The Nation Newspaper

Tag: face-off

  • Wike, Tonye Cole in face-off…as Rivers govt terminates APC chieftain’s firm’s contract

    RIVERS State governor, Nyesom Wike, and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in the state, Pastor Tonye Cole, yesterday engaged in brickbats  over  the state government’s  termination of the sale of the stateowned power plants to subsidiaries of Sahara Energy Limited  co-founded Cole. Wike,  through the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Emma Okah, yesterday in Port Harcourt, announced the termination by the Rivers government of the sale of the state-owned power plants to subsidiaries of Sahara Energy Limited. The commissioner, while briefing reporters at the end of the meeting, said: “The Rivers State government has approved the termination of the share sale contract for the sale  of 70 per cent equity of the state government-owned power generation assets held by First Independent Power Limited in Omoku, Afam, Trans-Amadi and Eleme Gas Turbines to NG PowerHPS Limited.

    “The Rivers State government also terminated the concession of the Rivers and Bayelsa States’ owned Olympia Hotel (in old Government Reservation Area, near Government House, Port Harcourt) to Cenpropsaroten Hotel Management Limited. “The Rivers State government further terminated the concession agreement between the government of Rivers State and Kild Concession Limited, in respect of the construction of a toll road and secondary developments in Abonnema Wharf, Port Harcourt. “The three companies that had their contracts/concessions  terminated are subsidiaries of Sahara Energy Limited, used by the immediate past Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, to acquire state assets.”

    Okah also stated that the Rivers government arrived at the resolutions, in line with the yet-to-be-implemented  recommendations of the white paper on the report of the judicial commission of inquiry on the investigation of the administration of Amaechi,  on the sale  of valued assets of Rivers State and other related matters, under the chairmanship of Justice George Omereji. Cole, a billionaire businessman, who is a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), in his reaction, however, declared that Wike is frustrated and playing vindictive politics. The Rivers governorship candidate of the APC, who spoke through the Director, Strategic Communications of his campaign organisation, Prince Tonye Princewill, said: “This may be a surprise to some, but not me.

    This is the vindictive nature of the politics we play today and the reason why many who can salvage our analog politics stay away. “We have said it before that politics is too important to be left to politicians. So, the Tonye Coles of this world should have no fear. The old way is going and the old style politicians know it. My surprise is it took this long. “I can only imagine that now Wike knows that Tonye Cole will be confirmed as his opponent, he can no longer hide his frustration. What he fails to appreciate is that no serious businessman will want to do business with Rivers State. All this from a state with the highest level of unemployment in Nigeria and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) untapped. Yet we wonder why insecurity remains.”

  • U.S., Iran face-off to send oil price sky high

    A military conflict between the United States (U.S.) and Iran would threaten to shut the world’s busiest seaway for oil exports and send crude prices to all-time highs, perhaps even to $200 a barrel, analysts said yesterday.

    Founding partner at energy hedge fund Again Capital, John Kilduff, said Brent crude — the international benchmark for oil prices — is on a path to $90 a barrel because the Trump administration is unlikely to issue many sanctions waivers.

    Top Cabinet officials have recently said countries could get sanctions relief on a case-by-case basis if they cannot entirely cut off purchases from Iran by November.

    However, if Iran opts for the “nuclear option” of shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, Brent could pop to several hundred dollars a barrel, in Kilduff’s view.

    “The numbers on a blockage or any kind of upset or military situation in the Strait of Hormuz, that is off to the races. Pick your number — $150, $200 — it goes sky high.” he said.

    Because we are talking about an abject shortage of oil then in the global market,” he said.

    Brent crude is currently trading just above $73 a barrel. It hit a record high above $147 a barrel in 2008.

    President Donald Trump on Sunday night warned Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Twitter that his country would “SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE” if Rouhani ever threatened the U.S. again.

  • Osun varsity shut over face-off with union

    The Governing Council of Osun State University (UNIOSUN) has announced the indefinite closure of the institution.

