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Tag: el-Rufai

  • Why PDP is jittery, by el-Rufai

    Why PDP is jittery, by el-Rufai

    All Progressives Congress (APC) Interim Deputy National Secretary  Mallam Nasir el-Rufai was a guest of Kaduna based Liberty Radio, where he spoke on a number of issues. Correspondent TONY AKOWE monitored the programme.

    You recently expressed the fear that Nigeria was sitting on a time bomb. What exactly do you mean?

    Nigeria has a population of about 170 million and every year, about six million babies are born. What this means, as far as policy making is concerned, is that within the next 20 years, those babies will need at least three million jobs. From the six million, one million will die from avoidable illnesses. Any responsible government should be thinking of these challenges. My concern is that not much is being done and the environment is not condusive at all. Electricity supply is going down and industries are dying while competition from China is killing the little industrial base that we have and our leaders are not making the environment attractive for investors.

    We have a large population of young people that are not educated. We have about 15 million almajiri in the North and there are those who feel too big to remain in the farm and are migrating to the urban centres. The security challenges we are currently facing is related to these explosions of uneducated and unemployable young people who are feeling hopeless and this is the time bomb we are sitting on, which is already steering us in the face in many parts of the country. Unless we have a responsible government that will begin to create a new environment of opportunity and hope for these people, we will all be in danger.

    When the explosion comes, many of us, including those who are not guilty will suffer for it. What we are seeing in Boko Haram, militancy, kidnapping is just an indication of the likely future problem that we will face, if we don’t do something and the time to do it is now.

    You were quoted as saying that the ruling party, the PDP, was more afraid of Gen. Buhari than God.

    Yes, I said the PDP is more afraid of Gen. Buhari than God. The PDP has evolved from a party that is trying to be democratic in its practices and to have decency in its governance to one that has become a danger to the people of Nigeria and the only person they are afraid of, who is their nightmare, is Gen. Buhari. So, anytime Buhari makes a statement or does anything, the PDP machine will be at work to twist whatever he says in other to destroy his character and give the impression that he is a religious and ethnic zealot.

    There is nothing, by way of fact, that shows that Gen. Buhari is that kind of person. Buhari has been in public life for so long that, if he was a religious bigot, or ethnic surrogate, it would have been clear. There is no way a man will rise to the position of a Major General in the Army and people will not know his preference for his ethnicity or religion or attained the position he has attained in life without people knowing he has all these qualities.

    The truth is that the PDP is scared of Buhari‘s integrity and his track record of doing the right thing and ensuring that people are brought to justice when they break the law. They are scared of that day when he will become President because they are afraid that he will call them and ask them the source of their unexplainable wealth. They have tried everything possible to paint the man black and they are not even afraid that one day, they will stand before God and defend their action. That is why I say they are afraid of him more than God.

    What do you mean by describing the PDP as a toxic party?

    A party that has earned the highest oil revenue in Nigeria‘s history, but has converted this oil revenue to personal wealth when our schools have remained closed and our educational system collapsing, our hospitals not functioning and fly abroad for medical treatment and send their children to school abroad, is a danger to the Nigerian nation. PDP has become a virus that is infecting and destroying the country and because they are not doing anything productive, they have changed our politics to that of ethnicity and religion; to divert attention from their incompetence, lack of capacity and their looting of the treasury. So, PDP has become a clear and present danger to the existence of Nigeria as a nation and the prosperity of its people. So, it is a toxic party and should be destroyed.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has registered the All Progressives Congress (APC). What are your plans for the future?

    First, we must give credit where it is due. INEC under Jega and his commissioners did very well by registering the APC. Some people says they didn’t have any choice in the matter because the APC met the requirement. But I am aware that they were under considerable pressure and all kinds of things were being sponsored by the PDP to delay or even scuttle the registration of the party. The fact that for once, it exercised its independence, we should commend it. I hope it’s a sign of great things to come and a foundation for further works to ensure that we have credible leadership in 2014/2015.

    As a party, we recognise that even though we have acceptance across the country, we cannot take the support of the people for granted. The only way the party will continue to earn the confidence of the Nigerian people is to be internally democratic and be an open platform for anyone who wants to join the party to do so. It should have internal rules such that anyone who wants to contest election and has the support of members of the party should be able to do so. We will not be a party where people will win election and the list is changed like is happening in the PDP. This is my promise on behalf of the NEC, that we will have an internally democratic party, and that the members will decide the executive as well as candidates for election.

