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Tag: calumny

  • Kashamu flays ‘campaign of calumny’

    Kashamu flays ‘campaign of calumny’

    The senator representing Ogun East, Buruji Kashamu, yesterday flayed ‘’the campaign of calumny’’ against him over the next governorship election in Ogun State.

    Kashamu, in a statement, accused a member of the House of Representatives, Ladi Adebutu and a lawyer, Yemi Oke, of “using the old worn-out tales that are too familiar, as published in some media reports and advert published on August 4 and 5,  2016, in The Nation and Punch ”.

    The senator said: “Since they know they cannot substantiate allegations against me, they chose to hide under an amorphous and self-styled Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), known as Advocacy for Integrity and Economic Development (AIED). I know this is a classic case of the voice of Jacob and the hand of Esau.

    “The reason for the latest onslaught is because Adebutu has declared interest to be governor of Ogun State in 2019 and he strangely believes that I am an obstacle to his getting control of the party structure that must be crushed.

    “Thankfully, Nigeria is well on its way to probity, lawfulness and fairness. There is no remote possibility that we could someday decline to the throes of a Banana republic where monkeys and kangaroos tumble justice. Our democracy is resilient and in safe hands guided by the rule of law. Thus, despite the scheming and shenanigans of my political opponents, I remain hopeful and confident in our justice system and the commitment of the Federal Government to defend the rights of Nigerians.

    “By the grace of the Almighty Allah Subhana wa tala, I am an employer of labour and an empowerer of people from all walks of life. I am visible. Certainly, I am not an outlaw, as the courts, both at home and abroad, have found that I do not have anything to do with the allegation(s). The Nigeria of today is walking the same path with the bastion of democracy, custodians of the rule of law and defenders of human rights as the United Kingdom and the United States of America.  Even by its (the group’s) admission and in its averments, there were two extradition proceedings against me in the United Kingdom, “…both unsuccessful, ending finally in January 2003 when the judge refused to order him extradited”.  The law forbids double jeopardy. If they know that I had faced extradition proceedings twice, so which campaign of calumny are they embarking “upon?”

    He went on: “What is more, the Constitution is the grundnorm of a country and democracy. And Section 36 (9) of the 1999 Constitution says: ‘No person who shows that he has been tried by any court of competent jurisdiction or tribunal for a criminal offence and either convicted or acquitted shall again be tried for that offence or for a criminal offence having the same ingredients as that offence save upon the order of a superior court.’”

    He declared that he is not wanted anywhere.

    “I have not committed any offence to warrant such. In life, events happen in ways that are beyond human comprehension. Such events will test our resolve to fight and overcome challenges. But, one thing that is certain is that the truth will always prevail.

    “I have never lived in or visited the United States all my life. I was wrongly introduced into an indictment and was arrested and tried for it in the United Kingdom at the instance of the government of the United States. After an extradition trial that lasted four years, the British judiciary – one of the best in the world – ruled in my favour twice and released me.

    “The British court did not merely find that the evidence did not establish a prima facie case against me; the court positively found that it was another person (not me) that committed the offence and proceeded to describe the person in its judgment. That judgment was not and has not been appealed till date…”

  • Wabara: Column as calumny

    I fear to do this, but one is most constrained. For the fact that Ebere Wabara is not just a colleague of the pen, but a friend. However, only a true friend can speak truth to another. In the past couple of years, Wabara has found and even enjoyed a certain obsession to malign the immediate past governor of Abia State, Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji (TA). Hardly any two weeks pass without Wabara deploying his column to abuse and heap insults on his traducer.

    In November alone, four out of five weeks, Wabara has lent his column to his indecent and indecorous pass-time. Here are samples: November 2, 2015: (1) “In December last year, the immediate past governor of Abia State and the worst ever in the annals of the state, nay Nigeria, Theodore Ahamefule Orji (TA) (clownishly known as Ochendo)…”

    (2) Novemeber 9, 2015, Wabara writes: “I do not know what is holding EFCC,” laying all manner of accusations on the graft agency because it has not done its bidding on TA. (3) November 16, 2015, Wabara writes: “Just an appetiser to whet your appetite: do you still recollect that immediate-past governor of Abia State, Theodore Ahamefule Orji (stupefactiously known as Ochendo).” Here he reminds President Buhari how TA dealt him a bad hand during electioneering. Ouch!

