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Tag: Ciroma

  • Ciroma was committed to service, says Tinubu

    All Progressives Congress (APC) national stalwart, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said yesterday that with the death of former Finance Minister Adamu Ciroma, the country has lost an illustrious leader, consummate politician and accomplished public servant.

    Asiwaju Tinubu said: “Mallam Adamu Ciroma was one of the illustrious leaders this country has produced. He was a politician of note. You cannot but recall his days in the Second Republic National Party of Nigeria and in the Peoples Democratic Party where he was one of the party’s founding fathers.

    “He also made name as an experienced technocrat and skilful public servant particularly as Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and in later years as Minister of Finance.

    “He was a fine man who played politics with a commitment to serve the people and change society. This did not come as a surprise given his background honed by sound education at the popular Barewa College and University and his nationalistic worldview.

    “My condolences go the Ciroma family and the people of government of Yobe State. May his soul rest in peace”.

  • PDP Chairmanship race: Discipline, integrity stands Adeniran out says Ciroma

    In what is unmistakably a huge  endorsement of the PDP chairmanship ambition of Prof. Tunde Adeniran, a founding  member of the Peoples Democratic Party  and elder statesman, Mallam Adamu  Ciroma has  described the former Minister of  Education as a man that can be trusted, judging by his pedigree, track-record of discipline, integrity and loyalty  to the  course of the party and Nigeria at  large.

    Speaking over the weekend when the  Adeniran’s campaign train paid him a  courtesy visit in his Abuja’s residence, Mallam Ciroma extolled Adeniran’s  leadership qualities, saying he had  followed with  keen interest the aspirant’s career  since his days as a lecturer at the University of Ibadan and also when he  served as Secretary of the Mass  Mobilisation for Self Reliance, Social  Justice and Economic Recovery  (MAMSER) era.

    In press release issued by the Director of Media and Publicity of the Tunde Adeniran Campaign Organisation (TACO), Taiwo Akeju, the former Governor of the  Central Bank of Nigeria was quoted to  have said: “I am happy to receive you  all in my house this afternoon. It is a privilege also for me to see all  these great Nigerians like Prof. Jerry Gana, former deputy Senate  President, Ibrahim Mantu, former  Ministers (Fidelia) Njeze, (Zainab) Maina,  (Tom Aguiyi) Ironsi, Senator UgochukwuUba,  the Director-General of  the campaign, Alhaji Shehu Musa Gabam, and arrays of former  Senators, members of the House of Representatives and state assemblies,  commissioners and advisers from the various geo-political zones coming  together to work for a common goal of rescuing our great party after the 2015  electoral defeat. With what I see today, it is very clear that the dream  of the founding fathers of the PDP  is very much alive and that means there  is hope for our party and Nigeria  as a whole.”

    On the need to promote the unity and oneness of Nigeria, Mallam Ciroma charged  Prof. Adeniran and his team to remember  that the dream of Nigeria’s  founding fathers, which is built on the  principle of unity in diversity,  were the core values and principles on  which the PDP was formed. The elders statesman therefore urged all Nigerians to continue to promote the unity  and progress of the country in every  position they might find themselves. In  his words, “it is because we  see ourselves as one nation that gave me the  opportunity to obtain my degree at the  University of Ibadan. Today I do not  see myself as only a Hausa man. I see  myself as a Yoruba man, based on the  relationships that I built while in the university,” he said.

    Earlier, Prof. Gana had extolled the  leadership qualities of Prof. Adeniran. According to him, “when the time to contest for the party chairmanship came, many  of the leaders of the party, including all of us here carried out a detailed  study of the kind of  leadership the PDP needs at this  material time. We went round the country  to ask questions from the people so  that we can avoid the mistake of the  past. The result of the exercise shows  that the PDP needs a transparent,  disciplined, dedicated, experienced and  loyal leader. Also integrity was  considered. It was at this point that  we all came to the conclusion that for the party to regain her place in  Nigeria political space, Prof.  Adeniran is the man that possesses all the qualities that were listed.