    That is the only way to go about it because anything short of that will be another PDP and God forbids because we don’t want that. The interest shown by Nigerians in the APC will be sustained if we behave and conduct ourselves differently from that toxic party called the PDP. Our leaders are conscious of that and have made a lot of personal sacrifice to ensure that we get to where we are and our duty as Interim Executive is to sustain that tradition and build on it.

    A committee has been set up under the Deputy National Chairman, North, Aminu Masari to look at all the issues and come out with strategies and guidelines that will ensure that internal democracy in the party is secured. We will not be a party of godfathers; we will not allow a few people determine what the party will be and will be a true party for the people.

    But some believe that the APC is a marriage of convenience, alleging cracks within the party.

    I do not see any crack within the APC. The leadership is united in giving up whatever personal ambition or interest they may have to save Nigeria. Gen. Buhari gave up his own. The CPC was established largely for Buhari’s presidential ambition, but he gave it up for a larger party in which today, he is not even a member yet because the CPC has dissolved and we now have the APC that is yet to register anybody as members.

    That is the type of attitude Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has taken to get us to where we are not. Those who were predicting that we will not be registered have seen that the party has been registered. People thought that when forming the interim leadership, the party will collapse. We have passed that stage and now, they are predicting other forms of doom. I want to assure you that we will overcome all that because, this party is beyond one or two men. It is true that the founders and the moving spirit behind the party remain Buhari and Tinubu. The leadership of the ANPP joined later because we have been working on this since the end of 2011. It is now a depersonalised party and not a Buhari or Tinubu or Ali Modu Sherif’s personal ownership, but a party of the people and when we register the members, they are going to be the ones that will decide the leadership of the party and its candidates for election.

    The Anambra election is the first major test for the APC. How do you intend to handle this?

    The Anambra election is very important to us and for several reasons. We already have an APC state in Imo State under Governor Rochas Okorocha and we hope to present a credible candidate in Anambra State for the election. As far as I know, there are only two party members who have so far expressed interest. They are the Deputy National Chairman, South, Senator Anie Okonkwo and Senator Chris Ngige who is a former governor of the state. The people know how much work he did for the state. The party will treat Anambra State as a special case and register members there and conduct primaries and whoever emerges as the candidate will get the ticket. There is no plan to impose anyone by the party. My appeal is for all members in Anambra to be prepared of an announcement by the NEC to register and turn up for the primaries and vote for the person of their choice. We will set up a committee to screen all the aspirants and ensure they meet the guidelines of the APC. We will all be in Anambra during the election. I will be in Anambra to be a polling unit agent if necessary to ensure that we are not cheated during the election. That is the plan for Anambra and we are taking it very serious.

    We know that we have to submit the name of a candidate by September 6 and the election is November 16 and we will all be there and by God’s grace, Anambra will be the second state in the South East to join the APC train and save it from backwardness and retrogression because All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) under Governor Peter Obi is an agent of the PDP.

    Recently, a high powered delegation of APC leaders visited Gen. Babangida. What was it about?

    Let me clarify something here. We did not visit former President Babangida as APC. Myself, former Speaker Aminu Masari and Senator Nazif Suleiman had already fixed an appointment to see him before the APC registration. It is part of the consultations that we have been carrying out, discussing with many leaders across the north. We have visited Audu Ogbe, a former Chairman of the PDP and now a member of the APC, we visited Gambo Jimeta, former Inspector General of Police, former Governor Boni Haruna of Adamawa State and many others for guidance on how to go about discharging our duty as officials of the party. Masari is the deputy national chairman, north and the entire north is his constituency and I have been appointed the interim deputy national secretary, the entire country is my constituency. So, we felt that Babangida is one of the important stakeholders in this country that we need to talk to and tell them about the APC and seek their support for the party. As we were arriving Babangida’s residence a large media delegation that had come with the NECO board to pay him a courtesy call were there. We didn’t speak to them and they didn’t speak to us, but they made a big issue out of it. We were all APC, but we did not go there in our APC capacity. Some of us have a relationship with him dating back to 1989. We do not agree on all issues. I have criticised him on his handling of certain issues like the June 12 election and I still tell him that what happened was wrong. But that does not mean we cannot consult him. In politics, we have to talk to everybody and anyone who feels that Babangida is not important in Nigeria politics is joking. He is an important stakeholder and we will continue to engage him.

    Doyin Okupe said recently that he would change his father’s name, if the APC lasts more than one year .

    I feel sorry for my brother Doyin. I don’t know the level to which people can be desperate when they are in need of economic rehabilitation. I want to assure him that he should start thinking of his new name because he will certainly change his name. After one year, in July 2014, I am going to call him and insist that he changes his name and if he doesn’t, I will give him a name of my choice.

