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Tag: elders

  • Of lion, elders etc

    Of lion, elders etc

    Amaechi versus Mbu: As I write this, my hands are shaking. Out of fear. If not for extra courage, I must be peeing in my panties by now. Why? I am afraid ex-Rivers State police chief, now an Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Joseph Mbu, will invite me for a meeting and subsequently order my arrest and the next morning, after staying in mosquitoes-infested cell, will be taken to a Magistrates’ Court and be charged for literary assault on a police officer.

    I hereby plead guilty to the offence of having severally assaulted ‘the best police chief Rivers ever had’ on this space. I confess that on many an occasion, I wrote that ‘the lion’ was law when he was in Rivers. I equally admit that I am guilty of accusing him of reducing Governor Rotimi Amaechi to a second class citizen in his own state.

    And to cap it all, I committed the literary hara-kiri of asking that Mbu be taken to Maiduguri where he would be able to help us get over the Boko Haram menace. I also put it to myself, apologies to my Learned Friends, that I am guilty of saying Mbu was acting a script written from above.

    That is not all. I also confess that I have used this space to write that he was the most controversial police boss Rivers ever had. I contended that Amaechi had worked with at least three police chiefs before him and they never quarreled.

    My sins against this ‘lion’ who tamed the ‘leopard’ are certainly more than those of African Independent Television’s Amaechi Anakwe, who Mbu invited for describing him as ‘controversial’ on a TV programme, ordered his arrest and dragged to a Magistrates’ Court, where he was subsequently freed after prosecution orally withdrew the case on Mbu’s instruction.

    I think the AIT man’s sin may not be unconnected with his name. You may ask: what is in a name? So much. How on earth does he answer the same name as the Rivers governor? Mbu has used every available opportunity, even after leaving Rivers, to show that there can never be a love lost between him and the man who described him as a ‘woman wrapper’. I suggest that Anakwe should drop the Amaechi in his name. I will fund the change of name in this newspaper. That way, the risk of falling prey to the great ‘lion’ Mbu is reduced. He should also avoid the use of the word ‘controversial’ so that he will not have a controversial end.

    As for me, I remain loyal to His Imperial Majesty AIG Joseph Mbu, Southsouth’s most popular boy in the Nigerian Police, a great son of Cross River, a man of monumental achievements who is imbued with the profundity of insights and, above all, the apple of the First Dame’s eyes.  Lastly, please forgive me my sins because I do not know what I was doing. I committed these sins at moments of shingle short.

    Akwa Ibom elders are ‘preposterous and spurious’: In Yoruba land, there is a saying which when translated means: “Elders cannot be in the market and things will not work well.” This makes me ask: What happens when elders decide to fight their son? I leave you to figure that out.

    Elders of Akwa Ibom, led by the owner of the popular Etiebet’s Place, Chief Don Etiebet, are displaying their pugilists’ skills in their fight against Governor Godswill Akpabio. The latest fight is not unconnected to a statement the elders credited to the governor during the state’s 27th anniversary celebration.

    He was quoted as saying: “To the youth, you have a responsibility, the future belongs to you. My challenge to you is not to look at the elders.”

    Etiebet said this amounts to inciting the youths.  “We use this opportunity to call on our youths to know that the future belongs to you but you need the elders for training, advice, direction, blessing and preparation to take over tomorrow.”

    He added: ‘’Just because we, the elders, have counselled him against  arbitrary and non-budgetary spending, should he insult us?”

    Preposterous, spurious and attempts to act out a script by the opposition were Commissioner for Information Aniekan Umanah’s description of the elders’ claims, adding: “I wonder how a message by the governor admonishing the youth to take their destiny in their hands could be twisted by Etiebet and his co-travellers.”

    We sure will see more of these altercations in the days to come. At the heart of this fight is who flies the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag for the next governorship election. The governor is believed to have made up his mind to install his Secretary to the State Government, Emmanuel Udom. The elders do not angry with this.

    The governor has refused to comment openly about whether he has given his heart to Udom or not, but he has left no one in doubt that he is in charge.

    Apart from the elders, the situation in Akwa Ibom has seen godsons of Akpabio turning against him. Men with whom he wined and dined cannot even share ordinary water with him anymore. Daily they plot against one another. The other day the governor was angry enough to declare that like the Biblical Absalom, any of his sons who wanted to take power through the backdoor will die. The governor’s supporters insist he was referring to political death. His enemies within say he never used the word ‘political’ when he pronounced death on his estranged sons.

    The season has just begun. Interesting times sure lie ahead. Stay tuned.

