The Nation Newspaper

Tag: crisis

  • Edo IPMAN leadership crisis deepens

    The leadership crisis rocking the Midwestern Zone of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) deepened at the weekend as warring factions almost engaged in a free-for-all at a meeting held in Benin City.

    A faction is led by Solomon Ogbewe while another group claimed it has elected a new executive, led by Silvanus Idanwekhai.

    The factions are operating from two secretariats.

    The meeting was called at the instance of the National Executive Council of IPMAN but both factions refused to sheath their swords.

    Management of the hotel where the meeting took place had a hectic time calming the IPMAN members and even threatened to send them away.

    National Vice-President Chinedu Okorokwo, at a briefing after the meeting, said Ogbewe was the recognised chairman of IPMAN’s Midwestern Zone.

    Chinedu said the constitution relied on by the other faction to conduct election was not tenable since it has been reviewed in 2011.

    He described Idanwekhai’s election as a nullity. “It is the prerogative of the NEC to conduct zonal elections. The zones cannot in themselves conduct election and until then noting can hold in nothing.

    “When there is a vacancy it is constitutionally binding on NEC not to leave the vacuum. So they appointed an acting chairman or acting person in that capacity to act pending the conduct of election.”

    The Idanwekhai faction’s spokesman, Fred Ufua, said the national body has no constitutional right to choose leaders for them.

    He said the 1983 IPMAN constitution, which they relied on to conduct the election, was the tenable constitution of IPMAN.

    “We cannot continue to be under the roof of one man sitting in Abuja arrogating to himself power to appoint and re-appoint. The present national executive has never successfully conducted election in any of the zones. What they do is impose candidates.”

  • 2015 behind Rivers’ crisis, says commissioner

    2015 behind Rivers’ crisis, says commissioner

    Rivers State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry Chuma Chinye spoke with CLARICE AZUATALAM in Port Harcourt on why President Goodluck Jonathan and Chief Nyesom Wike, the Minister of State for Education, are fighting Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

    Many people have expressed disappointment over the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) election of May 24. What is your reaction?

    My first take is that there is hope for Nigeria, that we will be able to conduct free and fair elections. But, that hope wavers in the face of the rather disappointing reaction of the other 16 governors, who participated in that election. It is worrisome because it is reflective of the general tendency of the Nigerian politician not to accept the outcome of election results.

    I watched with amazement Governor Godswill Akpabio saying that Governor Amaechi practically forced them to hold the election. If you look at their sizes, Amaechi doesn’t quite look like the biggest or strongest. He is certainly by no means the oldest. He is younger than most of them.

    They went there and in spite of the mischief they had in mind, they blundered by allowing the election to hold in the first place. Once the election held, the minimum they should have shown by way of integrity as leaders in Nigeria was to accept the outcome and congratulate the winner. Therefore, it was shameful that in spite of the fact that they participated in the election, the results were clear, the election was free and fair, they turned round and began to manipulate and turn things around in a way that is not good for the future of Nigerian politics.

    What do you think is the cause of the crisis in the state?

    It is simple. Those who think that they mean well for the President, but are actually selfish and ambitious individuals, are busy stoking the fire of another civil war in Rivers State simply because they think or they accuse Governor Amaechi of having the ambition to be the Vice President to somebody.

    In my study of the history of the world, I have not seen or heard or read where somebody was running for the office of Vice President before the Presidential nominations have taken place. I think that it is idiotic and I say this with all sense of responsibility, it is idiotic for anybody to begin to fight a man because he is perceived to have a vice – presidential ambition, when in fact, all you need to do is to tackle the man that you think has the presidential ambition. Because, if you tackle the man that has the vice-presidential ambition, he can only become a vice-president if only there is a president.

    Has it always been like this?

    No. I have the privilege of working as the Director of Finance and Administration in the PDP campaign office in Rivers State in the 2011 elections and I know the charge that the Governor gave to myself and the then DG, the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, to deliver PDP and ensure that the votes that we garner for President Jonathan will be the one that will surpass everyone in every part of Nigeria and we delivered.

    If the governor did not love his President, he would not go the extent that we went to ensure that the highest votes that the President had came from the Southsouth. It is on account of the number of votes that we delivered to the President that he conceded a second ministerial slot to Rivers State. That second slot is the one occupied by Wike. If this was a governor that hated the President or did not want him, he wouldn’t go to the extent he went.

    Therefore, if I may go back to what I was saying earlier on, if you begin to destroy Rivers State because Amaechi is perceived to have a vice presidential ambition, are we saying that we prefer the offices we want to occupy to the people of Rivers State?

    Are we saying that, because of 2015, we should first destroy all the good works that Governor Amaechi has done in Rivers State? If you want to occupy a house, do you set it on fire first? Those who want to be governors in 2015 should wait. when the time comes they can seek office. But it is the highest form of disservice to Rivers people, to any person whosoever, to begin to damage Rivers State simply because they want to take it over.

    Is there a plot to remove the governor?

    It is quite clear that there is a plot to remove Governor Amaechi from office now. For those who are behind this plot, have they asked themselves some questions, the voice that comes from heaven, have you examined yourself? Are they saying that the works that Amaechi is doing is not good enough for him to complete his second tenure?

    I read Chief E.K. Clark saying that the President is entitled to run for office, but he turned round to say that Amaechi is not entitled to aspire to be the Vice president because the Southsouth only deserves a President. Now, this President is not a President of the Southsouth; he is the President of Nigeria. Amaechi is the Governor of Rivers State. If the President has a right, so does Amaechi.

    Interestingly, neither the President nor Amaechi has said that they want to run for anything. But now, Rivers people are returning to the days of carrying their hands up to walk simply because people around the President think that Amaechi must be stopped at all costs. Stopped from being what?

    Critics have said that, if he is really as good as he is saying, he shouldn’t be in PDP. How do you react to that?

    My answer to them is that the right place for this kind of futuristic leader to be is in PDP. Because, if you look back, look at your Bible, the world got so bad, God Himself got so worried and wondered what He should do about the world. He decided to come and be part of the world. To see what we see, to feel what we feel, faced the temptations and the challenges that we face and in spite of those challenges, to stand firm and make a change. The changes that Amaechi is making in PDP are there for all to see.

    It didn’t start today. To become governor he effected changes which led to constitutional amendments. Before the constitutional amendments, his stand led to the historical Supreme Court judgment. Today, he is still standing by these virtues, by these truths. My fear for him is that he is probably ahead of his time.

    The governor has expressed fear for his safety. Do you share his anxiety, too?

    In 2007, on AIT programme, Focus Nigeria, on the issue of whether they were right to substitute Amaechi or not, I told the coordinator that they had the chance. And that what they needed to have done was to have killed him. But because they could not and change his name, once the 66 days elapsed, there was nothing they could do. Today, I also say that the mistake they have made is that they have failed to take him out. But since they haven’t done so and the man is alive, if they try to kill him now, Nigerians will rise. They are trying to remove him from office. It will not work because Nigerians and Rivers people will rise. But like I said, I have my fears and these fears are that leaders like him usually are ahead of their time and when you are ahead of your time they try to extinguish your candle.

    There is a man in Cross River State who was governor, Donald Duke. He came ahead of his time, stood for what is right. Where is he? They have pushed him aside. Nigeria has a habit of extinguishing its lights. Those persons who are most outstanding are usually pushed aside. Governor Amaechi has something to add to the national leadership of Nigeria, whether he is vice president, whether he is President, whether he is senator, whatever it is, he has served Rivers State and Nigeria for close to 16 years. The experiences and the candour and the integrity he has brought into public office should not be allowed to waste because some persons are ambitious. His fate should not become like that of Nasir El’Rufai. Nasir El’Rufai has something to add to Nigeria, whether you like him or you don’t like him.

    I lived in Abuja when he was the minister and I go to Abuja. I still have a property in Abuja and I see the difference. I am not criticising the present minister. But quite frankly, there is a difference. I have met El’Rufai; he has something to add.

    Nuhu Ribadu has something to add to Nigeria. Where is he? These men are on the sidelines why? Because they are like Governor Amaechi.

    I must say that if Amaechi has any ambition to move from the state level to the federal level into any office, I will stand by him. And I will stand by him not because I am his Commissioner but because having worked with him, I know that he means well. I have never met a public officer who means better for his people like Governor Amaechi and I have related with quite a number of them. In my lifetime I have served as Special Assistant to all kinds of people, including ministers and I have never seen one like Governor Amaechi.

