The Nation Newspaper

Tag: curious

  • Curious alarm

    Curious alarm

    • Northeast governors should do the needful rather than lament over traditional rulers’ complicity in banditry

    Nigeria is a country of striking paradoxes and contradictions. Nothing proves this more than the fact that governors of the Northeastern states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe, at their last meeting, issued a communiqué alleging that some traditional rulers and local government officials were collaborating with bandits by providing them shelter. The communiqué was signed by the forum’s chairman, Governor Babagana  Zulum of Bornu State.

    Banditry and kidnapping, among other criminal activities, have in the last ten years crippled the socio-economies of not just the Northeastern states, but nearly the entire country. That region of the country used to be a vibrant agrarian zone whose economic output contributed to food security in the country. But with the effects of banditry and other insurgency activities, the region is almost like a begging bowl personified. The region presently has more people in the poverty bracket, more illiterates and more out-of-school children and gender exclusion in politics due to a myriad of reasons. The region also has the highest number of Internally Displace Persons (IDPs). This has hugely impacted on the development economics of the region and its people.

    Nigerian governors wield unbelievable powers. They collect huge security funds on a monthly basis, and that has been very controversial because much of their accomplishments do not justify the security funds and other international aids and grants that they receive to help  citizens of their states. The essence of government is protection of lives and properties. Many governments in Nigeria do not live up to this expectation and we believe things must change.

    Nigerian governors have almost imperial powers. They are the chief security officers of their states. The traditional rulers derive their powers from the states and receive their staff of office from the governors. The lamentation of the Northeast Governors Forum about traditional rulers and some council officials conniving with bandits to us is curious. If they know that traditional rulers and some other people are conniving with bandits to ground their economies to a sad halt, what stops them from legally stripping such persons of their offices and prosecuting them?

    Read Also: Impeached Ogun council boss lied against me – Abiodun

    Governors rely on traditional rulers for help in mobilizing the populace for elections. How come they cannot perform the simple task of making sure those found complicit in abetting banditry are prosecuted? Why are they issuing a communiqué about dubious traditional rulers instead of getting the work of punishment and reward through constitutional means done?

    We see the communiqué not only as a sneaky alibi, but a sign that many political and traditional – sometimes religious leaders – in Nigeria often do not understand what their offices entail constitutionally and more. How can anyone explain the fact that traditional rulers who are the custodians of the mores and ethos of their communities would in any way provide succor – not to their people but to those who scourge those people?

    We are equally worried that while governors have resolved to stop making deals with bandits, some traditional rulers may have taken up the baton apparently because they are not happy with what is going on. It is not beyond contemplation that traditional rulers concerned may have found themselves compelled to enter into negotiations with bandits as a way of helping their communities in the absence of government protection.

    Whatever the situation, we are concerned about the safety and productivity of the people, and leaders everywhere must do their best to protect the lives of their people.  Leadership comes with great responsibility, and that means we expect leaders at every level to do the needful in safeguarding members of their respective community. Banditry is an ill-wind. Both the people and leaders should collaborate to protect respective community from the tyranny of miscreants.

    We expect that the governors will sit back and re-evaluate their strategies. The challenge they face is not rocket science, and as such they should spare no effort to protect the people. Government exists for the people and all hands must be on deck to secure their lives and property, while trouble makers in any shade, form or title should be prosecuted when they break the law. The law is no respecter of persons.

  • Strange Occurrences, Curious Questions

    I have two important questions to ask on two events that happened concerning Taraba State during the week. One is on the visit to Taraba State by Lt. General Abdulrahman Dambazau and the other, on the controversial front page editorial comment of Daily Trust newspaper of Monday July 3. Both of them aroused a lot of curiosity during the week. But first, let’s honour the two illustrious sons of the state, Danbaba Suntai, former governor, and Sylvanus Yakubu Giwa, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Publicity, who died.

    Giwa was buried on Saturday, July 1, in Takum, his home town. It was a befitting funeral ceremony attended by Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku, his wife, Anna and virtually all members of the State Executive Council and many political stalwarts from across the state.