    Waiting for Julius Agwu:  October is here. The rush has started. But, where on earth is Julius ‘de genius’ Agwu in the mad rush to 2015? A fortnight ago, he was in Arogbo, an Ijaw community in Ondo State as a guest of the Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku, for the Arogbo-Ibe Day. He was his jovial self. No one noticed the sartorial elegance of a governor-in-waiting in him. But Agwu says he wants to be governor; or better still, he said he wanted to be governor of Rivers State, which, in the long run, may be a race between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi.  Forget that both men will not be candidates, but each of them will want to prove a point.

    The last time Agwu spoke about his ambition was in August. He was everywhere. From the social media to the print media. He granted a number of interviews and tried to disabuse the minds of those who think he was out for another comic relief. He said he was the change Rivers needs.

    Despite his assurances, not many took serious this A-rated comedian. They doubted if he was serious to quit the world of comedy for the world of politics. Now, it is clear he was joking.

    I am pained he has wasted my pieces of advice to him. I had advised him in August thus: “This is my advice to Agwu. First, he needs to rebrand by presenting himself simply as the third force and severing every ethnic tie. He should sell himself as the Rivers candidate. His manifesto should also show the power of comedy in disarming the Federal Government to give the state its dues. Federal roads in the state need attention. Agwu’s manifesto should promise that he has got the skills to get the Presidency to fix these roads and other infrastructure pronto. The manifesto should also show that never again will Rivers be cheated of its rights. In fact, he can promise to get back the oil wells taken from the state through his comic skills.”

    Next time, I will not invest in him again. Chikena!

     

  • Akwa Ibom: Ibibio elders back Emmanuel for governor

    Akwa Ibom: Ibibio elders back Emmanuel for governor

    A group, the Ibibio Elders’ Fo-rum, has endorsed the Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government (SSG), Mr. Udom Emmanuel, for next year’s governorship election.

    The forum said the aspirant will defend the  growth, unity and development of the state.

    The forum is made up of elders from Ibibioland. It explained that Emmanuel is a humble and committed administrator.

    When some of the elders visited the SSG in his office at Uyo, the state capital, they urged him to declare his intention to run for the office.

    They said Emmanuel has lived up to expectation as a technocrat before he was appointed as the SSG.

    Hailing his patriotism, they said: “those who got jobs through Emmanuel’s assistance have established themselves to the envy of their contemporaries in other states.”

    Noting that Emmanuel is the only Ibibio son on the board of African Finance Corporation and the highest ranking Akwa Ibom son in the financial sector, they wondered “why Akwa Ibom should go to war with a mere recruit when they have a ‘General”

    Former Minister of Lands and Housing Chief Nduese Essien said the SSG will be a worthy successor to Governor Godswill Akpabio.   He said: “It is on this basis that the entire Ibibio elders of Akwa Ibom State have realized that we need someone like Udom Emmanuel as Governor, come 2015, because he is the right choice and truly deserves the seat.”

    The Chairman of the Forum, Dr Okon Uko, decried the  falsehood,  propaganda, blackmail and the “pull him down syndrome” that have characterised politics in Ibibioland.

    Uko extolled the sterling qualities of the SSG, saying that he will be a good governor.

  • We didn’t attack elders, say Kwara youths

    All Progressives Congress (APC) youths in Kwara South Senatorial District have denied attacking party elders at a stakeholders meeting.

    They dismissed reports that they were against the re-election of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, pledging their loyalty to Ahmed and former Governor Bukola Saraki.

    Addressing reporters yesterday in Ajase-Ipo, the Coordinator of youth leaders from the seven local government areas in the district, Mr. Sunkanmi Ereoye, said: “To set the records straight, we heard our elders were meeting with some stakeholders in Ajase-Ipo to sensitise them on what the government has done in Kwara South and the need to continue to support the governor.

    “On getting there, we had a disagreement on another issue. This was sadly misreported as an attack on APC elders. That is far from the truth. We are neither opposed to our APC elders nor to their mission of canvassing support for our amiable governor’s re-election.

    “We commend Ahmed for consulting with stakeholders in the three senatorial districts and are proud of his achievements in this first term. We have benefitted from the 10,200 bridge and permanent jobs created by this administration, the reduction of fees at the Kwara State University, Malete, and the empowerment of artisans with N100 million, among other life transforming interventions and want the governor to be given a chance to continue the good work he started.”

    A member of the House of Representatives, Mashood Mustapha, lent his voice to calls on Saraki to contest the 2015 presidential election.

