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Tag: Diepreye Alamieyeseigha

  • Alamieyeseigha under attack for calling APC ‘north, west party’

    Alamieyeseigha under attack for calling APC ‘north, west party’

    Former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, came under attack on Wednesday for referring to the All Progressive Congress (APC) as a northern and western party.

    The former governor, who insisted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) belonged to the Ijaw, said allowing the APC to win Bayelsa State in December governorship election would amount to conquering the Ijaw nation.

    But an APC stalwart in the state, Prince Preye Aganaba, asked Bayelsans to disregard Alamieyeseigha’s tantrums, adding that the APC remains a national party.

    He said: “The APC is a national party that cuts across all geopolitical zones. The party has been widely received and Bayelsans have demonstrated their readiness to embrace the change mantra.”

    He told Alameiyeseigha that the people of the state will no longer identify with the failures of the past, reminding him that the language of change knows no barriers and tribes.

    Aganaba, who flew the senatorial flag of the APC for Bayelsa Central in the last general election, said the people had left the likes of Alamieyeseigha behind as they yearn to partake at the central government.

    He asked the people to queue behind APC and its governorship candidate that will emerge through a credible primary election.

    Aganaba, who hails from Odi in Kolokuma-Opokuma, also described the recent appointments of new special advisers by Governor Seriake Dickson and the reconciliation moves of the PDP as belated and deceitful.

    He wondered why it took the PDP such a long time to come up with the reconciliatory strategy when “it is visible to the blind and audible to the deaf that the umbrella is torn behind repairs in Bayelsa State.”

    “It is ironic that the party that failed to bring the warring factions together before the last National Assembly and House of Assembly elections could be doing so now that the majority of the party members have decided to join the moving train of the unstoppable APC in the state.

    “Persons who have decided to move to APC should not be fooled by the antics of the PDP which is to use and dump them. They should actualise the dreams of identifying with the change revolution that is blowing across the country,” he stated.

  • Alamieyeseigha slams Bayelsa PDP defectors

    Alamieyeseigha slams Bayelsa PDP defectors

    [dropcap]F[/dropcap]ormer governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, at the weekend slammed members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defecting to the All Progressive Congress (APC) ahead of the December 5 governorship election in the state.

    Alamieyeseigha, who described the defectors’ motives as selfish, also threw his weight behind the administration of Governor Seriake Dickson and his re-election ambition.

    The ex- governor, who is also the Chairman of the PDP Reconciliation Committee, said the defectors were driven only by personal benefits and the desire to always remain on the corridors of power.

    He said: “I am sure you are aware that some PDP members in the state are defecting to the APC. Maybe they are thinking that when they defect to APC they will get more benefits. For those members from Bayelsa that defected from PDP to APC, I pity them because APC does not even know them.

    “They were not involved in the election of President Buhari because they were all in PDP. People worked hard to elect Buhari. They also worked hard to elect members of the National Assembly and state assembly. They just decided to defect to a party they don’t know anything about. Do you think those they met in APC will accommodate them wholeheartedly?”

    Alamieyeseigha, who spoke in Yenagoa, said his committee interacted with most of the aggrieved members of the PDP and discovered that they were angry that some of their demands had not been met by the government.

    He said the committee also found out that others were unhappy because they were denied the party’s tickets at the last general election.

    “Then I asked the question, ‘must it always be you? Must these set of people always be the ones to be picked in every election’? It is not right. Leadership is a relay race. You complete your assignment you handover to another person.

    “It cannot always be you alone every time. There is time for everything, so basically that is the problem. By the time we go into the party primaries all the noise you are hearing will die down, because it is only one candidate that the party will present,” he said.

  • Kinsman threatens Jonathan with lawsuit over Alamieyeseigha’s property

    Kinsman threatens Jonathan with lawsuit over Alamieyeseigha’s property

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan is embroiled in conflict with his kinsman and chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr. Sidi Godwin, over property seized from former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

    Alamieyeseigha was impeached in 2005 by the state House of Assembly and later convicted for money laundering, paving way for Jonathan to become the governor of the state.

    His properties at home and abroad were confiscated and returned to the state by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    While as President, Jonathan, who always refers to Alamieyeseigha as his benefactor, granted state pardon in controversial circumstances to his former boss.