    Mr Gafar Shittu, the Registrar of the university, said  in a statement on Monday in Osogbo that  the closure of the institution was sequel to what he described as “  notorious activities’’  of some non-teaching staff   under the guise of unionism.

    This statement reads:  ”The Governing Council of Osun State University has approved the closure of the university with immediate effect.

    “ This is sequel to the notorious activities of some non-teaching staff members under the guise of unionism.

    “ These activities now pose danger to lives and properties within and around the university campuses.

    “Management wishes to sincerely apologise to parents, guardians and students for any inconveniences that this closure may cause.

    “ Efforts are geared towards  addressing the prevalent lawlessness, finally.

    “We urge our law abiding staff and students to remain calm and stay away from the campuses in the mean time.’’

    Reacting to the closure, Mr Isaiah Fayemi, the Chairman of Non-Academic Staff Union of the university, said he was shocked by the announcement of the closure.

    “We are surprised that the management decided to close down the university.

    “ Our protests have  been very peaceful since last week Wednesday when we started,’’ he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the union had embarked on strike  on May 23, alleging nonpayment of certain allowances and plan to sack their leaders.

    The strike was, however, called off following the intervention of the state House of Assembly.

  • The face-off in oil sector

    SIR: The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, calls on the National Assembly to, as a matter of urgency, pass the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, so as to nip in the bud further confusion generated by the rift between the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, over allegations of inappropriateness in the allocation and award of contracts in the oil sector.

    We applaud the Senate for moving quickly to unravel allegations of inappropriateness levelled by the Minister of State. The response of the President concerning the allegations of disregard for due process in the award of contracts by the NNPC GM, would define the perception of the reforms which have been going on in the oil sector.

    Since the Senate has waded into the matter, we suggest that the President as well must invite the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, to carry out a comprehensive and forensic audit of the allegations. Among statutory functions of the NEITI include the regulation of matters related to due process in the award of contracts in the extractive sector of the Nigerian sector. We believe that the inconsistencies being thrown up by the startling revelations from the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources include some of the issues which the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill seeks to address and redress.

    The present administration since inception has defined itself first through its corruption stance, and more by the reforms it has introduced in the oil sector. It scrapped the opaque oil swap which made it possible for individuals within government to line their pockets with millions of dollars and has replaced it with the Direct Sale, Direct Purchase scheme.

    That lofty plan of Direct Sale, Direct Purchase stands in jeopardy if all the contracts that have been awarded and the companies they have been awarded are not subject to thorough vetting and investigations by both the Senate and the NEITI.

     

    • Rev David Ugolor,

    ANEEJ, Benin City.

  • North Korea-America face-off and possibility of war

    These seem to be dangerous times. No one should delude himself about it. Despite that the 21st century has humongous possibilities and several promises for us, what is happening among world’s powerful nations should be of concern to those who follows developments in world politics.

    The address delivered by the  United States (U.S.) President, Mr Donald Trump, during the just-concluded United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is something that should call for concerns. The speech, which sent shockwaves to the diplomatic circle, took many by surprise. Many could not hide their bemusement while the American leader called out the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un.

    It is no longer strange that the two leaders don’t see eye-to-eye. In fact, it would be safe to refer to them as sworn enemies, and that is where my fear lies. These are not the kinds of enemies the world wants to have right now. They are not good for each other, neither are they good for the world. The fact that they are world leaders makes it even more frightening. I will tell you why these are bad guys on the world stage and heading some powerful nations.

    Nick Kramer, an analyst with deep knowledge of North Korean politics and its current leader, writes that Kim Jong-Un was taught to believe that he was essentially divine. Kramer writes: “In North Korea, his grandfather and father were revered like gods, and he has no less of an opinion about himself. Arrogant and aggressive, he has always gotten away with everything in life.  He has never had to face the consequences of his bad behaviour. He is a bully, who no one has ever hit back. And if any person ever tried to punch him back, his daddy fed them to the wild dogs.”