    Giwa’s professional colleagues from various parts of the country were also there to honour him. In a speech at the burial church service in Takum, Governor Ishaku described Giwa as very hard working and somebody who was always eager to learn from his mistakes on the job when pointed out to him. He urged the family accept Giwa’s untimely passage with fortitude and asked Tarabans to pray for the repose of the souls of the two eminent personalities. Burial arrangements for Suntai has already commenced in earnest. A burial committee is working with his family to ensure a successful state burial promised by the government.

    In the midst of all these, Governor Ishaku found time to attend to other matters that are of paramount interest to the state. On Friday June 30, Governor Ishaku received in audience a Federal Government delegation led by General Abdulrahman Danbazau, minister of Interior, which came into the state in connection with the recent communal crisis in Mambilla, in Sardauna Local Government Area of the state.

    The minister’s visit was a big question mark on the sincerity and impartiality of the Dambazau’s Ministry of Interior. Why, for example, did similar crisis in the state and elsewhere in which the Fulani attackers had the upper hand against their targeted communities not attract such visitation from Dambazau? Why this one?

    Governor Ishaku, in his remarks said the events in Mambilla were unfortunate but noted with happiness that the crisis had been contained and that government’s efforts to sustain peace achieved there had been successful. “I’m happy that Mambilla is now calm. What remains is the healing process which has already started”, Ishaku said. He said there had been eight of similar communal crisis in two years but none attracted similar federal delegation and intervention

    on how similar crisis could be aaverted in future. He expressed happiness at the coming of the minister to the state in connection

    with the crisis and advised Nigerian leaders to endeavour to live up to the expectations of the people. He noted that the situation in

    which all money at the disposal of the state government is drained by the control of crises was unacceptable and urged the people to embrace peace.

    Ishaku called for extra effort on the part of leaders to achieve unity through national integration. He said the quest for national unity was part of the reason the National Youth Service Corps was introduced and suggested the extension of corps members’ service period from one to two years with the introduction of participants to military training.

    On Monday July 3, an important milestone was reached in the state with the flag-off of the Save One Million Lives Project. The project is in furtherance of the state government’s determination to extend healthcare services to a lot more people. The flag-off featured the distribution of medical equipment and consumables and drugs to primary healthcare institutions in the state. It is the first time in the history of the state that such items were procured on such a large scale and distributed. The items included assorted drugs, mosquito nets, delivery kits, cool boxes, generators, solar refrigerators, Android Phones, Hilux 4WD vehicles, motorcycles, tricycles and more.

    Speaking at the event, Governor Ishaku said the achievement recorded so far by his administration in two years have left nobody in doubt that the health sector occupies a prominent place on his rescue agenda and this will remain so. “I wish to reiterate here that so long as I remain the captain of the rescue mission in the state, health remains on the priority list and will continue to enjoy priority attention because without good health life becomes meaningless for the people.”

    The Governor later handed out the items to officers representing various health institutions in the state. Dr Innocent Vakkai, Commissioner for Health praised Governor Ishaku for his passion for the health sector in the state which has translated into regular and massive support for projects in the sector. “Our Governor is passionate about the health and well being of the people. This has manifested in the series of flag-offs including the renovation of hospitals, supply of drugs, recruitment of health officers and many of the  other requirements of the sector,” he said.

    During the week also, Government House reacted to the front page editorial comment of Daily Trust newspaper of Monday July 3, 2017 which sought to portray the recent communal crisis in Mambilla as a case of genocide and ethnic cleansing. In the editorial, titled “Genocide in Mambilla”, the paper took a biased position in favour of the Fulani side of the crisis by using inflated casualty figures provided by the Fulani leaders in the crisis as basis for its analysis and conclusions.  A Government House press statement issued on Tuesday rejected what it described as the” deliberate and callous attempt by unpatriotic elements to tag the Mambilla crisis as genocide” noting emphatically that “the recorded casualty figures of 18 human lives as announced by the police and other security agencies that brought the fighting to an end obviously do not support that evil name-tag.”