    (4) November 30, 2015, Wabara writes: “It is the final word on the tragedy, which hallmarked governance in God’s Own State between 2007 and 2015 – when TA ingloriously held sway.”

    All of this in just one month; consider what has been in the last 36 months and you would understand the quantum of damage and injury that has been heaped on one man just because another man has access to a space in a national newspaper. If you were not a columnist would you have raised an IED? What about the law courts?

    My friend this cannot be right, this cannot be fair by any measure and this certainly is unethical and unprofessional. And we must say so lest some young people in journalism schools across the country begin to think this is the way it is done.

  • Youths decry ‘campaign of calumny’ against Wada

    Youths decry ‘campaign of calumny’ against Wada

    Kogi Transformation Network (KOTRAN), a group of youths, has decried what it called the campaign of calumny against Governor Idris Wada.

    The youths, in a statement after their meeting yesterday, said some “faceless agents” want to reverse the state’s development under Wada.

    KOTRAN spokesman Comrade Maximilian Tashilani, who signed the statement, said Wada had managed the lean resources of the state well.

    Tashilani said: “Gone are the days when frantic agitations and concocted tales will convince the voting populace. Anybody who wants to contest should come out and convince the electorate of his sincerity of purpose and show his track record of achievements as the governance of our dear state has been elevated to a serious business by the current administration. It is no longer business as usual”.

    KOTRAN advised youths against being used as tools of mudslinging and violence in the hands of some desperate elements.

  • Politician cautions against campaign of calumny

    Politician cautions against campaign of calumny

    Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Dr. Solomon Akin-Aina has advised aspirants to avoid campaign of calumny and character assassination, ahead of primaries and general elections.

    He lamented that political rivals have been portraying him in bad light before the party leadership out of envy by linking him with an alleged media publication, with a view to gain favour from the party leader.

    Reiterating his loyalty to the party and its National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the former Chairman of Ojo Local Government Area the peculiar character assassination i typical of political foes and desperate politician bent on denting his image.

    He dissociated himself from any embarrassing media publication, which he said is being exploited to drag his name in the mud before esteemed party leaders. He said: “Asiwaju Tinubu, our leader, and I have a common purpose as far as Ojo politics is concerned. I believe in his leadership and I have confidence on his ability to restore political logjams.”

    Akin-Aina, who said he was eminently qualified to vie for the House of Representatives in Ojo Constituency, said the contest is not a do-or-die affair.  He said: “As a Ph.D holder, I am more qualified. I have the ability, the experience, the skill, training and knowledge. I left public office in 2007. Instead of being idle, I went to the university to equip myself. I have two masters degrees and a doctorate degree in education.

    “Five of us are contesting for the House of Representatives. Those who are threatened by my intimidating profile and credential are the people behind the false publication about me. But, the leaders they seek to impress are wiser than them. Some of these aspirants have committed offences and they want to use me for settlement. I will advise them to leave me out of the predicament. One of them even said that he gave me N2 million and paid my allowances from 2007 to date. I challenge him to present the evidence before our party leaders.”

  • ‘Stop campaign of calumny’

    ‘Stop campaign of calumny’

    A governorship aspirant in Delta State, Dr. Ngozi Olejeme, yesterday accused politicians of carrying out a campaign of calumny, mudslinging and character assassination against her.

    Dr. Olejeme, who is aspiring on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), urged politicians to sell their manifestos to the people instead.

    She said: “My mission in Delta State is to run an egalitarian Delta where every section would have a sense of belonging devoid of oppression or marginalisation if elected.

    “I remain committed and I hereby assure our people that I will run issues-based campaign that will focus on welfare and development..”

  • 2015: Cross River youths deplore campaign of calumny

    A group under the aegis of Cross River Youths Initiative has frowned on what it described as the campaign of calumny against some political leaders by a faceless group, the Movement Against Third Slavery.