    While saying that Kim does not think like a normal person, Kramer said the North Korean “Spoilt Brat” as Kim is popularly called in a segment of the western media, does not consider what happens after he strikes.

    Kramer writes: “He doesn’t know what comes next.  This blissful ignorance likely extends to what happens after a nuke launch. There have never been consequences to his temper tantrums before. In his mind – Why should there be any now? This makes him irrational and unpredictable.”

    If what were written by Kramer are true characteristics of a powerful leader that Kim is, there is the frightening assertion by psychiatrists about an equally powerful, though older Donald Trump. The American president, according to the health experts at Yale University, has a “dangerous mental illness.”

    Speaking at the conference at Yale’s School of Medicine recently, one of the mental health professionals, Dr John Gartner, a psychotherapist, who advised psychiatric residents at Johns Hopkins University Medical School until 2015, said: “We have an ethical responsibility to warn the public about Donald Trump’s dangerous mental illness.”

    Gartner, also a founding member of Duty to Warn, an organisation of several dozens of mental health professionals who think Trump is mentally unfit to be president, said the U.S. president’s statement about having the largest crowd at an inauguration was just one of many that served as warnings of a larger problem.

    James Gilligan, a psychiatrist and professor at New York University, told the conference he had worked on some of the “most dangerous people in society”, including murderers and rapists – but that he was convinced by the “dangerousness” of  Trump.

    This is where my fear is. That the two leaders may have had mental issues, which send shivers down my spine because it means they can, in their irrationality, transfer their anger on the rest of the world at the slightest provocation. I bet the North Korean young leader has already put his acts together and ready for what Trump might send his way. Let us hope the two won’t take the world down as they reach for each other’s jugular.

     

    • Mohammed is a graduating Mass Comm. student of Kogi State University, Anyigba

  • Supreme Court should resolve executive/Senate face-off

    SIR: It is apposite to view the Senate’s insistence that the acting President recant his legal opinion on heads of agency appointments as patently puerile.

    The eighth Senate has been in a combat mode since it was prorogued with most of its agenda driven by reactionary leadership.

    Asking the executive arm to head to Supreme Court is not only reflective of lack of any sense of urgency in the red chamber’s attitude to legislative business, it also cast a big slur on the patriotic credentials of members as it were.

    One would rather expect the senate to confirm all appointments tabled before it and isolate that of Ibrahim Magu pending the Supreme Court’s interpretation of section 171 of the constitution.

    To freeze every confirmation and thus deny critical agencies like INEC and others the much needed administrative stability is to allow some unruly elements in the Senate who are caught in the web of legal battles to destabilize the fledging democratic process.

    Since the executive has transmitted the instrument for confirmation to the legislature and the latter declined on issues of constitutional ambiguity, then the onus is on the Senate to seek the Supreme Court’s interpretation and not to put governance in limbo.

    One must also add that the matter when eventually brought to the Supreme Court should be given accelerated attention as is being done in civilized climes.

    The recent Trump’s travel ban was expeditiously dispensed with by the U.S. Supreme Court because if allowed to hang, it could hurt other sundry national interests.

    It’s rather disconcerting that the anti-corruption bill before the eighth Senate remains pigeon-holed for lack of political will to do the right thing.

    It is even shameful that the leadership of the Senate could be so insular as to dismiss the anti-corruption war as ineffectual when it’s actually the one putting spanner in the wheel.

     

    • Bukola Ajisola,

    bukymany@yahoo.com

  • Opposites face off as France elects President

    Opposites face off as France elects President

    THE final debate between the two remaining candidates in France’s presidential election took place Wednesday. The country votes today in the historic election to choose a successor to the incumbent Francois Hollande.

    The presidential election is the first in which France’s traditional parties are not represented.

    The vote could decide if France stays in the European Union.