    The government urged Nigerians to ignore the biased and misleading position canvassed in the editorial and wondered why Daily Trust failed to label as genocide and ethnic cleansing the massacre by Fulani of the people in Southern Kaduna a few months ago. “The newspaper’s curious silence and failure to label the massacre a few months ago of indigenes of Southern Kaduna by the Fulani as a case of genocide and ethnic cleansing has apparently exposed the partisan direction of Daily Trust’s editorial standpoint on issues in which the interest of its pay masters are involved.” an obvious case of genocide perpetrated against the people of Southern Kaduna

  • That curious verdict

    •Justice Falola’s judgment distorts the principle behind introduction of uniforms in schools

    The proactive measures taken by the Department of State Services (DSS) in Osun State to stem the looming crisis over the accepted uniform in the secondary schools is commendable. Justice Jide Falola of the state high court had ruled that wearing of hijab to school is a fundamental right of Muslim students.

    The judgment has expectedly provoked a fresh row between the Muslim and Christian communities in the state. While the Christians see it as an affront, especially when schools established by them are involved, the Muslims have lauded the verdict. They challenged whoever found it unacceptable to approach higher courts.

    The invitation to the groups by the DSS indicates that the matter should not be handled with levity.  Already, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has directed  Christian students to defy the school uniform code by wearing robes to school as soon as  effect is given to Justice Falola’s judgment.  We find it unfortunate that young minds are being polluted at a time when we should be emphasising things that unite us, rather than those that divide us. It is even the more difficult to appreciate what has stoked this fire in a state in the South west, an area noted for religious understanding.

    The Falola judgment is puzzling. What has human right got to do with the dress code adopted by organisations? Do police women wear hijabs? Do judges? They do not because there are codes to which they are expected to subscribe. Those who subscribe to Justice Falola’s perspective have argued that the students would only wear half hijab. To this we respond that a distortion is unacceptable. Once it is allowed on the ground that it is a fundamental right, there is no limit to the absurdity that could be introduced.

    We cannot pretend, as a nation, to be oblivious to developments on the global stage. Terror attacks have forced an outright ban on the wearing of such covers in France. And, in Nigeria, most suicide bombers in the North East are young ladies and girls covered up in full hijab. Security concerns should teach us that this is not the way to go. Besides, it is a notorious fact that examination cheating is rife in our schools. The trend is likely to increase if hijabs are allowed and the person behind the veil is unknown.

    There are enough complications in Nigeria already; it will be unwise to introduce more.

    Justice Falola should have realised that the practice of law cannot be taken outside the social context. Where there is chaos, one of the first victims is the justice system. This judgment is not only likely to ignite fire in the state; it could spread to neighbouring states.

    The Falola verdict cannot stand and should immediately be appealed. Where the Christians decide to adopt passive resistance, it should be seen as their right. This is a time to build a stable Nigeria, not one for self-serving judgments. Governor Rauf Aregbesola should be dispassionate in handling this delicate development. He should immediately activate dialogue with all groups and get them to sheathe their swords and submit to the Rule of Law. But we see nothing wrong with peaceful protest, even as the Christians have promised to test the judgment at the Appeal Court.

  • Osinbajo queries BPE chief on N1.5b ‘curious’ contracts

    Osinbajo queries BPE chief on N1.5b ‘curious’ contracts

    Agency: ex-director’s petition frivolous

    Disturbed by the alleged N1.45billion legal and consultancy fees scandal in the Bureau of Public Enterprises(BPE), Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has queried the Director-General of the agency, Benjamin Dikki, on the award of such contracts.

    The controversial contracts include a curious N950million job for the liquidation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria(PHCN) when the company had seized to exist and N500million as consultancy fees to a government department.

    The DG is also expected to clarify the alleged payment of N27,188,232,208:20billion as premium for group life and group personal accident insurance for former staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria(PHCN).

    Another issue is the alleged diversion of N455,266,618;23 meant for the payment of retirement benefits to entertainment allowance for the staff.

    The query followed a petition to the Office of the Vice President by a former director of the BPE, Ibrahim Muhammad Kashim.