    But Godwin told journalists in Yenagoa on Friday that some of the properties seized from the former governor were in the possession of the former President.

    He claimed that Jonathan took possession of one of the seized buildings of Alamieyeseigha at Maitama, Abuja, and later handed it over to his political associate and friend, King A.J. Turner.

    He accused Jonathan of confiscating a five-series bulletproof BMW car bought as a birthday gift for Alamieyeseigha by a friend.

    Godwin gave the former President 72 hours to return Alamieyeseigha’s property in his possession or face a lawsuit.

    He also asked the National Assembly to compel Jonathan to give account of the whereabouts of the Chibok girls since he was the Chief Security Officer of the country when they were taken away by terrorists.

    He said his group had concluded plans to drag the ex-President to the International Court of Justice over the Chibok girls.

    He argued that Jonathan conceded defeat to cover up political and economic atrocities he committed in office.

     

    Sidi, a former South-South Youth Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),  asked the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to make Jonathan’s assets declaration public.

    He alleged that the former President glorified in corruption and allowed graft to cripple the country.

    He said: “Jonathan’s concession of defeat is a ploy to cover up political atrocities he committed while in office. Jonathan was instrumental to the removal of Alamieyeseigha and prior to his removal, I remembered vividly that a friend of Alamieyeseigha bought him five-series BMW car salon. Jonathan took that vehicle to Aso Rock.”

     

  • Dubai deaths: I warned but no one listened, says Aisha Falode

    Dubai deaths: I warned but no one listened, says Aisha Falode

    •Condoles with Alamieyeseigha 

    Eight months after the murder of her son in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), sports journalist, Aisha Falode has decried the insensitivity of the Federal Government to her plight and those of other parents whose children might have died in similar circumstance

    Falode, who was reacting to the alleged murder of former Bayelsa Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha’s son in the Arab city, insisted that if the Nigerian government had heeded her call to investigate questionable deaths of young Nigerians in Dubai, it might have been averted.

    She expressed displeasure that justice has not been gotten for her son, Toba, who she said was thrown off the balcony of a 17th floor apartment in Manchester Tower by one Faisal Al-Nasser, whose t-shirt and knuckles had her son’s blood.

    Falode said despite putting together evidence from witnesses present during her son’s murder, nothing has been done by the government, which only seek partnership and collaboration with the UAE.

    She called for the recall of Nigeria’s Ambassador to the UAE, Ibrahim Auwalu to give account of every young soul that has been lost in Dubai due to his lack of responsibility in office.

    “I am saddened that this has happened despite my nationwide campaign to stop this happening again by putting all relevant government agencies on notice, in vain.

    “I warned the Nigerian government that Nigerian youths were being killed in Dubai on a daily basis as confirmed by our embassy in Dubai. I also warned parents about the danger of Dubai.

    “I stated repeatedly that if justice was not gotten for my son that another murder will happen. In deed, there have been many more after my son although not mentioned because they do not have a voice. But now, there is one so close to government that has been struck.

    “I did not have to be a soothsayer to know this. Many more will happen until we get justice for Toba Falode and all those who have been murdered in cold blood in Dubai. We cannot standby and watch our youths’ lives being down played over and above collaboration and partnership…

    “Our ambassador in the UAE, Auwalu, must be called back to answer to every young soul that has been lost in Dubai unacounted for due to his lack of responsibility in office. The foreign ministry must also be asked questions on what they have done about Toba’s case eight months after.

    “It took Isreal less than 48 hours to act on the loss of three of its youths, but eight months after Toba’s murder, we are still waiting on the Nigerian government to give us any kind of reaction on the loss of a young life.

    “The Nigerian government should start acting like a big country with might and power and go after Dubai for justice for every young soul and every Nigerian life that has been cut short in Dubai,” she said.

    While empathizing Alamieyeseigha, Falode described his son’s death as one too many, which no parent should experience.