    In a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Akwaji Erunke, the group warned that it would no longer take kindly to the smear campaign going on against those who have laboured over the years to bring about stability in the polity of Cross River State.

    Alluding particularly to the several insidious newspaper advertorials, which it noted were tantamount to causing angst among the unenlightened public,  Cross River Youths Initiative said: “Our attention has been drawn to the ongoing campaign by a faceless and desperate group under the self-seeking and self-promoting banner of Movement Against Third Slavery, aimed at causing disaffection in the polity.

    “We have watched carefully the activities of these disgruntled and misguided elements, who are bent on eking out a living by parroting the selfish agenda of their paymaster. While we are not against anyone nursing a political ambition, we are particularly concerned about the approach and methodology deployed in the pursuit of such aspiration.”

    Warning that Cross Riverians are now wiser to be hoodwinked by money politics, which the youth group said, has acquired a dated appeal in the state politics, Erunke noted that “Cross River people can no longer be short-changed by the ongoing subterranean doling out of handouts by a certain fledgling desperate politician in a bid to buy their conscience.”

  • Campaign of calumny

    IF the government has its way it would have decreed that the campaign  for the release of the abducted Chibok girls be stopped.  It tried to do something like that through the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu, who it uses for such dirty jobs when the burgeoning czar banned the bring back our girls protest in Abuja.

    Their backdoor method of trying to stifle a lawful protest fell flat on its face when the nation rose as one to condemn the ban. The police through the Inspector-General,  Muhammed Abubakar,  promptly reversed the annoying order. Since then, Mbu has remained quiet, but that is not to say that we have heard the last of him.

    For sure, he has his uses and whenever the need arises, he will be tapped to do what he knows best to do. But, why is the government afraid of the bring back our girls campaigners? Are they doing anything wrong campaigning for the release of the abducted 217 Chibok schoolgirls, who are spending their 94th day in captivity today? Shouldn’t the government be encouraging the campaigners instead of being averse to what they are doing?

    Elsewhere government would encourage such campaigners by lending them a hand instead of distancing itself from what they are doing.  The reason for its action is obvious. It does not believe in what the group is doing because it never believed that the girls were abducted. Even when the news broke, the rescue of the girls was not its paramount concern. It was busy asking itself is it true (?) when it should have launched a rescue operation for the girls.

    Na lie don turn to na true and the government is looking for a scapegoat to hang its tardiness on. That is the way of our government. People’s life means  little or nothing to it. It is only interested in getting their votes during  elections after which they may go to hell for all it cares. There is nothing to show that the government cares about the fate that befell the Chibok girls and their families. The government is simply just not bothered.

    To the government, it is as if nothing happened in Chibok on April 14. So, it will not take it lightly with any one or group that tries to  remind it that something happened that day  in that remote community. This is why the government is bitter with the champions of  the rally. There should have been no need for such anger, if government has the interest of its citizens at heart. Nigerians love their government, but all they want is for the government to come clean with them.

    But, where government acts as if it has something to hide, it creates room for suspicion. By calling the campaigners name, is the government saying it is happy with what happened to the Chibok girls? If it does not want  the campaign, what else  can be done in its own view  to keep the girls’ abduction alive until they are rescued? We are asking these  questions  since it seems the government considers it a cardinal sin to  draw  attention  to the issue.

    Should the girls’ parents keep quiet and pretend that their children were not abducted? Isn’t it unfair that the government which should be consoling them is the one calling them names and trying to gag them from crying out over what  happened? I am sure that if the government has its way it would frame up the campaigners  and even the girls’ parents all in a bid to paint them black before the world.

    It has taken the first step towards that with the statement credited to the State Security Service (SSS), last week, that the bring back our girls campaigners are up to no good. According to its spokesperson, Mrs Marilyn Ogar, who I believe is also a mother, the campaign has become a franchise with different divisions into groups,  giving each other specific assignments.