    Kashim said the N950million contract for the winding up of PHCN was unnecessary because PHCN was already a “shell” company.

    Before the action of the Vice President, the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) had asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the contracts.

    The contracts were awarded contrary to the advice of the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) and the BPP, it was learnt.

    The BPP requested the EFCC to investigate the payment scandal in a June 27, 2015 letter to the anti-graft agency.

    But a fresh petition by the ex-BPE director to the Office of the Vice President sparked the Presidency’s interest.

    A letter by the Office of the Vice President to the ex-director reads in part: “I am directed to acknowledge with thanks, the receipt of your letter dated 3rd November 2015 on the above stated subject.

    “His Excellency, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON, Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria has further directed that the said document be forwarded to Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) for his due consideration and response.

    “Please accept the assurances of His Excellency, the Vice President’s warm regards.”

    Earlier in his petition, Kashim said there was rot in the BPE which should be investigated by the Vice President, who is the Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation(NCP).

    He said: “Your Excellency, the former DG Miss Bolanle Onagoruwa, was removed partly because she refused to accept the appointment of a prominent PDP lawyer to wind up PHCN for an amount exceeding N1.5bn. ( When the proposal was sent to her, I was one of the Directors she confided in.)

    “ As lawyers, we reckoned that it was unthinkable, more so as all the assets of PHCN had been transferred through a presidential order to the Discos and Gencos while all the liabilities were to be handled by Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Company ( NEMLCO). PHCN is therefore a shell company.

    “Immediately after her removal, the current DG established a committee that awarded the assignment to the preferred law firm. I publicly expressed my disagreement. The DG sent for me and solicited for my support as it was from our bosses. I maintained my position, as a result of which the matter was never tabled at, or brought to the management committee for deliberation and approval before going to NCP.

    “ I still maintain that PHCN was a shell company that had no assets and or liabilities. Winding up a shell company surely cannot be done for close to a billion naira. It was fraudulent.

    Regarding the payment of over N27billion for insurance premium, the ex-director said at the time, PHCN had no more staff.

    He added: “The DG one day invited me to his office. He informed me of a memo that would be sent to Management Committee for its consideration and approval. He suggested that we should pass it, since I was the one that usually chaired such meetings. It was to approve for transmission to the chairman of NCP the payment of N27,188,232,208:20 billionas premium to Great Nigeria Insurance Plc for group life and group personal accident insurance for PHCN staff. I told him it cannot pass, for even a law 101 student knows the cliche ‘No premium No cover’.

    “And in any case at that time PHCN had no staff. However, I learnt later that the same paper came to BPE with all the necessary approvals, and I believe the money was paid.”

    On retirement benefits, Kashim alleged that the amount approved for BPE staff was converted to Entertainment Allowance.

    He said: “ One of the items approved by the NCP was Terminal Benefits for exiting staff. It was to take effect from 2015. For that purpose NCP approved for inclusion into 2015 national budget the sum of N455,266,618:23. The staff due to retire in 2015 are:(1)Ibrahim Muhammad Kashim(Director), (2)Hajiya Fati Abubakar (Director);and (3) Afolabi Mathew(Deputy Director).

    “ The amount approved by the NCP as terminal benefit was meant only for three of us retiring in 2015. It meant that BPE should in 2015 seek NCP’s approval for staff retiring in 2016. (As a matter of fact there will be only one retiring staff in 2016).

    “The DG by these acts has wrongly converted our terminal benefits to pay management staff entertainment allowances. This he did to calm the restiveness of the management staff as he had completely spent the internally generated revenue on his weekly trips to Zuru in Kebbi State to campaign for a political party (in deed he  even bought a pilot vehicle fitted with a siren to facilitate the trips).

    “Let the DG BPE Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki tell Nigerians by publicising the minutes of meetings where in those matters were presented to the management committee of the BPE and that it deliberated and recommended to the NCP for approval in line with the extant law. The BPE is the secretariat of the NCP. Matters going to NCP have to be discussed and approved by the management committee. Why none of the payments in question came before the committee was because I objected to it, so the DG went elsewhere and got the memos approved after which he disbursed the money. And it was my stance that made the DG in an attempt to pay me back, to circumvent NCPs approval that amended the BPE Staff Condition of Service, just to ensure that I don’t get my terminal benefits.