    The APC is here to stay. The out pouring of support from the Nigerian people towards the party is so clear that I know we are here to stay. Not only are we going to outlive the PDP, we will get Doyin to change his name.

    There is the saying that those who left the PDP and joined the APC did so because of their hatred for Jonathan as a minority…

    That is nonsense. One of the misfortunes of the Jonathan presidency is the deliberate infusion of religion and ethnicity into Nigerian politics and that is unfortunate. For someone coming from a minority ethnic group, the best bet is for him to de-emphasis that and make the whole of Nigeria his constituency. Unfortunately, Jonathan’s political handlers thought that if they introduce religion, they will be able to divide the north and take the Christian part of the north to vote for Jonathan and if they introduce ethnicity, they will be able to get the whole of the south. That was their winning strategy as espoused by neigbour to neigbour. They are now surprise that after dividing the country, they are now finding it difficult to get the cooperation of everyone. The danger of division is that you defeat social trust which makes it very difficult for you to govern and they are still playing this game.

    If Jonathan is from a minority tribe, how did he get elected? Did he get elected by the Ijaw nation alone or did he get elected by other Nigerians? How can anybody start arguing that? You are shooting yourself on the foot because if all decide to be sectional, Jonathan cannot even win election outside Bayelsa State. Outside of Bayelsa State, there is nowhere Ijaws are not a minority in Nigeria. When EK Clark and Jonathan play this ethnic card, is it because they don’t have a better story? If you are performing the work of the people, why do you refer to that? It is one of the tragedies of Jonathan’s leadership that whoever inherit the leadership from him will have to first spend the first one or two years repairing the relationship between the various ethnic and religious groups because everything has been reduced to these two things and it is very unfortunate. Politics is not about religion or ethnicity, but about delivering services to the people.

  • El-Rufai accuses Jonathan of playing ethnic, religious politics

    El-Rufai accuses Jonathan of playing ethnic, religious politics

    A former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, yesterday accused President Goodluck Jonathan of playing ethnic and religious politics as a way of diverting Nigerians’ attention from alleged bad governance going on in the country.

    El-Rufai, who is now Deputy National Secretary of the All Progressive Congress (APC), also accused the President of lacking the capacity to call to order all those beating the war drum across the country.

    He spoke on the Kaduna-based Liberty Radio. The former minister warned that the country having fought a civil war would find it difficult surviving another war.

    He said that the ruling PDP is afraid of former military ruler, General Mohammadu Buhari and therefore will do everything possible to destroy him and brand him an ethnic and religious bigot.

    He said: “There are many agents confronting the Nigerian nation. What is very worrying is the kind of rhetoric going on in this country, a lot of which are being sanctioned by the government. For example, whenever Asari Dokubo speaks, just know that a week earlier, he had been called to the Villa and whenever E.K Clark speaks, you know it is arranged.

    “How can one ethnic group, the Ijaw, threaten the rest of us? We have 170 million people, I don’t know how many of that population make up the Ijaw nation, but I don’t think they are more than five million.

    “How can five million people threaten us saying unless their son becomes President, there will be no Nigeria? Who are they to do that? The government keeps quiet when somebody says that. Of course, the expected reaction is that you have people from the North also threatening similar thing.

    “What type of country do we have where there is no one to call people to order? It is sad. Again, it is this political strategy of Jonathan to always use ethnicity and religion whenever there is a problem.

    “Whenever there is a big issue about Excess Crude account or subsidy issue, they bring this issue of ethnicity and religion. But I have not lost hope because I know that Nigerians can see through their pranks and their game and will vote them out in the next election. The challenge for the next President is to build trust among the various ethnic groups so that Nigeria can walk towards one direction.

    “This country has gone through one civil war. I don’t know of any country that can survive two civil wars and those that are stealing crude oil; buying and stockpiling arms should know it is not the amount of arms you have that decides who wins a war. Otherwise, the USA would have won in Iraq, but they couldn’t and at the end they had to leave the Iraqi to solve their problems.

    “So, they should think very deeply about what they are doing and learn from history. I know that Nigeria will survive these bad and incompetent leaders who steal during the day and drink and womanise at night instead of working for the Nigerian people”.

    The former Minister described the PDP as a toxic party which must be destroyed. His words: “a party that has earned the highest oil revenue in Nigeria`s history, but has converted this oil revenue to personal wealth when our schools have remained closed and our educational system collapsing, our hospitals not functioning and fly abroad for medical treatment and send their children to school abroad, is a danger to the Nigerian nation.

