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  • Maina: Senate seeks sack of Malami, Danbazau, others

    Maina: Senate seeks sack of Malami, Danbazau, others

    SENATORS resolved yesterday to probe the controversial return of Abdulrasheed Maina to the civil service.

    The Public Service, Anti-Corruption, Interior and Judiciary  committee is to investigate the recall  of the former Chairman, Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, who is on the wanted list of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged N2 billion pension fraud, among others.

    The committee is to determine how Maina was reinstated and promoted to director.

    The upper chamber said the development became even curious, especially when Maina is wanted for alleged fraud.

    The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance raised by Senator Isa Hamma Misau (Bauchi South).

    Misau said the circumstances of Misau’s return and reinstatement service had become a huge embarrassment to the country.

    Many of the senators who contributed to the debate asked the Senate to resolve to ask President Muhammadu Buhari to sack those linked to the development.

    The lawmakers singled out Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami and Interior Minister Abdulrahman Danbazzau as two public officials that should be hammered by President Buhari for their alleged roles in the Maina matter.

    Misau said: “Right from day before, you will see the story of somebody who has been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).  We read how the man who was declared wanted and was said to be abroad came back to Nigeria miraculously.

    “Going by the newspaper publications, somebody wanted by the EFCC left the country for so many years. He was dismissed from the service. He was out for a long time, but smuggled into the service. He left the country as an assistant director. Today, he is a director.

    “We even heard that he goes about with police escort. I wonder how a government that claims to be fighting corruption will be involved in a matter like this. This is a big embarrassment for this country. The people around the President are not helping matters. It appears that the President is the only one talking about corruption. Other people around him are protecting corrupt people.

    “The AGF was mentioned and other people were mentioned. We investigated this case in the 7th Assembly. I am calling on the Senate to investigate this case again.”

    Chief Whip Olusola Adeyeye said: “I remember what happened then. It got to a point when the former President of the Senate, David Mark, told the former President Goodluck Jonathan to choose between Abdulrasheed Maina and loyalty to the country. It got so bad that Maina had over 30 police officers attached to him.

    “It got so bad that he was always on the front row whenever the former President travelled. At some point, we thought that he was being protected. I remember one of us was blackmailed and called names. He was accused of taking billions as bribes. Today, that lawmaker was cleared and he is here.

    “Some principalities in power then ferried Maina to neighbouring countries. There is a procedure when it comes to promotion in the civil service. This is an insult on the part of civil servants who have worked so hard.

    “As a member of APC, it is a sad moment. We cannot say that we want to fight corruption and have this approach. Jesus Christ said it is difficult for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle.

    “This saddens me and I am sure it saddens all of us. I am glad that following the outrage from the public, the President acted swiftly. We read in the papers that the rules of the civil service were bypassed.

    “It appears there are people in this government who want the President to fail. Every patriot and member of APC in this house must stand out and ensure that the President does not fail.

    “Papers have reported that two Ministers were involved. Those Ministers must be brought to justice. The President must ensure that those Ministers are sacked. Corruption is not only about stealing money. Incompetence too is another form of corruption.

    “I hope that this Senate will not forget its past resolutions on Maina. On it, we still stand. He must be made to stand and face the law. He is not above the law. Steven Oronsaye was accused. He did not leave the country. He stayed back and cleared his name. Maina must do same.

    Senator Kabiru Marafa said:

    “I want to appreciate the person who brought this motion by exposing some dubious people in government. No family can boast of having 100 per cent good people. APC is not an exception. We cannot attribute everything to the President. He should be commended for rising to the occasion.

    “Reinstating Maina is a crime against Nigerians. We should approve a full blown investigation into what happened. We must not allow this thing to go unnoticed.

    Senator Atai Idoko said: “We are looking at the symptoms; we are not looking at the cause. Maina is too small to go back to office. Somebody brought him back to the office. Maina is too small. He is not the issue. We should look at those who returned Maina.

    “As we were told, the person who approved this thing is the AGF. The simplest thing the President could do was to terminate the appointment of Maina. That is not the issue. The AGF brought him back. The AGF has a history of doing things like this. The President should tell us what he will do to the AGF.

    Senator Albert Bassey Akpan would like the Senate to “investigate and bring to book any person who wants to bring this country to disrepute”. “We will stand with the Senate to ensure that the right thing is done,” he said.

    Senator Tayo Alasoadura cautioned his colleagues not to call names of people who have not been indicted. “We should not duplicate. If the executive has set up a committee, we should not do the same thing. We must not set up committees every time”, he said.

    Senator Dino Melaye, “the whole unfolding affair is pathetic”. He said: “Should we continue in sin and ask grace to abound? The AGF time after time has abused his office. Maina did not get himself back. We should talk about the integrity of the AGF and his office. If the number one law officer is breaking the law, where is the hope?

