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Tag: Ezenwa Nwagwu

  • ‘Nigeria opposition politicians incoherent, lack imagination, alternative vision’

    ‘Nigeria opposition politicians incoherent, lack imagination, alternative vision’

    The Executive Director of the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA) and a member of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room on Elections, Ezenwa Nwagwu, has decried what he called the lack of quality opposition parties in the country.

    Nwagwu said even though the country has opposition figures, it lacks strong opposition parties.

    The PAACA executive director regretted that those who act as opposition figures in the country have been largely incoherent in their policy perspective.

    In a statement at the weekend in Abuja, he noted that while many of the opposition figures are not new actors, they lack imagination or an alternative vision on how the economy should be run.

    “What we see repeatedly is the same IMF-driven agenda of privatization,” he said.

    Nwagwu said Nigeria has “opposition figures, not opposition parties”.

    He added: “These figures are largely incoherent in their policy perspectives. Many of them are not new actors, yet there is no imagination or alternative vision on how the economy should be run.”

    What we see repeatedly is the same IMF-driven agenda of privatization.”

    The PAACA chief executive also urged fellow Nigerians to pay more attention to the activities of the political parties in the build-up to the 2027 general election.

    Nwagwu said the undemocratic activities of most political parties often have negative effects on the outcome of elections, for which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) often take the blame.

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    The PAACA boss said while Nigerians are fixated on the electoral umpire, there’s need to focus on the internal democracy of the political parties and how their confidence emerges from the primary elections

    “Nigerians underestimate the role political parties play in the outcome of secondary elections. If the primary elections are bad, the outcome will reflect in the main elections. Ninety percent of the challenges we have in our elections are due to lack of internal democracy – imposition of candidates, absence of genuine contest, and lack of competition within parties.

    “Stakeholders must pay keen attention to what the political parties are doing. We cannot be described as meddlesome interlopers in the affairs of people who recruit leaders for us.

    “The leader’s selection process is a sacred assignment that the political parties are involved in. They are the ones who present candidates. INEC does not present candidates. Sometimes they even present unqualified candidates, and the matter ends up in court,” Nwagwu added.

  • Osun Poll: CSO commends high voter turnout

    Mr Ezenwa Nwagwu, Chairman, Partners for Electoral Reforms, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), has commended the high turnout of voters in the ongoing governorship election in Osun.

    Nwagwu, who is monitoring the election in the state, made the commendation in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Saturday.

    He said that between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. accreditation and voting had already commenced as people trooped out in orderly manner to exercise their franchise.

    “We are coming out from Ife now, accreditation and voting is ongoing. The punctuality is pretty nice in the areas that we have observed between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.

    “But generally, people are coming out to vote and the climate is calm and relatively peaceful,’’ he said.

    The chairman also commended the relative peaceful atmosphere under which the process is going on.

    He, therefore, expressed the need to encourage the people of the state to continue to maintain the maturity they put in during the campaigns and the poll and remain peaceful.

    He expressed optimism that the outcome of the election would reflect the will and aspirations of a greater percentage of the people.

    Read Also: Osun Decides: Massive turnout in Ife

    “It is good to continue to encourage the people of Osun to maintain the maturity that they put in during the campaigns and ensure that they remain peaceful.

    “We hope that the outcome of the election reflects the will and aspirations of a greater percentage of Osun people, ’he said.

    News Agency of Nigeria reports that a heavy security cordon was thrown on the state with massive deployment of policemen and other security personnel including soldiers who were sighted on the outskirts of the state capital.

    News Agency of Nigeria also reports that there are 3,010 Polling Units and 755 Polling Points spread across the three senatorial districts and 30 local governments’ areas of the state.

    Although INEC registered a total of 1,682,495 voters, some 400,000 Permanent Voters Cards remained uncollected as at Friday.

    News Agency of Nigeria also reports that although 48 parties are participating in the election, the frontline candidates are Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples, Democratic Party and Iyiola Omisore of the Social Democratic (SDP).

  • NLC tells workers to vote out defaulting governors

    NLC tells workers to vote out defaulting governors

    The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC ), Mr Ayuba Wabba, has urged workers to get their Permanent Voter Cards ( PVCs ) to vote out state governors owing salaries and allowances.

    A statement signed by Ms Freda Ukpoju, Media Officer, Say No Campaign, a Civil Society Organisation ( CSO ), on Tuesday quoted Wabba as making the call at the group’s “DoroCorruption programme’’ held in Abuja.

    Wabba decried the ordeal of workers at the hands of state governments in Nigeria, insisting that the Nigerian government treat workers like slaves.

