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Tag: Lawal

  • Magu, Lawal’s clearance

    President Buhari’s clearance and re-nomination of acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, Ibrahim Magu are bound to throw up more puzzles than they intended to resolve. The inability to make public the findings that led to the clean bill of health given to the anti-corruption czar did not help matters.

    For now, we are faced with an off-hand dismissal of the weighty allegations raised in the DSS memo given that the president’s letter only said he had got ‘clarifications’ on the issues for which the Senate declined to screen him for confirmation. This casual treatment has been followed up with preachments and sanctimonies as to why the momentum of the fight against corruption has to be sustained with Magu at the steering.

    A lot has also been heard of a strong lobby to get the Senate approve the re-nomination taking into advantage, the strong majority of the ruling party in that chamber. And in the seeming desperate attempt to cajole the public to accept Magu, a weird impression is being conveyed that without him, that war cannot make any more progress.

    How consistent these are with reality is left to be conjectured. Whether the credibility deficits thrown up by the scandalous allegations would be better served by injecting a new hand into the war or retaining the man whose integrity has been put to question, (Buhari’s clearance notwithstanding) is another kettle of fish.

    In all, the unmistakable impression thrown up is that of a government fighting hard to save face; a careful attempt to cover up the seeming duplicity in the fight against corruption. Hard as the government tries in this direction, it would appear it is already caught up by the dialectics of the situation with little or no room for quick escape.

    For one, the report which the President totally faulted and had to re-nominate Magu, was issued by the DSS, an agency of the same government domiciled in the presidency. If it is really true that there was no basis for the allegations, then it speaks loud about the credibility of that critical agency.

    And for another, it could suggest one or two things. It is either it was done out of mischief and prejudice or some people in the agency had axe to grind with the EFCC helmsman’s and had to concoct all manner of subterfuge to get him out of the way. It could also be a mark of incompetence on the part of the agency for such weighty allegations to have been easily dismissed the way the president did.

    Is it possible that the issues traded by the DSS were mere concoctions? Could the agency have gone out of its way to simulate allegations that only exist in the figment of its imagination? Or does the agency stand to gain anything through a spurious report that is loaded with the frightening prospects of stultifying current efforts at stemming the tide of corruption?  These are the issues to consider. And the way they are perceived will shed more light into the complications thrown up by the President’s clearance of Magu.

    The President should have gone further to make public how the clarifications he got resolved the N40 million apartment said to have been rented and paid for Magu by one Umar Mohammed arrested sometime ago for questionable transactions. We needed evidence that he did not violate the President’s order barring public functionaries from travelling by air on first class. More specifically, evidence that he did not fly Emirate Airlines in first class when he went for the Lesser Hajj would have made the difference.

    It would have equally made better sense for the government to have come out with incontrovertible evidence to countermand the damning allegation that Magu maintains a flamboyant and duplicitous lifestyle- one which portrays him as an anti-corruption czar who harbors no friends but at another level hobnobs with corrupt people. It is vital to know how the President resolved the conclusions of the DSS that, Magu “failed the integrity test and will eventually constitute a liability to the anti-corruption drive of the present administration”.

    It is not a matter of bandying unsubstantiated allegations as put forward by the chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Itse Sagay when he said Magu was ‘victimized because he was doing his job very well’ and that people were afraid that he was doing an excellent job and they felt threatened.

    Coming from such a serious mind, Sagay needed to produce further evidence of those who victimized Magu because of fear over their personal safety in the war. Does this reference apply to those whose report he said has now been found “totally untrue and unsubstantiated” or some others outside of it? Definitely, those who can wield such powers must be within the same government. And that makes the matter more confounding.

    The public deserves to know those attempting to victimize Magu and what action if any, the government has taken to punish them for derailing the momentum of the anti-corruption campaign through allegations that have now been dubbed spurious. We needed to know the critical details of such plans and those behind them to reassure the public that these are no mere attempts at cover up. The issue is already in the public domain. Sagay would be helping matters by demonstrating very unambiguously that the allegations bordered on witch-hunting.

    Then, the credibility of the DSS would have been put to question. In saner climes, the turn of events would have seen the authors of that report resigning their positions especially where the report was based on credible intelligence. All the same, the DSS will have to contend with credibility deficits of having authored a report which prima facie looked credible but the government has come out to say lacks merits. That is the purport of the clearance and re-nomination. But that is not the end of the matter.

    The Senate must come in to determine between the President and the DSS who is right in the positions they have taken in respect of the suitability of Magu for the EFCC job. In this regard, the relevant Senate committee must thoroughly conduct an independent investigation into all the issues raised in the DSS letter to it. In this assignment, it should match whatever evidence at its disposal with the reasons adduced by the president for re-nominating Magu for the sensitive job. All issues must be trashed out in the most credible and transparent manner for us to come to terms with the true picture and direction of the much dramatized war against corruption.