    “The AGF started with the forgery case against Saraki and Ekweremadu. Something happened we have not noticed. Two public officers had issues and the AGF chose to support the Inspector-General of Police against Senator Isah Hamman Misau. Today, it is Senator Isah versus the Federal Government.

    “Tomorrow, if I commit any offence against the friend to the AGF, I will be arraigned. We should not encourage the setting up of investigative committees. The President is surrounded by worms who are bent on destroying the country.

    “There are so many committees that have been set up by the President and the resolutions of those reports may not be implemented until after rapture. Enough is enough. We cannot have this forever. This is wrong. The Senate needs to do something.

    “We must recommend to the President that the AGF has erred in discharging the affairs of his office. If we do not check it, the AGF will plunge us into trouble.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki asked the joint committee to do a thorough job.

    Read Also:Maina: Ex-NBA boss lauds Buhari for immediate disengagement

  • Danbazau and the challenges of internal security Jide Adebayo

    Ever since the eruption of the murderous attacks of the terrorist Boko Haram insurgents in North-East Nigeria in 2009, internal security has become a major challenge in the most populous African nation.

    While the nation’s military forces were battling to permanently subdue the Boko Haram mindless killers, the Niger Delta Avengers erupted from the creeks, unleashing debilitating blows on the nation’s oil installations with fatal socio-economic consequences.

    As if those are not enough national malaise, secessionist agitators for Biafra are baring their own fangs in the South-East.

    The attendant human and material casualties and dislocations arising from these insurgency-induced internal security breaches have inflicted mortal wounds of the national economy.

    Nigeria, hitherto the peace haven for many West African refugees, thus suddenly became a nation of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) wholly dependent of food hand-outs in emergency resettlement camps set up in many areas of the North-East/west  geo-political  zones and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Available statistics from the Internal Displacement  Monitoring Centre (IDMC), a Geneva-based Non-governmental and humanitarian organization, showed that there were 2,152,000 IDPs in Nigeria as at December 31, 2015.

    Officials of Nigeria’s Interior Ministry, at a recent media forum in Abuja, said that there are currently more than 300,000 Nigerian refugees in Cameroon and an additional 80,000 in Niger.

    Those are just official figures. There are certainly more, given our very porous borders and velocity of Boko Haram attacks until last year.

    The escalation of Boko Haram violence in 2014 (when 10,849 killings were recorded) and the superior fire power of the Nigerian military forces drove many of the Jihadist terrorists into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republics where their violent actions were are effectively curtailed by the Multi-national Joint Task Force of Nigeria and those countries.

    Since the inception of the Buhari administration, however, the free-wheeling territorial aggression of the Islamist insurgents has been undoubtedly check-mated, making peace restoration possible in many communities earlier overran by the terrorists’ ‘’army’’.

    While the military forces are winning the war against Boko Haram, the Ministry of Interior under the leadership of retired Lt-Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazau, is spiritedly struggling to win the peace in the troubled zones, using the police, National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the immigration service.

    At a recent media chat in Abuja, the Interior Minister said that more than 3,000 policemen and 2,000 civil defence operatives had been deployed to the communities freed from the grips of Boko Haram in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

    Gen. Danbazau, an acclaimed criminologist and former Chief of Army Staff (2008 – 2010), said that there is need for greater capacity building in the interior ministry and all its agencies – police, immigration, civil defence and prison services — if they must live up to their billings.

    He lamented that many officers in the aforementioned services had not undergone any professional career training in the last 20 years.

    ‘’This does not help the intelligence gathering aspect of modern internal security operations,’’ Danbazau said.

    He said that total transformation of the various agencies remained top on his card and assured that all obstacles in the course of achieving that goal will be dismantled.

    Perhaps what the minister should not leave out of his priority list is the total re-orientation of the internal security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police Force, where professional ethics are observed largely in the breach.

    There is also an urgent need for a radical change in the retirement age policies of the armed forces and the police.

    A security service crying of low human capital cannot continue to throw scores of its top brass into forced retirement at every appointment of a new service chief.

    The Nigerian army and the police today probably have more retired able-bodied generals and assistant/deputy Inspector-Generals respectively than serving ones. It’s a monumental waste of scarce human resources.

    The recent strikes of the terrorists in the North-East and threats of their onslaught on key southern states underscore the need for both the military and all internal security agencies to strategically harness their human and material resources to give Nigerians their most desired protection.

    Until the poor peasant farmers in Gwoza, Biu, Bama, Nguru and Michika are able to bend their backs on their farms without trepidation, no peace can genuinely be claimed to have been restored in their areas and local economy revived.

    Danbazau surely has all it takes, professionally and academically, to make our internal security agencies walk their talk.

     

    • Jide, Media Consultant and Ex-Executive Director, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
  • Danbazau to security agencies: be alert

    Danbazau to security agencies: be alert

    Minister of Interior Gen.  Abdulrahman Bello Danbazau yesterday urged security agencies to be on the alert against illegal cross borders activities.