    Observers say the vote suggests there is a high level of anti-establishment feelings among French voters.

    In the first vote on April 23, En Marche! party candidate Emmanuel Macron received 23.8 percent of the vote. National Front candidate Marine Le Pen received 21.5 percent. That was enough to send the two non-traditional candidates to the final election on May 7.

    Eleven candidates took part in the first vote. Current President Francois Hollande chose not to seek reelection because of his low popularity among voters.

    Marine Le Pen is the candidate of the very conservative National Front party. The 48-year-old candidate is currently a member of the European Parliament.

    Le Pen has called for stronger border controls and has shown opposition to immigrants and foreign cultures. She also has criticized free trade and suggested that France should leave the European Union.

    Emmanuel Macron started his own party last year. The 39-year-old served as France’s economy minister. Before that, he was an investment banker. Macron supports France’s membership in the EU and has said he is pro-business. His support is found mainly in cities.

    During Wednesday’s debate, Le Pen described Macron as weak on terrorism. Macron accused Le Pen of being a dangerous extremist.

    The candidates discussed France’s high unemployment rate. Macron called for reducing government rules on business. He also called for policies designed to help create more small and medium-sized businesses.

    Le Pen promised to tax the products of companies that outsource jobs in France to other countries.

    Terrorism was another major issue in the debate. France has had several deadly terrorist attacks in the last two years. The violence killed more than 240 people. The country remains under a state of emergency.

    Le Pen called for closing Muslim religious centers, or mosques, suspected of supporting extremism. She said she wants to expand prisons and increase border security.

    Macron called for increasing surveillance of online activity, more police officers and better sharing of intelligence.

    About 18 percent of French voters are estimated to be undecided. Wednesday’s debate was the last chance for them to decide on who to support.

    One public opinion study showed Macron with 60 percent support to Le Pen’s 40 percent.

    Le Pen’s party has long faced criticism for extreme positions on immigration and religion. Le Pen ousted her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, from the leadership of the National Front party because of his extreme positions.

    After the first vote in April, Le Pen gave up leadership of the party saying she wants to be “above partisan considerations.”

    Macron, once a member of the Socialist Party, was the economy minister in the unpopular Francois Hollande administration. But the candidate has largely escaped public frustration with that party.

    • Source: VOA

  • Na’Abba blames Obasanjo for executive, legislature face-off

    FORMER Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba, has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of being behind the frosty relationship that has existed between the executive and legislature since the return to democratic rule in 1999. The former speaker said former President Obasanjo wanted what he described as a subjugated legislature, but met a stiff opposition in the House of Representatives. Speaking at a national conference on “Political Party Supremacy and the Dynamics of Parliamentary Autonomy” organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), the former speaker said the decision of former President Obasanjo to impose a leadership on the National Assembly and the resolve to fight back by the lawmakers are responsible for the relationship that has existed between the two arms of government since 1999.

    Tracing the origin of the crisis, Na’Abba said Obasanjo’s first step was to change the date of the inauguration of the National Assembly from June 3, 1999 to June 6 to allow him ample opportunity to manipulate the election of the Senate President, thus paving the way for the emergence of Evan Ewerem as Senate President instead of Chuba Okadigbo that was preferred by most senators. He said: “The action of June 3, 1999 by Obasanjo, the election of Ghali Na’Abba as speaker of the House of Representatives on July 22, 1999 and the election of Senator Chuba Okadigbo as Senate President convoluted to define the relationship between the legislature and the executive. “The relationship between the National Assembly and the executive arm became characterized by antagonism.