    In the case of allegations of misconduct against the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir Lawal, the matter is much simpler given that the relevant senate committee which investigated and called on the president to relieve him of his post has all the evidence at its disposal. Already, its chairman, Shehu Sani has cried foul over what he termed the doctoring of the report of the committee.

    The senator has faulted some of the conclusions on which basis the President cleared the SGF of the allegations raised against him. The Senate has to redeem its image by demonstrating very clearly that there exists strong basis for its conclusions in the matter of the SGF and his interest in contracts pertaining to the humanitarian crisis in the north-east.

    Magu’s re-nomination and Lawal’s clearance are at the heart of the credibility test of the anti-corruption campaign. They must be handled in the most credible and transparent manner so that Nigerians can properly tap into the temperament of the anti-corruption campaign. The way they are trashed out will give inkling into whether “corruption is fighting back” through the corridors of the campaign prosecutors or outside of it. It will also address clearly, growing feelings that there exist different sets of laws for different people in this war.

  • Magu, Lawal et al

    It is as well relieving that President Buhari has ordered investigation into allegations of corruption involving some top officials of his current administration. According to a statement by his media aide, Garba Shehu, the President “instructed the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to investigate the involvement of any top official accused of any wrongdoing. If any of them is liable he will not escape prosecution”.

    The terse statement did not indicate those to be investigated. But two key officers in his regime: the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, Ibrahim Magu and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF Babachir Lawal have been in the storm over allegations of corruption.

    Magu penultimate week, failed the confirmation test by the Senate based on damning allegations against his suitability for that sensitive post. The Senate cited a report from the Directorate of State Security Services DSS which accused Magu of flamboyant lifestyle as portrayed by the cost of his living apartment rented at N40 million Naira- N20 million annually. The apartment was not rented by the EFCC but one Commodore Umar Mohammed who the DSS described as a questionable business man it once arrested. Mohammed was also said to have lavishly furnished the apartment at the cost of N43 million.

    Other allegations were that he travels in private jets and on first class when on international trip. In one of his journeys, he was said to have travelled with Mohammed and the Managing Director of a bank that is being investigated by the DSS over complicity with funds lodged in the bank by a former minister of petroleum.

    Magu was also profiled as wearing the double personality of a no-nonsense anti-corruption czar who harbours no friends but secretly hobnobs with corrupt people.  The DSS summed its report thus “in the light of the foregoing Magu failed the integrity test and will eventually constitute a liability to the anti-corruption drive of the present administration”.

    In the case of Lawal, the Senate had in a resolution, asked the President to suspend and prosecute him for alleged breach of the law in handling contracts awarded by the Presidential Initiative for the North East PINE. His company which was registered for IT services was allegedly awarded a N200 million contract to clear invasive plant species in Yobe State but failed to execute it even as it was fully paid for.

    The report further indicated that at the time the contract was awarded, Lawal was still a director of the company. Till date, he is still alleged to be signatory to that company’s account. The Senate held that these contravened the Code of Conduct for public officers and called for his prosecution.

    Magu has remained mute on the allegations since they filtered into public domain. But third parties and masked undertakers have been making spirited efforts to save him from imminent danger into which he is seemingly irretrievably entangled. We have been inundated with veiled image laundering campaigns possibly as damage control to the damning DSS report.

    The public has been treated to the seeming indispensability of Magu in the anti-corruption fight; the wrong signals it will send to the international community should he be relieved of his post now and all that thrash. Suggestions have also been proffered that the allegations may have been orchestrated by fifth columnists or those opposed to Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign to derail its success. For this lobby group, it is yet a case of corruption fighting back.

    We have also heard that the apartment was rented by the Federal Capital Development Authority and Magu never benefitted from the N43 million with which it was furnished. The unidentified sources also said that at no time did Magu travel with the managing director of the said bank. These are all within the realm of speculation since nobody not even Magu, has been identified with the views. So they can be conveniently ignored.

    But their objective is certain: to clear Magu and make him retain his job. If he is innocent of the allegations, he should by all means continue with his job. But that clean bill can only be established after the allegations have been fully investigated. Happily, the President has directed the AGF to do the needful.

    Before then, it bears stating that some of the issues bandied to discredit the report of the DSS are not only very uncharitable but a great disservice to the overall fight against corruption. The impression of indispensability of one man in the fight and without whom the campaign will eventually derail is patently infantile. If the issue is that he is doing a good job, fine. But to extrapolate that without him the anti-corruption war will lose relevance is arrant nonsense.

    Moreover, which one is more dangerous: easing him out if the allegations are proven or retaining him with his moral and integrity baggage because he purports to be performing well? And how credible is such assessment in the face of the heavy indictment by the DSS that he wears double personality in the corruption fight? Those are issues to determine.

    There is also the further ridiculous suggestion that his travails are being orchestrated by those who do not want the anti- corruption campaign to succeed. Are the apologists talking of the Senate or the DSS? For all that one may wish to know, the Senate has no hand in Magu’s current predicament but only responded to an advice by the DSS. This leaves us with the inescapable conclusion that the reference is to the DSS on whose recommendation the Senate acted.

