIDAF), yesterday said the only way government could apologise for the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election is to ensure that votes count in future elections.

    The National President of the group, Prince Obiajunwo Dike, spoke in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, during an emergency meeting organised by the group.

    He noted that it would be difficult to conduct a free and fair election until the Federal Government appreciated and accepted that Abiola won the freest and fair poll in the country.

    Dike said: “My group is partnering other stakeholders to ensure that Nigerians’ votes count. If we are to have a free and fair election in future, our leaders should appreciate the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

    “There should be a live broadcast by President Goodluck Jonathan apologising the mistakes made by past leaders.

    “We also urge the government to investigate the role of past leaders, who aided the annulment of the election. Most of them are still alive. They should be bold to give reasons for their action.”

     

     

  • Fayemi’s public apology

    Fayemi’s public apology

    SIR: It takes real civility for a governor to come down from the gubernatorial height to say sorry to the governed anywhere in the world, and it is a very rare feature in Africa.

    But this was what the amiable, disciplined and pragmatic governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, did publicly during the recent Christmas Carol Service organized by his government in Ado Ekiti.

    He did apologize to “those who might have been hurt, one way or the other, by the policies of this government”, and pleaded with them to take solace in the fact that “such policies were meant to do the greatest good to the greater number of the Ekiti people”,

    Loaded was the message of the governor’s apology; calculated was it too and very suitable as a key in fathoming the character of this governor who had chosen to be a human rights activist long before he dreamt of becoming governor; who had once demonstrated his sense and love of justice, most resoundingly, as the brain behind the famous Radio Kudirat during the struggle against the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

    The simple implication of Governor Fayemi’s public apology is that the Ekiti State has got a large-hearted, strong-willed governor who would go to any length, including hurting some Ekiti indigenes, in the pursuance of the greatest good for the greater number of the Ekiti people.

    It implies that the governor would correct anomalies or reform bastardized systems, whatever the hue and cry against such policies, while his determination to right the wrongs would not necessarily make him inhuman or daring. It implies that he knew and felt the pains of the offended even as he had no option other than to be on the side of the greater number of his people.

    Those whose properties were demolished for dualization of roads or beautification can now know that he expected and felt their anguish. The teachers too can now know that he understood their feelings at being re-examined for teaching. So would the LG workers now realize that the governor fore-saw their shock before embarking on restructuring.

    The governor was only enlisting their cooperation with determination in his task of doing the greatest good to all Ekiti; not even only “to the greater number of Ekiti people”, as he enunciated but to all!

    Come to think of it, the beauty of that public apology is that it was, in itself, committal to redress, unlike in a situation where the pains of the victims of government policies are ignored or overlooked.

    In other words, the Fayemi that we knew from the years of yore would have prepared himself to proceed from his calculated public apology, not only to applying needed healing balms to the injuries of the injured but also to putting smiles on their faces and winning them back as friends and admirers.

    Of course, if he would do otherwise, he would not have chosen to be a human rights activist in the first place because governance, essentially, is a function of human rights protection.

    You and I can therefore watch out henceforth for better days ahead for the aggrieved in Ekiti State whose grouses had been what they suffered as a result of government policies; the public apology so adequately implied this.

    • Jide Oguntoye

    Oye-Ekiti.

  • Akwa Ibom NUJ demands apology from govt, SSS

    The Akwa Ibom State Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists yesterday demanded apologies from the Director of the State Security Service (SSS), T. Minti and the state government, following the assault on The Nation reporter, Kazeem Ibrahim.

    NUJ’s State Chair Joe Effiong decried the attack on journalists in the state.

    Three operatives of the SSS beat up The Nation reporter at the Government House in Uyo during Governor Godswill Akpabio’s 50th birthday ceremony on Sunday.

    Condemning the act, Effiong, who is the state correspondent of The Sun , said the union may be constrained to take action to protect the rights of its members.

    His words: “We demand unreserved apology from the state.

    “We also demand an apology from the Director of SSS in Akwa Ibom State and the media managers in the state.

    “Although, some of them (media managers) were also harassed at the event, we were responding to their own invitation.

    “If you come to my house and my security man harasses you, it is my own responsibility to make amends, even though I never asked the security man to do that.

    “So if we went to the Government House on invitation and we are harassed by the security, I think it is also the responsibility of government to apologise to us.

    “So we demand unreserved apology from the state government.

    “Government cannot run away from this. If government showed concern about the activities of security operatives in the past, I believe this assault, harassment, beating of reporters would have stopped.

    “So we say that enough is enough. We expect their apologies tomorrow or at our congress, but if they refuse whatever decision we take will be binding on all of us.

    “We are having state congress on Thursday. By Thursday, we expect the State Director of SSS and the Commissioner of Information to come to our congress and apologise and reassure us that this terror act will not repeat itself.”

    Effiong, however, appealed to members to remain calm and support the union in its bid to tackle the problem.

  • Fayemi rejects NULGE’s ‘secret’ apology

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has rejected a secret plea by the state branch of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE).

    The union was seeking the governor’s pardon over its allegation that he was deducting N1billion monthly from local government allocation.

    Fayemi spoke yesterday on Focus Nigeria, a current affairs programme on Africa Independent Television (AIT).

    Then governor said the NULGE had written him that the allegation was not true.

    He denied allegations that he had been tampering with local government funds.

    Fayemi said he would not admit anything else except a publicised apology from the NULGE leadership because the allegation was publicised.

    The governor said the ongoing staff audit of the local government system in the state would be completed before the payment of the new minimum wage to council workers.

    NULGE state Secretary, Mr. Adebayo Victor, yesterday spoke with reporters in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

    He said the union did not accuse the governor of deducting council funds.

    Victor said: “Nobody would ever thought of or imagine embarrassing his governor in whatever way. What are we going to get by doing that?”

    According to him, NULGE could not have apologised for what it did not do.

    The union leader explained that NULGE did not oppose the staff audit, because same took place in Kwara and Oyo states, where union members were involved in the processes.

    “In Oyo State, some members were even laid off,” he said.

    Admitting that the union wrote a letter to the governor, Victor explained that the letter clarified that he (the governor) was never accused of any shady financial dealing with the council allocation.

    Fayemi also absolved his administration of blame on the non-conduct of the local government election.

    The governor said the election was initially scheduled for February 4 before the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured a court injunction stopping the poll.

    He warned against classifying Ekiti as one of those deliberately halting democracy at the council level.

    Fayemi said he is a believer in the rule of law and that he would not disobey a valid court order.

    The governor said he has filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal to upturn the verdict of the lower court on the council election.

    He added that his administration was ready for the election once the case in court is settled.