    “Not only that, he equally converted the approved sum for retiring staff in 2015 to be converted into recurrent management staff entertainment allowance.”

    In its defence, the BPE said its ex-director lied and misled the public in his petition to the Vice President.

    The BPE, in a statement by its Head, Public Communications, Alex E. Okoh, said: “Kashim lied when he stated,  “….. The former DG Ms Bolanle Onagoruwa was removed partly because she has refused to accept the appointment of a prominent PDP lawyer to wind up PHCN for an amount  exceeding N1.5billion… immediately after her removal the current DG established a committee that awarded the assignment to the preferred law firm.”

    “The fact is that the National Council on Privatisation at its 3rd Meeting of 2013 held on Thursday May 9, 2013 had approved the engagement of Messrs J K Gadzama as the consultant for winding up of PHCN.  Benjamin Ezra Dikki was appointed acting DG on 27th November, 2013, over six months later.”

    On insurance premium, the BPE added: “The provision of Group Life Insurance Policy for employees is mandatory and compulsory under Section 4(1) (5&6) of the Pension Reform Act 2004. The maxim of no premium no cover does not apply here where the law explicitly provides, ‘Every employer shall maintain Group Life Insurance Policy in favour of each employee for a minimum of three times the total annual emoluments of the employee and premium shall be paid not later than the date of commencement of the cover’.

    “Thus, PHCN Successor Companies as employers of labour before privatisation were mandated by law to provide these classes of insurance to its employee in compliance with the Pension Act.

    “It was established that there was an Insurance Policy between GNIP and PHCN.  Premiums were outstanding  for year 2011/2012 amounting to N13,607,151,141.10 and renewable for the year 2012/2013 at the sums of N13,581,080,774.10, totalling  N27,188,232,208.20 for which payment was outstanding.  PHCN had already filed claims with GNIP for 267 staff that died in active service for compensation to the relations/widows of the deceased.

    “GNIP did not pay the claim because PHCN did not pay premiums due for 2011/2012 and 2012/2013. PHCN submitted these claims to the Implementation Committee set up by the National Council on Privatisation for the processing of entitlements to PHCN Staff  that  then made representations to the then Minister of Power.

    “The Minister of Power presented the matter to the Vice President in a memo dated 23/12/2013.   It was subsequently presented to and approved by the National Council on Privatisation at its 3rd meeting held on August 4th, 2014, for payment.  BPE transferred the sum to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation for further action.

    “As mentioned earlier, at a special meeting held, on January 12, 2013 the NCP set up an Implementation Committee, chaired by the Minister of State for Power to handle the processing and payment of entitlements of PHCN Staff based on the approvals given at the same meeting.

    “This Implementation Committee chaired by a Minister comprised of representatives of various Ministries and Agencies, was superior to BPE management.  Thus no single one of the forty tranches of payments to PHCN Staff ever came to the BPE management for consideration.

    “It is in compliance to the same process that the Insurance premium payment did not have to come to BPE management as insinuated by Ibrahim Kashim.

    “Once the implementation Committee processed and verified PHCN Staff entitlements, it advised BPE and BPE remitted the relevant sums to the office of Accountant General of the Federation that effected payments as appropriate.”

    The BPE denied allegation of diversion of retirement benefits of BPE staff including the entitlements of Kashim.

    It said: “The Bureau in its desire to ameliorate the plight of its former staff who retired and the financial dislocation they went through before they could access payments from their RSA, decided to explore the provision of Section 4(4) (a) on the Pension Act which gives employers the discretion to make additional payments of benefits to its retiring employees.

    “It was intended to provide a cushion of funding for retiring staff pending when they were able to process and access their RSA’s.  Consequently, the National Council on Privatisation approval was sought to create terminal benefits for the Bureau’s staff who are retiring.