    Incidentally, the DSS is any agency of the federal government domiciled in the presidency. It is unfathomable that the same agency can wake up one day to concoct damning and damaging report against the helmsman of the EFCC or contrive spurious allegations just to derail the anti-corruption campaign. Of course, the credibility of the DSS is at stake in this matter. And what the government makes of the reports, will determine between the DSS and the EFCC leadership which one should be shown the way out.

    Curiously, it is the same agency that was used a couple of weeks back to hound judges for alleged corruption and it was applauded in many quarters because “a desperate situation required a desperate solution”. Why are we in a hurry to impute motives into their judgment in the instant case? Does it have to do with its prospects of exposing the duplicity in the anti-corruption campaign? Or is it being suggested that officials of this government are immune from corruption?

    Lawal has come open describing the conclusions of the Senate as balderdash; an attempt to bring down our best for no just cause. He said he resigned from the company in August 18, 2015 and slammed the Senate committee for not hearing his own side.

    Even with these explanations, he still has issues to explain given that the contract was awarded from his office to a company he has interest in contrary to public service rules. There are also allegations that he is still signatory to the company’s accounts even as the company had in an advertorial shown that his son bears some of his names. These are weighty allegations the SGF will have to contend with. The way they are handled will mirror the direction of the government in this crucial but herculean task.

    Before now, issues have been raised about the selectiveness of the anti-corruption war. The campaign has been criticized for its seeming partisanship since corruption knows neither political party nor ethnic or religious boundaries.

    It is hoped the probe will not take the pattern of the kid glove treatment given to corruption allegations against the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Tukur Buratai. Whatever the outcome, the damage has already been done as the two officials contend with credibility deficits.

  • Buhari orders probe of allegations against govt officials

    Buhari orders probe of allegations against govt officials

    The Presidency on Sunday night disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered investigation of corruption allegations leveled against some top officials of his administration.

    There are recent corrupt allegations against the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The Presidency also insisted that the President will fight corruption in the country relentlessly.

    This was contained in a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

    The statement reads: “The attention of the presidency has been drawn to a number of reports in the media, in which various accusations of corruption have been levelled against some top officials in the administration.

    “In that regard, President Buhari has instructed the Attorney General of the Federation to investigate the involvement of any top government officials accused of any wrong-doing. If any of them are liable they will not escape prosecution.”

  • There is no politician BUHARI respects like TINUBU -APC chieftain Lawal

    There is no politician BUHARI respects like TINUBU -APC chieftain Lawal

    One of the silent key strategists of the campaign team of President Muhammadu Buhari during the 2015 Presidential Campaign was Mallam Mohammed Lawal, who is now a member of the reconstituted Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). In this interview with our Managing Editor, Northern Operation, YUSUF ALLI, VINCENT IKUOMOLA and JOHN OFIKHENUA, he speaks on Buhari’s tenure so far and the future of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    WELL, to you journalists or maybe outsiders, you may say the party is wobbling or fumbling. If you recall, this kind of merger has never happened anywhere in the world. I am not sure but somebody told me, it happened in Britain one time.

    So it is a big and a Herculean task. If you look at the political history in Nigeria, when the merger was to happen, I wrote a paper to the leadership of the party and I told them that it is very important to look at three or four parties coming together as three or four people with different disabilities. And you set a goal for them to reach a particular point for a race.

    Definitely, they will never arrive there at the same time. If you want them to arrive at the same time you need to do some panel beating because every one of them has a disability. So, if you want all of them to operate on the same wave length of performance or ideology, you must do something. And what I said is to have a mock election, mock primary so that we could see the outcome of the behaviour. But we couldn’t do that. In fact, let me be frank with you, nobody ever thought that APC would weather through all the storm we are weathering.

    And I can tell you, give us some time, by the beginning of next year it would appear as if nothing has gone amiss. Won’t that be late? It will never be late. One day in the political setting is just like two years. This is because we can do something in a day and it will solve two or three problems. But, isn’t it time to move forward? We are moving forward. We are implementing the budget. We are doing so many things that can bring this country out of the doldrums. Is it the budget that you are trying to borrow $29.9billion to finance? What is wrong in borrowing? America, the greatest economy in the world, is $23trillion in debt. And they are moving, they are going.

    The problem is when you borrow and it is squandered, and you don’t put it to the right economic activities. We are borrowing and everybody trusts Buhari. Nobody will steal a kobo out of this money. We will invest it rightly and it will bring returns. There is nothing wrong in borrowing money. Don’t be afraid of borrowing money. Why won’t you listen to the wise counsel from Obasanjo and Emir Sanusi? What is the counsel? Tell me the counsel, and start with Obasanjo. That you could do without the loan. Where is the money to do the projects? The money is not there.