    “If it is not a franchise but an ordinary movement seeking or acting to put more pressure on government and security operations to release these girls, there would be no need for the group to have tag, insisting that members must have a tag and be properly registered. We know that they have bank accounts and also know that they want to go to Asokoro Extension and simulate some force movement where they will have foreign media and say they are marching into Sambisa Forest and Chibok. We hope that genuinely you don’t go to hire people to come and claim to be the parent of the child you did not give birth to, so, it is a franchise…”

    The SSS is free to do its job, but in so doing, it should not use its privileged position to turn facts on their heads. Can the SSS prove its damaging  claim? If  it can, let it  make public the group’s bank details and put the campaigners to shame. If  it cannot,  it should withdraw the statement and apologise to the group. The SSS knows what to do if its claim is true and I know that if the allegation is true, it would have since descended on the group and show the campaigners to the whole world for what they truly are!

    But, in the circumstance, it cannot do that because its claim beggars belief. The group, to borrow the SSS’ word,  has the franchise to defend itself, so we will not do that here. Suffice it  to say that the group  has denied the allegation, shifting the burden of prove to the SSS.

    Dare @ 70 :Matters arising

    Whenever Dr Olatunji Dare writes under the above headline, you know that he has a wide range of issues to touch in short strokes. When I started reading him  in  The Guardian  many years ago, I never knew that one day I would  find myself in the same organisation with the  journalism legend. I do not know whether to call it a meeting because there was no opportunity to chat with the professor  and drink from his fountain of knowledge. It was at the Ikeja High Court premises shortly after his resignation from the The Guardian. His exit did not go down well  with the company’s management, which decided to deal with him.   The company ejected him from his quarters, but being  a firm believer in the rule of law, Dare went to court. As a court reporter,  I got wind of the case and my colleagues and I went to cover it.  We did not quite succeed in our mission because the lawyers had other plans. They wanted an amicable settlement of the matter  and so  covering it was out of the case  in order not to jeopardise the peace process. I have never told Dr Dare this; so he may be surprised reading it here today on his 70th birthday. Between that day in 1995 and now, I have come to know Dr Dare better.  In the about eight years of this  paper’s existence, he  and his fellow scholars, Prof Adebayo Williams, Prof Ropo Sekoni and Prof Moses Makinde, among others, have played a vital role in our short but rich history.  As Editorial Adviser, Dare goes through the paper with a fine tooth comb, pointing out errors and suggesting ideas on how we can stay ahead of the competition. Besides, his human relations is super. On several occasions, he has called to wish me well. That is Dr Dare for you.  About a month ago when he  arrived in the country on vacation  from his United States (U.S) base,  he, as usual called to say he is in town. ‘’Alhaji, eku ile’’, he said in his booming voice, and I answered, ‘’prof, eka bo sir’’.  Happy birthday, prof.

  • Calumny and Anambra guber politics

    Anambra State is indeed a hotbed of Nigerian politics. The state has often proved inscrutable even to those who have taken more than a casual interest. It has made and destroyed many and consigned many more to the dustbins of history.

    On the whole, Anambra is a flagship state in many respects and has produced a catalogue of firsts, especially in human development and nation building. It has an array of citizens who have played key and leading roles in national and international arenas, rather too numerous to recount here. It has incidentally also produced the only Nigerian Saint-in-waiting, already beatified and awaiting final canonization by any Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic faith.

    In the world of crime and political brigandage the record of Anambra is equally quite respectable. Its official name used to be Home for All – the good, the bad, the ugly – but later changed to the Light of the Nation. Either way, the names are quite apt and capture Anambra as unique and indeed the Gateway to the Eastern Nigeria.

    Since the return of the nation to civil rule, Anambra has proved to be one hell of a workshop of democracy. Its irrepressible people have commendably insisted of the ethos democratic governance and have been able to pressure their leaders and governors to be people-oriented and many have pursued populist policies as a result. A case in point is the Senator Chris Ngige who in his short stay as governor (2003-2006) embarked on massive road and infrastructure development and many other populist programmes to the admiration of most people.

    The current electioneering campaign has however degenerated into politics of very bizarre coloration. All Progressive Grand Alliance took over from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which ruled between 1999 and 2006 through Chinwoke Mbadinuju and Senator Chris Ngige. Then came the APGA government of Peter Obi, which is still in power and struggling to convince the people that APGA is their party for being the party of Igbo foremost leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.