    “This was, however, subject to the approval of the Salaries and Wages Commission, the body that has the statutory powers to approve Salaries and Allowance of Public Servants.  The Salaries and Wages Commission declined approval of the Terminal Benefits on the grounds that the Bureau cannot be singled out of the entire Public Service for such special treatment.  Once the Salaries and Wages Commission does not approve the benefits, such cannot be included in the budget template and be funded.

    “By the provisions of the Pension Act and the determination of the Salaries and Wages Commission, there is no terminal benefit payable to Mallam Ibrahim M Kashim or any staff.

    “We wish to emphasise that all retirement benefits are paid by PENCOM in line with the Pension Act and all the ex-director’s records have been forwarded to PENCOM for payment. He has been advised to follow up with PENCOM for payment.”

  • Curious cover-up

    Curious cover-up

    Where is NLNG’s $14.9bn profit with the NNPC?

    It looks as if the corruption in the nation’s oil and gas industry is getting bigger and bigger daily. Right now, we are into the story of another $14.9bn allegedly missing profit from NLNG. The House of Representatives is currently seeking to know what happened to the fund, which represented the dividends accruing from the sale of liquefied gas from 2004 to 2014, and which the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) admitted it had paid to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    There is a House Committee on Public Accounts whose responsibility is to perform its oversight functions on the NNPC and NLNG. The chairman of the committee, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, said his committee would move a motion at plenary on March 3, to compel the NNPC to bring relevant documents for the purpose of probing the matter. But in a swift reaction, the NNPC, in its characteristic manner, moved to stop the House from going ahead with the probe through its lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, claiming that “the committee had no right to request for the NLNG accounts”.

    On its part, the NLNG had told members of the panel that the Federal Government has 51 percent holding in NLNG while 41 percent is owned by Shell and other private investors. The NLNG is in possession of the amount of fund from the Federal Government’s 51 percent holding which, on its part, it had returned to the Federal Government as dividends between 2004 and 2014, through the NNPC.

    Adeola said they wrote the NNPC asking for “evidence for the sources of revenues, bank statements, and every expenditure for that account and any other item that would assist in their investigation”. The above evidence is necessary for transparency and accountability in governments, ministries, parastatals and other agencies. But for reasons best known to the NNPC, its lawyer, Mike Ozekhome & Co, wrote quoting section 88 and other sections of the constitution “as to why they cannot and will not come before the committee with these particular documents”.

    We agree with Adeola that Mr. Ozekhome operates a private law firm and his chamber’s opinion could not have necessarily represented that of the law courts and that the attempt by the chambers and NNPC to keep the records requested for from being scrutinised show “that there is more to what we are seeing”. The committee chairman lamented the fact that while the committee only made a simple request on transactions that concern the generality of Nigerians, “the next line of action is to go to your lawyer to start writing and from there move to court to seek injunction preventing us from requesting for that document … This tells you the extent they have used the judiciary to stall a lot of investigations we are carrying out as a House”.

    The NLNG has been a success story; so we wonder why it has to be enmeshed in the familiar mess with which the NNPC is well known. The NNPC under the current Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, is notorious for using the court to halt any probe of her activities and sleazes in her ministry, and this one is no exception. We wonder whether, with the usual assistance of the courts that readily grant injunctions to the NNPC on matters of this nature, there would ever be any investigation or probe in the NNPC under the current administration.

    This will remain the case as long as the NNPC gets away with the habit of always seeking cover under legal technicalities which, curiously enough, the courts freely and quickly oblige it whenever it is asked to render account of money in its custody.

  • Curious judgment

    Curious judgment

    •What informed the judge’s decision in the PDP’s suit on its defectors?

    THE great jurist, Lord Denning (MR), as far back as 1969 declared: ‘Justice must be rooted in confidence and confidence is destroyed when right minded people go away thinking; the judge is biased.’ This statement formed the bulwark of our scrutiny of the Justice Adeniyi Ademola’s judgment of the Abuja high court that is inflaming passion in the National Assembly and the entire polity. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on January 7 instituted a suit seeking to restrain the House of Representatives from altering the composition of its leadership. The action was a consequence of mass defection of its members to the new All Progressives Congress (APC) which nearly made it lose its majority status.