  • ‘No crisis in Rivers State, but wind of change is blowing’

    ‘No crisis in Rivers State, but wind of change is blowing’

    For the first time, the Minister of State for Education, BARR. EZENWO NYESOM WIKE, opened up on the crisis in Rivers State and his grouse with GOVERNOR ROTIMI AMAECHI, whom he served as Chief of Staff. Our correspondent, SANNI ONOGU was at the interview session. Excerpts:

     

     

    What is the cause of the crisis in Rivers State ?

    When you say cause of the crisis, what crisis?

    I mean the political crisis in Rivers State that has assumed a life of its own. Every day we hear one thing or the other by those in support of Governor Rotimi Amaechi and those not supporting him that even Amaechi has to say “I will talk o” and then you gave him back, “I will talk also”. What is the back ground to where we are?

    Ordinarily I try not to discuss about this type of issue. First of all, I don’t want to come from the angle that there is a crisis. What I will say is that it is natural in life that we are not agreeable to change. For example, in 2007, when there was a pronouncement that Celestine Omehia was not the governor, it was difficult for people to accept it. That is to say, when change occurs you don’t expect people to easily accept it. But with time you will find out that everybody will begin to live with it. So, it is better for people to accept change in life because the only thing that is permanent is change. If you say crisis, I will not agree with you but rather you know that in politics, if you are not in control of the party machinery, there is always fear that probably what you want will not be realised or achievable.

    Can you define the change you have just alluded to? Because like you always say that Governor Amaechi is the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State, whereas people are of the view that Amaechi is no longer in control of the party but rather you are the de facto leader

    No, I am not. This again is the problem. I am not the head of the party. I am not the chairman of the party. And by the Constitution of the PDP I cannot be the head except where there is no governor from that party. So I am not the leader of the party as provided in the organogram of PDP. I am not, because we have a governor who is from the party. But assuming there is no governor, as a minister I would have said that I am the leader of the party.

    Are you saying Amaechi is still your leader in PDP Rivers State?

    There are no two ways about it. Whether you like it or not, he is. Take for example today, you may not like Jonathan but will you say that he is not the leader of the party at the national level? No. So people must face the reality. If you like his face, if you don’t like his face, what it means is that by the constitution of the party, he remains the leader, except he is no longer in the party.

    You are talking about the structure of the party. You have also spoken about change. What is your basis of talking about change?

    The change I am talking about is this. People contested for positions. It is like we go for general elections. The Independent National Electoral Commission clears certain persons. Even in the people polling units. But when it gets to the general collation centres, somehow another person is declared as winner. In that case anybody who feels aggrieved goes to the tribunal to say, ‘look, by the results as announced in the various wards or polling units, I ought to be declared as the winner.’ Now when that follows, at the end of the day, the person is declared as the winner by the tribunal, you will see reactions. The person may be the governor, a senator, a House of Assembly member or the Chairman of local council as the case may be. There will be reactions. In this case, people contested elections. People said they won. The other people said they won. At the end of the day people went to court to challenge what happened and they looked at the facts and said based on these facts, I think it is this way. Having done that, you will not expect that people will keep quiet. Why? Because unfortunately we are going towards 2015. A lot of people have ambition; I have an ambition to be this, I have an ambition to be that. Now, because of what has happened, if these people are no longer there, there will be likelihood that that ambition may not be achievable or realiseable. Assuming the verdict has nothing to do with 2015, even if you change people every day, who will cry? So people are just narrating the stories as it suits their own peculiarities. So, when things of that nature happen, you expect that people must react. You expect that people will give one explanation or the other. It is a natural thing. But again, whichever way it goes, it does not remove that party’s constitutional provision on how its leaders emerge.

    Having admitted that Amaechi remains your leader in the state, are you saying that you are still answerable to Governor Amaechi?

    When you say answerable, it becomes very difficult because I am not working for the government of Rivers State now. I am working for the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But if my leader calls me that there are issues to be discussed, obviously, I will discuss and make my own input or contributions.

    Ok, are you agreeable?

    What do you mean by agreeable?

    I mean are you agreeable with the governor on the differences in the party structure. That is who won and who lost in the party setting?

    What’s the noise all about? What I am saying is that we can disagree but that does not remove the leadership from him.

    How do you reassure the people who lost out at the court that they have not lost out of the party?

    That is why I said that what they are doing is the natural thing they should do. Therefore, the party chairman should try as much as he can to ensure that they are carried along. He is now like a father. You must not say because they lost, you must not say because they are abusing you and, therefore, you say no, they should not come. No. You should be able to go there and bring them which they have started by constituting a reconciliation committee. It is a thing that if you give them the opportunity to say look, nothing is lost, we are still under the same umbrella but like you know, a typical Nigerian politician is always afraid.  It is a natural fear and that is what we are saying. Why should that fear be there? That fear should be there because of the way we are running our democracy. Because of the way we have been imposing people. Now if we allow popular choice to emerge, if we allow popular candidates to emerge you will see that nobody will entertain fear again.

    There have been so many solidarity visits to the Governor of Rivers State and again they are saying you are the leader in Abuja. How did it come to that?

    Now let me tell you, it is rather erroneous when you say Abuja. I challenge anybody in Rivers State who will say that I cannot win my village. I cannot win my ward. I cannot win my local government. I challenge anybody. The mere fact that I work in Abuja does not mean that I do not go home. If so, all the National Assembly members who live in Abuja are also Abuja people because they are working here. So if you are saying Abuja, it means all National Assembly members are also Abuja people. Is that right?

    It is instructive that you and Amaechi for the first time have publicly disagreed but if you look back at history, you were instrumental to Amaechi regaining his mandate. How did this position come to be?

    First of all, I will not say I was instrumental because God uses people at a particular time to achieve something. So it is God. God may have used me but I am not instrumental. That I made myself available to be used, I am satisfied with that. But that is why people do not understand politics. The mere fact that 15 years ago that you were all in the same page does not mean that in the next five years you will continue to be in the same page. In politics things occur. Things change. Alhaji Abubakar Rimi and Aminu Kano were in the same political party, the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) but when he wanted to emerge he left Aminu Kano. But he never said Aminu Kano was not a good person. So we have to play politics of maturity. Today, at my my age, does it mean that I cannot disagree with you on any issue? Or when we disagree is it because we are enemies?

    What about the insinuation that Mr. President uses you to fight the party leader?

    That is another problem. When did the problem of Amaechi and the President start? Did it start as I became a minister? So, people forget history. If Mr. President would use me and then still leave me as a Minister of State, what do I have to gain? Mr President would use me to let me know about my political future? These insinuations are very insulting. At this level I am, I will wait for Mr. President to wake me to tell me that my political career is finished. You know there are things you just hear. Okay, like you are saying, in 2007, who sent me to fight?  In 2007 that you said I was instrumental, who sent me to fight? No one sent me to fight. I used my brain to know how I should fight. Now, because I am working with Mr President, somebody has sent me. But that time I was not working with Mr. President, nobody sent me. It is not correct. In 2007, I laid my life, who sent me? I was to be assassinated in Uromi. All those things I was doing then, who sent me? When Amaechi was in Ghana and I was taking all the bullets, who sent me? When there was no hope and people came to promise me all manner of things which I refused, who sent me? It is time Nigerians should try to accept that some people have come of age. That you have decided to do something today does not mean you have been a threat.

    So is it about your gubernatorial ambition?

    What gubernatorial ambition? I also ask: in 2007 what was my ambition? In 2011 what was my ambition? Now, because I am supporting Obuah, it is now I am having an ambition? To start with, every human being in life has an ambition. Even you have an ambition. Is it your ambition to remain the way you are? They day you were born, why did you go to school? Why did you further your education? Why do you want to marry an educated wife? Why do you want your children to go to good schools? What ambition? There is no person that does not have ambition in life. Why do you think it is governorship? Why is it not presidency that I have ambition for? Why do you think so? Why must it be governorship?

    You have called on the newly installed PDP Executive in Rivers State to reconcile aggrieved members, but fears abound that there is a plot to impeach the governor, following the crisis in the House of the Assembly where 27 members suspended five of their colleagues and the 27 were in turn suspended by the new party executives. Now how do you explain that?

    Now let me tell you, the party suspension is not meant to remove them from the Assembly. There are two different people. Let me tell you, no Assembly person can challenge me because I know how all of them came in. No one of them can look into my eyes and tell me anything. Nobody. They can say anything at my back but nobody can speak to my face. These boys are just trying to make money. They are just making money from the system. They are heating up the polity to make money.