    The proponents of this theory have equally gone ahead to ascribe to the ethnic and regional divides the various political parties, especially the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which produced Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige as Senator in 2011. The emotional blackmail has been orchestrated to the point that the new All Progressives Congress (APC), the product of the merger between All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) is now being branded Yoruba or Hausa Party, despite South-east parading some of the most important national executive offices.

    Branding of some parties as ethnic is seen by many as necessary political brinkmanship of APGA members, a party standing on quicksand that is threatening to cave in with the evitable exit of Governor Obi.  The submission of the Peter Obi factor to the inescapable corrosive power of time is something the party appears unprepared for.  That is why many adduce the reason for the branding of APGA as Igbo party as one last ditch effort to retain Anambra State, which is their last bastion, its underwhelming performance in the last eight years on the saddle notwithstanding.

    Many have also reasoned that it was such accruable political gains that made Anambra State government to renege on the agreement it had with the Lagos State government to relocate some rehabilitated destitute from Lagos, only to cash in on it to tar the Fashola/APC government of Lagos State as anti- Igbo, despite appointing an Igbo man a Commissioner and some other Igbos into executive positions in the Lagos State government.

    The attempt by Senator Ngige to interface and mediate in the so-called deportation crisis predictably scalded him politically and the passion  incensed by the saga showed abatement only when Fashola apologized for the manner the translocation of those challenged Igbo citizens from Lagos was carried out and Fashola did so on the prompting of Senator Ngige. Even at that, some APGA strategists still think the matter should be accentuated and made a cardinal issue in the gubernatorial election.

    The claim of such people that All Progressives Congress (APC) is Hausa/Moslem party is also unfounded when one considers that 17 National Executive members are Christians and 18 are Moslems. This is an even spread since the decision of the APC on all issues is by simple majority, with the national chairman wielding the power to vote only when to break a tie. What this also means is that both Christians and Muslims have equal rights in APC and equal voting powers and can only be swayed by issues.

    On the other hand, APGA has been presented by the same people who call APC Hausa or Yoruba party as Igbo party. Igbos constitute over 90% of the South-east and are also found in more than just a sprinkling in some neighbouring states, especially in Rivers and Delta states. At home and in the Diaspora, they may number well up to 40 million, making them a race and not just an ethnic group, and APGA is supposed to be the political party appropriated by these 40 million people. Yet, its membership strength in the entire South-east is said to be less than 100 thousand and appalling in significance round the country. In Anambra State particularly, when INEC carried out party membership audit recently, it was discovered that APGA had no authentic register to clearly identify its members in the state with.

    One irrefutable fact also is that APGA has less than a sprinkling of Igbo leaders in its fold. Apart from Peter Obi and perhaps Victor Umeh for being the party chairman and one Nwobu Alor (all from one town called Agulu in Anambra State), notable Igbo leaders have not identified with the party. Both the APC and the PDP parade arrays of Igbo leaders far more than APGA despite having been led by Emeka Ojukwu.

    APGA cannot therefore be said to be Igbo party (whatever that means), when the Igbos are not predominantly in the party and are found much greater numbers in other parties. It cannot also be said to be an Igbo party when the Igbo leaders are not members of the party. On both counts, APGA can be said to be trailing both APC and PDP both in Anambra State and in the whole of the South-east.

    Many of the proponents of APGA as Igbo party also insist it is the party left behind by Ojukwu and of the view that for the sake of the late Ikemba, Igbo politicians should join and remain in the party. Those who attempted to heed this call came to grief as there appears to be a policy within the party to keep Igbo leaders away, the latest may be Professor Chukwuma Soludo who was politically guillotined for joining APGA and attempting to contest the November poll on the platform. There was no doubt that the Soludo treatment awaited any other Anambra politician who ventured to grab hold of the APGA gubernatorial ticket. So, those who argue that people like Chris Ngige should have dumped the so-called Hausa/Yoruba Party and join the so-called Igbo party argue amiss.