    “PDP has become a virus that is infesting and destroying the country and because they are not doing anything productive, they have changed our politics to that of ethnicity and religion to divert attention from their incompetence, lack of capacity and their looting of the treasury. So, PDP has become a clear and perfect danger to the existence of Nigeria as a nation and the prosperity of its people. So, it is toxic party and should be destroyed.

    “The PDP has evolved from a party that was trying to be democratic in its practices and to have decency in its governance to one that has become a danger to the people of Nigeria and the only person they are afraid of, who is their nightmare, is Gen. Buhari.

    “So, anytime Buhari makes a statement or does anything, the PDP machine will be at work to twist whatever he says in order to destroy his character and give the impression that he is a religious and ethnic zealot.

    “There is nothing by way of fact that shows that Gen. Buhari is that kind of person. Buhari has been in public life for so long that if he was a religious bigot, or ethnic surrogate, it would have been clear. There is no way a man will rise to the position of a Major General in the Army and people will not know that he is preference for his ethnicity or religion or attained the position he has attained in life without people knowing he has all these qualities.”

    He accused the PDP of trying to paint Buhari in bad light, adding, “They have tried everything possible to paint the man black and they are not even afraid that one day, they will stand before God and defend their action. That is why I say they are afraid of him more than God…”

    He expressed concern about the future of the country, saying, “Nigeria has a population of about 170 million and every year, about six million babies are born. What this means as far as policy making is concerned is that within the next 20 years, those babies will need at least three million jobs because from the six million, one million will die from avoidable illnesses.

    “Any responsible government should be thinking of these challenges. My concern is that not much is being done and the environment is not conducive at all. Electricity supply is going down and industries are dying while competition from China is killing the little industrial base that we have and our leaders are not making the environment attractive for investors.”

  • Jonathan is guilty of ethnic and religious politics – el-Rufai

    Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and Deputy National Secretary of the All Progressive Congress, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai has  accused President Goodluck Jonathan of playing ethnic and religious politics to divert the  attention of Nigerians from the bad governance going on in the country.
    The former Minister who spoke on a Liberty radio guest of the week programme monitored in Kaduna on Saturday  also accused the president of lacking the capacity to call to order all those beating the war drums across the country.
    el-Rurai noted that  having gone through one civil war, the country may not survive another war.
    He said that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were afraid of the person of former Head of State, General Mohammadu Buhari and therefore will do everything humanly possible to destroy him and brand him an ethnic and religious bigot.
    ”There are many agents confronting the Nigerian nation. What is very worrying is the kind of rhetoric that is going on in this country, a lot of which are being sanctioned by the government. For example, whenever Asari Dokubo speaks, just know that a week earlier, he had been called to the villa and given some money and whenever EK Clerk speak, you know it was arranged.
    “How can a small ethnic group like the Ijaws threaten the rest of us? We have 170 million; I don’t know how many of that population makes up the Ijaw nation, but I don’t think they are more than 5 million.
    “How can 5 million people threaten us saying unless their son becomes president, there will be no Nigeria? Who are they to do that? The government keeps quit when somebody says that. Of course, the expected reaction is that you have people from the north also threatening similar thing.
    “What type of a country do we have where there is no one to call people to order? It is sad. Again, it is this political strategy of Jonathan to always use ethnicity and religion whenever there is a problem.
    “Whenever there is a big issue about Excess Crude account or subsidy issue, they bring this issue of ethnicity and religion. But I have not lost hope because I know that Nigerians can see through their pranks and their game and will vote them out in the next election. The challenge for the next president is to build trust among the various ethnic groups so that Nigeria can walk towards one direction.
    “This country has gone through one civil war; I don’t know of any country that can survive two civil wars and those that are stealing crude oil; buying and stockpiling arms should know it is not the number of arms you have that decides who wins a war. Otherwise, the USA would have won in Iraq, but they couldn’t and at the end they had to leave the Iraqi to solve their problems.
    “So, they should think very deeply about what they are doing and learn from history. I know that Nigeria will survive these bad and incompetent leaders who steal during the day and drink and womanise at night instead of working for the Nigerian people,  ” el-Rufai stated.

     

  • Re: El-Rufai and his unemployed daughters

    Re: El-Rufai and his unemployed daughters

    Sir: I refer to the comments of Uwalaka Temple in The Nation of Monday,June 3, on the issue of Mallam Nazir El-Rufai’s position concerning unemployment and its consequences which he embellished with his inability to get job for his daughters.