    Which of the boys?

    The Assembly boys, that is what they are doing. I can show you some of their text messages. Most of them said this is the first time they are making money. Let the crisis continue, that they are now getting money. Every day they send one story out. They will say Amaechi wants to be impeached. In a 32-member House you have 27, who is impeaching who? There are so many ways people can be fraudulent. You can be fraudulent by getting into the chambers and trying to make money out of the system. How did the suspension come about? A democratically elected people, nobody is talking about that. You wake up one morning, sacked the 17 councillors, sacked the Chairman and the Vice Chairman. You did not even say let the HPM take charge in the interim. You brought a caretaker committee made up of politicians to take over the place. Now the party under whose platform you were elected said this is not in consonance with our beliefs. We believe in democracy. This is not democratic. Don’t do this. You flagrantly refused to obey your father, to obey your party. What can they do? You went ahead and suspended the chairman and the deputy, inaugurated a caretaker committee and then you want the people to fold their hands? Okay, you are doing a legislative work but you could not do a legislative work without the part. Therefore, for now they remain suspended from the party. They were not suspended from the Assembly. The party has no power to suspend them. The best they could do is to start a process of recall. Now, what these boys are doing, they shout wolf. Most of them now go to radio stations every day. They will say I am bold I have criticised and they will give you money.  There are all sorts of rumours flying around and I said what kind of system is this? Based on the rumours the system will bring money. They said police took over the Assembly, where? You ran away you don’t want to do your work. You are journalists, they are fighting Amaechi, they are fighting that. Take for instance, a court sacks an executive and you use a military fiat to dissolve my local government. People who were elected by the people? You sack them and nobody is saying anything. I tell anybody that the police today is the saviour of that place, not those who are speaking from Lagos. If the police had not taken over that secretariat maybe we would have heard a different story. Nobody is afraid of death because you will die one day.  Even you journalists have not asked questions. How can you dissolve or suspend elected people that can cause crisis and cause fire to engulf everywhere? Nobody is talking about that. It is like the President waking up one day and sacking a governor and all the legislators. Tell me the type of crisis that will come up? People are only shouting for nothing. You are a human rights activist, you don’t see anything wrong in the dissolution of a council or suspension of elected people. What you see wrong is that the police have taken over to ensure that there is no breach of law and order. Let the police go tomorrow and then you will see the crisis that may emanate. We should not be sentimental about this type of grievous issues.

    There are fears right now that if the crisis in Rivers State degenerates, the federal government may be forced to declare a state of emergency. How would this benefit the people?

    How long did it take the federal government to declare a state of emergency even in a war zone? You see that is what I say. This is how they try to make money from the system. Since the Boko Haram crisis in Yobe, Borno and others, the federal government did not declare a state of emergency. Now that it has been declared in three states, the political structures were left intact. Now in Rivers State, nobody is at war. Politicians are quarreling among themselves then you go and declare a state of emergency and ask the political structures to go? I mean this is nonsense. This type of rumour is stale. It is old and nobody will want to hear it.

    Where will this  supposed crisis in the state take Rivers State? What is the future of Rivers State with what is on ground there?

    The future like how? Let me tell you, PDP has always won in Rivers. PDP will continue to win Rivers. Go and check the results. As I am talking to you my local government has the highest registered voters in the state. It has over 500,000 voters followed by Port Harcourt local government. During the Presidential election my local government gave 377,000 votes. During the governorship election my local government gave about 369,000. Now this covered about 10 local government votes in that election. There is nobody that can win elections in Rivers State without winning my local government. It is not done anywhere. If you like, go and bring all the armoured tanks, it won’t work. So, Rivers State will continue to be PDP.  Don’t make any mistake.

    So when are you going to reconcile with Amaechi and the two parties?

    You see, there is no quarrel. Have you ever seen me criticise Amaechi’s government? If we have problems, probably there might be for one reason or the other the governor is not happy. But right now we are talking about politics. So I don’t have any personal problem with the governor. So if they are doing something and they invite me to Government House I will be there. People should get this clear. If the government has a function today and I am invited, I will be there.  The history is there. Rivers State does not vote for opposition, it is not done.

    Now that you say it is not a crisis, what is the solution to the disagreement?

    This is why I said people like to over-blow things. It is a political thing. We agree to disagree, disagree to agree.  That is the interesting thing in politics. You don’t know who will call who in the mid night. In the midnight anything can take place. I have told you people don’t kill yourselves. You are not in the arena. It is only those in the arena that know what happens. You will just guess. Sometimes you will guess well, other times you guess wrongly. In fact, most of the time you don’t guess well. There is one paper that reported that my governor went to Ekiti State and said Nigerians are cowards. That they don’t stand up for opposition. Now you went to dissolve a council and people are now revolting. How does the revolt occur? People are no longer cowards. People are saying, no, we don’t want to accept it and then you are blaming them.

    Where are we now in terms of actually transforming basic education to drive Nigeria ‘s development?

    You will understand it very well if you know that basic education is not in the purview of the federal government. Basic Education is wholly in the purview of states and local governments. So it would be very difficult for me to say this is where we are. What I can say is the efforts the federal government has made in supporting those whose duty is primarily to oversee basic education. So when you appreciate that you know that the federal government is doing quite a lot in complementing the efforts of states and local governments whose responsibility it is to oversee basic education. So if you come from that perspective, since this government came on board, what was the level of our performance in public exams, particularly getting five credits including English and Mathematics as at the time this government came we were 28 per cent? Today, what is the percentage? Today it has risen to 40 per cent. We are not saying that is good. What we are saying is that if we were 28 per cent and we have gotten to 40 per cent in 2013 and then if we continue that way, there is a likelihood that by 2015 that we get almost about 50 per cent or above. You will now see that government is doing quite a lot. What I am saying is this, before now most state governments do not access their funds from the Universal Basic Education Commission. As at 2011, we had not less than N70billion lying idle in government coffers un-accessed by states. Most of them had not accessed 2008 to 2009 funds. So what did we do, because not accessing these funds would not lead to the improvement of the learning infrastructure in schools that leads to enhancement in the performance of students in public exams? We embarked on aggressive campaign to reach out to reach out to state governors. You cannot be building bridges and your pupils are sitting on the floor. You can’t be building hospitals and you have not had good doctors that will be in those hospitals. Therefore, there is a need for you to access your funds and improve on the infrastructure you have in your schools that will lead to the improvement of students’ performance or improve the quality of education in the state. As at today, it is only a few states that have not accessed the 2011 funds. Eighty per cent of states have accessed the 2012 funds. This was not the case before we came. You will understand that the federal government has continuously released funds to various states to train and re-train their teachers. There is no year that we do not release to the states not less than N5billion to train their teachers in the primary and junior secondary schools. But let me tell you what has happened before we came. These funds were going to State Universal Basic Education Boards without their governors or commissioners knowing that the funds were coming. Therefore, these funds were diverted from one area or the other. I can remember when I visited one of the states, when I asked the governor that whether the chairman of SUBEB told him that they have given him this type of money? He said no. I said, okay, chairman when did they pay this money? He said about four months ago. But the governor was not aware. The governor was embarrassed. So what did we do? As these funds are being released we now write to governors that the money has been released. Now the governors are aware that such money is coming to the states. It may not be enough, but it is for you to use it to complement whatever money the state would have set aside on training and re-training of their teachers. Now in the local governments it is the policy of the federal government that most of the children who are in the public schools are poor. The government decided that we cannot allow them to be buying books. Government would take the responsibility of purchase and giving it to students and teachers to use free. But as it happens, most of the pupils would not know, most states would not know, some of them connived in spite of the security inscriptions in these books to sell these books to book vendors. So what have we done since we came? These books are now being given with the support of the State Security Services in every state. As they are distributing it in the state the SSS are taking records and from that state it goes to the local governments and how they get to the various schools we have records. So, on my way to Owerri, Sokoto or Gombe I passed through some of the schools and said can I see the books? Let me see the children using the books. I have done that several times. So I can tell you that it is no longer business as usual. The federal government has also in making sure that not just us, having access to basic education we have the problem of girl child education. In most of the states the girls do not go to school. Take for instance the north. We have the Northwest and the Northeast where we have a peculiar problem because of traditions and other things. We have to engage on aggressive advocacy by going to the states to tell them the need for them to allow their daughters to go to school because it is believed that when you train a woman you have trained a whole nation. Apart from the advocacy, the federal government said maybe because of the religion, we will build special girls’ schools to enable them to go to those schools and have education. As I am talking we have completed these projects in at least not less than 13 states of the federation. Now, you remember that the boarding schools owned by the federal government are the Federal Government Colleges. Today, you will not see the Federal Government Colleges the way they used to be. We have 104 of them and when I came, I visited not less than 80 of the schools. I went to all the six geopolitical zones in this country. In fact, I was the first Minister that went to Borno to go and see things for myself. When I went there I saw that it would not be easy for us o carry these schools at a time. We decided to do phased rehabilitation of the schools. In this year’s budget, we took 30 schools with emphasis on hostels, classrooms and laboratories. Next year we will not give these 30 schools the amount of money that we have given them. We will give them small money for maintenance. Then we will take another 30 schools for another set of rehabilitation. Now, one thing I have discovered, none of the schools has its own library. What they have is what they call reading halls. We are talking of education. No books, no library and then you are expected to perform miracle? So, one thing we must do to encourage reading habits or to encourage students to read books, make sure that the books are there. The facilities should also be there. Today, as I am talking to you all the Federal Government Colleges you see have new libraries of 450 sitting capacity. We call them E-Libraries. Some have been completed while others are ongoing. What advantage do we want to get from there? Those who live in the school, they will go and have their normal siesta while those who are day students will go and use the libraries. Now when they wake up from their siesta, they can use the library while those who are day students have used the library and have gone home. Teachers have libraries where they can prepare the exercises. What we did was go provide separate lights for these libraries which are all furnished and air-conditioned so that nobody will say we have no light. With this the reading culture will come back. With that, students will be encouraged to go to the libraries and make notes and add to what their teachers have taught them. Before, as you were coming out of the class you are going to the library. Now if you are coming out of class you are going home because there is no library to go to. That is why if you compare the results of the Federal Government Colleges and that of the state governments you will see that the difference is very clear. I am not saying that we are doing very well in what we are supposed to do, but comparatively, we can say that students in federal government schools have done better than those in state schools. Before now nobody has emphasised the training of our teachers in Federal Government Colleges. When I came on board I have made sure that every year we must train teachers in Mathematics and English. This year alone we took the teachers to the National Mathematical Centre to live there for two weeks and the feeding was free. Most teachers said for over 15 years they have been teaching, they have never gone for any training.