    Mustapha said given Saraki’s wealth of experience as a two-term governor, former chairman of the Governors’ Forum and former presidential aide, he is best suited for the job.

    He described Saraki as “the architect of modern Kwara”.

  • Imo elders to Jonathan: call PDP chieftains to order

    Imo elders to Jonathan: call PDP chieftains to order

    Elders in Imo State have urged President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the breach of security in the state by personnel of the Presidency and chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    According to the Imo State Council of Elders (IMSCE), personnel in the Presidency and PDP chieftains displayed disregard for constituted authority by their unrestrained use of siren and motorbike outriders.

    The elders urged President Jonathan to intervene, “as the general elections are approaching.”

    They enjoined him to prevail on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare the 2011 results of five wards in Oguta Local Government.

    The group’s accusations were contained in a statement by its chairman and a former deputy director-general, State Security Service (SSS), Prince Okey Njemanze.

    Njemanze, who said although security agencies maintained peace, added that danger was looming, following alleged security breaches by PDP politicians.

    Besides the use of siren and outriders, the elders cited alleged attack on Governor Rochas Okorocha during the funeral of Justice Chukwudifu Oputa.

    They also cited another incident, alleging that suspected thugs loyal to the PDP candidate in the Oguta election attacked the governor’s convoy, pulled down the outrider and disarmed a policeman.

    “If this lawlessness persists, as electioneering nears, there may be bloodbath among the aides loyal to political gladiators in the state,” Njemanze said.

    The elders attributed INEC’s refusal to declare the result of the 2011 House of Assembly election in five of the 198 wards in Oguta, won by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), to the Presidency.

    According to the group’s chairman, INEC’s refusal to declare the results has left the area unrepresented in the Assembly for three years.

    The body faulted the Presidency for being silent on the status of a delegate to the National Conference, Eze Cletus Ilomuanya, who despite being dethroned as the Chairman of the Imo Council of Traditional Rulers, paraded himself as a delegate to the National Conference.

  • Allow youths to rule, Yero urges elders

    Allow youths to rule, Yero urges elders

    Kaduna State Governor Mukthar Ramalan Yero, at the weekend, told the older generation to give youths the opportunity to lead the country.

    Speaking at the International summit, organised by the Nigerian Young Professionals Forum, Governor Yero said the older generation should assume the role of advisers.

    Yero, who was honoured as the best supportive governor for national integration and purposeful leadership, said  required of the older generation should guide the youth.

    “It is time our elders took the back stage and avail the younger people of their experience through counselling.

    “The best formula for dynamic leadership is the mix of the agility of young people with experiences of elders. It is time for the younger people to take centrestage.

    “Young professionals in Nigeria cannot live in isolation. All over the world, countries are entrusting leadership to youths.”

    Chairman and Founder of the forum Mr. Moses Siloko Siasia said Governor Yero was honoured because of his effort at sustaining the peaceful co-existence among all sections of the country.

    He praised the governor for his youth and women empowerment programmes towards reducing restiveness and poverty.

  • Knocks for Ibibio Elders’ chair

    The Chairman of the Ibibio Elders Forum, Dr. Okon Akpan Uko, was slammed yesterday for his remarks that the forum had not endorsed the Akwa Ibom State Secretary to the Government (SSG), Mr. Udom Emmanuel.

    A member of the forum, Obong Thomas Akpan, chided him for his double-speak.

    Akpan said Uko made profound statements about the character and personality of Mr. Udom Emmanuel and hailed his intellectual prowess, managerial ingenuity and humane disposition, which he noted set him apart as a credible and competent successor to Governor Godswill Akpabio.

    Uko, in a telephone interview with The Nation, said the forum was yet to endorse Udom, claiming it only received him out of courtesy and urged him to continue his consultations peacefully.

    Akpan wondered why the forum would deny the recorded material facts of the endorsement of Udom.

    His words: “We are at a loss how Uko or the leadership of the forum could deny the (recorded) material facts of the endorsement, which they presented initially in a well-composed tribute by the forum. The tribute was printed, circulated and presented by the Ibibio Elders Forum spokesman, Obong Tony Akpan.

    “We view this development as regrettable and embarrassing not only to the forum and the public, but also to the leaders and political figures across the state, who accompanied the SSG during the visit on July 25. We condemn this double-speak in its entirety.

    “We recall that at this event, Uko made profound statements about the character and personality of Udom and commended his intellectual prowess, managerial ingenuity and humane disposition, which he noted set him apart as a credible and competent successor to Governor Akpabio next year.”