     

     

  • Dubai…Like Falode, like Alamieyeseigha

    Dubai…Like Falode, like Alamieyeseigha

    Dubai is a beautiful city in the United Arab Emirate (UAE). It is a place many Nigerians have visited and many are still planning to visit. But for some Nigerians, such as ace broadcaster Aisha Falode and former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who have lost sons in the city, it evokes bad memories

    It has been some eight months since she lost her son in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Ace broadcaster and sports journalist Aisha Falode has also returned to work doing what she knows best. But the pain of losing her son Toba in Dubai is one that will not go away permanently. There is no doubt that the death at the weekend of the son of former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha will bring back the memories of Toba’s death to Mrs Falode.

    Toba was brutishly killed on February 15. Initial reports indicated that Tyler as Toba was also known was involved in a car accident. Unconvinced, Mrs Falode and her lawyer Festus Keyamo went to Dubai where they discovered the truth was not told about Toba’s death. Their findings revealed that the 19-year-old aspiring rapper was pushed to his death from the multi-storeyed Manchester Tower in Dubai.

    It was discovered that a Saudi billionaire’s son, Faisal Aldakmary Al-Nasser, pushed Toba to his death from the high rise after an argument. Mrs. Falode has got the National Assembly to help her in the mission to get justice.

    In a piece, Mrs Falode cursed her son’s killer. She wrote: “Death came so close to me I can still feel its hot breath down my spine. Yet I see how helpless it has become for it cannot strike the same victim twice. Death is so uncanny, it takes a soul but it knows that the soul goes back to the Maker in peace, yet he is lucky because the person who wore its cloak, the person who struck the blow, the person who took breath which does not belong to him, becomes its victim.

    ‘’I say this today, my son’s killer/s you have become the victim. Death has deceived you and is now sneering at you. You are in your own hell, a living hell, hades of which will be immersed in you for the rest of your life.

    ‘’Toba Falode aka Tyler Fray would have been alive today, breathing, laughing, writing songs about life and oppression, songs about people like you, evil people who think they can oppress, suppress and kill just because they can, but he is not for he rests in the bosom of the Almighty his creator. You Killer had no right taking his life because you did not give it.

    ‘’The Avenger of Death is forever lurking behind you and one day, very soon and sooner than you can imagine, you will pay for your crime and your sins.

    ‘’Killer, the sister’s heart you wrenched by taking her brother and confidant, the family you brought despair and misery on, the friends you left crippled with excruciating pain and I though drenched in sorrow by your inhumane callousness, know in my heart that the Avenger is upon you.

    ‘’You have challenged the Almighty God by taking a life He created by breaking His commandment that thou shall not kill.  Then like a wicked unrepentant soul, you walk the streets as if nothing happened? Believing in your ignorance that the one who created ears cannot hear and the one who created eyes cannot see.

    ‘’How did you kill him? why did you kill him? Oh, lest I forget you, the witness, an accessory to murder. Only God knows what pushes you to soil your hands with innocent blood by remaining silent and protecting a killer from a most foul and heinous crime while the image of Tyler’s dead body haunts you at night, you said you wish you could have done more at the time of his death. Yes you can. Speak up and free yourself from the insanity creeping up on you and the long stretch of dark miserable years ahead, how did Tyler Fray die?’’

    ‘’Hear the sound of the footstep of the long arms of the law looming over you like the sun covers the earth.

    ‘’The Avenger is upon you like the waves of the Ocean smashing against the rock there is no escape for God is a just God. I know Toba is in heaven and that gives me peace. … What kind of peace can a killer give his mother?”

    In an interview, she gave further insight on the matter. Her words: “I got a call from one of the security men in the apartment at about 3.05am Nigerian time on a Saturday morning which was February 15. I remember the time vividly because I had just gone to use the bathroom and I was going to lie down when the phone rang; it was by the side of my bed. I picked it up and I saw it was a Dubai number. I panicked because I knew this couldn’t be good at this time of the night. But it was not my son’s number, so I picked it and I could hear a lot of commotion at the background and the voice said, ‘Madam this is your son’s friend ah…ah’ and the line went off. I tried to call the line back frantically and he was not picking. At a time, I could no longer get the number. I had been with my son in Dubai during the New Year. I know he had friends and that if anyone would know what happened, it would be his friends and I had the boy’s number. So I called the boy. He answered me.

