The Nation Newspaper

Tag: CENTREP

  • Police right to stop Tompolo’s MEND meeting, says CENTREP

    As debates continue to rage in the Niger Delta over the botched meeting of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, the Centre for the Vulnerable and Underprivileged, has said the  police acted lawfully in sealing off the venue.

    The meeting was convened by a founding member of MEND, Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo), who afterwards explained that his intentions were genuine and that the meeting was not to restart crisis in the region.

    Executive Director of CENTREP, Oghenejabor Ikimi Esq, who conceded that the former agitators were entitled to peacefully assemble and fraternity, maintained that the Police have a right to stop such meeting, if it is deemed capable of causing a breach of the peace.

    Ikimi was reacting to the statement signed by Spokesperson of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Eric Omare, which condemned the deployment of policemen to the venue of the meeting.

    He said: “We disagree with the (IYC) said claim root, stem and branches as the seal off of the venue of the said meeting by the police was constitutional since the said meeting was a threat to public safety and public order owing to the tension same had generated within the Niger-Delta Region and the entire country as many Nigerians believed that said meeting was a gathering of disgruntled contractors, oil thieves and political marauders and buccaneers.

    “While we are not patronizing or holding brief for anybody or group, we concede that the Niger Delta ex-militant leaders under Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) has a right to peacefully assemble and associate or fraternise with one another.

    “However, Section 45 of the same constitution which talks about restriction and derogation from fundamental rights says that nothing in Sections 37, 38, 39, 40, and 41 of the constitution shall invalidate any law reasonably justifiable in a democratic society a) in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health or b) for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons.

    “In other words, the above right of the ex-militant leaders to assemble together and to associate with one another can be restricted by law enforcement agents on grounds of public safety and order as done in the instant case by the Nigeria Police, and as such they should be commended for carrying out their statutory duties of maintaining law and order rather than being vilified for no just cause

    “It is in the light of the above constitutional provision that we strongly differ with the respected Ijaw youth body on the police abortion of the above meeting.

    “We however call on ex-militant leaders to shun similar gatherings in the future that may be inimical to public order and safety, more strongly when the Federal Government has assured Nigerians of her intentions to continue with the Amnesty programme,” Ikimi said.

  • Niger Delta group faults Jonathan on poverty reduction claims

    The Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged (Centrep) has described the claims by President Goodluck Jonathan that his administration has reduced poverty by 50 per cent as laughable and distortion of facts.

    The Niger Delta-based group said the claim, which Jonathan reportedly made at the South-South Peoples Democratic Party’s rally in Benin, Edo State, was an indication that his administration was far from the people.

    The National Coordinator of the group, Mr. Oghenejabor Ikimi, over the weekend said that poverty has assumed a pandemic level in the country.

    Reminding the President of the position of Nigeria in the global poverty index, he said: “Poverty in Nigeria has assumed a pandemic status as millions of Nigerians now live in extreme abject poverty.

    “This is such that the United Nations in one of her report in 2013 placed Nigeria as the fifth poorest Nation on earth with 100 million of her population living as destitute courtesy of an earth quaking level of official corruption despite being the sixth largest producer of crude oil in the world.

    “The United Nations report above mentioned is corroborated by the volume of official corruption, massive unemployment, frightening level of public infrastructural decay, pandemic poverty and hunger, and a worsening level insecurity nationwide.”

  • Group warns Jonathan against taking $1b loan

    Group warns Jonathan against taking $1b loan

    A Niger Delta group, the Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged (CENTREP), has cautioned President Goodluck Jonathan against enslaving Nigeria with his proposed $1 billion (about N165 billion) loan “in the name of fighting Boko Haram”.

    Its Executive Director Oghenejabor Ikimi said any loan obtained in the guise of fighting terrorism would go down the drain, just as previous defence budgets.

    He said such loans would be frittered away through official corruption and mismanagement in the polity.

    Ikimi, a lawyer, noted that it was absurd for Nigeria to resort to taking loans to equip the military.

    “We went through a 30-month civil war without borrowing a dime from international creditors. We prosecuted same to its conclusion with internally-generated funds.

    “We are also not oblivious of the fact that since independence, defence budgets have consistently taken the lion’s share of our national cake such that if the money allocated in the defence budgets were judiciously spent by successive governments, the military would have had no reason to be ill-equipped,” Ikimi said.

    The activist recalled that over N960 billion was set aside for defence in this year’s budget out of which, quoting the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, over N360 billion was released between January and April.

    He said the President also approved another N37 billion for disbursement to the military.

    Ikimi said: “Are these funds properly monitored? If yes, by who? The biggest obstacle to successive budgets, since independence, has been official corruption and mismanagement of public funds by those trusted with managing these budgets.”

     

     

    “If the type of insurgency taking place in the North today had been envisaged by our short-sighted military chiefs, maybe our Armed Forces would have been much more equipped with the money realised from successive budgets. Do our leaders plan at all for the future? Our answer is in the negative.”

