The Nation Newspaper

Tag: behind

  • PDP behind my wife’s ordeal, says Ajimobi

    PDP behind my wife’s ordeal, says Ajimobi

    Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi yesterday blamed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the “malicious allegations against his wife, Florence.

    Ajimobi said the report that his wife was arrested in London for alleged money laundering was the handiwork of failed politicians in the state.

    Speak with reporters in Abuja after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting. He said those behind the report lost out in previous elections.

    Ajimobi said: “We know those behind it. Infact, they are political jobbers, who lost out in the last election. Three of them are from the PDP. They have never achieved anything in their lives. They are coming back with the old system of maligning people.”

    The governor said those behind the report were out to taint his reputation.

    He said: “We have built our reputation over the years. I did not come from nowhere. I worked with the oil industry. I did not work with Wero Enterprises; I worked with National Oil and Shell. I was the Managing Director of National Oil and the MD of Shell STSL in Togo. I have made my name.

    “When you are doing well as a politician, some mischief makers, who want to pull you down, would concoct stories like this particular one.”

    The governor said it was unreasonable to expect that anyone would carry the amount of money the report claimed was found on his wife.

    He said: “In this modern age, will anybody be stupid enough to carry money around in boxes? If you travel with more than $10,000, you will be arrested. Even if you hide it, when you get to some of these countries, their dogs will sniff you out.

    “So how will somebody travel with N500 million? It’s a lot of money. How will you carry it? The people who wrote that thing are illiterates, amateurs. We need more quality people in politics.

    “We are trying to rid Oyo of wicked, malicious miscreants and political jobbers. Oyo State has been noted for jungle politics. We are working to change that, but the dark forces always try to stop us.

    “That report was very malicious. My youngest child was attacked during the electioneering campaign in 2007. She panicked so much that she could not sleep and the doctors advised us to change her location. That is why she has been schooling in England since 2007. So, it is nothing new.

    “It is wicked for people to be writing such things. Those behind the report are junk Internet outfits with one room sites. The moment we discovered them, they closed up and we did not see them again.

    “The damage has been done. Fortunately for me, another media house published it and I sued them. No amount of pleading will make me stop. I will make sure I stop people from damaging others’ reputation.”

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State condemned the report.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Dauda Kolawole, ACN said Mrs. Ajimobi could not have been in possession of huge cash because she has no access to the state’s treasury.

    The party said the governor is known for prudence, adding that he has put mechanism in place to guard against financial recklessnazess.

    ACN urged rumour peddlers to desist and support the government.

    It said: “Journalist are advised to be alive to their responsibilities and avoid mischievous and untrue stories.”

  • ACO: Ondo can’t be left behind in Southwest

    The campaign organisation of Rotimi Akeredolu, the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the October 20 governorship election in Ondo State, the Akeredolu Campaign Organisation (ACO), has criticised “the recent activities of Governor Olusegun Mimiko”.

    It accused the governor of “hobnobbing with reactionary forces”, saying this is “true to type, judging from his antecedent as a military apologist, as the governorship candidate of the defunct United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), one of the parties described by the late Chief Bola Ige as one of the fingers of a leprous hand”.

    In a statement by its Publicity Director, Mr. Idowu Ajanaku, ACO said: “Mimiko’s penchant for characters, who are the enemies of the progressives in Nigeria is a clear indication of why Mimiko has worked assiduously against the aspiration of the Yoruba people.

    “Such characters include Otunba Gbenga Daniel, who with all his cohorts, was swept off in Ogun State by the ACN and Senator Iyiola Omisore, who was also the Osun State governorship candidate of the UNCP, whose Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) suffered the same fate in Osun.

    “It is clear that the reactionary forces, who worked together during the late Gen. Sani Abacha’s transition programme to frustrate the Yoruba people, are regrouping to continue their failed project. They will surely fail again.

    “Indeed, claims that the Ondo people have rejected the integration agenda is not only uninformed, but a jaundiced logic. The result of the election, which we have given a provisional consideration, shows that ACN has a good showing in all the senatorial districts in the state.

    “What has happened is a temporary setback, which was made possible by the collusion of the power that be, security agents and Mimiko to intimidate and harass our supporters to arrive at a predetermined answer of returning Mimiko at all cost.

    “The question is how did Mimiko get 49,000 votes in Akure South Local Government Area, when only 29,000 voters were accredited? It is also a fact that the opposition got majority votes in the election, which is an indication that the people were eager to vote for regional integration and sustainable development.