    It was clearly more than the necessary kind of friction which was desirous for the proper functioning of the legislature.” Also speaking, Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim also blamed the former President for the lack of party supremacy in the current political dispensation, pointing out that by declaring himself as the leader of the party, he succeeded in eroding the powers of the party to control their members. He said: “The original sin was committed in 1999 when the then newly elected President Olusegun Obasanjo declared himself the leader of the party, thereby usurping the power of the party chairman. “Once he did that, sitting governors in the state declared themselves party leaders at the levels. Party executives then became simple figureheads without real power or influence.” In his paper entitled ‘Political Party Supremacy and the Challenges of Executive and Legislative Relationship in Nigeria’, former Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu, said the Nigerian nation had seen the worst of all sorts of bad governance, pointing out that while there is corruption all over the world, the type of corruption in Nigeria “is uniquely different. There is an element of greed in our brand of corruption. In other words, we are greedily corrupt.”

  • Obi, Okorocha’s ‘face-off’ deepens

    The “cold war” between Anambra State Governor Peter Obi and his Imo State counterpart, Rochas Okorocha, assumed a new dimension last week, with Obi allegedly shunning his colleague during his visit to Owerri, the Imo State capital.

    In a manner that could be best described as breach of protocol, Obi visited the state to inspect the damage on the demolished Ojukwu Library and Resource Centre, without stopping over at the Government House.

    The governor went to the country home of the leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Ralph Uwazuruike, shortly after the widow of the late Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, Bianca, arrived.

    Accompanied by former Minister of Information Prof. Dora Akunyili and close aides as well as government officials, Obi held a one-hour meeting with Mrs. Ojukwu, Uwazuruike, Mrs. Akunyili, Eze Cletus Ilomuanya and a few others.

    Speaking shortly after the meeting, Obi said for members of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the visit became imperative as Ojukwu remained their leader, even after his death.

    “We are here to sympathise with the MASSOB leader because this edifice is built in honour of our late leader.

    “Anybody who erects anything in the memory of Ojukwu should be respected.

    “I assure you the renovation will begin immediately.”

    Obi also pledged to replace the two vehicles destroyed by the collapsed building in a nearby compound.

    However, brief as the visit was, its import was not lost on politicians in Imo State and the Southeast.

    The Nation gathered that aside from accessing the damaged structure, Obi’s camp of the APGA got an opportunity to meet and deliberate on possible ways of stopping Okorocha from using APGA structure in the state for the newly formed All Progressive Congress (APC).

    It was also learnt that Obi’s meeting with Uwazuruike and Mrs. Ojukwu was intended to whip up sentiments among the people of the Southeast, using Ojukwu’s name and MASSOB.

    Although media aides debunked insinuations of a “cold war” between the governors, The Nation’s sources said things are no longer the same with the erstwhile political associates, who emerged governors on the platform of APGA.

    Obi’s Chief Press Secretary Mike Udah said: “My boss has not told me that he is not in good terms with his Imo counterpart.

    “Moreover, I have known him for over 34 years and I can authoritatively state that he has no such thing as enmity in his dictionary.”

    Okorocha’s Special Assistant on media Ebere Uzoukwa said the two APGA governors remained friends and colleagues.

    “That Governor Obi has a different perception of the APC which Governor Okorocha is one of the major promoters does not mean that they are quarrelling.

    “I don’t think that he must visit Okorocha whenever he comes to Imo State, but if protocol demands that, it therefore lies with him to explain his action.”

  • 2015 face-off: President in fresh plot against Obasanjo

    2015 face-off: President in fresh plot against Obasanjo

    Loyalists of former President Olusegun Obasanjo have raised alarm over alleged plans by the Presidency to discreetly ‘deal’ with him for allegedly launching a ‘cold war’ to discredit the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    According to sources, the Presidency is under pressure to revisit investigations into the $180m Halliburton scandal. They claim that some groups are being covertly sponsored to file petitions at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the former president over the killing of innocent people in Odi and Zaki-Biam communities in Bayelsa and Benue States respectively.

    The former president had during his tenure ordered troops to invade Odi over the killing of military men by militants. A similar infraction that provoked the same measure happened in Zaki-Biam.

    The alleged counter-attack by the Presidency is coming against the backdrop of recent public criticism of President Goodluck Jonathan’s handling of the Boko Haram insurgency and other security challenges by Obasanjo.