    Therefore, we are here today to present the most favoured, qualified and trusted candidate for the job of the chairman of our great party to you for your blessing,” he said.

    It was all encomiums and praises for  Prof. Adeniran during the visit.

    Earlier in the week, the campaign train had visited the PDP caucus in the  National Assembly where the party’s lawmakers pledged their support for Prof. Adeniran because of his dedication,  loyalty and  contributions to the party since its  inception in 1998.

    They also described him as a man who  does not have any baggage that  the opposition  can latch on for negative propaganda, which is what the party direly

    requires now.

    The campaign train will be in the  Northeast this week in continuation of its zonal tour towards the December 9 National Convention.

     

     

  • Ciroma partly right, partly wrong

    Ciroma partly right, partly wrong

    FORMER Finance minister and one of the top ethical leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), played host last week to dispirited members of the PDP’s Board of Trustees (BoT) led by Senator Walid Jubrin. The troubled visitors asked for the elder statesman’s intervention in the many crisis that have weakened and divided the former ruling party. Elders like Mallam Ciroma, who was also a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had been sidelined by the ex-president Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP before the devastating general elections of 2015. As one of the founders of the PDP, Mallam Ciroma is a repository of party rules and history, and a profound, ethical and pragmatic politician. The admonition he gave his visitors was indicative of such profundity.
    The All Progressives Congress (APC) neither won the last presidential election nor did the PDP lose, the elder statesman posited in a soaring, eloquent paradox. The APC might have formed the government at the centre, he told the high profile delegation that included former senate president, Adolphus Wabara, and a former minister Professor Jerry Gana, but virtually every news about politics and politicking has been both led and shaped by the PDP. The observation is succinct, for this column had itself noted that the opposition party gave all the political excitement and frills, all the plots and intrigues, all the sense of politics, in stark contradistinction to the ruling party’s bitter but somnolent politics.
    In the introspective words of Mallam Ciroma: “Just before the last elections, and when we saw the trend of events, I warned members of the PDP to prepare themselves for whatever eventuality that may come. PDP lost. Today, PDP didn’t lose and APC didn’t win because when you talk of politics, people talk about PDP as if APC does not exist. So far, APC is not playing the right role. APC will make a lot of mistakes and PDP must be ready to put things right, and all of you must be ready to contribute, participate and get involved for the interests of ordinary Nigerians.” He then advised his visitors to position the party to cash in on the mistakes of the ruling party.
    The whole discussions between Mallam Ciroma and his august visitors may not have been reported, and so the public may never know whether the elder statesman gave much more advice than the media afforded the public. Given the proclivity of such an eminent political and financial ethicist, it is unlikely his candour would not have led him to coax the visiting party leaders into interrogating their party’s morality, especially the boundless financial malfeasance that has embarrassed the opposition party and enervated its national voice. Yet, so far, the internal cleansing the PDP needs to worm its way back into the people’s confidence has neither been conceived nor undertaken.
    Consequently, the PDP may offer Nigeria all the politics and excitement possible, but except it engages in the thorough self-cleansing needed to help it present a fresh face and personality to the public, no amount of organisational prowess and impregnable unity will be sufficient to midwife the electoral triumphs the party has begun to dream about. It is sensible for the party to embark on discussions and negotiations to bring about unity, but it more desperately needs to come to terms with the treasury looting its big names engaged in and indirectly still defends with the implausible logic that anti-graft probes are selective.

  • Ciroma: PDP didn’t lose 2015 presidential election

    Ciroma: PDP didn’t lose 2015 presidential election

    Former Minister of Finance Adamu Ciroma yesterday said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not lose the 2015 presidential election, neither did the All  Progressives Congress (APC) win it.

    Ciroma spoke in Abuja while receiving members of PDP Board of TrusteeS (BOT), led by its Chairman, Senator Jibrin Walid.

    According to him, although the Federal Government is led by the APC, the PDP is dominating political discourse.

    He said: “Just before the last elections and when we saw the trend of events, I warned members of the PDP to prepare itself for whatever eventuality that  may come.