    “I asked him what happened to Tyler and he just told me casually that ‘I’m sorry, he passed on.’ He said he fell from the balcony, argh! So, I said where is he now? Being alone at home, I needed to be focused on this news that I was hearing. I asked where he is now and he said I am here with him and I said where is here and he said in his apartment, waiting for the ambulance. I said who else is there with you and he said I am with him by myself. I said you know what? When the ambulance comes, tell them not to move him. I’m going to start calling pastors to start praying for my son right now.  My son cannot die. And you, start praying for your friend. He said ‘that is what I am doing ma’. I called his phone, at a point when I was trying frantically to reach anyone. I was calling my son’s line and it was switched off. But at a point it was now ringing and I said his phone is ringing, he said ‘Yes ma, it is me. His battery had run down and I just plugged it so I can get some numbers to call from it’. I kept calling back and said ‘Okay, maybe he fell on the balcony and not that he fell down from the balcony. If he fell from the balcony, how are you telling me you are here with him in the apartment?’ These are questions need to be answered when the time comes.

    “How did he die? I need to know how he died. When the family members went to bring his body home, the police gave them what they called a preliminary report of their investigation. And the preliminary report was that my son was sitting on the railing of the balcony of his apartment and that he was swinging back and forth.

    “He was with this British girl whom they referred to as his girlfriend on the balcony and that the British girl had warned him to come down and left him there  when he wouldn’t listen and went back into the apartment and she came  back later to find that my son wasn’t there anymore and that was when  she came back to announce that he had fallen, therefore  when my son fell, he was alone on the balcony  and they put the  cause of death as a fall from a great height and the impact; and that because he had alcohol in his system, it could have contributed to the fall. And that since the other five people in the apartment gave the same account of events, they didn’t think there was any need to do any further investigation. So they put the cause of death as fall from a great height. But as a mother who knows this apartment so well, I started thinking, that something was not right there; there is no way you can even sit on that railing, let alone swing back and forth, so I told the family members that went to take his body back they should demand from the police, the full investigative report that will tell us exactly what the witnesses said. The interrogation, the medical report and the forensic report, we needed everything. They said we cannot ask for it as individual and we have to ask from the embassy. We wrote through the embassy before they left Dubai and the only day they replied was just last week.”

    Now, Alamieyeseigha is also asking questions about what happened. Will he get the right answers? Time will tell.

     

     

     

  • Did Jonathan learn from this teacher?

    Did Jonathan learn from this teacher?

    In the first place, his nomination to represent Bayelsa State at the National Conference had the odour of political patronage, considering his background as a former governor of the state who had been stained by the oil of corruption. Thanks to his good luck, after being convicted of money laundering and fraud which fetched him a two-year jail sentence, he was controversially pardoned by President Goodluck Jonathan who had served as his deputy in his gubernatorial years from 1999 to 2005.  So, he understandably owes Jonathan a huge debt for his rehabilitation.

    However, in his evident enthusiasm to repay Jonathan,   Diepreye  Alamieyeseigha (popularly abbreviated as Alams) often gets carried away and ends up doing a disgusting disservice to his benefactor. Again, he manifested this tendency in a recent newspaper interview. His response to a question on Jonathan’s chance of success in next year’s general elections: “Oh let me tell you, there is no President in Nigeria who has done half of what Jonathan has been able to do. Look at the transformation agenda. See the jobs he has created. Today, Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa. You know what that means?”

    If this was merely a case of super exaggeration, it could be jocularly dismissed as a classic instance of political salesmanship. But it is the kind of embellishment that stands truth on its head, which is startling because of the speaker’s apparent conviction.

    Even more astonishing, Alamieyeseigha said of Jonathan: “The man is a very humble person, unassuming, well focused and does not like to be distracted.”  This characterisation has a fictional ring, but perhaps Alams can be excused. He may indeed know the essential qualities of Jonathan, which contradict the public perception of the character.

    Then Alams dropped a clanger. He reasoned, if the process can be dignified by calling it reasoning: “Maybe he learnt from me while he was my deputy. But that seems to be working against him, for in Nigeria, people want you to showcase what you have done to prove to them that you are working. I think that is what the president needs to do more often.”