    In summary, what I am trying to say is that the federal government is doing quite a lot to see that basic education gets the boost and enough support that would affect them as they move forward to the other level of education because without a strong foundation in basic education no matter whatever you do at the tertiary level it will not work. This few things I can say the federal government has been able to do to improve access and quality in basic education.

    What about the special task you embarked on about the Almajiri education?

    That again is encouraging access to education. You know that out of over 60 million in the world that are out of school I think over 10 million are Nigerians. Out of that 10 million the Almajiris are about nine million. So government said this is a peculiar problem we must tackle. On the Almajiri education, we were supposed to commission some of the schools about one month ago, but because of some official engagements of Mr. President, we have to reschedule. We are going to do the commissioning at a date that is convenient for Mr. President. They schools have been built, they are well furnished. They students will be fed while in the schools because if you don’t feed them they will still be tempted to go out of the schools and go and beg.

    How many schools are involved in the Almajiri Education?

    Virtually all northern states are involved but their number differs based on the task force report on the strength of the almajiris in these various states. So the number we have in Borno cannot be the same with Nasarawa.

    Which means none of the Almajiri schools built by the federal government is functioning right now?

    Some have started functioning. We are only talking about the commissioning. What we are saying is that instead of waiting for the commissioning they can start so that they can improve on the enrollment figure.

    From the about nine million Almajiris what is your target to go back to school?

    We have not less than 100 of the Almajiri schools out of which about 60 have been furnished and the other 30 are all near completion.

    From the nine million Almajiris, how many do you target to attend these schools?

    From now till 2015 we a looking at a target of 70 per cent. We cannot say we will get all of them because that would not be realistic. But we hope to continue to improve on that.

     

  • ‘Why crisis persists in Governors’ Forum’

    ‘Why crisis persists in Governors’ Forum’

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson spoke with reporters on the activities of his administration, the crises rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, and how to tackle insecurity in the country. EMMANUEL OLADESU reports the exerpts.

     

     

    What are the challenges confronting you as the governor of Bayelsa State?

    The challenges are enormous. We knew in this state that things were not right. There was the absence of governmental structures and core values. We have a mindset to build. Don’t forget that this area, Bayelsa, was the least developed part of Rivers State when it was created. The governors of the old Rivers State were mainly from Bayelsa, but they were not parochial people. Ijaw man is not parochial. So, they concentrated critical development in the old Rivers State. So, when Bayelsa was created, the challenges were many. You now have limited resources that cannot match the cost of developing this very difficult terrain. Yes, we earn more than other states. That is what a lot of people look at. But they don’t look at the challenges and match it. Because when God gave this place oil resources, God also knew that our problems-the cost of developing this area-is more than some other parts of this country. So, because of that dislocation, we have issues of funding, which we are addressing. That is why people call me ‘tight hand governor’ because we have to manage the available resources prudently and be very clear on our priority that is what we are doing.

    What is your position on the proposed amnesty for the Boko Haram sect?

    I want to commend the President for his large heartedness in proposing amnesty, even for Boko Haram members. Of course, what is driving Boko Haram is different from what was driving the Niger Delta militants. Whereas the insurgency in the Niger Delta was premised on economic isues, rights and deprivation of rights; the one in Boko Haram is religious fundamentalism. I think we should give amnesty a chance. Those who say amnesty should not be extended to Boko Haram members also have a very strong point on account of the mindless, criminal, despicable and wanton destruction of property and lives. And even now, from what we are reading, they seem to say they have not done anything wrong and they are rejecting amnesty. But the President has done well by proposing amnesty. Let that not be the excuse for not getting all hands on deck to address that issue. Let us not politicise anything and everything in this country, particularly something as critical as national security. We are going through very serious trying moment in this country and I get bothered when senior political leaders and opinion leaders in this country, because they want to get an advantage, they want to play politics, even with amnesty, Boko Haram and national security.

    What is the implication of the intra-party crisis in the PDP, especially in the face of the on-going merger of opposition parties and the birth of the APC?

    Crises and conflicts are inevitable in politics and in a big party like the PDP. In politics, you are managing, not just a clash of ideas and vision, but there will also be clash of ego. So, democratic politics promotes diversity and diversity sometimes generates conflict and tension. But the democratic system must be managed in such a way that democracy and the rule of law will prevail. . On the APC, I want use this opportunity to urge the leaders of the opposition to work hard to bring about a virile, effective and viable opposition; an opposition that will play by the rule, an opposition that will be in a position to confront the ruling party in a market place of ideas and vision. We are looking forward to virile debates on various issues; on the economy, on national security. If they are viable as a party, we want to engage then and let us see the alternative viewpoints that are contending for the minds and hearts of our people beyond issues of religion, ethnicity and zoning. The whole political engagement is all about grandstanding, manipulation, positioning and it sickens me, really. I’m not speaking for my party. But I will be very happy to see a very virile, effective and well organised opposition because a democracy without an opposition is dictatorship. There must be a viable opposition in democracy. Instead of rumours, blackmail and propaganda, I look forward to an engagement; an organised opposition that can confront us and then present an alternative vision. We have to develop that tradition in this country. I’m not a spokesman for the PDP. I don’t see any reason why anybody in the PDP is supposed to be scared of the APC. We just need to focus on what we are doing and, at the end of the day, if the electoral process is free and fair, and Mr. President has always promised Nigerians that, Nigerians will decide who wins power.

    Why did the PDP come up with the PDP Governors’ Forum?