    “It is time the workers used their numbers to push back; I encourage members to get their PVCs to vote out every defaulting state governor.

    Read also: NLC rejects APC panel’s proposal on minimum wage, local govts

    “State governments owing salaries were given bailouts and different Federal Government interventions, including the Paris club funds meant to offset their debts to state workers.

    “While some have met their responsibilities and paid off, chronic debtors like Benue and Kogi states remain adamant in fulfilling their responsibilities and clearing their debts.

    “The challenge is not lack of resources but sheer unwillingness and misplaced priorities. ‘’

    Wabba said that the reality of the matter was that the problem had never been about resources, saying “In most of those states, their priority is not to pay salaries but white elephant projects.’’

    He said that before this current administration came in, Plateau owed seven months salaries but through ingenuity, the governor utilised all the money given to him to settle everybody.

    He said that many states had utilised their money, but some states, about twelve of them, including Benue and Kogi had failed.

    He, however, said that the governors should be held accountable because democracy was about the people.

    He said that if as governors, they were not able to address the fundamental constitutional issue of security and welfare of the people then the people also must be able to hold them accountable.

    “Workers and pensioners must unite to use their PVC to chase these type of people out of government; if workers, in unity, demand it and also use their power of franchise to vote them out of office,’’ he said.

    Also speaking, the co-convener, Say No Campaign, Mr Ezenwa Nwagwu, encouraged citizens to join unions or associations and actively participate in ensuring that their collective interests were championed.

    Nwagwu said that where members noticed that leadership had been compromised or failed to promote their interest, there should be no hesitation in voting such leaders out.

    He said that the demand for accountability should begin at the  communities level, adding that only when citizens were able to hold their leaders accountable, would they have the courage to hold government accountable.

    He advised Nigerians not to be divided along ethnic or religious sentiments in the demand for accountability because citizens needed to develop the culture of giving ultimatums to government and demand urgent response to their plights.

    He condemned state governors owing workers and insisted that they were inflicting the worst kind of terror on their people by attacking their means of survival.

    NAN

  • CSOs to FG: Publish names of treasury looters, recovered monies

    CSOs to FG: Publish names of treasury looters, recovered monies

    A coalition of civil society groups under the auspices of the Say No Campaign has asked the Federal government to make public the names of Nigerians found to have looted the public treasury and also make public the actual amount of money so far recovered as it will help the fight against corruption in the country.

    One of the congeners of the Coalition, Ezenwa Nwagwu, said a the 2017 world anti corruption day celebration in Abuja that the government owes it a duty to inform Nigerians on the progress so far made in the fight against corruption, adding that when the government says it is fighting corruption, it is not doing anybody any favour because it is part of its constitutional duties.

    He said the group was out to demystify the fact that the fight against corruption was one man’s fight, adding that “it is easy in Nigeria to build a personality cult around the anti-corruption fight; it is easy to make the anti-corruption fight a cliché. So you hear the government saying every time that it wants to fight corruption but the truth of the matter is that it is in the Constitution that it is the role of the government to abolish it.

    “So, when the government says it is fighting corruption, it is not doing anybody a favour, the consequence of corruption is upon us, its effect is upon us. When you hear that billions of naira is stolen, it means there are no drugs in the hospital, it means that citizens cannot have jobs; they will sell recharge cards.

    “It means that our industries will not work and Ajaokuta, Oshogbo and Aladja Steel Rolling Mills will never come to life”, adding that Ajaokuta mill alone could employ 17, 000 engineers. If you take 17,000 engineers off the unemployment market, that is a respectable self-esteem kind of job but corruption has hampered that’’.

    Another convener and Coordinator African Centre for Media and Information Literacy, Chidi Onuma, Keeping the names of those who have looted the treasury is a disservice to the fight against corruption, saying “I don’t know anybody you would ask in this  country who wouldn’t want to make those names public. It goes beyond the name.

    “We should also have the amount that the government has recovered so far from its effort in the fight against corruption. It will help in ensuring that there is greater confidence in the government and its anti corruption war.

    “It is important for Nigerians to know because it is beyond making an elaborate statement about how much was recovered and the corrupt people who are being prosecuted.

    “It is important that we also come out to tell Nigerians how much of the looted funds has been recovered and from who. Some of the reasons may be because of the legal implication because you have to ensure that the judicial system takes its course and ensure that things are resolved before you make anything public”.