    The activist noted that instead of borrowing, the Federal Government should downsize and reduce its spending spree to shore up additional funds for equipping the military.

    He said: “There is a lot of waste of public funds at the centre. We are aware that the insurgents are better equipped and the Nigerian military is not winning the war against terrorism.

    “But resorting at the same time to borrowing foreign loans to equip our military in the face of the Federal Government’s present spending spree is an absurdity.

    “We call on President Jonathan to jettison the idea in the interest of the vulnerable and the underprivileged Nigerians.”

     

  • Group warns Jonathan against taking $1b loan

    Group warns Jonathan against taking $1b loan

    A Niger Delta group, the Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged (CENTREP), has cautioned President Goodluck Jonathan against enslaving Nigeria with his proposed $1 billion (about N165 billion) loan “in the name of fighting Boko Haram”.

    Its Executive Director Oghenejabor Ikimi said any loan obtained in the guise of fighting terrorism would go down the drains, like previous defence budgets.

    He said such loans would be frittered away because of official corruption and mismanagement in the polity.

    Ikimi, a lawyer, noted that it was absurd for Nigeria to resort to taking loans to equip the military.

    He said: “We went through a 30-month civil war without borrowing a dime from international creditors. We prosecuted same to its conclusion with internally generated funds.

    “We are also not oblivious of the fact that since independence, defence budgets have consistently taken the lion’s share of our national cake such that if the money allocated in the defence budgets were judiciously spent by successive governments, the military would have had no reason to be ill-equipped.”

    The activist recalled that over N960 billion was set aside for defence in this year’s budget out of which, quoting the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, over N360 billion was released between January and April.

    He said the President had also approved another N37 billion for immediate disbursement to the military.

    Ikimi said: “Are these funds properly monitored? If yes, by who? The biggest obstacle to successive budgets, since independence, has been official corruption and mismanagement of public funds by those trusted with managing these budgets.

    “If the type of insurgency taking place in the North today had been envisaged by our short-sighted military chiefs, maybe our Armed Forces would have been much more equipped with the money realised from successive budgets. Do our leaders plan at all for the future? Our answer is in the negative.”

    The activist noted that instead of borrowing, the Federal Government should downsize and reduce its spending spree to shore up additional funds for equipping the military.

    He said: “There is a lot of waste of public funds at the centre. We are aware that the insurgents are better equipped and the Nigerian military is not winning the war against terrorism.

    “But resorting at the same time to borrowing foreign loans to equip our military in the face of the Federal Government’s present spending spree is an absurdity.

    “We call on President Jonathan to jettison the idea in the interest of the vulnerable and the underprivileged Nigerians.”

     

  • Niger Delta group optimistic court will upturn Nyako’s impeachment

    Niger Delta group optimistic court will upturn Nyako’s impeachment

    Niger Delta-based group, the Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged (CENTREP) was confident yesterday that the court would reverse the impeachment of the former governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako.

    The group’s Executive Director, Mr. Oghenejabor Ikimi, described the entire process that led to Nyako’s impeachment as faulty and a product of a militarised democracy.

    Ikimi, a lawyer, advised the former governor not to relent in his decision to seek redress for the wrong done him by the lawmakers.

    Explaining further, Ikimi said: “We are aware that Governor Nyako was never served personally with any impeachment notice by the Clerk of the Adamawa House of Assembly.

    “The Acting Chief Judge of the State and the seven-man panel that investigated all the charges leveled against Governor Nyako and his deputy was giving military cover throughout the impeachment process.

    “The impeachment was evidently stage-managed by the Presidency as the entire proces s was a case of the voice of Jacob and the hands of Esau.

    “We call on all Nigerians to stand up to condemn this dangerous brand of democracy being smuggled into our polity by political marauders as same could spell doom to our fledgling democracy”, he stressed.

  • Controversy trails demolition of houses in Warri

    Controversy trails demolition of houses in Warri

    Controversy has continued to trail the demolition of 65 residential buildings in Ifiekporo community in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State by the government.

    The special sanitation committee set up to rid Warri, Uvwie and Udu local governments of filth and illegal structures, led by Commissioner for Environment Frank Omare, pulled down the buildings, which it alleged had been built on government land.

    An activist, who is Executive Director of the Centre for the Vulnerable and Underprivileged (CENTREP), Oghenejabor Ikimi, described the government’s action as oppressive and a failure of its responsibilities to the people.

    Ikimi said the government did not inform the people of its intentions, adding that it has not compensated the people.

    He said  most of the victims obtained approvals from the Ministry of Lands and Survey before developing their property.

    His words: “We are not oblivious of the fact that over 200 families were rendered homeless without notice or due process as a result of the above inaction of the government.

    “We call on the government to adequately compensate the victims without delay as the demolished structures were duly covered with approved building plans.”

    The commissioner said only Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) could authenticate anybody as a genuine property owner, who would be considered for compensation.

    Omare said more houses standing illegally on any government land would suffer the same fate.

    He debunked Ikimi’s claim that no notice was given to the people before their houses were brought down.