    The governors’ forum is primarily a mechanism for peer review of governors who are equal. You do not have to be a member of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to be a governor. It is just like your association, the NUJ. Whether you are there or not, you are functioning. So, the Governors’ Forum is a platform for peer review mechanism. It is a platform for collaborating with the federal government on the critical issues of development, national security and other challenges that come up. The Governors’ Forum is not and should not be a platform for the control of national politics because we are not elected to run the country. We, as governors, are elected to manage our states. So, the Governors’ Forum cannot be allowed to go on as a trade union. Of course, that is wrong. What has happened is that people are taking advantage of the development and discontent in our system to manipulate it to suit their individual whims and caprices. But what is wrong is wrong. Look at the United States Governors’ Forum where we even copied it from, you don’t see Governors’ Forum there coming to tell President Barack Obama what he should and what he should not do. We are provincial players, governors because our mandates is to lead our states, not to run the federation. Those who have a mandate to run the Federation are the President, Vice President, the elected members of our National assembly and the political leadership of the parties. Those are the people who have a platform. And, if as a governor I have any strong view on the things that go on at the federal level, we have avenues; informal, formal. We have the National Economic Council. Over the years, I think what has happened, particularly in the PDP, and it is very unfortunate. It is unfortunate that it is rubbing off on the governors from the opposition parties. What has happened over the years is that governors of the PDP who became chairmen of the Governors’ Forum attempted to use it as a platform for playing national politics; a platform for occupying the national political space. It is wrong. It shouldn’t be allowed. That’s why the idea of the PDP Governors’ Forum became necessary. You see things being manipulated as if anybody is disturbing anybody, instead of saying no, this thing you guys are doing is wrong. People are saying as if there is a crisis and somebody does not want somebody. No. The Governors’ Forum is simply a peer review mechanism; no more, no less. PDP governors have the right to have their own group because the associative right is a first thing in a democracy. ACN governors and others, even councilors, have associations. There is so much focus on what goes on in the PDP. If you are in the PDP, you will meet at the structure of the PDP to resolve problems, if you are not in the PDP, you concentrate on your party and work hard to defeat the PDP. You don’t operate outside the PDP and control the PDP or want the PDP to do things according to your own wish. But people want to stay in PDP and still play the role of a political opponent. That is indiscipline. If you cannot be a good PDP member, you will not be useful, even to any opposition party and these opposition party leaders are very experienced politicians. I had the honour of playing politics with most of them. I have a lot of regard for them. They know what they are doing. They are serious Nigerians. They mean well for this country and they also know the charlatans.

    What effort is being made to reconcile President Goodluck Jonathan and Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi?

    You press people should not equate a provincial player with the elected President of the Federal Republic. The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria cannot have misunderstanding with a provincial player as a governor of Rivers State or any other governor for that matter. As governors, we are elected to run our states, no more, no less. If you want the mandate to run Nigeria, you contest an election for it. Don’t do it through the back door. If you want to be a leader of opposition, you go to the opposition. What is happening is that people are taking advantage of our weak institutions and our fledgling democracy such that sometimes, you don’t even know who belongs to where. I’m not aware of any misunderstanding between the President of Nigeria and a provincial player like myself who is a governor of a state. You are demeaning the Presidency and you shouldn’t do that in this country. He brings in the President as if he is at the same level or at par with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Whether that is right or not, Nigerians will talk. But what we know is that, for you to be a good leader, you must be a good follower first.

    Rivers State and Bayelsa states have not resolved the dispute over oil wells. What is the situation now?

    People are playing politics with critical issues that can explode. They play politics with anything and everything. This thing you talked about has been in existence for long, even before the creation of Bayelsa State. Even when these two local governments were in the old Rivers State, commissions of enquiries were set up. As a governor, your responsibility is to use the existing institutions to solve problems. What I have been doing is to call for peace and I’m using our existing channels, both within the Ijaw system, because these people are all Ijaw people in case you don’t know; the Kalabari are Ijaw people, the Nembe people in Bayelsa are Ijaw people. Just because of the way the country came into being and states were created and today, we now find ourselves, some in Rivers and some in Bayelsa, they are not enemies.

     

     

  • Why there is crisis in Governors’ Forum, by Dickson

    Why there is crisis in Governors’ Forum, by Dickson

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson at the weekend spoke on the crisis rocking the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), saying that certain members have converted it into a manipulative trade union.

    He also said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has the right to form its governors’ forum, stressing that it is in tune with democracy.

    Dickson opposed moves by certain elements in the ruling party to adorn the cap of internal opposition leaders, urging them to either imbibe party discipline or move out. The governor also said the highest office in the land deserved the respect of the party members and Nigerians.

    Dickson spoke with reporters in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, on the activities of his administration, the PDP crisis and the friction in the Governors’ Forum.

    He said: “The Governors’ Forum is primarily a mechanism for peer review of governors who are equal. You don’t need to be a member of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to be a governor. It is just like your association, the NUJ. It is just a platform for peer review. It is a platform for collaborating with the Federal Government on the critical issues of development, national security and other challenges that come up.

    “The Governors’ Forum is not and should not be a platform for the control of the national politics. As governors, we are not elected to run the country. We are governors elected to manage our states. The Governors’ Forum cannot be allowed to go on as a trade union. What is happening is that people are taking the advantage of the developments and discontent in the system, to manipulate it to suit their individual whims and caprices. But what is wrong is wrong.

    ‘Look at the United States Governors’ Forum, which we copied, you don’t see the Governors’ Forum there telling President Barack Obama what he should do and what he should not. We are provincial players because our mandate is to lead our states, not to run the federation. Those who have the mandate to run the federation are the President, the Vice President, the elected members of the National Assembly, the political leadership of the various parties. Those are the people that have the platform to do that”.

    Dickson said, if certain issues are agitating the minds of the governors, they can use some formal and informal avenues, including the National Economic Council to ventilate their views and grievances, instead of using the NGF to play politics.

    He pointed out that the past PDP governors who chaired the NGF attempted to use the platform to play national politics. The governor justified the formation of the PDP Governors’ Forum, saying that it is necessary.

    Urging the PDP members to imbibe party discipline, he said: “If you are in a party, you must play according to the rules of the party or get out”.

    Dickson said any PDP member who is not useful to the ruling party may not be useful to another party, if he defects from the PDP.

    He said the seasoned and experienced opposition leaders would always separate the wheat from the chaff, adding that they can easily isolate defectors whose ideas and principles tally with their own from political charlatans.

    The governor reviewed the reforms embarked upon by his administration, pointing out that the anti-ghost workers war has started yielding dividends. Dickson said that the monthly wage bill of N6.8b has come down to N3.8b.

  • UNIABUJA crisis deepens

    UNIABUJA crisis deepens

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Abuja Zone has said that failure by the Federal Government to urgently release the White Paper of the Special Visitation Panel to the University of Abuja may further deepen the crisis in the institution.

    ASUU also advised government to take decisive actions against the Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja, Prof. Sunday Adelabu.

    Abuja Zone of ASUU comprising University of Abuja, Federal University of Technology (FUTM), Minna, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai (IBBUL), Nasarawa State University (NSUK), Keffi, Federal University of Agriculture (FUAM), Makurdi, Benue State University, Makurdi (BSU) and Kogi State University, Anyigba met and resolved that: “The White Paper issue which no doubt was time and resources-consuming should be taken to completion in order that the University of Abuja may move forward.

    “This University has been in the news for the wrong reasons for too long. The Zone therefore appeals to all well-meaning Nigerians and parents to prevail on the Federal Government to release the White Paper which was submitted six months ago, as a matter of urgency.”

    According to the communiqué issue after the meeting and signed by the ASUU chairmen in the zone, the group also resolved that government should ensure that the carrying capacity of the universities that the UNIABUJA Engineering students are transferred to are not exceeded in order not to jeopardize quality.

    The group also seek access to it national secretariat and protection for the UNIABUJA ASUU Chairman.

    The communiqué reads: “The Zone condemned in strongest terms, the hostility of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja towards our Union in denying us access to our National Secretariat and locking out our UniAbuja branch chairman from his office for one week.

    “The zone appeals to the relevant security agencies in the Federal Capital Territory to please secure right of access to our National Secretariat and protect the branch Chairman of ASUU UniAbuja in particular and all our members in the branch from the Vice Chancellor’s unwarranted acts of aggression.

     

  • UNILORIN union in crisis

    Fresh crisis has hit the Students’ Union Government (SUG) of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) following the suspension of key members of the union by members of the parliament.

    Last session, the tenure of the union leaders caved in under the weight of internal crisis, which resulted into suspension of president and some members of the executive council. The union seems to be toeing the same path in the current dispensation.

    During the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) sitting held penultimate Saturday, the union president, Abdulamalik Aremu, Speaker, Taiwo Olubiyi, and Financial Secretary, Ibrahim Adegboyega, were asked to stop performing the function of their office pending the time the house would conclude investigation into fund misapplication scandal in which the trio were involved.

    When the parliament members convened for sitting, Taiwo was asked to step down while his deputy, Isaac Olorunfemi, presided.