    Let the Mallam say that to the marines.Who is deceiving who? He has refused to tell us the truth which is probably that he is yet to get his desired job for his daughters or the daughters themselves are choosy due to the fact that they have a father who can feed them for as long as they decide to stay on.This reminds me of a benefactor who wrote a note to one of his friends thus:’Jide has finished his NYSC and in need of a job, not badly o’! It isa confirmation that the influentials discriminate and select the type of job for their wards.Mallam’s case is possibly no exception.I want to believe if his daughters apply to any of the higher institutions in the North with their Master’s degrees, they are sure to be given jobs as lecturers.

    One doubts if such a job is meant for such ladies/girls with silver spoon. Sincerely, the way things are going in this country is scary, and if care is not taken, if concerted efforts are not made by the leadership of this country for mass employment programme through strategic thinking by all stakeholders, the pending crises will be unstoppable and only God knows the end- result because it will cut across all the strata of leadership.

    One wonders about the essence of leadership if not to create job opportunities among other responsibilities. There is the need for a solemn assembly where basically the issue of unemployment would be discussed. A stitch in time saves nine.

     

    • Adeyemi Odedokun

    Lagos.

     

  • El-Rufai and his unemployed daughters

    SIR: A report in The Punch of May 24 quoted Mallam Nasir El-Rufai’s at the sixth annual Alao Aka-Bashorun lecture organized by the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch as saying that 42 percent of Nigerian youths are unemployed and that he has two daughters with Master’s degrees and that they are yet to gain employment.

    I agree when he says: “We are sitting on a demographic time bomb”; but I cannot comprehend this: “I have two daughters with Masters Degrees and they are unemployed. They have been at home for more than a year and I cannot get a job for them”.

    That Mallam el-Rufai, is looking for jobs for his daughters shows how elitist he is and how much he believes in guanxi (Chinese word for personal network) and not merit. Most Nigerian youths look for jobs themselves, carry around their CVs, or even try self-employment. Therefore, if his daughters are unemployed, then they have become – like other youths their age – hapless victims of the weak system which el-Rufai helped create.

    The second assumption is that el-Rufai wants to gain public respect at the expense of President Goodluck Jonathan’s government. Regardless of how hard el-Rufai bites his lips and offer cockamamie definitions of government and leadership, the truth is that he is part of the government; he is part of Nigeria’s problem.

    He should send his daughters CV’s to Nigerian Airways, Ajaokuta Steel Co; Delta Steel, Aluminum Smelting Co. Ikot-Abasi and the numerous government businesses that he helped privatize. If his privatization programme worked, his daughters will have work today and Nigeria will be easier for the present government to rule. Because he failed, that is why we are plunged into these problems today.

    President Jonathan is culpable for any social problem we may have in Nigeria because he is our leader. It is also instructive to note that all our former presidents – Yar’Adua, Obasanjo, Abacha, Babangida, Buhari etc are also to blame. Their failure is what Jonathan is confronted with today as Jonathan’s successor will have to confront Jonathan’s failure.

    A former minister of el-Rufia’s status should be the least to cry wolf. He was the Director General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and among the very few who co-ordinated the economic activities of the Obasanjo’s administration. His continual criticisms – that are sometimes more of a diatribe than constructive criticisms betrays him. I love his gusto, his intelligence, his zeal but will not buy the idea of him seeking for jobs for his daughters.

    Years from now, when we are no longer revolted by seamy details, when we are exhausted with this holier than thou attitude; when we must have noticed those that play the Orwellian intrusion, when we are worn-out of those brimming with a dangerous self-righteousness and when the salacious has become tiring, we may well wonder what this was all about. How was it that we lost our country on account of a lie told about leadership by some smarmy men? The answer is that we live in an era where fame has become synonymous with celebrity, in which personality has replaced ideology and a former minister, suffused with zealotry, said what he should not have uttered.

    • Uwalaka, Temple,

    Woosong University, Daejeon,

    South Korea.

  • Ajibola, El-Rufai, others X-ray effects of corruption, insecurity on Nigeria

    Eminent Nigerians yesterday gathered in Lagos to discuss the state of the nation. Insecurity and corruption, two issues that have bedevilled the country for years, took the front burner.

    The frontline citizens examined the implications of the two problems over the nation’s development and proffered solutions.

    The concerned Nigerians include two former Attorneys-General of the Federation (AGFs) – Prince Bola Ajibola (SAN) and Godwin Kanu Agabi (SAN) – former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Mallam Nasir El-Rufia; former Lagos State Commissioner for Environment, Dr Muiz Banire; Lagos lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN); former Chairman of the Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Dele Adesina (SAN); Pa Tunji Gomez and son of the honouree, Segun Aka-Bashorun.

    They spoke on the topic: Law, Corruption and the Future of Nigeria, at the Alao Aka-Basorun Annual Lecture marking this year’s Law Week of the Ikeja branch of the NBA.