    The court granted PDP’s prayer for perpetual injunction restraining the 37 defecting lawmakers that moved from PDP to APC from effecting any leadership change in the lower house. But rather than limit the court’s scope to the relief sought by the plaintiff, the judge went overboard by declaring that the 37 defectors should resign their positions from the National Assembly.

    To us, the entire hullabaloo would have been averted if the judge had shown sufficient circumspection in his judgment – most especially in his interpretation of section 68 of the 1999 constitution (as amended). Obviously, the court adduced some reasons for arriving at this contentious judgment which included the fact that the expiry date under which the defected lawmakers were elected under the PDP had not been extinguished as provided for by the constitution before they moved to the APC. However, the judge’s overreliance on Justice Elvon Chukwu’s ruling of October 8 last year is suspect. Justice Chukwu, contrary to the impression being given by the new judgment merely said the defectors could not have acted under the then name of ‘New PDP’ that they adopted; he never said there was no division in the PDP.

    The fact is that the plaintiff (PDP) in this matter merely instituted the action as a pre-emptive one. The party was scared stiff that with the high level of defection going on at that period when the opposition APC was about having the majority, the ruling party’s leadership days of the National Assembly were numbered. To forestall that, it approached the court that has now awarded it a bonus by pronouncing that the defected legislators have no moral or legal basis to retain their seats. Yet, we know that the court is not Father Christmas and should not give judgment on what was not canvassed before it. The thrust of the matter before it was to determine whether the APC legislators, with their numerical strength at that period, had the right to change the House leadership in such areas as that of Chief Whip, Majority Leader and their deputies. The judge seemed to have lost focus of this salient point before arriving at his highly litigious judgment.

    We are happy that the defendants in the case have gone on appeal to challenge the validity of that judgment. We have implicit confident that the appellate court will do justice by determining whether the judge in this case sincerely adverted his mind to the provisions of the constitution and if indeed he applied them to his actions. In our view, a lawmaker who has crossed over to another political party could not legally be compelled to resign his seat, if his action was a consequence of division within his party. It is incontestable that PDP was enmeshed in serious crisis that led to the emergence of another faction within the fold which led to the defections that followed.

    As we said earlier, Justice Chikwu actually stopped the breakaway faction from using the name ‘new PDP’ because, at that point, the defection saga was unstoppable. In our view, the court erred by saying that those lawmakers have no right to leave the party. The move is constitutional. Justice Ademola’s observation that the lawmakers should vacate their seats should be taken as an obiter dictum (just an aside) and not the ratio decidendi (thrust) of the judgment. It was his opinion and therefore cannot stand.

  • Otedola’s curious N141b debt settlement

    Otedola’s curious N141b debt settlement

    It is good to have friends in high places. In a country like ours where people believe so much in connections, we struggle to have friends in such quarters. The reason for this is obvious. Having friends in such places confers a lot of privileges. It opens doors and at the mention of your powerful friend’s name, others will cringe before you.

    Some will even bow to you because they know that you only need to speak the word and they are finished. It is indeed good to have friends in high places. With the support of your powerful friends, you can get away with anything, including murder.

    Having friends in high places has its advantages no doubt. In the interdependent world that we live in today, it is good to know people be it in politics, business or at the social level. We need to move out of our cocoons and make friends for the betterment of our lives and society.

    The essence of friendship is to have people to fall back on when the need arises. Some of us are good at making friends; some are not that lucky, no matter how hard they try. We collect friends for different reasons. Some deliberately make friends in high places because of what such friendship can fetch them. Those people are not assets to their friends, but liabilities. But do they care?

    They don’t because they intentionally made such friendship because of what it can fetch them. These are people who go to government offices, throwing their weight about and asking through their body language, do you know who I am? They are super connected and they leave no one in doubt about that. Where some talk of friendship in high places, they boast of friendship in higher places. They are friends of leaders of the country and you know what that means; it means power, raw power. Because of their closeness to power, they tend to treat others with disdain, forgetting that their privileged position should make them humble.