    It is better to borrow and continue maintaining these things. If you maintain a healthy balance in your international kitty, it will give the foreign traders confidence in you so that they can do business with us. And there is nothing wrong in taking the loan as long as you use the loan rightly for economic purpose to bring back returns and if you use it and solve the myriad of problems that we are going through now. For example, if you build roads, you can collect toll.

    Now if you look at the road from Abuja to Lagos and if you follow or travel through it, by the time you reach Lagos, depending on the type of car you use, you have to use between N5,000 and N10,000 to put it in a good shape or more than that. And I am not talking about the constant overheads. What are the constant over heads? The normal wear and tears.

    So if you build the road and fix toll gates and you drive safely and you arrive safely with your car in good shape, which one would you prefer? The problem is if you collect the loan and you don’t do the road and when you put the toll gate they steal the money.

    You recall that PDP gave Chief Tony Anenih, the former Minister of Works, N300billion to fix our roads and it was Obasanjo that was the president. Obasanjo shouldn’t start talking, we respect him a lot as the former head of state. We know how he supported this government but I am now surprised what is coming in. But he made some valid points What are the valid points? That some of your projects are bogus like railway plans.

    These are projects you cannot complete under one, two or three years or four years. PDP started some projects that it did not complete. We completed them and we commissioned them. Shouldn’t there be continuity in government? There should be continuity in government. They (PDP) started some projects and we inherited them. We didn’t say we are going to cancel the projects as long as they are economically viable to this country. We also have to continue with them so that the people can utilise them. Railways are long term projects, especially the one from Calabar to Lagos .

    It is capital intensive. Even the farming, even the grazing that people are so much criticising, is going to be semi-commercialised. We are going into commercialised agriculture so that the farmers can enjoy good returns. We are not thinking like just go and take free loan.

    Actually we are going to commercialise it. So it behooves us to continue with the projects and cushion them so that the people can enjoy them. Even you as journalists if you have 10 cows, 20 cows and you are going to take them to grazing reserves where they can feed within six months and they become fattened to the extent that you buy a N50,000 cow, within six months you can sell it for N200,000.

    Definitely they are going to pay a little to enjoy these facilities. Some of these projects are long-term projects like the Mambila Dam. If Obasanjo had invested the money he used to build the comatose non-functional gas power station on Mambilla Plateau, we would have had power by now. Mambilla was that time about $3 to $4million . He spent billions of dollars on power projects and there is no one megawatt.

    So Obasanjo should take it easy. He should know how to attack and suggest and even counsel people in power. It is his habit to do that right from Babangida. What of Sanusi, who is a financial analyst? He said no government will advance the loan, that the indices are there? We pray for long life so that he will see when the loan will come.

    The loan will come because he didn’t give any reason why the loan shouldn’t be granted to Nigeria. He said you have five exchange rates. We are not paying the loan back in naira. And we are not exchanging the dollar from the black market to pay the loan back. So that is not tenable. And secondly Sanusi has problem with the Chinese.

    He wants us to go and take money from America or Paris Club. They are borrowing from China. America is borrowing from China. So if they want to screw America they will ask America to take their dollar back or they auction it. And America will cry.

    There is problem. We know that our textiles are dead and if our entrepreneurs import machinery from China, there is nothing wrong with that to revive the economy. But how do you feel with Sanusi? He was part of your struggle, part of the change. Don’t you think that he has some sense? He has been responded to by the Presidency and by the Debt Management Office.

    If there is something viable that can be used to promote the economy, honestly speaking Buhari will accept it. And the government will use it. But for him to say that we shouldn’t take loan and he knows that without money you can’t do anything.

    Even Obada Mailafia, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, at a seminar disagreed with Sanusi totally on his submission that we shouldn’t borrow money. But he totally agreed with him that we shouldn’t print extra money. That, I don’t know whether the government is printing extra money or whether that is part of the economic requirement. Printing more is actually a big problem. But I have never heard the government saying that they are printing money.

    I don’t know where he got his own . But if it is true one of the economic experts has agreed that it is not good. How about your own internal crisis? The crisis of confidence between President Buhari, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar? Look, whatever people talk about I want them to be specific. Whatever it is in APC, they read meaning to it. There is no single politician in this country that Buhari respects like Asiwaju. I can say it authoritatively.

    No single politician in this country. This merger that happened is an alliance between the North and South. It has never happened but God made it possible through the instrumentality of one person – Asiwaju. We will never allow it to break because we cherish it and we will continue to strengthen it. You will see when he (Asiwaju) comes back.

    You heard what Buhari said about Asiwaju recently after the Ondo election. He described him as a priceless politician. Somebody who is losing his empire gradually to intrigues within the party, you are still describing him as a priceless person? Are you being fair? Which intrigues? He had a candidate in Ondo. They didn’t allow him to have his way.

    He had in Kogi they didn’t allow him to have his way. No! No!!, it was what was on the ground. In Kogi, everybody went to court. Is it the court that was the intrigue or the PDP? It was a panel in court. So he shouldn’t blame the party for it . And in Ondo, I personally went for the primary in Ondo. I handled Ondo North. That is where Segun Abraham, comes from. And ask Segun Abraham, I did the best I could do. We led the primary and we fin university.