  • 2015: Ibibio elders battle Akpabio

    2015: Ibibio elders battle Akpabio

    As interest groups protest Governor Godswill Akpabio’s succession plans, Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, reports that a battle line has been drawn between the governor and Ibibio elders

    Raging disagreement between Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, and Ibibio leaders in the state over the zoning of the governorship position in the fast approaching 2015 elections continued unabated following deadlock at a meeting called to broker peace between the two camps.

    Sources say the governor, determined to stave off all oppositions to his resolve to ensure that the next governor of the state emerge from the Eket zone of the state, agreed to meet with the aggrieved leaders of Ibibio who remained opposed to his 2015 political plans.

    While the governor insisted that the governorship position be zoned to Eket Senatorial District in the spirit of equity and justice, prominent political leaders from Ibibio have canvassed that the governor should respect an agreement he had with them years back and support Ibibio to produce the next governor; otherwise, the choice of a new governor come 2015, should be made open to all comers irrespective of where they come from.

    At the meeting held in Uyo recently, in spite of efforts by Akpabio and the leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to convince the Ibibio leaders on the need for them to support the zoning agenda, representatives of Ibibio zone at the meeting insisted that the governor’s plot is not in their interest and as such cannot receive their blessing.

    “The meeting failed to resolve the issues at hand as the Ibibio political leaders are unwilling to shift their ground on the zoning controversy. The parley was called at the instance of the PDP leaders in the state. It became necessary given the numerical strength enjoyed by the Ibibios which may work against the PDP if the issues are left unattended to for too long.

    While the governor and the PDP chieftains want the Ibibios to concede the governorship ticket to Eket zone as canvassed by the Akpabio, the Ibibio leaders appealed to Governor Akpabio to ensure that the race to pick his successor remains an open contest in keeping with the tradition of electoral contests in the state, if he is unwilling to fulfill an earlier promise to support them to produce the next governor.

    Not even the intervention and appeal by leaders of the PDP at the meeting could sway the decision of the Ibibio leaders in favour of Akpabio’s idea of zoning. Thus, the meeting ended without a resolution of the issues at hand, leaving the face-off between the governor and Ibibio leaders unresolved,” our source said.

    The governor reportedly said he preferred to zone the governorship of the state in 2015 to Eket Senatorial District, because, according to him, Eket district has not produced a governor since the state was created in 1987.

    But the leaders told the governor that the Ibibios, with 14 of the 31 local councils in the state, would continue to insist on an open contest as it was in the past when Akpabio won the governorship election after defeating about 58 other contestants from all the senatorial districts of the state at the PDP primaries in 2006.

    “Unless the governor will agree to our own idea of zoning, we will only agree to an open contest. This is democracy and we will want to put our numerical strength to test if we cannot get the understanding and support of our brothers to produce the next governor of the state,” the Ibibio leaders reportedly canvassed their position at the meeting with the governor.

    Not even an option by the party that the governorship position could still go to the Ibibio, if the leaders support an Ibibio of Eket extraction to vie for the job while excluding Ibibio from Uyo Senatorial District from partaking in the race, could sway the leaders in favour of the pact.

    Countering the argument of the governor’s camp that the Ibibios just left office eight years ago, the leaders reportedly told the governor that in the old Cross River State, of which Akwa Ibom was a part, Chief U. J. Esuene of Eket Senatorial District was in office for nine years and was followed by Dr. Clement Isong, also of the district for four years, and yet no one protested.

    According to sources, those at the meeting included leaders of Akwa Esop Imaisong Ibibio, the pan-Ibibio socio-cultural group; members of the Ibibio Elders Forum; representatives of Ibibio Collectives; chieftains of the ruling PDP, former and serving commissioners, amongst others.

    With the development, leaders of the Ibibio zone of the state will return to the trenches in their bid to stop what they alleged as an attempt by the governor to impose his preferred candidate on the state come 2015.

    Addressing newsmen in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, recently, chairman of the Elders’ Forum, Obong Okon Uko, condemned the attempt by Governor Godswill Akpabio to impose a successor on the people.

    Uko had said the Ibibio, as the majority which constitutes over 60 per cent of the population in Akwa Ibom State, believe in the peaceful co-existence of the various sub-ethnic groups and had, due to such recognition, voted Akpabio, an Annang from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, repeatedly into office in 2007 and 2011.

    The forum therefore called on Akpabio to remember his earlier pledge during his 2007 gubernatorial campaigns to revert back power to the Ibibio at the expiration of his tenure in 2015.