    Alams must have an unbelievable sense of worth, or self-worth, not to say that he may be conceited. If Jonathan’s unremarkable approach to governance truly reflects what he supposedly learned from Alams, then the much sought-after clue to his alleged presidential cluelessness may have been finally unwrapped. Maybe Alams deserves recognition and honour for this illumination of a mystery that has long tormented the populace.

    Only Alams, and perhaps those who learned from him, can understand the illogic of concealing the evidence of positive and socially impactful governmental effort. It is relevant to quote this piece of wisdom: “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.” In Jonathan’s case, the truth is that no one can showcase what is non-existent.

     

  • DSP Alamieyeseigha buries dad

    DSP Alamieyeseigha buries dad

    Penultimate Sunday, former Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, had his deceased father committed to mother earth. The event saw the oil-rich town of Amassoma lit up in celebration as the former governor led family members, friends, political and business associates to pay their last respects to his nonagenarian father, Chief Salo Memein Alamieyeseigha.

    The carnival-like celebration of life started on Thursday, April 24 and rolled on till Sunday, April 27, 2014. President Goodluck Jonathan led his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan, Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson, his wife, Dr (Mrs) Racheal Dickson and many other A-list guests to the event.

    The late Chief Salo Memein Alamieyeseigha incidentally died on his birthday, March 16, 2014 at the age of 93. He was survived by two wives, 25 children and 115 grandchildren.

    The late Alamieyeseigha was reported to have been confined to his sick bed for a long time before he gave up the ghost. His son and erstwhile governor, popularly called DSP, was said to have done all he could to see that his beloved father remained alive.

  • Bayelsa denies Alamieyeseigha suit

    Bayelsa denies Alamieyeseigha suit

    Bayelsa State Government yesterday distanced itself from a suit asking the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to release N1.4 billion and $1.3million recovered from former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha to it, with interest.

    A statement by Governor Seriake Dickson’s Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said the government was not part of the suit filed against EFCC.

    The government also disowned George Uboh, Chief Executive of Panic Alert Security System, who was reported to have filed the matter on behalf of the state..

    “The Bayelsa State Government denies the reports and stated categorically clear that, it did not mandate any individual or firm to act on its behalf to request or institute any suit against the EFCC.

    “We frow at the reports and called on the EFCC and the public to disregard the publications”, the statement said.

    The EFCC has refuted the allegation that it was trading with the money.

    EFCC’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren said, in a statement yesterday, that “the news reports about a matter said to have been filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, by George Uboh, ostensibly acting on the instruction of the Bayelsa State Government, is provocative misinformation and very cheap blackmail, to say the very least.

    “The commission wishes to state that it has not been served a copy of the purported processes and therefore cannot comment on a matter, which to all intent and purpose, does not have any known existence beyond the media reports. However, if and when the commission is served, EFCC will give an adequate legal response.

    “The commission seriously doubts that the Bayelsa State Government instructed the said Mr. George Uboh to act on its behalf, contrary to the claim of the busybody.

    “If however they did, then it is most unfortunate, because the highly defamatory allegations he has made ostensibly on their behalf cannot and will not shield Bayelsa State Government and it officials from ongoing investigations.

    If the goal of the purveyors of the reports was to make EFCC stop or soft-pedal in its intensive and extensive investigation of Bayelsa State Government and its officials, they failed woefully

    “The clearly noxious allegations that the commission is not only holding on to recovered funds of the Bayelsa State Government but also “trading with the funds by way of funds placement/fixed deposits” could only have been calculated to impugn the hard-earned credibility of the EFCC.

    “Let it be known that the sensational allegations, wild accusations and imputations contained in the scandalous reports strike at the very heart of EFCC’s values and rules of engagement and will not be allowed to go unanswered.

    “Those pushing this deliberate misinformation for whatever ends should therefore prepare to substantiate them.” Uwujaren said.

     

     

  • Is anti-graft war on course?

    Is anti-graft war on course?

    House of Representatives Speaker Hon. Aminu Tambuwal has alleged that President Goodluck Jonathan is not committed to the anti-corruption battle. In this piece, VICTOR OLUWASEGUN and DELE ANOFI examine the circumstances that led to the public outburst and its implications for the executive/legislative relations.