    The event, held at the Bar Centre, GRA, Ikeja, was chaired by Ajibola, a former President of the International Court of Justice.

    Mrs. Atinuke Aka-Basorun, the widow of the late legal luminary, Chief Alao Aka-Bashorun, and her son, Segun, attended the event.

    Ajibola said Nigeria tops the list of the most corrupt nations in the world.

    He urged the government to seriously tackle insecurity and corruption, adding: “Otherwise, the situation in the country will turn chaotic.”

    The NBA Ikeja chairman, Mr. Monday Ubani, noted that corruption has become a bane to national development because it has reduced the country from being a giant to a lilliputian.

    Erudite scholar, Prof Akin Oyebode, advocated life incarceration for those who engage in corrupt practices and other acts of malfeasance.

    The academic noted that Nigeria is at a crossroads on how to tackle corruption, insecurity and other socio-economic crises.

    He said: “There is a crying need to send the right signals to the rest of the population and the international community that we are indeed a self-respecting people, wedded to zero tolerance for corruption, opposed to impunity and dedicated promoters of equality before the law.”

    The professor of International Law stressed that “if we are truly intent on securing respect for our flag, passport and good name, we must do whatever needs to be done to join the rest of the humanity by showing the will not to condone corruption”.

    “The failure to take immediate action along these lines will only result in our being grudgingly tolerated by the rest of the world, in spite of our much-taunted status of ‘giant of Africa’ with a manifest destiny to lead Africa and the entire black race.”

    El-Rufai said Nigeria is sitting on a democratic time bomb because of the myriad of economic problems facing the country. These, he said, include corruption, insecurity and unemployment.

  • Ajibola, El-Rufai, Oyebode, urge FG to tackle corruption, insecurity

    Ajibola, El-Rufai, Oyebode, urge FG to tackle corruption, insecurity

    Emminent Nigerians on Thursday gathered in Lagos to discuss the state of insecurity and corruption that have bedeviled the country over a long period of time, nearly stalling her development and proffer solutions to the problems.

    They include two former Attorney Generals of the Federation, Prince Bola Ajibola (SAN) and Godwin Kanu Agabi (SAN), former FCT minister, Mallam Nasir El-Rufia , former commissioner for environment, Dr. Muiz Banire, activist Femi Falana (SAN), Dele Adesina (SAN), Pa. Tunji Gomez, and son of the honouree, Segun Aka-Bashorun .

    They spoke on the topic: “Law, Corruption and the Future of Nigeria,” at the Alao Aka-Basorun Annual Lecture organised as part of the activities marking the 2013 Law Week of the Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association.

    The event held at the Bar Centre, GRA Ikeja, was chaired by Prince Ajibola and had Mrs. Atinuke Aka-Basorun and son, Segun in attendance.

    Prince Ajibola lamented that Nigeria now leads as the most corrupt nation in the world.

    He advised the government to seriously address problems of insecurity and corruption in the country saying, “otherwise the situation in the country would turn chaotic.”

    The Chairman, NBA Ikeja, Mr. Monday Ubani in his opening remarks said that corruption has become a bane to national development as it has reduced the country from being a giant to a “Lilliputian.”

    Erudite Professor, Akin Oyebode advocated life imprisonment for those that engage in corruption and other forms of stealing from the public purse.

    Prof. Oyebode, who noted that Nigeria is at a cross road on issues of corruption, insecurity and other socio-economic crises, said “there is need to send the right signals to the rest of the population and the international community that we are indeed a seIf-respecting people, wedded to zero tolerance for corruption, opposed to impunity and dedicated promoters of equality before the law.”

     

  • El-Rufai hits back at Atiku on Pentascope contract

    El-Rufai hits back at Atiku on Pentascope contract

    •Insists ex-VP approved failed  management  contract

    •Ex-FCT minister’s allegation dismissed

     

    A former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai yesterday insisted that ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar approved the management contract with Pentascope for the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited ( NITEL).

    He said Pentascope was not foisted on NITEL as being alleged in some quarters.

    Since Pentascope management of NITEL went awry, there had been shifting of blames by some government officials in the administration of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    Some had blamed el-Rufai for the failure of NITEL. Others criticised the former Vice-President who was then the Chairman of the National Privatization Council (NCP).

    But el-Rufai’s book, “Accidental Public Servant,” stirred the hornet’s nest on NITEL which forced Atiku to voice out.

    However, in his reaction to the controversy through a statement by his Media Advisor, Mr. Muyiwa Adekeye, the former FCT Minister said the leadership of BPE also neglected its responsibilities in supervising Pentascope management contract.