    “Governor Akpabio reaffirmed this position in 2009 at a rally organised by Ibibio leaders to endorse him for a second term in office. Chief Akpabio stated then that to promote justice, peace and equity, the Ibibios will produce the governor in 2015”, they said.

    Earlier, Akwa Esop Imaisong Ibibio, the apex Ibibio cultural organisation in Akwa Ibom State, has rejected Akpabio’s zoning campaign with regard to 2015 gubernatorial election in the state. The group made of elders of Ibibio ethnic nationality also advised Akpabio to honour his promise in 2011 to hand over power to Ibibio in 2015.

    Akwa Esop, led by their Patriarch, Obong Essien Udo Ekidem, the Ntisong III, said they had observed with great concern the partisan interest expressed by various groups and organisations in the state concerning the 2015 governorship race, especially, as regards zoning of the governorship office to a particular senatorial district.

    While stressing that governorship elections in the state had never been subjected to any zoning arrangement, the organisation stressed that in 1999 many governorship aspirants emerged from the three senatorial districts of Uyo, Ikot Ekpene and Eket, even though Obong Victor Attah eventually emerged as consensus candidate.

    “In 2007, 58 governorship aspirants from the three senatorial districts contested the PDP primaries of which the incumbent governor, his Excellency, Chief Godswill Akpabio emerged as the party candidate. In 2011 again, six governorship aspirants from the three senatorial districts contested the PDP primaries.

    “It could be seen from the antecedents that there has never been a time that a governorship race is restricted to any particular senatorial district in Akwa Ibom State. In the same vein, ethnic consideration has never been a yardstick for selecting a governorship candidate.

    “In the light of the ongoing, we in Akwa Esop Imaisong Ibibio and indeed wish to state categorically that zoning should not be brought into the governorship race for 2015. PDP governorship primaries in Akwa Ibom State has always been open to all aspirants in the three senatorial districts, therefore, 2015 cannot be an exception. In this circumstance, any governorship aspirant from any senatorial district from any political party is duly qualified to contest the 2015 governorship election,” the group said.

    They said the ongoing town hall meetings should not be used as a political platform to whip up ethnic sentiments or disaffection among the peace loving people of the state or heat up the polity, warning that democracy should be allowed to take its due course rather than imposing a candidate against the will of the people.

    But Akpabio is also insisting that his successor would emerge from Eket Senatorial District. His reason is that the other two senatorial districts, namely, Uyo and Ikot –Ekpene, have each produced occupants of the office of the governor at various times. And as if acting on cue, the state chapter of the PDP zoned the 2015 governorship ticket to the district.

    It is not only Ibibio leaders who are up in arms against the decision as some of the party’s leading figures such as Otuekong Jackson, Senator Aloysius Etuk, Ambassador Assam Assam (SAN), a former deputy governor, Chris Ekpenyong; a former minister, Obong Rita Akpan; and a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Peter Linus Umoh, among others, have taken their protest to the PDP national secretariat.

    In one of several media briefings by aggrieved party chieftains, a former member of the House of Representatives, Bernard Udoh, said he and other stakeholders of the party have rejected the arrangement in its totality. The stakeholders also accused the governor of running the state chapter of the party like a personal estate.

    They cautioned the PDP against treating their complaints with levity because such an action has the potential of hurting the party’s chances in 2015.

     

  • When elders wine and dine

    When elders wine and dine

    Senior citizens in Rivers State, especially the over 200 beneficiaries of the O.B.Lulu-Briggs’ “Care for Life” Foundation, have always looked forward to the first day of every January.

    It is a day set aside by the Foundation of Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs to receive, honour and celebrate the successful cross-over of these elders into a New Year.

    Like a ritual, the event has been on in the past 12 years and the 2014 edition was not different. As usual, the elders were treated a warm celebration reception while they wined, dined and danced in praise to thank God for His privilege on them to witness another year.They were showered with gifts by their host, just as their hope for better care in the year was renewed.

    The event at Onubio (aka Briggs Compound), in Abonnema Town in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers state, was heralded with fanfare. The celebrants were visibly happy at the event.

    Over 230 indigent elderly men and women of Rivers state origin, aged from 65 years and above are in the care list, of Lulu-Briggs Care for Life Foundation. They (beneficiaries), are given care, fed, clothing, health and in some cases, homes by the foundation.

    Speaking at the event the Executive Director of the Foundation, Pastor Seinye O. B. Lulu-Briggs, thanked Almighty God for the gift of life and the privilege for a triumphant entry into a glorious New year.