    Speaking when he visited Illela border post at the boundary point between Nigeria and Niger Republic, Gen. Danbazau noted that illegal cross borders activities contributed to the criminal menace affecting Nigeria with over 4000 kilometres round its borders.

    “Nigeria needs absolute security, especially in this period of terrorism,” he stressed.

    The minister, who also identified human, arms and dangerous drug trafficking as responsible for most crimes, said it was time for everyone to be up and doing to overcome the problem.

    “It is in our best interest to check people who are not suppose to cross into the country for negative ulterior motive.

    “We expect you security agencies to live above board with high integrity and shun corrupt practices by living within your legitimate means.

    Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Martin Kure explained that Illela border remained one of the biggest and most vibrant in trade activities, which also reflects the affinity between Nigeria and the neighbouring Niger Republic.

     

  • Danbazau’s ministerial nomination in perspective

    The recent ministerial nomination of retired Lieutenant General Abdulrahman Dambazau (CFR) by President Muhammadu Buhari does not occur as a fluke, but a product of diligence, commitment, dedication to nation building and above all, a product of firm and abiding faith in God.

    Apart from being the former Chief of Army Staff, it is also an incontestable fact that the General is the first Nigerian Army Chief to acquire a Doctor of Philosophy Degree (PhD); a prove of what an anonymous philosopher meant when he said: “The expectations of life depends upon diligence”.

    Greatness is not given rather it is earned. The journey of General Dambazau to greatness is not something that was wished into being; rather, it took some processes, which employed commitment, industry, loyalty, and perseverance before the improbable vision of yesterday was turned in to the reality of today.

    Born on March 14, 1954, General A.B Dambazau began his military career at the Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA) after successfully completing his secondary education at the famous Barewa College, Zaria in 1974. At NDA, he was a member of the 17 Regular Combatant Course and was later commissioned as the second Lieutenant in to the Infantry Corps of the Nigerian Army in June 1977.

    In 1979, General Dambazau attended the United States Army Military Police School in Fort McClellan, Alabama. In 1980, he went to Kent State University in Ohio United States  and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree (Bsc) in Criminal Justice. After completing his Master of Arts (MA) in International Relations as well as Master of Education (MEd) in Higher Educational Administration in 1989, he went to the University of Keele in the United Kingdom to acquire his Doctor of Philosophy Degree (PhD) in Criminology from the renowned Institute.

    Having served as a Military Officer, Aid De Camp (ADC) to a former Chief of Army Staff in 1979 and having also commanded the Military Police Units as well as being a Special Investigator at the Special Investigation Bureau of  NACMP from 1984 to 1985, he was appointed as the Registrar (Academic) of the Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA) from 1993 to 1999.

    Thereafter, he served as Chief Instructor, Support Weapon Wing of the Infantry Centre and School from 1999 to 2001. Later, he served as Directing Staff and Director, Higher Military Organization and Operations at the National War College now known as the National Defense College from 2004 to 2006.  He once served as the General Officer Commanding 2nd Division Ibadan from 2007 to 2008. Having distinguished himself in various task handed down to him, in August 2008, he was appointed as the Chief of Army Staff; a position he held until his retirement in September 2010.

    Worthy of note is the fact that Dr. AB Dambazau was once a part-time Lecturer (Gratis). He taught Criminology at the Faculty of Law, Ahmadu Bellow University (ABU) Zaria. Outside the military, Dr. Dambazau is also an erudite scholar and author of five widely read books as well as several academic articles in notable journals.

    As a technocrat, he is a member of several international professional organizations such as the World Society of Criminology, World Society of Victimology, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, American Society of Criminology, British Society of Criminology, International Police Executive Symposium and Fellow, Institute of Public Relations.

    He is also the founder and Chairman Board of Trustees, Foundation for Victims of Child Abuse (VCAF) which is dedicated to the victims of child abuse in Nigeria. In recognition of his several services to the nation at various levels, the Federal Government of Nigeria honored him with a national honor of the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) and the National Productivity Order of Merit Award.

    Upon retirement from active service in 2010, General Dambazau veered in to politics to contribute his own quote to the nation’s political development; an adventure that made the then Presidential Candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) and the current leader of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) to appoint him as Chairman, Security Committee in the 2011 Presidential Campaign Council.

    It was because of the satisfactory services rendered that PMB once again appointed him as the Director of Intelligence and Security during the just concluded 2015 Presidential Election, a feat that has since paid off as the former opposition party in the country is now the ruling party in Nigeria.

    Nevertheless, before his current ministerial nomination, Dr. A.B Dambazau was a Senior Visiting Fellow of the Centre for Peace, Democracy and Development, University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is also a Fellow and Associate of the Weather head Centre for International Affairs, Harvard University, all in the United States of America.

    While he is a Visiting Professor at the Department of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, Igbinedion University, recently the University of Ibadan Governing Council appointed the General the Board Chairman, University Advancement Centre.

     

    • Uhara wrote in from Abuja.