    Barely a week after the airing of the critical comments, Jonathan hit back during his presidential media chat saying that rather than stamp out militancy, the Odi invasion only killed innocent old people and children.

    The spat between the president and his erstwhile godfather is seen in political circles as the latest evidence of increasingly tense 2015 power struggle within the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). Obasanjo is said not to be favourably disposed towards backing a Jonathan second term. He is suspected to be one of the boosters of a potential presidential bid by the Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido with the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, as the undercard.

    Investigations by our correspondent confirmed that the camp of the former President had been gripped with fear in the last one week over the alleged plot by certain forces in the presidency to launch a campaign of calumny against him.

    It was learnt that the ex-President after receiving intelligence alert last weekend tried to stop some negative advertisements against him in some newspapers, but he only succeeded in convincing a South-West-based newspaper to grant him concession.

    Apart from media attacks, loyalists of the ex-President are disturbed about moves to revisit investigations into the Halliburton scam, as well as plans by some influential groups to go to the ICC.

    A highly reliable source in Obasanjo’s camp, who spoke in confidence yesterday, said: “They are planning to deal with Baba because they think he will not support the 2015 project. Already, they have started this plot with media attacks, including placement of indicting advertisements against Obasanjo.

    “We have got intelligence report that some people are trying to prevail on the Presidency to revisit the $180m Halliburton scandal since Mr. Adeyanju Bodunde, a former Personal Assistant to Obasanjo, was implicated in the alleged scam.

    “They are plotting to frame up the ex-President in the Halliburton scandal. It is sad that they are desperate; they want to hang something on Obasanjo’s neck in order to intimidate him to shelve any involvement in 2015 project. Yet, we are in a democracy. Obasanjo should be entitled to his opinion no matter how bitter it is.”

    Bodunde was arraigned in 2010 alongside George Mark, Jeffrey Tesler (now at large), Hans George Christ, Heinrich J. Stockhausen, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, and Bilfinger Berger GMBH.

    George Mark, Jeffrey Tesler, Hans George Christ, Heinrich J. Stockhausen; Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Bilfinger Berger GMBH were alleged to have sometime between 2002 and 2003 conspired to make several cash payments of $1million (five times) totalling in equivalent the sum of $5million to Bodunde. They were alleged to have committed the offence contrary to Section 16 of the Money Laundering Act 1995(as saved by Section 23(2) of the Money Laundering Act 2004) and punishable under Section 15(2) and (3) of the Money Laundering Act 1995(as saved by Section 23(2) of the Money Laundering Act, 2004). Julius Berger had engaged in plea bargain.

    The source also admitted that if there is any worry at all in Obasanjo’s camp, it is the ICC dimension to the plot against the former President.

    “They want to use some groups to write petitions to ICC on Odi military campaign in 1999 and the Zaki-Biam issue. Their plan is to put an obstacle before Obasanjo to distract him from serving as a rallying point for politicians of like minds seeking a fundamental change in 2015,” he said.

    “At least a group from Bayelsa State has indicated interest in filing petition before the ICC. So, you can see what we are saying and why we have every cause to be concerned. Even at that, Obasanjo has not told any of his associates the direction he wants to go in 2015. I do not know what is behind this witch-hunt.”

    When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said: “What I can say is that this government is not witch-hunting anybody, it does not do so.

    “Let me put it on record that it is not the style of President Goodluck Jonathan to witch-hunt or intimidate anybody. The President is an extremely liberal person, he does not believe in vengeance or oppressing anyone.”

    Okupe also denied any crisis of confidence between the President and Obasanjo.

    He added: “The media may present the situation as if there is a problem between the President and ex-President Obasanjo, but there is no truth in such insinuation. From inside, I do not see any issue or disagreement between the President and our former leader.

    “Ex-President Obasanjo is an elder statesman and somebody that enjoys the love and respect of the Presidency.”