    The suspended officials were signatories to the union account.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the union appropriated N2.09 million for the purchase of eight fairly-used tricycles know as Keke NAPEP at the rate of N250,000 each. But the president flouted the directive and opted for the purchase of five brand new tricycles at the rate of N400,000 each.

    Reacting to the development, members of the SRC concluded that executive had deliberately disregarded letters of the appropriation Bill passed by the house and called for the sacking of the signatories to union account.

    Abdulmalik, 400-Level Physics, said the executive council acted in interest of the students, adding that fairly-used tricycles were unbefitting for transportation on the campus. He added that the tricycles were purchased from a known dealer in Lagos and brought to campus to break the monopoly of commercial tricycle operators whose high fares could not afforded by students. The union’s tricycles charge N10 for within-campus destinations compare to N30 being charged by commercial operators.

    To investigate the alleged misapplication, the SRC set up a five-man enquiry committee headed by Joshua Omotoso, a congress member. Other members of the committee are Nicodemus Igho, Enoch Babatunde, Oluwatomiyosi Ayorinde and Sunday Adewale. They were given 10 days to submit their findings.

    The parliament warned the suspended officials not parade or address themselves with their titles pending the outcome of the findings.

    The Vice President, Lola Abiola, has since been sworn as acting president of the union. The Social Director, Kehinde Abiola, 300-Level Human Kinetic, said the parliament was wrong in its decision to suspend the officials.

    A member of the parliament, Mumeen Alawaye, 400-Level Law, said the house acted in the interest of the entire student.

    Abdulrahman Abdulraheem, 500-Level Law and General Secretary, said: “In the history of unionism in the University of Ilorin, the present union has been the best as we have championed different causes with the school management. I don’t understand the reasons why the SRC have to take such a wrong decision.”

  • Concerns over safety as crisis hits airlines

    Concerns over safety as crisis hits airlines

    The suspension of the licence of Dana Air for the second time in nine months has raised fresh concerns over safety in the airspace.

    The licence of Dana, which returned to business in December, last year, after a six-month lay-off, was withdrawn on Saturday because of a fault with one of its planes.

    The plane was to leave for Lagos when it developed battery problem.

    The Ministry of Aviation is investigating what led to the Mc Donnel Douglas 83 aircraft battery fault for not being fully charged before its take off. Amid the probe, some industry watchers said there is need to re-examine the Dana’s books before it is allowed to return to operation.

    It is believed that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) hurriedly re-issued an air operator certficate to the airline last year, despite a huge public outcry.

    To stakeholders, the Ministry of Aviation and NCAA must carry out an overhaul of the industry to set things right.

    Acting General Secretary of the Nation Union of Air Transport Employees( NUATE) Comrade Motajo Abdulkareem said it was time NCAA and its new leadership undertook overhaul of airlines to ascertain their health, adding that the grounding of Aero and Dana could create pressure for the operators, which may not be able meet passengers’ needs.

    The timing of the crisis, he said, may cause anxiety among passengers.

    Motajo urged the Aviation and NCAA to convoke a stakeholders’ forum on the industry’s challenges.

    Acting General Secretary of the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria ( ATSSSAN), Comrade Olayinka Abioye, sought autonomy for NCAA, adding that the Executive should be stopped from ‘’unduly’’ interferring in the industry in line with global best practices.

    Last year, the Technical and Administrative Review Panel set up by the Federal Government to investigate the Dana June 3, last year crash, gave a damning verdict on the airline’s maintenance record.

    The committee headed by Group Captain John Obakpolor (rtd), stated that airline’s technical log book did not confirm with standards.

    The committee observed that in many instances, NCAA inspectors, blamed the lapses on insufficient manpower and training, urging the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the aviation sector.

    The stakeholders are calling on NCAA’s Director-General designate Captain Fola Akinkuotu to tackle the challenges facing the sector. He was a staff member of the Nigeria Airways Limited where he worked for five years as an aircraft engineer before he was deployed as duty engineer to the Presidential Fleet.

    Later, he proceeded to the United States to train as a commercial pilot and flight engineer.

    Upon graduation, he worked as chief pilot at the ADC Airlines, former managing director, IRS Airlines and technical pilot, training and director, Flight Operations in former Virgin Nigeria Airways. He is expected to bring his vast experience to his job if he is eventually confirmed by the Senate.

    Stakeholders in the industry are anxious that Captain Akinkuoto’s experience would see him through the rigorous task of regulating civil aviation in Nigeria.

    Last year, the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation recommended the revocation of the air operators’ certificate of Dana Air. The committee also recommended that the MD 83 aircraft type flown by Dana should be phased out, as the NCAA has no certified engineer to handle such planes.

    The committee also recommended 15 years as age limit for passenger aircraft and 20 for cargo planes.

    The recommendations sparked a row. NCAA claimed that the MD 83 aircraft was still flown by many airlines in other countries.

    The NCAA listed the countries still operating the aircraft to include: Afghanistan, Argentina, Congo, Denmark, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Kenya, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine and the United States.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • ‘How I handled Ocean Bank’s crisis’

    ‘How I handled Ocean Bank’s crisis’

    You have served the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in various capacities. Which of these was the most challenging?

    The one I cherished most was my membership of and later a prosecutor and co-ordinator of the NBA legal team at the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee of the Body of Benchers, which I served continuously and uninterrupted for 11 years. I strongly believe that every lawyer should serve in that committee.

    Why do you say this?

    Because it fully exposes you to the basic tenets and norms of the profession. It exposes you to the problems in the profession and also helps you as a lawyer, to be careful in whatever you do, because it is not the big things that put people in trouble, it is little things you neglect. Indeed, I too have been investigated for two thousand Naira. It was that my investigation and clearance that led to my appointment into that committee by the then president of NBA, T. J. Oninmo Okpoko (SAN). When they were setting up the Disciplinary Committee, he said look, Dele Oye should go and serve there. While serving in that Committee, I saw the kind of mistakes that lawyers make, sometimes such mistakes are made out of ignorance of the rules of the profession and sometimes they are made deliberately. I think that every lawyer ought to know the rules, because it is the rule that determines your ability to practise and in dealing with your clients, but most lawyers are not aware of the rules and that is why they run foul of them.

    What should be the role of legal education in this?

    I think that legal education should start from teaching lawyers the rules of discipline and how they should relate with their clients, because after the duty of the lawyer to the profession, the next is the duty to our clients. Because we have a duty to ensure that in dealing with them, we do so professionally and while serving them, we handle a lot of cases.

    What were the challenges that you confronted while serving in that committee?

    While serving in that committee, we handled a lot of cases. One of the most challenges that faced the committee was the issue of the jurisdiction of the committee as it related to appellate matters. That matter came up in Okike’s case against Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC). That was the first appeal from the committee to the Supreme Court, because under the rules, appeal goes directly from the committee to the Supreme Court.

    Why Supreme Court? Is that the law?

    Yes, under the rules appeal goes directly from the committee to the Supreme Court. Under the constitution, appeals go from the court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, but this is the only exception to that rule. When the matter got to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court declined to hear it, stating that it did not come from the Court of Appeal and that they could not take it.

    What did you do under this circumstance?

    Well, I had to request that they raise a legal issue and that I needed a full panel to address the Supreme Court. After one hour argument, they obliged us and at the Supreme Court, they invited other Amicus briefs. After three hours of rigorous argument, a full panel of the Supreme Court agreed with me and said, indeed, the legal profession is a special profession and there is need to create a different section based on the laws. They did not just do that, but also laws supporting the action because the Section of the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA) changed the word appeal Committee to the Supreme Court for all appeals from that Committee. So, I was part of that effort and, indeed, I argued most of the cases that have gone from that committee to the Supreme Court. About five or six cases altogether, and I agued about four of them in the Supreme Court. My pioneering effort in this area is well-established and I am proud of it.

    What effects did working with the committee have on you?

    Working with that committee had greatly helped me personally and a great deal, in the sense that I have learnt all the rules of book keeping in it. This was the main thing that saved me apart from God, in the Cecilia Ibru matter where my client was alleged to have committed some infractions in the management of Oceanic bank. I was a lawyer to the bank and also to the family that owned majority shares in the bank; we were also their nominees in several companies. And you know that there is no way fire will raze a building without touching the people inside. I was directly affected, and when these things happened, I was not in the country and because of the volume of the transactions involved, I was getting calls and threats from all over the place, people thought that I had a lot of money. So, I had to make sure that I secured myself, I had to come back, honoured invitations from law enforcement agencies that were looking for me and explained my role in the transactions. Thereafter, I was cleared of all the allegations within three days of my arrival in the country despite the very huge smoke that was raised about me without fire. So, I am happy and I thank the committee because without what I knew in the committee, it would have been very difficult for me to have survived such very heavy allegations that were mounted against me by members of the public, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and, indeed, my own colleagues.