    I can say that part of the problems or the challenges I had with the host government was that Tiv people were employed in a number that they felt was more than should be. But this did not actually contravene the federal character principle because the host state still had more staff than those from Benue. Benue had about 12 per cent whereas the host state had about 46 per cent. We did a lot to grant opportunities to Tiv people in the university there.

    So everywhere I’ve been I’ve always thought of Tiv interest and I think that is also one of my motivations to vie for this stool. In the course of your public career, have you ever had an encounter or brush with the anti-graft bodies? I’ve been in public life in the two places I served in the universities and I want to say of a truth that public life is open to people saying a lot of things, all kinds of allegations come up. But I want to say that there has never been any proven allegation against me in my public life and I’ve never had any anti-graft bodies taking me to court because of any allegations against me.

    I’m also aware that some people who want to assassinate my character are publishing that I have issues with ICPC but as I speak with you, I’ve never received any invitation from ICPC. There is the controversy that the Tor Tiv should take the oath of office either by the Christian Bible or the ancestral Swem; if given the opportunity, on what would you swear? If given the opportunity, I would swear by the Bible which stands for the truth and which is the word of God, the Almighty God, the compassionate and merciful, full of grace and the one that created the heavens and the earth.

    That is my conviction, I’m a Christian, I’ll swear by the Bible. Why should the Tor Tiv come from the Kwande area? I’m from Shangev-ya in Kwande and my conviction and belief is that the Kwande axis or the intermediate area referred to as Kwande has never occupied the Tor Tiv stool. The Tiv people have been compartmentalised into intermediate areas and these intermediate areas have come to stay and there is no way you can wish them away.

    Therefore, we must consider the intermediate areas in sharing opportunities that are available. When I looked at it, the Jechira intermediate area has benefited. I also see that the Jemgbagh intermediate area has benefited, the Minda and Sankera intermediate areas have also benefited. The intermediate area that has not occupied that stool is Kwande and my belief is that in fairness it’s proper for the next Tor Tiv to go to Kwande, that is what I believe and that is what I think. There are people that are arguing that the intermediate area is not how things should be shared.

    They have their own points, but again these are not the points that consider fairness because it’s not now that we know the concept of ya na aningban, which is being advanced. Fairness would demand that all the intermediate areas taste it first so that if you want to change the formula, after everybody has tasted it, we’ll sit down and then agree on the formula that will be more acceptable.

    But so far, it’s been the intermediate areas that have been used and I believe that we should go the whole term round and then we sit down and if we want to modify it, we jointly agree and modify it. But that is my personal view, I’m not a king maker.

    The king makers are the ones who will decide where the thing will go but as somebody that is interested, I will draw the rope to my own side, it’s natural but the king makers have the final say. When they meet to consider, they will take a decision on where the next Tor Tiv will come from and their decision will be binding on all of us but that does not stop us from making our own inputs.

    Do you have any appeal to make to the king makers and fellow contestants? My appeal, first to fellow contestants, is that we should look at the whole exercise as sports which should be without bitterness as we know that only one person will emerge.

    Let us do the contest in a very clean manner; this is not politics where sometimes politicians would say that the end justifies the means. But here we’re talking about tradition which requires truth and fairness and so we should have an attitude of sportsmanship and that any of us could be the Tor Tiv. We don’t need to go into character assassination and blackmailing the other contestant so that we would have an advantage.

    That is my counsel to my fellow contestants. We are in the race but we know only one person will win and whoever wins, we should all rally round that person and put all our ideas on the table to help him succeed for the good of the Tiv nation.

    To the king makers, I would advise that they should be fair and be guided by the truth and the tradition in which the Tiv people do their own things. They have a culture of sitting down and talking until they agree without being violent and being negative about certain things; so we believe that they would do that. Secondly, they should not allow themselves to be influenced by whatever means by politicians, by money, or any other methods.

    They should see and do what is right because the Tiv nation is at a point in their history that they need to bring out the best that is available to lead them at this point in time. Therefore, they should allow God to guide them, be honest and pure in their motive in selecting who will occupy the next Tor Tiv stool. That is my counsel to them, they should not even allow us the contestants to influence them negatively but they should look at us objectively.

    We are their children, we’ve lived among them and they know us and they would know who would be the best for the stool this time. Situations and circumstances define leadership; therefore they should look at where we are as a people and decide who is the person that best fits that stool at this point in time. ished in good time. We transported our delegates to the centre at the same time earliest than anybody. Everything went well.

    I told Segun that the deed was done but it turned otherwise. That was how God wanted it. Let us just put everything aside and move forward. Asiwaju is a man of God. I have faith in God that everything is for a purpose. Whatever comes to you is for you, just do your utmost best but leave everything to God. If you get it, okay and if you don’t, what is the next thing for you? So nobody is fighting Tinubu in Ondo.