    “The unspeakable joy that wells up in the heart of men comes from the knowledge of being surrounded by people who love and truly care about them. This joy cannot be undermined and that is why we have gathered here today to honour and celebrate the elderly citizens of the O.B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation and other invited senior citizens.”

    The 2014 event, as with the previous ones was not sacrosanct to only those in the ‘Care for Life’ pay roll as other elders, chiefs, the clergy, men, women, youths, the very young among others in Abonnema, and Onubio in Particular also look forward to using the day/celebration, to celebrate their cross over to a brand New year. Every one present was had good entertainment and New year gift. The event took place at Onubio a war canoe House, and ancient compound where it has held from inception.

    “To us, it has become a date, so if it fails to hold any year, we the people will ask questions.” an indigene of the area told the Niger Delta Report.

    The celebrants are conveyed in their various buses donated by the Foundation to ease their movements to events venues and the Biokpo Recreation Centre in another part of Abonnema, also built by the Foundation for them.

    Beneficiaries came from Abua in Abua/ Odual, Elelema in Asari-Toru, Abonnema and Obonoma both in Akuku-Toru Local Government Areas of the state to the Onibio. It was an opportunity for them to celebrate, interact and share with their mates from other environments.

    About N500million is yearly mapped out by the High Chief to carry out the foundation’s programme.

    Apart from the elders, the foundation equally have education programme for the gifted children of indigent parents.

    The foundation is sponsoring 110 students in institutions in Nigeria and abroad.

    The foundation also undertakes development intervention programmes in the rural communities.

    The ceremony was also an opportunity for the chair to review the activities of the past year and disclose its plans for the new year, particularly the proposed intervention in Port Harcourt Prison.

    She said: “As far as we are concerned and by what we saw there when we visited, their state of hygiene is deplorable in fact, none existent. We were granted the opportunity to visit them and there is no way we could continue to leave them live as though they are none existent.

    “For this reason we decided to take up the construction of sanitary facilities for both male and female hostels, and also sink bore holes for them and connect to the toilets, make a network of pipe to the various location the Prison authorities have given us land to erect these structures for the use of the inmates.

    “Last year we worked in three states in our Free Medical Mission and embarked on a total of four outreaches, one per quarter, this year we are seriously looking at the possibility of making at least two outings per quarter, God granting us the grace we shall make it and spread them across the states.”

    Reacting on the Foundation’s celebration, a Kalabari Chief, Gorge Amakiri said: “Today has been a day of life, good health, prosperity, protection and peace. We have been witnessing this day in the past 12 years.

    “We had a coral night praise and worship on December 21, today we are here to thank God Almighty further for all that High chief O.B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation has been doing. The kindness, goodness benevolence to humanity. Many of us are beneficiaries one way or the other of the act of charity of this High Chief.”

    He prayed to God to give long life to Chief O.B.Lulu-Briggs and his wife that they may continue to do the good things of making recognisable impacts on the lives of people.

    Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, an elder simply identified as Tonye recalled all the benefits they have enjoyed through the foundation. He listed daily feeding, monthly allotment of food stuff, medical checks, housing in some cases, clothing, and above all deploying of care givers/helpers to the homes of the very weak among them to cook, wash and fetch water for them

    The high point of the event was the unveiling of the Foundation’s new Logo, which was said to be a symbol to unleash their potential to reach more frontiers.

  • North’s elders: we’ll take back presidency in 2015

    North’s elders: we’ll take back presidency in 2015

    Elders from the North yesterday said the region is prepared to take the presidency back in 2015.

    Northern Elders Forum Secretary Prof. Ango Abdullahi said in Kaduna that the various groups in the region were working together to ensure that power returns to the North .

    Abdullahi, a former Special Adviser to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo on Food Security, said has former boss begged the North to allow him have a second term since the original arrangement for rotational presidency did not include having two terms. He said the North granted Obasanjo’s request – in line with constitutional provision.

    Abdullahi, who spoke at a news conference, said he was speaking onbehalf of the (NEF).

    According to him, if the North cannot claim the presidency through rotation, it intends to do so, relying on its massive voting population. Based on population alone, the North can hold on to power in the country for as long as it wishes.

    North has three of the six geopolitical zones in the country.

    Abdullahi said: “I want to make it absolutely clear to you that the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and all these other groups that have emerged in the recent past are committed to the interest that underlies northern interest. There is no question about that.

    “The North is determined and is insisting that the leadership of the country will rotate to it in 2015 and I am making that very clear to you. On behalf of all of us, ACF in front because they have been the oldest group and the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) and our other groups that have been very active and strong.