    The statement said: “On Pentascope, we see the same pattern of muddying the waters with falsehood. As chairman of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), Atiku gave his approval in writing on February 21, 2003 for the management contract with Pentascope to be signed. The memo on which Atiku minuted his approval, is dated 20th February 2003, and was initiated by the director of BPE that was covering the DG’s duties at the time.

    “By the virtue of the high office he then held, Atiku knows that Pentascope was not foisted on NITEL but emerged from a properly advertised and competitive selection process.

    “After the failure of the first attempt to sell NITEL, it had been decided that there was need for a management contractor to keep the momentum of preparing the company to operate like a private entity and to preserve its assets. Pentascope resumed in NITEL on April 28 2003, shortly before El Rufai left the BPE to become a minister.

    “The Pentascope contract terms included obligations by the BPE to monitor the contract, and for the NITEL Board to set up an Executive Committee to supervise day to day operations in NITEL.

    “Between the new BPE leadership that neglected its responsibilities, the NCP which Atiku chaired and which failed to supervise the BPE and the bureaucrats and politicians around the Ministry of Communications, the management contract was frustrated and terminated in 2005.

    “When a former vice-president asserts that NITEL was making N100 billion in profit annually, the mind must boggle that someone so unconstrained by fidelity to facts had once been saddled with significant responsibilities. NITEL never made such profits.

    “NITEL had never paid a single dividend to the FGN until the BPE forced it to pay N3billion in 2001! While the politicians and bureaucrats were fighting to reclaim ministerial control of NITEL (and the inflated equipment contracts that came with it), the company was fast losing market share to the new kids on the block, the GSM companies that understood how to create and sustain value.

    “It is to be hoped that Atiku will respond to the other matters concerning him in the book, but this time he must ensure that facts trump the braggadocio.”

    But the former Vice President has again dismissed those allegation.

    He said they are not new. In a statement by his Media Office, Atiku said: “The interesting thing is that those spreading these allegations couldn’t come forward with any iota of proof against me. I was also accused of selling African Petroleum to myself, using a front. However, when the facts eventually emerged in respect of this particular allegation, my traducers were disarmed and were forced to retreat. Indeed, I was the most investigated public office holder under the former administration and, if this allegation was valid, it could have been conveniently used to bring me down and tarnish my name. Thank God I survived this smear campaign, just like others before it.

    “The Senate conducted a public hearing on privatisation under my leadership as the chairman of the National Council on Privatisation. That was the best opportunity for those accusing me of selling public assets to myself to come forward to prove the allegation. Surprisingly, they never did because they relied mainly on hearsay. A cabinet member in Obasanjo’s government, who was promoting this idle rumour, was eventually left looking small because he didn’t have the facts to substantiate his allegations against me.

    “On Pentascope, people should direct the questions to El-Rufai himself. The Pentascope scandal was one of the issues investigated by the National Assembly and it accused El-Rufai of ignoring wise counsel by imposing the company on NITEL.”

     

     

     

     

  • Court adjourns hearing in El-Rufai’s case

    Court adjourns hearing in El-Rufai’s case

    The Federal Capital Territory High Court on Thursday adjourned hearing to May 7 in a case of alleged irregular land allocation and abuse of office brought against Nasir El-Rufai by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

    The adjournment was to enable El-Rufai’s Counsel, Mr. Kanu Agabi (SAN), to certify the document to be tendered.

    Agabi had earlier craved the indulgence of the court to tender a copy of an agreement letter entered into by the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) and Rosehill Group for the development of the post office site in Maitama.

    Prosecution Counsel, Mr. Adebayo Adelodun (SAN), opposed the admissibility of the document, saying the document was not properly tendered before the court.

    “My lord, we oppose the admissibility of this document and the defence counsel ought to have certified this document before coming to court because you know what you are coming to defend in court.

    “You should have certified your entire documents; so we oppose this,’’ Adelodun said.

    Both counsel, however, agreed on a short adjournment after exhaustive argument on the admissibility of the document.

    At the resumed hearing, Prosecution witness, Arch. Adeyeye Olu, who was Deputy Post Master-General of NIPOST, told the court that plot 3350, which was formally known as plot 3776, located in Maitama District, belonged to NIPOST.

    He said that NIPOST applied for and got allocation of the plot from the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) in 1994.

    “We went to FCDA and verified if the plot was allocated to any organisation before we applied and it was confirmed that the land was not allocated to anybody.

    “We wrote application for allocation to the FCDA and we made all necessary payments, and in 1994, the plot was formally allocated to NIPOST.