    What is more, when Ojukwu was alive, he was obviously the only notable Igbo leader in APGA and did not quite succeed in convincing the others to join the bandwagon. If Ojukwu could not succeed in pulling the Igbos into APGA, can those who succeeded him and jealously shielding the party be able to achieve it with their mortal fear of the authentic Igbo leaders? It is doubtful.

    More importantly, If ACN and the PDP could win all the Senate seats at the last election, can APGA stop the same parties at the November governorship election by merely whining about APGA being an Igbo party? Can the APGA pundits convince Anambrarians to vote party instead of persons as has always been the case?

    One may further ask: in what ways has APGA as a party advanced the Igbo interest in the Nigerian polity? Is the future of Ndi Igbo better served by politics of inclusiveness or that of exclusivity? Time shall tell.

     

    •Mefor, a journalist wrote in from Abuja;

  • Chieftain decries campaign of calumny against Ngige

    •Declares sympathy for APC candidate

    A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Ben Ezeibe, has frowned at the campaigns of calumny by Governor Peter Obi against the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Chris Ngige.

    Ezeibe, a founding member of the PDP and ex-vice-chairman of the party, decried the politics with bitterness practised in Anambra State.

    The PDP chieftain, who spoke to reporters at the Enugu Airport on arrival from China, said: “I’m still a top member of the PDP. I am not a member of the APC, but I have my sympathy, as any patriotic Anambra indigene, for Dr. Ngige, who is being humiliated with the state machinery and resources.”

    He said it was worrisome that “the governor is campaigning and squandering state’s treasury to ensure that Ngige does not emerge as the next governor.”

    He said the APGA candidate, Willie Obiano, “should go to the field alone, face the electorate and prove his popularity, instead of using the incumbency advantage.”

    “We have finished with Obi. He has served for eight years and should quit.By campaigning for Obiano, he is hurting the feelings of the people. We are not fools.”

    Ezeibe said Obi’s eight years as governor had reduced Onitsha to a bankrupt city since his introduction of the stock exchange in 2006/2007.

    He went on: “Since then, traders have been faced with a high-level consumer poverty and bankruptcy.

    ‘’What was needed was not a Stock Exchange House but a Commodity Exchange House.”

     

     

     

     

     

  • Stop campaign of calumny against APC, says ACN

    Stop campaign of calumny against APC, says ACN

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has condemned what it described as “the persistent campaigns of calumny” against the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The party described the alleged attempt to use ethno-religious sentiments to destroy the budding party as a cheap shot that has fallen flat on “the faces of the purveyors of falsehood”.

    It urged Nigerians to disregard the attempts by enemies of progress to sabotage the birth of the APC, in addition to being vigilant in the days ahead.

    In a statement in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party thanked Nigerians for standing by the APC.

    The statement reads: ‘’These purveyors of falsehood do not want good governance. That’s why they are peddling the lies that the interim leadership of the APC is controlled by Muslims, and that it did not reflect the country’s plural values.

    ‘’The truth is that while ethno-religious sentiments did not form the criteria used in selecting the interim leadership, we were conscious that Nigeria is a country of plural values. That is why we have 17 Christians and 18 Muslims (the best balance possible in the odd number of 35 posts that were shared). That is why the 35 occupiers of the positions are from 29 different states, four more than the 25 stipulated by INEC. It was equal opportunity across all zones! (See list on last column)’’

    ACN challenged anyone who doubts the authenticity of these facts and figures to verify them at INEC, instead of spreading rumours.

    The party said: ‘’First, they ambushed us by duplicating our acronym, sponsored of course by those who are well known to Nigerians and, when that failed to slow down our momentum, they said the sharing of posts will divide us and ultimately sound our death knell. With these moves having failed woefully, they have now played what they considered their most potent joker: the ethno-religious card.

    “Thankfully, this too has failed. Nigerians are so desirous of good governance that they will not allow any play on sentiments to shake their resolve.’’

    ACN said the promoters of the APC were determined to give Nigeria the good leadership that has eluded it for long and were prepared to shelve their differences and make whatever sacrifices to achieve this objective.