    When House of Representatives Speaker Hon. Aminu Tambuwal dropped the bombshell, many Nigerians were taken aback. The number four citizen dissected the polity, saying that the anti-corruption battle was not on course. In his view, President Goodluck Jonathan has not shown enough commitment to the crusade against graft.

    The Speaker attempted to substantiate his allegation. After presenting a paper at a one-day roundtable marking the International Anti-corruption Day by the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Tambuwal objected to the manner the President handled the pension fraud, the N255million bullet proof car scandal, and the alleged fraud in the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC). He said President Jonathan is encouraging corruption by his reluctance to promptly address the high profile corruption unearthed by the legislature.

    It was the first time the Speaker would speak against the administration in the public. While some people hailed him for his boldness, others said that his remarks were a brazen assault on the Presidency.

    However, barely a week after, former President Olusegun Obasanjo also wrote a letter to the President, accusing his administration of corruption.

    Few days after the Abuja outburst, Tambuwal dropped another bombshell during the inauguration of the House Ad-hoc Committee on Oil Theft at the National Assembly. He accused the Federal Government of complicity in oil theft, adding that N750 billion was being lost annually. Also, in his letter, Obasanjo alluded to the same crime, urging the President to halt the trend.

    Tambuwal has been a moderating factor in the House of Representatives, although he is largely portrayed as a friend of the opposition. Many believe that, as a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, he has been instrumental to the maintenance of a reasonable equilibrium in favour of the President in the House. Therefore, some said that he has a moral burden to refrain from washing the dirty linen of the government in the public.

    However, many legislators supported the Speaker’s approach. They said that Tambuwal’s outburst was borne out of the passive attitude of the executive to the legislative resolutions on corruption.

    Many legislators have expressed concern over the way the Presidency handled the allegations against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) headed by Ms. Arumah Oteh. The matter led to frosty relationship between the two arms of government. The investigation by the Chairman of the House Committee on Capital Market and Institutions, Herman Hembe, went awry when he was accused of fraud by the Director-General. Eventually, the resolution by the House that the Oteh should be removed and the suggestion that the SEC should be excluded from the budget were ignored by the President.

    Also, the punitive recommendation by the House against the Minister of Aviation over the allegation of N255 million bullet proof car fraud was ignored by the President, who set up an administrative committee to look into the matter.

    Tambuwal frowned at the way the fuel subsidy probe was also handled by the President. He said many of the recommendations were not implemented, based on the fact that the probe was discredited by the bribe- for- clearance allegation against the Ad hoc Chairman, Hon. Farouk Lawan. The House was of the opinion that, in spite of the allegation, the recommendation, if implemented to the letter, would have cleansed the petroleum sector

    Tambuwal’s warning did not start overnight. On Jan 6, he had warned the Executive against corruption while speaking on the amendment of the constitution. The Speaker had sent a clear signal to the Executive and the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), saying that the House would not condone a situation where few people feed fat on the wealth of the nation and majority of Nigerians wallow in abject poverty. He said the House will monitor step the MDAs and ensure that the national wealth is judiciously used by them.

    The Speaker said: “We are convinced now more than ever before, that a situation where the majority of the citizens continue to live in abject poverty while an insignificant minority corner the commonwealth is not only unjust, but unacceptable.

    “In this regard, we shall continue to adopt a pragmatic and functional approach to ensure that the war against corruption is removed from the realm of rhetoric by exercising absolute diligence in our oversight function to enhance transparency and accountability in both high and low strata.

    In November last year, the House raised an alarm over the non-remittance of N4 trillion by 60 MDAs indicted by the House panel report. The Nigerian National Petroleum Commission (NNPC) was summoned to explain $7bn missing crude oil funds. Also, Alhaji Rilwan Lukman and Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke were asked to appear before the investigative committee. The position of the Executive has always been that funds were not missing.

    Sequel to reports by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF) over the non-remittance of over N4 trillion by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for the 2009 fiscal year, the House summoned the Minister of Petroleum Resources and past chairmen and members of the Board of the NNPC. They are among 60 MDAs investigated by the Public Accounts Committee headed by Solomon Adeola.

    Adeola said that a comprehensive probe into the operation of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is underway. He alleged that the company has not remitted any revenue into the government coffers for seven years.