    “All of us are likely to have this very tough and common agenda. Not that the North is power blind, no, it will be argued on the rational argument that is on the ground today. The North on the basis of one man, one vote can keep power indefinitely in the present Nigeria state.

    “If it is on the basis of one man, one vote, the demography shows that the North can keep power as long as it wants because it will always win elections.”

    The former Vice Chancellor noted that rotational presidency between the North and South was accepted many years ago at the 1987 Political Reform Conference, where it was resolved that every part of the country should be part of the leadership.

    He noted that the North had always made sacrifices in the interest of the country, adding that “some of us who participated in conferences – Constitutional Conferences from 1987 till the last one, the Political Reform Conference, it was accepted that every part of this country should feel part of the leadership and this is the basis of the acceptance of the rotation between the North and the South.

    “This is what happened in the constitutional conference. There was no question of geo-political zones. The geo-political zones were later introductions. So when this happened, of course, the argument was that it was supposed to be in the Constitution, but the government in power at that time said this ought not to be in the Constitution but should be something that parties can use to attract support and growth from all parts of the country.

    “This is what the PDP, the ruling party now, accepted quickly and I was part of the constitution drafting for the party. We incorporated rotation between the North and the South.”

    Abdullahi said the North allowed Obasanjo to become President in 1999 because the region had taken power for a long time and to pacify the Southwest over the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. The election was believed to have been won by Chief Moshood Abiola, who was detained and later died in controversial circumstances in detention while fighting for the revalidation of the poll.

    “These are the cumulative things that we decided that the South should start. That was how eventually Obasanjo came to be our president under that arrangement and it was clearly for four years. And then when he asked or rather begged for the arrangement to be extended to match the constitutional provision that the president could go for two terms, it was extended in an expanded caucus that the initial four years be added another four years, making it eight years for Obasanjo.

    “All of them were present. He was the first to sign quickly. This particular president (Jonathan) was there as deputy governor representing the governor of Bayelsa state at the time. He signed as number 37. It was found in the document.

    “So you see, we agreed that the south would have eight years and then, the north would have eight years but when eventually, Obasanjo having seen some lacuna, he even tried to abandon the zoning as well as the Constitution to seek for third term.

    “And we are now saying that since there is no consideration on morality and so on, the north is going to insist that the presidency will come whether on the basis of rotation or on the basis of voting powers and we have the voting power to make sure that it comes here.”

     

  • Rivers: Where are the elders?

    Rivers: Where are the elders?

    WHAT is going on in Rivers State?

    The scene is familiar. A group of lawmakers – usually infinitesimal in number -find their way into the House of Assembly chamber, grab the mace, proclaim one of them speaker and, apparently in a befuddled state of a newfangled legal muscle, proceed to make fundamental decisions. By the time the world learns about such actions, it is too late for sanity to prevail, too late to withdraw a bitter joke.

    That was the scenario on Tuesday at the Rivers State House of Assembly. Five lawmakers – they are often described as loyalists of Minister of State for Education Nyesom Wike; have they lost their identities? – seized the chamber to proclaim a new leadership that lasted just a few minutes. Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi moved in to pull the brakes on the theatrics. The nonsense stopped after a few heads had been smashed.

    A source has just told me that the root of the Rivers crisis is money. Cash. As a corollary of this is 2015. The crisis in the local Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been contrived to achieve a purpose, which surely is not to project the people’s interest, but to pursue personal designs for personal gains. I hope the actors do not think they can take the people for granted forever. When they realise the truth and rise, the consequences may be too grievous for us all to handle.

    A brief recall of some of the events. A court in Abuja handed over the leadership of the party to Felix Obuah as chairman. Obuah is believed to be loyal to Wike. Godspower Ake, who the Abuja court removed, is of Amaechi’s faction. He insists he was validly elected in an election Obuah never participated in. The House of Assembly suspended a local government chairman and his executives from office for alleged fraud. The party asked Amaechi to restore the council chiefs. He did not. He couldn’t have. The principle of the separation of powers will never allow that. The party suspended Amaechi and asked him to apologise for him to return to the party.

    Ever since, the Rivers crisis has been part of the trouble with the national PDP. Amaechi’s plan to retain his chairmanship of the Governors’ Forum became a fratricidal strife from which the forum is yet to recover. Governors became the subject of beer parlour jokes after Plateau State’s Jonah Jang maintained that he won the election with his 16 votes. Amaechi scored 19. Academic giants were seized by a strange frenzy in a bid to unravel the new theory of how 16 became bigger than 19 – the Nigerian politician’s latest contribution to scholarship. Till date, they are yet to resolve the mystery. Unable to conceal his questionable neutrality any longer, President Goodluck Jonathan embraced Jang, hosting him at the Villa.