    How did you manage those crises? What is your advice to lawyers in managing their clients, so that they avoid such untoward experience?

    Because of the role we played for our clients, especially as nominees and various businesses, we were required basically to stand as witnesses for the State against our clients. And I don’t think that it is the duty of lawyers to bring down their clients. Whereas it is our duty to disclose any fraudulent conducts when are aware, I was not aware prior to the indictment of my client of any legal infractions by her, because the allegations against her were essentially that she took loans from within the bank without following due process. But we are not bankers; we were not in a position to know the nature and extent of these loans, or whether they had board approvals or whether they were appropriated or misappropriated. Indeed, like the EFCC report on us showed, there was not a single kobo in our clients accounts. That is why it was easy for first of all, to clear ourselves, because it is not a crime to be a nominee in a company. It is allowed by law to be a nominee, but it is a crime if you participate in a crime or infraction of the law. As the EFCC report to us shows, we are even requested to be witnesses in case if they decided proceed to trial. That is why we declined and said, look, you have enough evidence to deal with whoever you want to deal with, you shouldn’t make us to be unfair to our clients. It is like your priest telling your wife your confessions of extra marital relations if you were an unfaithful Catholic. I don’t know what will happen to that marriage. Those of us who are lawyers, at times we pass through this sort of fire, not necessarily because we are involved, but because we are acting for certain people, our clients.

    Why did you keep quiet in the heat those crises?

    I decided to keep quiet because that incident affected so many people; the public lost a lot of money in their investments, either in shares and even in that entity as a bank. It was not about my justification. That is why I kept quiet; everybody suffered there and I do not think that I suffered far and above other members of the public. Indeed, I was the lawyer in it. That is why I kept quiet. Indeed, my clients also suffered, one of them was convicted and it was not a time for me to carry drums be dancing as if I was the most pious person. That is why I deliberately did not respond to all these spurious allegations against me. People were just talking out of point. They were talking without knowledge or better still, they were not engaged by any person.

    But most of them were your colleagues?

    When a colleague says that he is now a crusader in a matter he was not hired by any person, then such persons were definitely motivated by malice and if you have so much time to waste on writing a jurisprudence about me, then I pity such persons. I now know who my friends are, the Police would say of friends those days, if you don’t think any of them has legal, or judicial powers to sentence you, they can decide to write petitions against you in their private law firms. Indeed, they have written several petitions about me, but in everyone they wrote, it is either they got themselves into trouble or I am cleared of the allegations completely.

    What was the role of NBA?

    They are not bigger than the association; the association in a general meeting has cleared me both at both committee stage and even at the general meeting. So, if they truly believe that they are lawyers and they believe that they are members of the profession, they ought to be bound by the superior wishes of the association than their current efforts to engage in personal malice. I will not respond to them. They are my very seniors. I suspect that they don’t have the facts because of the kind of allegation they are peddling against me, but Indeed, when they eventually get the facts, they will be very proud of me and will apologise. So, I have nothing against them, I have forgiven them and I believe that they are acting out of ignorance.

    You were the chairman of Abuja Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (ABUCCIMA) for three years. What was the experience like and how do you think Chambers of Commerce will catalyse our socio- economic development?

    I want to thank God again for that opportunity which I think, as lawyers, leaders, we all need. I had the privilege of serving as the chairman of ABUCCIMA for a period of three years , I will not judge myself on my performance there, the impact I made there is left for the society to judge. It gave me the unique opportunity to serve and learn, I had to learn so much about business, I had to lead several trade delegation to several countries of the world both in Europe, America, India, China, Singapore and every where. At times, I had to lead the Federal Government delegations. For instance, when we went to Paris with the late President Umar’ Yar’ Adua, I led the Federal Government business delegation and I also led several trade missions, solo, bilateral and multilateral trade missions to Turkey, Cananda etc during my tenure. What I learnt in these things has also made me to know that we as lawyers, should create briefs, so that we can engage ourselves in other spheres. So that we at the middle class, can leave the traditional things that we usually do for the younger ones just entering the profession, so that we become much more specialised in some of these things by creating opportunities that were not hitherto there. We have a duty to both ourselves and to the profession, any lawyer you see who cannot make it in the profession, affects all of us because we all belong to this profession.

    What were your achievements at the Chamber?

    I am proud to say that after I left the Chamber of Commerce, the 1,000 capacity building which was in progress during my tenure was named after me. It is called Dele Oye Hall in appreciation for my contributions to the activities of the Chamber. Even though I was President at the time of Oceanic Bank crises, they didn’t t remove me as the president. They trusted me; they believed in my honesty because of the way I ran the Chamber. I never made a single kobo for myself personally, I used my own personal money to support the Chamber and to promote its image. I think that it is in realisation of this that the people decided that the only way to show appreciation is to name that structure after me.

    How have you given back to society?

    Well, they say that laughter is one thing that you cannot enjoy alone. So, if you have anything, you just share with others because the kind of joy you get in sharing is more than what you get when you eat alone. And if you look at billionaires all over the world, you can see that Bill Gates is having all manner of structures and endowments in his honour, while some of his mates are pursuing going to the moon and all the rest just because he is investing in humanity. Service to God and mankind is part of my life. I have been secretary of various parishes and pastoral councils in the church, even my services there give me opportunity to be very close the church. I have been involved in various church development programmes, in the building of churches and so on. Until the understanding that poverty alleviation is not the sole responsibility of the government but the collective duty of all citizens who are more fortunate than others is well grasped, the poverty level in the country will soar even higher. I have also adopted a village called Ketti which is about one hour drive from Apo in Abuja as my community since 1998.

    How did you know the village and why the adoption?

    I knew the village when a priest in the Catholic Church, Father Francis Kale, was posted to the village to revive the Catholic Church there. I followed him down to the place and was shocked at what I saw there. I was shocked beyond words to see that a village so close to the seat of power in the country languishing in that level of poverty. When I followed Father Kale to the village, it was impossible to drive our vehicle to the community. We had to park our cars and walk a distance of about 1.5 kilometres to get into the village. When we got there the condition under which people lived was so harsh, there was no water, no healthcare facilities, no schools, and no sense of belonging. This was when I decided to adopt the community as my own and to mobilise help towards improving the lives of those people

    What has been the outcome?

    Having considered the enormity of the challenge that these rural people faced as a community, it was obvious that a one-off borehole or classroom block project may not be a sustainable way to support the community. These efforts have led to the provision of pipe-borne water in the community and a programme under which some members of the community have received employments in the FCT while some of the students have received academic scholarships. Because I have adopted the community as my own, I see them as a part of my responsibility. I may not have enough to give to them as an individual, but I have friends, associates and relatives who I can easily pool together in response to essential needs that need to be met in this place.

  • Filani: Why crisis persists in Southwest PDP

    Filani: Why crisis persists in Southwest PDP

    What are the current challenges facing the People Democratic Party (PDP) in Southwest?

    Many challenges are facing the PDP in the Southwest; the challenges of unity, the challenges of how to win back the states that were taken away from us by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the challenges of reconciliation among our members, the challenge of ensuring that our members here in this region hammonised so that we can have electoral value. These are the challenges we are having in the Southwest PDP.

    How do you intend to solve them?

    We will take these challenges one by one and solve it. We are ready to rearrange, reconstruct, reeducate, rebuild, and reconcile our members.

    In Ogun State, there is the allegation that the Senator Femi Odujirin faction, which is loyal to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, is not yet ready to reconcile with the party’s state executive committee led by Bayo Dayo. What are you doing to make sure that they close ranks?

    I am not aware that some people are not ready to work with one other. I am only aware of the general idea of disunity and conflict, which is common to every state in the Southwest. Arising from the meeting we held recently with all the state chairmen, I discovered that the executive that came on board by the order of the court in Ogun state, I mean the Dayo-led executive, is making a good effort to unite the party in Ogun State. We are ready to assist, encourage and to ensure that any of the six states, which is ready to bring every member on board, receive our cooperation at the zonal level.I am aware that the Dayo-led executive is ready to open up to all and sundry in Ogun State.

    Recently, people loyal to former President Olusegun Obasanjo have been shove aside from leadership positions at the federal and regional level. Is the former leader now being left in the cold?