    “On the issue of the LNG, you will agree with me that the only thing that constitutes revenue today, apart from taxes, is oil. The LNG has been on for over six to seven years and they’re not privatised and we’ve not even heard from them”, he said.

    The House also supported the Senate’s call for the sack of the Chairman of the Pension Task Force Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, over pension fraud and corruption. It ordered the Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, to appear before its committee on Police Affairs to explain why he did not act on the warrant issued by the Senate. But it was later alleged that the Presidency was shielding Maina.

    In March, the legislators, through a motion moved by the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Hon. Bimbo Daramola, agreed that the immunity granted the former governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, “was not well thought out.”

    On July 28, the House Committee on Anti-Corruption, National Ethics and Values resolved to investigate the Ministry of Aviation over the award of contracts running into billions of naira. The committee alleged that the contract money was paid for jobs not executed. Its Chairman, Abiodun Faleke, said the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) and the Ministry of Works would be investigated for breaching the Public Procurement Act.

    He said: “The impunity with which we do things in this country is appalling, like the abuse of ‘No Objection Certificate’ given by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). All agencies are using this loophole to issue contracts of over N20b without advertising them, once they write to the BPP that allows for selective tendering.

    “Talking of impunity, during an oversight of MDG projects, we discovered that a canal was conducted in Okrika for over N2billlion. The consultancy fee for the project that was not even in the 2012 budget and not appropriated for was N900m”.

    The House has also criticised the Federal Government for the poor implementation of the budget. In its view, the President only selects and implements some items in the budget.

    The 2014 budget presentation to the National Assembly was aborted by President Jonathan at the last minute, due to the insistence of the House on $79 per barrel.

    However, the public has always had the impression that the face off between the House and the Presidency is related to the manner in which the Speaker emerged in 2011 against the will and zoning formula of the PDP. But, Tambuwal is of the opinion that the House was living up to its vision, which is “ pursue an aggressive legislative agenda to reposition itself as a key branch of government, able and determined to deliver on the key elements of governance”.

    A legislator, who craved for anonymity, said that “that is why the House frowns when the Executive says that its resolutions are mere advice”. But another legislator said: “Tambuwal is only playing to the gallery by attacking the President in order to gain favour from the opposition in the House”.

  • Ex-convict in our hearts

    Ex-convict in our hearts

    In a time like this, Nigerians will always remember the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. If Fela were alive, he would have dedicated a special album to the uncommon presidential pardon granted Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the former Governor of Bayelsa State, on March 12. Chief Alamieyeseigha, for the record, is an ex-convict. I guess the lyric of Fela’s release would be something like this:

    Fela: Alams, you jumped bail;

    Alams: Yes, I jumped bail;

    Fela: Alams, you be thief;

    Alams: Yes I be thief, but the government say I no be thief;

    Fela: Alams, you corrupt;

    Alams: Yes, but the government say I no corrupt;

    Fela: You disguised as a woman in the UK to jump bail;

    Alams: em.. em.. that one get as e be, but em … em… e no be true, etc.

    Never mind the fact that Fela is now dead, the truth is that he left behind powerful messages, some of which have proved him to be one of the greatest prophets Nigeria never anointed. Fela was a prophet. He died August 2, 1997, that was 15 years before. But we should not forget his ‘Government magic’. President Jonathan’s pardon for Chief Alamieyeseigha is one such magic. Since we cannot analyse the pardon because it defies logic, the kind that only the President and his colleagues in the National Council of State (NCS) understand, then it must eminently qualify as magic; precisely, government magic.

    Of course, Chief Alamieyeseigha was not the only ex-convict pardoned by the President; he only happened to be the most celebrated. And we should understand why. Chief Alamieyeseigha is not only from the President’s home state of Bayelsa, he is also President Jonathan’s ‘political benefactor’. So, we cannot put him in the same category as Mr. Shettima Bulama, an ordinary former Managing Director of Bank of the North. Other ex-convicts pardoned included Gen Oladipo Diya, the Chief of General Staff during the reign of military dictator Gen Sani Abacha, former Managing Director of the Bank of the North, Mr. Shettima Bulama, who was also convicted of fraud; former Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, the late Gen Musa Yar’Adua; former Minister of Works, the late Maj.-Gen Abdulkareem Adisa, who was also found culpable in the alleged coup that landed Diya in prison. Others included ex-Major Bello Magaji, Mohammed Lima Biu and former Major Segun Fadipe.