    In fact, the allegations that there were some groups of people or protégés who were after Tinubu; they said they were mentored but are now called ‘Buhari boys’. They are not ‘Buhari boys’; you don’t know anything. They go about dropping names, but Buhari is not bothered. He wants everything to go through due process. They go about, because they are ministers, they say they are ‘Buhari boys’, they are not. They are on their own.

    They are doing what is legitimate for them to do, if anybody sees it otherwise, that is not true. Buhari has not given them any role to spite Tinubu. What Buhari is interested in is for APC to win and win and come tops in any contest, that is all. They are not ‘Buhari boys’. They are ‘Buhari boys’ as other ministers. If they claimed that Buhari sent them to do any job, it is a lie.

    There is nobody that is ‘Buhari boy’ among any of them. You know this insinuation is causing a lot of tension between Asiwaju and Buhari because of the perception in the media and the way they report this story which is not in the best interest of the party.

    They should desist, in fact they should discourage it. But at a point, Asiwaju disagreed with the party chairman? Yes, because of the way he handled the Ondo primaries. He is the chairman, he took a decision, there is a National Working Committee that is supposed to go with him on the decision.

    He unilaterally took a decision which is not in tandem with what the majority of the National Working Committee wanted. He has already done that and it is very difficult to reverse it. In fact, reversing it would have been very disastrous for the party.

    The best thing is, Asiwaju said what was in his mind, what he thought the chairman was supposed to do and did not do. He thought the punishment for that is for Oyegun to go and he said it. That was his opinion. If he was the one to let the chairman go, the chairman would have gone since but he is not the one. He voiced his opinion which was quite clear.

    Why would they tell him not to voice his opinion? We are in democracy and some things are supposed to be done in a particular way. The chairman decided to unilaterally do what he did and Asiwaju complained. What is wrong with that? There is nothing wrong with what Asiwaju said. If it were in Asiwaju’s power to remove the chairman, he would have removed him. But he did not say that he is going to remove the chairman by force .

    The people that have the power to remove the chairman, they heard what he said. If it was something that is feasible and apt, they would have executed it. It is not the right time to do that, there is no need to do that now. Maybe he said it out of anger.

    Asiwaju knows it cannot happen overnight or a month. He just said his opinion and he has gone over it since. Are you sure Buhari is not alone? (Laughed) You see, someone sent me a WhatsApp video of someone who went to a place and abused Buhari, if you see the way they beat him seriously, in fact, you can hardly recognise him.

    I am a grassroots man, I used to go to my village periodically and I stay at my ward level, in fact polling unit deliberately. At times, intentionally I would throw a small talk in discussion to indicate a negative feeling about Buhari. Believe you me, if you see the way people used to react badly with reflex action, they react as if they should even abuse and beat me up, forgetting that I am at least a major stakeholder in this administration. So Buhari is with the people, he is still loved by the masses.

    What I cannot face is that this man has enemies among the big elites. They said he cannot be President, they are still fighting him. They have not given up and they are still instigating some forces against this administration. Buhari has never instituted any panel to probe anybody. It is you and I that are writing and saying that, this man stole this or we have seen this.

    Do you want Buhari to sweep all allegations under the carpet? Bishop Mathew Kukah is saying Buhari should forget about past corruption and move forward. What type of history do we want to leave behind? What do we want to learn as a people? People complain, should Buhari say because I don’t want people to complain, I should not investigate it or I should not allow the investigative agencies to do their work? We do it in such a way that people would not come and say Buhari is not a democrat, he is a military dictator and people are still complaining.

    Look at what they are saying about the PDP that they are still in government and Buhari did not sack them. From the President’s bedroom, there was a complaint that if things continue this way, the First Lady said she might not support him again. What do you think of this alarm? We have passed that; the media talked so much about it. It is nothing.

    Buhari said his wife is part of the kitchen cabinet, which is the biggest cabinet. He said she is the most important person in this world to him. People cut that part off just because they wanted to embarrass him. Why do you want to embarrass Buhari for goodness sake? He said kitchen cabinet not kitchen. Everybody knows what the kitchen cabinet is all about.

    Do you feel hunger in your constituency anytime you go home? I feel it. I agree with you but it is not Buhari who created the hunger in this country. There is recession. You can go and ask any economist. Ask Sanusi Lamido Sanusi or Kukah, recession has cycle, the cycle is about a minimum of five years. Before recession set in, Obasanjo said it during Goodluck Jonathan.

    He told Goodluck that the way he was running the economy, Nigeria was going into recession. And we are in it now. Is it Buhari who brought hunger? But he is trying to see that it is tackled. I cry when I go to my village because I am not a man of large means. There are people in my family that cannot eat in a day. I am telling you because I cannot meet their needs. Won’t that backfire? They know we are sincere. They know we are not stealing their money and taking it somewhere.

    People are extremely patient and tolerant. Where there is hunger and sickness, there is a limit to which you can continue telling people to be patient. But we thank Nigerians and thank God for making Nigerians to at least keep believing.