    He said further that even though People have different opinion about the war against corruption, there has been some successes, but there is still room for improvement, adding that “we need to keep talking about it with the hope that it would primate every Sector and aspect of the Nigeria society. You do not resolve the issue of corruption in a day.

    “The current government has made efforts through whistleblowing, treasury single account among others. There has been some criticism, but it is something that we need to continue to work on as a people until we are able to reduce corruption to a bearable minimum.

    “Every now and then, you hear accusations of selective prosecution. I think the question. We should be as, I give ourselves is whether anybody who has been picked up for corruption irrespective of political affiliation, has committed a crime.

    “If a crime has been committed, we should look beyond where the person comes from, his religion, ethnicity of political party. If we look at that, I would say you that allegations can’t stand because in my own estimation. Almost everybody that has been put on trial for corruption in this country has a case to answer.”

  • Magu’s rejection push-back against anti-corruption fight – NGO

    Magu’s rejection push-back against anti-corruption fight – NGO

    Partners for Electoral Reform (PER), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) said Senate’s rejection of Ibrahim Magu as Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was a setback to anti-corruption fight.

    Chairman of the organisation, Mr Ezenwa Nwagwu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the issue was not to glorify anyone as sole corruption fighter as it was being demonstrated.

    He said that it was clear that Magu came with purpose and courage and that his determination to curb corruption was strong.

    Nwagwu said that what was happening was “corruption fighting back’’.

    “The National Assembly, especially the Senate, has become an extension of the Governors’ Forum; majority of these governors are under investigation.

    “In fact, the Senate President’s wife is under investigation and the courage to fight is only coming from the present leadership of the EFCC.

    “So, to ask that the same body to be the one confirming the man who has put them on the spot is illusionary; secondly, there are issues around the bailout funds and it’s a huge scandal that is erupting.

    “The national assembly, many of them are former governors and have been implicated in it and what that means is that if you allow Magu, many of them will be rubbished with the kind of courage he has.

    “So, there are issues around whether the presidency didn’t know about the report of the DSS and all of those things are palace intrigues.

    “I call it palace intrigues because the conflict between EFCC and the DSS is about inter-agency rivalry that Nigeria is known for and all the pettiness that goes with it is what is playing out and nothing more,’’ he said.

    Nwagwu said that he expected the senate to take itself above pettiness and act in a statesman’s manner for the good of the country.

    He said that those who conceived the idea of the different arms of government checking the other never thought of a situation where persons in one arm would be those who were being investigated by another arm.

    “That is the challenge now and for me, the day he was rejected was a sad day for Nigeria, yet people are saying it was because he did not perform well at the national assembly,’’ he said.

    The NGO boss said that the gift of the garb was not a condition for diligence or performance as they were many people who could not communicate well yet came top in class.

    He said that Magu’s rejection was a deep conspiracy against the anti-corruption fight in Nigeria and nothing more.

    However, Mr Festus Okoye, Executive Director, Human Rights Monitor, said that there was no mystery or mistake to Magu’s rejection by the senate.

    Okoye said that the Constitution of Nigeria recognised duality of power and did not give the president of the country the power and authority to be the sole decision maker in relation to appointments.

    “What it has done is to give the president the power of nomination and to the senate, the power of confirmation of the nomination.

    “The powers being welded by the executive in terms of nomination and the powers being welded by the senate in terms of confirmation are the powers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “So, if the organ given the power to confirm says the person has failed an integrity test, I do not see why we should not sleep because of it.

    “Secondly, I think it is incongruous and a disservice to our democracy for us to wrap our institutions around individuals, for us to insist that only one individual can do the job of fighting corruption in Nigeria,’’ he said.

    Okoye said that rather than insist on breaching the Constitution and that only one individual could do the job, Nigeria should return to the drawing board and do what was right.

    He said President Muhammadu Buhari, in his wisdom, should nominate somebody else to take that position, adding that Magu’s rejection may not be because the “lawmakers has skeleton in their cupboard’’.

    Okoye said that since Magu failed the integrity test involving issues of corruption and abuse of office, it was not right to claim that he was rejected because the lawmakers were corrupt.

    Mr Clement Nwankwo, Executive Director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), said that the national assembly had liberty to take any action it dimmed fit in its statutory responsibility.

    Nwankwo said “if the national assembly rejected Magu based on integrity report, so be it; it should not be an issue at all.’’

    On his part, a lawyer, Mr Frank Tietie, said that Magu’s rejection was a welcomed development towards choosing leaders to head major institutions.

    According to Tietie, who is Executive Director, Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER), since Magu has been implicated in corruption case, there is a case against his integrity.