    As we know, even ex-convicts have category. An ex-convict Bulama would put his mouth in what a friend calls ‘permanent position of shut up’ when his senior ex-convict in the person of Chief Alamieyeseigha is talking.

    But my understanding of presidential pardon is that it is usually for prisoners of conscience or political prisoners. But to grant such to common thieves similar to the one on the left side of Jesus on the Cross is, to say the least, disgusting. This was the same Alamieyeseigha who jumped bail in the UK where he was held for alleged money laundering. He ran back home and expected to triumphantly return to his seat as governor but for public outcry. Those saying he did plea bargaining and forfeited most of the ill-gotten wealth to the government missed the point. Alamieyeseigha did not do that on his own volition; he had no choice at the time he did. At any rate, it was not as if he was penitent; he even said he did not want to contest that decision then because age was no longer on his side. In other words, he never admitted he stole. So, why are they now ‘calling dog monkey ’ for us, as if we were not all living witnesses to this shameful episode? Indeed, this is the reason why I am pained. The President did not have to explain why he pardoned Alamieyeseigha; after all, he once told us that he did not ‘give a damn’ about his declaration of assets!

    It is unfortunate that Doyin Okupe, the President’s special assistant on public affairs, confused us the more, rather than convince us, when on Wednesday the government found its voice, through him, to defend the indefensible. He spoke about the President taking the decision alongside the NCS as if the people in the council are not Nigerians that we already know. Whenever we talk of the NCS and try to make an issue of it, I laugh. I laugh for the same reason that Okupe gave while defending the presidential pardon, that the council consists of some of the country’s ‘most distinguished personalities who could not have been mistaken in its action’. The question I have always asked myself is, why are we like this if really these people taking these essential decisions on our behalf are truly ‘some of the country’s most distinguished personalities’? If they are of impeccable wisdom as Okupe and others like him want us to believe, they all would not have slept facing the same direction on a matter as contentious as the one under consideration. The very fact that the matter has generated this heated debate nationwide is enough dent on the wisdom of their decision and it probably shows that we have always overrated them, or they have always overrated themselves.

    So, how is what the President did different from the judiciary which frees high profile criminals in the country only for them to get their comeuppance abroad? If government could set Alamieyeseigha free, why do we blame people who invade our jail houses with the intention of setting free those held there? Has President Jonathan ever considered the effect of this particular pardon on the country’s image abroad? Now, government officials would be blaming journalists and people who see nothing good in the country when the backlash comes, without being honest enough to accept that it (government) is responsible for the negative image because of these kinds of decisions. With a decision as this, how would President Jonathan feel in the company of world leaders when next he travels out? This is the same President who said he cannot grant amnesty to ghosts, but is now granting presidential pardon to common thieves. Does that tell us anything about the government, and by extension the ruling party? Remember, just about three weeks ago, one of their anointed who should know said their party harbours more Judases than genuine disciples. Isn’t this a vindication of that assertion? The same President Jonathan who is now compassionate when the matter affects one of his own has kept a judge of repute out of his office for months for no just cause, even after the National Judicial Council that rightly or wrongly took the matter to him has said the man is without blemish.

    I can live with the pardon granted those accused and convicted of coup plotting. After all, coup plotting can only be illegal in a democratic setting. The Abacha government that Diya and others were accused of plotting to overthrow was in itself an illegality. In case we have forgotten, a court pronounced its precursor, the Interim National Government, that much. At any rate, many of us were sad about the coup, phantom or real, that they said Diya and others planned, for the simple reason that it failed; thus denying Nigeria the noble service of terminating a government that was unwanted at home and distrusted abroad.

    All said, if this is what the PDP wants to continue doing and still hope to return to power in 2015, then the party has a lot to contend with. As I have always noted, a fowl that is excreting in a pot is merely spoiling its final resting place. President Jonathan might have had his way on the pardon for Alamieyeseigha, but we will continue to have our say. Chief Alamieyeseigha remains an ex- convict in our hearts. And that is what is most important.