    I am saying this authoritatively, if it were not Buhari who is in power, if it were Goodluck or any PDP candidate, Nigeria would not have gone this far. With the recent OPEC cut and exemption of the country, do you think Nigeria would be able to take advantage of this waiver given to it, in view of the crisis in the Niger Delta? Yes. What happened is that Nigeria, prior to the Avengers exploit, was producing 2million barrels per day. But with their militancy and destruction, we are now about 1million bpd.

    So, you can imagine the colossal loss and is even affecting the South-South more than anybody because some of the states cannot even pay their salaries. Rivers and Bayelsa states are complaining just as we are complaining. We are lucky to get waiver, because if we didn’t get the waiver, they would have cut 100,000 or 200,000 barrels per day from the 1million per day which is not even enough.

    Look, this crude oil is being produced at $20 per barrel, which means the production cost is about $20 per barrel. If you don’t sell it $25 or $30, you will not be making any money but loss. Previously when it was less than $20, we were even operating at a loss. NNPC had even declared a loss recently. Crude oil market is different. What you negotiate today, you start getting the money in three months’ time. You have to sell it in advance.

    So you see we are lucky, even the one million we are producing, we are exporting only about 600,000 barrels per day. What is remaining is being used for domestic refining. So honestly speaking, it’s a big relief for Nigeria, and it would go a long way in improving our international finances, because if Nigeria were to be amongst those to cut production, it would reduce the little thing we are expected to realise from the sales of the crude oil. It is so painful.

    What the Niger Delta Avengers and other militants are doing is economic sabotage. NNPC has been in the news for negative things. What is the board trying to do? There was a time when there was this proposal that it should be unbundled? What is the new board doing? There is a bill, some people call it Petroleum Industry Bill. We call it Petroleum Reform Bill.

    When this is done, we will have a NNPC that is commercialoriented like Petrobas. Honestly speaking, the rot in NNPC was huge judging from what we have been hearing about what ex-Minister Diezani Alison- Madueke did during the previous administration. But since this current administration came in, there has been sanity, and there has been a lot of improvement. We are going along with the reform and by the time we are through, one or two years to come, it is going to be a different story about the petroleum industry. We will compete internationally with anybody.

  • Brazil won’t stop Flying Eagles, says Lawal

    Brazil won’t stop Flying Eagles, says Lawal

    Former Super Eagles midfielder Garba Lawal has allayed fears on the possibilities of Brazil halting the ambition of the Flying Eagles in Nigeria’s team’s quest to have a shot at this year’s FIFA U- 20 World Cup trophy in New Zealand.

    Lawal went down memory lane when he told SportingLife that nobody gave his team, the Dream Team any chance of winning the goal medal of the football tournament of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when they defeated football world powers to achieve the feat then.“In football it depends on your ambition and determination to succeed and achieve results when nobody gave you the chance to do so. I believe that the present squad of the Flying Eagles is good to go. They have the zeal, quality and the talent to succeed in this year’s World Cup.

    “As a football player everybody wants to play in the World Cup no matter how small it is. The Africa Youth Championship (AYC) which the team won is a different ball game compared with the FIFA U- 20 World Cup. If they want to win the World Cup then they have to win every game in the tournament whether they like it or not. They also have to focus on every game 120 per cent.

    “They are young, they can run, they can push, and they can kick because they want to achieve something. Their determination will see them through Brazil and others in their group. They have to do it themselves, nobody will do it for them and I believe they can do it.

    “So it is in the boys’ hands to do it this time around. We look up to these players to graduate to the U-23 national team and finally to the Super Eagles.

    “As regards the fear factor you are saying about playing against Brazil, I want to tell you that Brazil is Brazil and Nigeria is Nigeria. When we won the gold medal of the Football Tournament of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics we never thought we would beat Mexico 3-1 in the quarter-finals, even Brazil in the semi-finals when we won 4-3. We beat Argentina loaded with Ortega and others in the final. So it all depends on the kind of squad you have. If they believe in themselves I believe definitely they will go far in the competition”, Lawal who was a dependable utility players for the Dream Team and the Super Eagles, told SportingLife in Abuja.

  • Lawal: Keshi must get it right this time

    Lawal: Keshi must get it right this time

    Following the reappointment of Stephen Keshi as the Super Eagles coach, former Nigeria midfielder, Garba Lawal has advised the ‘Big Boss’ to get it right this time. Keshi signed a new two-year contract with the Nigeria Football Federation on Tuesday, nine months after his previous contract expired.

    And Lawal, one of Keshi’s biggest critics, believes not everyone gets a second chance and says Keshi has been lucky enough to get it, and must use it wisely.

    “He has a second chance now and he must use it wisely. Not everybody gets a second chance and now that he’s lucky enough to get it, he must get it right this time,” he said.