    “We submitted our certificate to FCDA for the approval of our building plan and paid all necessary fees; I have a copy of the approval slip and the payment slip of Aso savings,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the prosecution witness as saying at the hearing.

    He said that he had a copy of the application letter and the letter of allocation which the authority issued to NIPOST.

    Olu further explained that the reason why NIPOST was unable to develop the plot as at that time was as a result of economic down-turn experienced in the organisation.

     

  • Ezekwesili snubbed Jonathan’s ministerial offer, says el-Rufai

    Ezekwesili snubbed Jonathan’s ministerial offer, says el-Rufai

    A  former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has dismissed claims that he and some other ‘yesterday’s men’ are criticising the Jonathan administration because they were not given appointments.

    He says that on the contrary, some of them were approached by the administration with ministerial offers which they declined.

    El-Rufai, who made the submissions in an interview with the current edition of METROPOLE Magazine published by a member of ThisDay Editorial Board, Mr. Waziri Adio, specifically picked on the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Dr.Reuben Abati and said: “So who is he referring to as yesterday’s men? Is it Oby that left the government and went to the World Bank and made a name for herself and came back and still has a decent job?

    “Before Segun Aganga was offered Minister of Finance, it was Oby that was offered. President Jonathan offered her the job and I am putting it out in the public for them to deny it. It was Oby that suggested Segun Aganga and another young man in Africa Development Bank.

    “And that was how Segun Aganga became finance minister when Jonathan became acting president. And after he was elected as president, they still followed Oby to South Africa to offer her the minister of power. Does that sound like yesterday’s men?

    “We chose not to be in this government. I can speak for myself and Oby. It’s not because of anything, but you can’t sit back and your country is being ruined by people and you don’t say anything. And when you say something, their response is to smear you. They expect that will work. We will speak next week and the week after and the week after, till they improve. We want them to improve because nobody wants to destroy them. We have been there before them and we know what it takes to get the job done. They should just do it. It’s not impossible.”

    Dismissing Abati’s claim as absolute nonsense, el-Rufai added: “There are two reasons why I haven’t responded to that. First for me when you write a sketch and you are too cowardly to mention my name I won’t respond. I don’t respond to cowards. That article was simply cowardly because if you want to say I allocated land to myself, wife and companies come out and say so, and we will meet in court. That is the same way the same Reuben Abati wrote about General Buhari and when his lawyers wrote to him he ran around town begging.

    “When I want to write about him, I will mention his name. Secondly, I don’t respond to staff. I respond to presidents. I will not respond to him. Others will respond to him and they have been responding. There is no reason responding to anyone who thinks that we are yesterday’s men because we are not running the show.”

    El-Rufai explained that he was not expelled from PDP. According to him, “I simply walked away. If I want to be in the scheme of things, does it not make sense to remain in PDP? Why would I leave PDP to join an opposition party in a country where opposition parties have never been able to unseat the ruling party? He should at least give me credit for having a brain.

    “I chose to leave PDP voluntarily because I can no longer live with the kind of characters and the thinking within PDP.”

    He challenged former President Olusegun Obasanjo in whose administration he served as minister to open up and tell his own story since he is denying the third term agenda.

    The author of the controversial book Accidental Public Servant said most of the problems facing the country today have their roots in the third term bid.

    He said: “I was in General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s government and we briefed Obasanjo for a whole month. Each ministry had one day to brief the incoming president. But when we were handing over to Yar’Adua, each minister had 30 minutes.

    “Tell me, how you can brief an incoming president on the activities of any ministry in 30 minutes? I think I was the only one that got close to one hour because apart from the FCT, there were the public service reforms and others that I handled. All this is part of the problem that we are still living with. So for me, Third Term was just an adventure that this country didn’t need and I do not have any doubt in my mind that we did the right thing.”

    On the allegation by Obasanjo’s supporters that he is vengeful because the former President did not hand over power to him, el-Rufai insisted he had never aspired to be President.

    He added “I am a permanent suspect, you know. The late Yar’Adua went after me because of that. I have stopped explaining myself or defending myself on that. I have written my book and those that say this is the reason should write their own book and prove that I wanted to be president at any time. I am not an aspirant and I am not a contestant for any office. I have said so and nobody believes me and people have gone after me, people are still going after me because of that.”

    He insisted that his account in the book was balanced and that many were surprised that he lasted that long in Obasanjo’s cabinet because he always argued with him. He, however, admitted, “He (Obasanjo) is very important to me and he gave me the opportunity to be in public service. I will always be grateful to him. But I can’t pretend that Obasanjo as president was perfect.”