    “Today, PDP didn’t lose and APC didn’t win because APC has a lot to do.

    “When you talk about politics, you talk about PDP. When you talk of politics, people talk about PDP as If APC does not exist. So far, APC is not playing  the right role?’’

    Noting that any party that got into power must make mistakes, the elder statesman advised fellow party members to prepare for the 2019 elections,  “especially as the APC will continue to make mistakes’’.

    He challenged PDP members to play positive roles as there would always be several parties, hence they must learn to make the masses the  centrepiece of their developmental projects.

    “Politics will always be there,’’ he said, adding that “there must be good and bad people who participate in it.

    “Everybody who participates in politics does so for good cause and that good cause is for the interest and political stability of Nigerians.

    “There will not be one party; there will always be one political party or the others.”

     

  • Northeast leaders to govt: don’t extend state of emergency

    Northeast leaders to govt: don’t extend state of emergency

    •Ciroma, Kingibe, others slam security

    Leaders of Borno and Yobe states – two states battling, along with Adamawa, the Boko Haram insurgency – yesterday alleged complicity of security forces in sect members.

    They blamed the Federal Government for failing to rise up to the battle and lamented the sect’s wanton killings.

    The leaders urged the Federal Government not to extend the state of emergency declared in the states beyond April 19 when it will expire because, there is no for justification for it.

    Speaking under the aegis of Borno -Yobe People’s Forum, a non-partisan, non-religious association, in Abuja yesterday, they demanded answers to many attacks that had claimed hundreds of lives in the zone.

    A former Chief of Air Staff ,Air Vice Marshall Al Amin Daggash, who spoke on behalf the group alleged that there were instances that suggested that security agents either had the knowledge of the attacks before they happened or neglected to act proactively to prevent them.

    With the former military chief were elder statesmen Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe and Alhaji Shettima Mustapha. Ciroma is from Yobe. The others are from Borno State.

    The group demanded to know “who authorised the withdrawal of security personnel from the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi (Yobe State), hours before the attack that claimed the lives of 59 innocent children”.

    They also wondered why security reports from the communities on impending attacks were ignored or not promptly responded to by security personnel.

    Dagash said: “Are the authorities unaware of helicopters dropping arms and ammunition, food and medical supplies to areas well known to be strongholds of the insurgents?

    “How were the insurgents able to attack the Maiduguri Air Force Base and demobilise as well as burn planes and other military installations, despite existing state of emergency and curfew in the town? How could 20 to 30 Toyota Hilux vehicles move in a convoy freely with subsisting curfew and still go undetected?

    “How did a little band of rag-tag misguided youths metamorphose into a well kitted, well armed killing machine moving freely in convoy, of vehicles and supported by helicopters?

    “How did the Shilka Tank, a multipurpose self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery weapon positioned to secure Giwa Barracks fail to function, resulting in heavy loss of lives both civilian and military, as widely reported in the media? Are we dealing with fifth columnists in this crisis?”

    They insisted that the state of emergency declared in the three Northeast states should not be extended after April 19 because it has failed to achieved the desired result.

    The state of emergency will be one year old on that date.

    AVM Daggash noted that about 18 communities had been attacked by insurgents in the last one month, with heavy civilian casualties..

    “The continuous bloodletting has led to the loss of over 17,000 lives. Statistics released by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) showed that over three million people have been displaced by the insurgency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in the first three months of this year.

    “Most of the victims are women, children and elderly. These developments underscore the urgent need for the government, the international community, as well as all Nigerians to arrest the brewing humanitarian crises in the area,” he added.

    AVM Daggash called on the government to unmask sponsors of Boko Haram and probe the genesis of the crisis “with particular regards to those who master minded, encouraged or financed it”.

    The leaders recommended the implementation of the recommendations of Ambassador Usman Gaji Galtimari and Taminu Turaki Presidential Committees. “It is the considered view of many commentators that had the reports been implemented, the insurgency would have been largely contained,” AVM Daggash said.