    I don’t know who is loyal and who is disloyal. What I know is that everybody in Yoruba land sees Baba Obasanjo as the father of all. I think it is the people that are saying they are more loyal to him than others, not baba saying that some people are not loyal to him. For instance, when we were appointed, he was the first person I called. After our inaugural meeting, I took the new executive to him and we have been having affairs with him to ensure that we have a coordinated executive in Ogun State. No executive was recognised by the national leadership in Ogun State before. There were two parallel executives. I think the former Southwest executive tried its best to harmonise the house, but they failed. There was a court judgment and there was order that arose from that judgment. The order we are talking about recognised the new executive, I mean Bayo Dayo-led executive. Nobody can disrespect Obasanjo. He was the President; he was a leader of the party as the President, he was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the party. Nobody who can weed such a person away. I think what baba has achieved politically, no other person had achieved it in the past, not even Awolowo the great. The President holds Obasanjo in high esteem. Bamanga Tukur, under who I serve as the Special Adviser, Mobilization and Contact, hold him in high esteem.

    Why is Obasanjo no more enjoying cordial relationship with the Presidency?

    I am not aware that he is not enjoying a cordial relationship with the Presidency. But on the contrary, if you check the newspapers’ report on his birthday, President Jonathan described Obasanjo as a true democrat who loves Nigeria.

    How far can you go in resolving the personality clashes between Bode George in Lagos and other chieftains like Wahab, Ogunlewe, Obanikoro and others?

    The concern of the party is that, since 1999, we have not been able to make headway in Lagos. There are complaints about the leadership, lack of patriotism, betrayal, and other complaints. We want to resolve all these complaints so that we can win Lagos. Let me tell you that you don’t reconcile by elimination.

    What has the PDP Federal Government done for Lagos that will make Lagosians vote for the party?

    They have done a lot for Lagos. I am not in a position to speak for the federal government, but I know the federal governmen,t which is a product of PDP, has done a lot in terms of collaborating with the Lagos State government. Most of these projects that you are seeing are as a result of the collaboration between the two of them. I may not be able to go to details now,. but may be, when you see the representative of the federal government, they will be able to tell you what they have done together. But all I know is that Lagos has benefited a lot from the federal government.

    What is the position of your committee on the electoral litigation involving your party and the Labor Party in Ondo State?

    Our party will do everything within its power to ensure that we do not betray the trust the Ondo people have in us. All we need is the cooperation of the people of Ondo State.

    How can PDP really fight Labour Party in Ondo State when there is a perceived cordial relationship between the President and the governor?

    I don’t know, but I would have loved you to say the governor and the party. I want to assure you that the PDP, either at the national, state or zonal, is solidly behind our governorship candidate in Ondo State.

    Why has it become so difficult for Ayo Fayose and Segun Oni to work harmoniously in Ekiti State?

    I don’t know. We don’t have problems with our party in Ekiti state. We did not lose election in Ekiti State, but the tribunal judge, for one technical reason or the other, annulled the election of Segun Oni. Before Oni came to power, Fayose believed that he was short-changed. But I want to assure that all hands are on deck to ensure that our leaders in Ekiti State come together under our big umbrella so that we can reunite and fight the people who took the power from us. So, those of us that are leaders and elders are going to unite everybody and not only Fayose and Oni, but all the leaders and members to ensure that in 2014, when the next election comes up, we regain our lost glory in Ekiti.

    Will zoning play any role in the choice of the governorship candidate in Ekiti State?

    In accordance with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the PDP, we are obliged to ensure that there are some rotations in the selection of the people for offices. The two governors that were produced by the PDP were from different zones; one from the North and the other from the Central. The South is now agitating that it wants to produce the governor. There is nothing wrong in that because we need to balance up the selection of the flag bearer of the party in the state. But our attention should be on how to win and ensure that there is the continuation of governance. The most important thing is to ensure that there is cooperation, unity and harmony. I do not want to take position on this issue now. When you look at the ACN, they do not have pre-election problem like we have and that is an advantage to them because they will not expose their candidate. The pre-primary campaigns round the state before the general election consume a lot of money than the real election. You will discover that you have been exhausted by the primaries and attracted emnity. So, we need to democratically select candidates without going to primaries, especially in the Southwest. The rigour of primaries is too much. But for now, nobody can do anything in that regard because it is the provision of our party’s constitution that says we should conduct primaries.

    Now that the North is clamoring for power shift in 2015, don’t you think that the crisis will engulf your party and lead to its defeat in 2015?

    Which North is asking for power shift? When you talk of power shift, I am not opposed to it because a lot of things have to be put into consideration. Let us first ask ourselves if the President is qualified to contest constitutionally or not? That is the basic question. If he is qualified to contest, why are we now saying he should abandon his constitutional right? Secondly, there is the provision in our constitution that says that whosoever that wants to contest is free to do so. When you read some comments in the papers, it is as if the President wants to commit an illegality. They forget that it is his constitutional right. The court has even passed judgment that the President has the right to contest. So, what else?

    Could you shed light on the pact between the President and some northern governors before he became the President?

    I am not aware of any pact. If there was any pact at all, I do not see it having any effect on him. There are political discussions that can enhance one’s chance, which does not in any way affect the issue on the table. Everybody is shifting the opportunity to himself. Is there any particular person who can be the beneficiary of that pact?

    Why are the President and the PDP governors fighting?

    They are not fighting.

    Why did the President mount pressure on the party leadership to set up the PDP Governors’ Forum?

    If the PDP, which at its inception had 27 governors, now has 23 governors, don’t you think there was one thing they should have done earlier so that they could speak with one voice? The ACN and other opposition parties are like the ostrich. The 6 of them go to everywhere together. Governors under the various parties can have fora where they deliberate on the way forward for their respective parties. You always see the ACN governors together all the time and that is the beauty of politics. Even, if only to exchange ideas and have uniformity of governance, they need to have a forum.

    But why is the PDP trying to sideline Amechi, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and at the same time promoting a PDP governors’ forum led by Akpbio?

    Amaechi is one of them. There is no way they can neutralise him. Can you tell me the conflict between Amaechi and Akpabio? Amaechi cannot be the chairman of the governors’ forum and as the same time be the chairman of the PDP governors’ forum. It is the speculation from the enemy of our great party. Amaechi is one of us, no one is fighting him.

    When is the by-congress going to be held to fill the vacant positions in the PDP NEC vacated by Oyinlola and Oni?

    The party will determine that. The CWC, which is the highest administrative bodyof the party and the national executive of the party will determine that.

    Is APC not a threat to your party?

    That is a very interesting question. I do not see the APC as a strong opposition party. It is just a combination of some governors who want to compete with PDP governors. The minor parties will regret it. There are six ACN governors out of 10 governors in the party; the remaining four governors are from different parties. If we conduct an opinion poll in the six Southwest states, do you think they will support the amalgamation? It is just a means of expanding the ACN by its leaders so that people will stop calling ACN a regional party. They just want to give themselves a national outlook. Okorocha was in the PDP before and he wanted to be the President. He has joined the APC and Obi who knows how they formed this party with Ojukwu said he is not going. Even within the ANPP that joined them, there are divisions. Not all the ANPP members want to be in support of the amalgamation. Now what ideology do they share in common? CPC is collection of the people who want to make Buhari the President. In the process, they succeeded in producing just only one governor and the governor left the PDP because he did not win the primary. So, these are the people that are there. Ibikunle Amosun was in PDP before. He was a senator in PDP. The amalgamation is the wish of these governors and not their membership. CPC has just only one state. In that state, the majortiy of the House of Assembly members are in the PDP.

    If the performance of President Jonathan is a factor that will shape the 2015 elections, do you think he can garner votes as he garnered them in 2011?

    He will garner more. You know the man had experienced a lot of distractions. They are sufficient to submerge him, but because of his nature, he has been able to suppress them. If he had not had the kind of spirit he had, he would have been dislocated. Here is somebody who finished one year of his predecessor and he was just newly elected, they have not given him any opportunity to express himself. But I like him because he is always undaunted. He pursues the agenda of economic revival. The records are there for every Nigerian who cares to know that Nigeria has continued to move progressively. We have all reasons to support and stabilise President Jonathan in 2015. You cannot compare what we have now with the economy that was in place before now. If you read his programme and speeches very well, you will discover that he is trying to ensure that the economy is built on a solid rock. You can see that in the way he is collaborating with the private sector.