    “In terms of player selection, he must avoid sentiments and pick players on form and merit. We have missed the last Africa Cup of Nations and we cannot afford to miss another one. This is a big opportunity for him and he must take it and make it count,” he said. Speaking further, Lawal says he has nothing against Keshi’s return, but insists the ‘Big Boss’ must be open to advice and criticism.

    “I have nothing against him. Now that he has signed we have to support him. But he must listen to advice and know that people will criticise him. You cannot be the coach of the Super Eagles and expect people not to criticise you.

    “Nigerians criticise everybody when they’re not doing well but that doesn’t mean they hate you. He needs to learn that. I just hope this will turn out good in the end and I believe we have to support him,” he concluded.

  • Lawal: Eagles’ Euro stars are a waste of money

    Lawal: Eagles’ Euro stars are a waste of money

    Former Super Eagles star Garba Lawal has declared that  inviting foreign-based pros to the country’s team is a huge waste of money.

    The Atlanta ‘96 Olympic gold medalist has therefore called on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to mandate whoever is named as the Eagles’ head coach to build a team from players in the domestic league.

    Lawal in an interview with AfricanFootball.com maintained: “Inviting foreign-based players is a waste of money. We invite them, pay their air ticket refund, pay them allowances and what do they give us? Nothing. No result.

    “I think it’s better we concentrate on the players in the local league because we have a lot of talent in the league who could deliver for us if they were given the chance.”

    Lawal added: “Most of the foreign players we invite, if they are not warming the bench, they are playing in some obscure league. So, for me, I think it’s better we stopped inviting foreign-based players because they have not shown us the winning character.”

  • Lawal: Awoniyi playing to full potential

    Lawal: Awoniyi playing to full potential

    Some years back those that saw Taiwo Awoniyi start his apprenticeship as a footballer in Kwara State, had high hopes for him.

    His positioning, brilliance and timing was world class. After a positive attacking performance with a knack for scoring goals, many people thought Taiwo could really thrive as a striker, and how they were correct.

    The powerful lad was scouted by Imperial Academy as a result of the recommendation of Kogi United goalkeepers’ trainer Wasiu Lawal some years back.

    His superb game was spotted by Coach Manu Garba and the boy was outstanding during the 2013 U17 World Cup, which Nigeria won.

    A couple of positive performances including his burst of pace earned him a call-up to the Super Eagles B team to the 2014 African Nations Championship (CHAN). However he was dropped by Coach Stephen Keshi at the last minute.

    Now fully settled as the first choice striker for the Flying Eagles, it seems that he’s getting better and better as each game progresses, already bagging a couple of assists as well as scoring on a couple of occasions himself.

    “Taiwo is enjoying it a lot because he is playing to his full potentials. That’s what he is born to do,” coach Lawal told SL10 reporter Ademetan Abayomi.

    “Most of all, he is definitely improving as a player.  He has learnt how to play in different situations, things like simple passing, control and his awareness.

  • Lawal backs Eagles ahead of friendlies

    Lawal backs Eagles ahead of friendlies

    Former Super Eagles midfielder, Garba Lawal, has backed the home-based Super Eagles team to do well when they face the Elephants of Ivory Coast and the Jediane Falcons of Sudan in the two international friendly games scheduled for this month.

    The home-based team will play Africa Cup of Nations bound Ivory Coast, and Sudan, who coincidentally were in Nigeria’s qualifying group to the 2015 AFCON, and failed to qualify to the tournament alongside Nigeria and Lawal believes the Nigerian team has enough to get good results.

    “I think we should be able to hold our own against Sudan and Ivory Coast because I believe we have good players in the team. The friendly matches will be good for them and I believe they can play those games and get good results,” Lawal posited.

    The former Esperance of Tunisia winger once again bemoaned Nigeria’s failure to qualify to the Africa Cup of Nations, but says the country must focus to achieve success in the future.

    “It’s quite unfortunate that we failed to qualify to the AFCON but we have to stay focused now and keep working hard so that we can achieve success in the future. We must keep looking at the future and learn from the mistakes of the past,” he added.

  • Lawal backs Siasia to excel

    Lawal backs Siasia to excel

    Former Dream Team star, Garba Lawal has  backed current Dream Team coach Samson Siasia as he continues with his screening exercise ahead of February’s 2015 All Africa Games qualifiers against Gabon.

    The Dream Team 6, as the current crop will be known, have been screening for players in Abuja over the last two weeks in a bid to build a team that will qualify and represent Nigeria at the All Africa Games in 2015 and the Olympic Games in 2016. And Garba, a member of the victorious Dream Team 1, also believes Siasia must be given a chance to get his team.

    “He’s the coach and he knows what he wants but I believe that we must give him a chance to build a team because we don’t know what he will get in the near future. If he has chosen to do open screening, then he must know what he wants and I’m sure all Nigerians want is to see us have a good team and for that to happen we must give him a chance to do that,” he told SL10.ng.

    Meanwhile, Siasia has struggled to get a hold of most of the 47 invited overseas-based players, as majority of the players in camp are home based.