    “Let everyone who cares remember that this is Ondo State, the cradle of progressive politics in Nigeria. The people cannot turn their backs against sustainable development, which has been demonstrated in Lagos, Edo and is evolving in Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti and Osun states under ACN administrations.”

  • ‘PDP, Senator behind Boko Haram’

    ‘PDP, Senator behind Boko Haram’

    Former Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sheriff yesterday alleged that the state’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chapter “is the engine room of Boko Haram”.

    He also alleged that Senator Ahmed Khalifa Zanna, who is undergoing interrogation after a suspected Boko Haram Commander was arrested, allegedly in his house, engaged in terrorism.

    Sheriff, who was also a Senator, has been exchanging accusations with Zanna over the arrest of suspected Boko Haram Commander Shuaib Bama.

    Sheriff denied being an accomplice of terrorism urged the State Security Service (SSS) to intensify its interrogation of Zanna.

    Borno State, along with neighbouring Yobe, is the hotbed of the Boko Haram insurgency.

    Sheriff spoke in a statement by his Special Assistant, Umar Duhu.

    He said: “It is common knowledge in Borno State that Senator Zanna takes along some hapless Nigerians on a seeming religious voyage by road only to put some of them into terrorist activity and illegal arms importation.

    “Some of the so-called pilgrims by road have been traced to terrorists’ camps in Afghanistan and Syria, and not Saudi Arabia, their preferred destination. It is very much on record that 27 of such pilgrims are still missing till date.

    “Senator Zanna’s inconsistencies in trying to defend himself are clear indication of a sinking man’s desperate attempt to hang himself on anything available in order to save his neck. If not so, what would his nephew be doing in the so-called house of Senator Ali Sheriff, the man he said is his political rival?

    “Contrary to his claims in the media that he had parted ways with the suspect, we can authoritatively confirm that his nephew, Shuaibu, was still his associate up to the time of his arrest.

    “It is an act in futility for him to try to name Ali Sheriff as an accomplice in his nefarious activity with Boko Haram, knowing full well that the wild allegations being levelled by him will never amount to an acquittal of his guilt.”

    Sheriff raised some posers for Zanna, which he also asked security agencies to look into.

    He added: “The one million dollar question is why has Senator Zanna never spoken against the atrocities being committed by Boko Haram; rather, he has been calling for the declaration of state of emergency or the disbandment of the Joint Task Force (JTF) which he knew are antithetical to the quest for peace.

    “Again, being the second senator fingered as having links with Boko Haram, it is a confirmation of the wildly believed theory that the PDP in Borno State is the engine room behind Boko Haram.

    “At his age and with the position he holds as a senator of the Federal Republic, we felt it is the height of un-patriotisms and irresponsibility for Senator Ahmed Zanna to not only fuel the crisis in Borno, but to attempt to drag the names of decent citizens, like Ali Sheriff, in the mud.

    “We know that since his inauguration, Senator Ahmed Zanna, who has visited neither Borno nor his constituency, even for once can afford to play politics with the serious issue at stake by sponsoring terrorism against his own people.

    “On this note, we want to call on the relevant security authorities to fully investigate the incident and Senator Zanna’s possible links with Boko Haram, and also his Hajj-by-road activities for which he was suspected to have used as a façade for the importation of arms and window for the training of terrorists.

    “It is on record that the Joint Task Force in Maiduguri had on Friday 19th October, 2012 announced the arrest of one Shuaibu Muhammed Bama in the house of a serving Senator along Damboa Road, GRA, Maiduguri.

    “It is on record that shortly after the JTF announcement, Senator Ahmed, who represents Borno Central, came out publicly in a BBC Hausa Service interview to own up that he is the only senator whose house is along Damboa Road; he also went ahead to admit that the arrested suspect is his nephew and lives with him in his house.

    “It is also on record that the State Security Service has invited Senator Zanna to clarify his involvement with the suspect and his links with Boko Haram.

    “Senator Zanna, in a comic u-turn, shortly after these developments, told journalists in a face-saving interview that while he could not deny his relationship with his nephew, he disowned his house where the JTF arrested the suspect, stressing that the house belongs to Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff, the immediate past former governor of Borno State.

    “Given his recent political encounter with the immediate past governor, now the BOT chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff, he appears desperate to settle scores by dragging Ali Sheriff into the controversy.

    “It is laughable that instead of defending his obvious involvement with Boko Haram, given his antecedence where people finger him as an illegal importer of arms via his Hajj-by-road fame, Senator Zanna is desperately looking for somebody to hang for his sins.”