    Amaechi was subjected to all manner of indignities. A recent visit of the First Lady shut down the Rivers capital city, Port Harcourt. He had to shelve some official engagements for as long as the Dame Patience Jonathan road show lasted. Many verbal grenades were hurled at him. The official aircraft that flew him to the Akure Airport was grounded in questionable circumstances. Before then, Rivers had lost some oil wells to its neighbour, Bayelsa, in what has been seen in many informed circles as an attempt to cripple the state financially.

    Amaechi and Commissioner of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu are not the best of friends. They are not working together. In fact, the governor says since Mbu’s arrival in the state, the crime rate has surged, adding that kidnappers are back in business and robbers have ended their holiday to seize the state by the throat. Mbu denies it all. He insists that he remains an impartial enforcer of the law and not an executioner of a political design drawn up from the very top as part of a line-up of activities to enfeeble Amaechi.

    The governor has remained pertinacious, saying the interest of the people is paramount. Nobody, it should be noted, has dismissed Amaechi’s achievements in many areas of development – health, education, infrastructure and all that. Why then is he having problems? Politics? Envy? Ambition?

    A school of thought says it is because Wike, a former associate and Chief of Staff to Amaechi, wants to succeed him, but that the governor has dismissed this as a mere dream because he and the minister are from Ikwerre. Others, he says, should be given a chance. Wike kicked. He launched into a war of attrition against Amaechi.

    Like a mere scratch of the skin, the Rivers crisis has grown into a sore that needs attention because of its potential to balloon into an infectious disease that will spread to other places and become difficult to heal. There are speculations that the main target of the madness in the House on Tuesday was Amaechi. If the five legislators had had their way, they would have initiated impeachment proceedings against the governor. Sounds strange? Yes. But, recall, dear reader, that recently, 16 was said to be bigger than 19. Besides, memories of such incidents are fresh. Dariye. Alamieyeseigha. Fayose. Impeachment is a long process, but our politicians sure know how to shorten any process. After all, doesn’t the end justify the means?

    The role of the police in this drama has been everything but noble. From just watching hoodlums harass the lawmakers on Tuesday, the police yesterday stepped up the game. They reportedly fired teargas into the Government House as they pursued people who had come to show solidarity with the embattled governor.

    Where is the Constitution in all this? Where is the rule of law on which the Jonathan presidency has built its shaky public image? With businesses shut down yesterday as policemen chased protesters around the city, there is a clear invitation to anarchy. Presidential aide Dr Doyin Okupe has said his boss is not involved in the crisis, adding that Amaechi is too small for Dr Jonathan to fight. Hold it doc; that is wrong. The issue is not Amaechi. Why should the President watch as a part of the country is being wracked by anarchists who don the garb of politicians. Shouldn’t he show he is not part of this morbid game – many believe he is –?

    Those former militants who made a living by fighting the law are back in business. They are leading the assault on the state’s constituted authority – obviously with official backing. Isn’t this a costly way of keeping ex-militants busy?

    Nigerians, ever inventive, have started cracking jokes with the Rivers situation. A friend sent me this: “Dad & Son.”

    Son: Dad, why are you training in martial arts?

    Dad: It has been entrenched in our constitution as part of the criteria to contest elective office.

    Son: Are you sure, dad, that we now have such in our constitution; since when?

    Dad: Oh my son, yesterday the Rivers State House of Assembly was suddenly turned into a boxing ring. I need to acquire skills to defend myself when I become a honourable member.

    But the Rivers crisis is no laughing matter. It is the type that makes decent people fulminate. Where are the elders? Should the nonsense in Rivers be allowed to go on? The other day at the Villa, a group of Rivers indigenes, among them some notable individuals, visited the President. They poured invectives on Amaechi, casting him in the mould of an implacable brat. That is not the way of elders who are expected to be custodians of public morality and wisdom. It is politics taken too far.

    It is good that the National Assembly has stepped into the matter. The nonsense in Rivers must be arrested. It should not be allowed to spread. With a state of emergency in three states, the fiendish bloodletting in Plateau and the communal clashes all over the place, Nigeria seems to be overdrawing its account in the bank of peace. It may hit the red.

    Rivers indigenes have a big role to play in the resolution of this crisis, which is part of the long-predicted implosion of the ruling PDP. They should demand peace and decency. But, again, where are the elders?