    Being a friend of the president of a country should make any rational person to be fearful and grateful to God at the same time. It is a privilege, which many crave, but which only a few can obtain. So, those who obtain this rare favour in the face of the Almighty should be mindful of how they use it. Such favours are not meant to be used by shouting all over the place that I am the friend of the president.

    Those who are true friends of a president are known by how they contribute to his success; they are known by the kind of public good they dispense; they are known by their humanitarian gestures; they are known by their ethical and moral conduct; they are known for their uprightness in all their endeavours.

    These are attributes of a person, who does not want his powerful friend to fail through his questionable conduct on account of their friendship. But what do we have today? We see all over the  place, people hanging around the president because they want to be identified as his friend so that others can say of them : don’t you know that man, he is the president’s friend. Nobody can touch him; anything he does, he will get away with it. Yes, on earth, anything they do, they will get away with it. But in the Hereafter, we will all answer for our deeds. Even the president will answer to a higher president.

    On earth, let all those who want to use the president to achieve their selfish desires continue to do so, but a day is coming that there will be a Pharaoh who knows no Joseph.

    Nobody can really put a fin

    ger to the kind of relation

    ship between President Goodluck Jonathan and oil magnate Femi Otedola beyond the fact that they are friends. Their friendship, I have heard it said, predates Jonathan’s assumption of office. According to the grapevine, Otedola was there for the president when the cabal was hellbent on stopping him from emerging acting president before the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2010.

    Some even said he committed time and money to the Jonathan project before and after Yar’Adua’s death. So, both men are close. Because he is not an ingrate, the president has brought Otedola close to himself since he came to power and the oil baron is seen all over the place with him. It was said that when things seemed not to be going well for Otedola, it took only a little push from the president for him to get his bearings back. I don’t know how well his businesses are doing, but from the look of it, things are not bad for him.

    The chink in his armour may be his alleged indebtedness to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) for which he and 418 others were blacklisted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Their blacklisting followed their alleged reluctance to service the debt despite the buying of the loan by AMCON at an agreed price.

    Otedola’s debt was put at N192.4 billion, but it was bought by AMCON for N140.9 billion. With over N50 billion chopped off his debt, it was expected that Otedola and others who enjoyed similar mark down on their loans will promptly begin to service the facility to continue to enjoy the support of their banks. You can trust the Nigerian businessman, they never did that.

    They started to play the waiting game to see what will happen next. Meanwhile, they were still going to their banks for more loans. This leads us to this question : Should a debtor that refuses to service his/her debt be allowed to obtain more loans? The CBN answered this question appropriately by blacklisting the debtors. I agree with the CBN.

    What kind of precedent will we be setting if we treat debtors like the ones blacklisted by CBN with kid gloves while going after small debtors with a sledge hammer? It will be a bad precedent and the consequences for us as a nation will be grave if we continue to pamper big debtors.

    Many banks are dead today because of the refusal of some big debtors to defray their debts. Many of those debtors are strutting all over the place as lords of the manor, despite causing the death of these banks. Why will a debtor refuse to pay? Is it for lack of fund or what? Can he choose to pay at his own will or as scheduled by the bank?

    Barely one week after news broke of his being blacklisted, Otedola reportedly paid his N141 billion debt. Just like that; yes just like that. So, he had the money all along but chose not to pay? Why did he choose to pay now? To ensure that he continues to enjoy credit facility from his banks? No, that cannot be the case since he was compelled to pay up by CBN’s action.

    I don’t know how much Otedola is worth, but one thing I know for sure is that N141 billion is a huge sum, which cannot just be picked up off the street. Where did he get the money from? What are the assets he sold?

    AMCON must come clean with the people on this issue because of insinuations that Otedola might have benefited from his friendship with the president. For me, it is not a sin to have the president as a friend, but it will be wrong to use that friendship to gain undeserved favour.

    Will other debtors benefit from such help so that they can continue to remain in business and be able to borrow money from the banks until they are killed just like some financial houses before them? Friendship should not stand in the way of justice; no, not at all. The people have the right to know how Otedola was able to raise such huge sum within so short a time when he could not do so for years before the CBN threat.