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Tag: Meeting

  • Communique of concluding part of meeting of nff Executive Committee held at nff Secretariat, Abuja on Thursday, 24th July, 2014

    Communique of concluding part of meeting of nff Executive Committee held at nff Secretariat, Abuja on Thursday, 24th July, 2014

    Following the impeachment of Aminu Maigari as President of the Nigeria Football Federation by the Executive Committee at their meeting in Abuja on Thursday, 24th July, 2014, the meeting continued and resolved as follows:

    1)    An Emergency Congress of the Nigeria Football Federation will be convened in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on Thursday, 31st July, 2014 to ratify the impeachment of Aminu Maigari from the NFF Executive Committee.

    2)    Henceforth, all financial issues with players and officials must be thoroughly deliberated upon and agreed ahead of major matches and competitions, to avoid the kind of embarrassment brought upon the nation at the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil, when players boycotted training sessions before the Round of 16 match with France.

    3)    The Executive Committee mandated the Technical Sub-Committee to open channels of communication with Mr. Stephen Keshi with a view to extending his contract, as the NFF is still interested in working with him. The Technical Sub-Committee is to report back to the Executive Committee within ONE WEEK.

    4)    The Committee expressed satisfaction with all arrangements so far made for the different National Teams, namely Falconets, Flying Eagles and Golden Eaglets ahead of important international matches and qualifying games, and also directed the Technical Sub-Committee to meet in a few days to harmonize all arrangements in this regard.

    5)    Committee mandated the NFF Management to proceed with discussions with a number of African countries with a view to the Super Eagles playing a friendly match on the FIFA window of Wednesday, 13th August, 2014, as part of preparations for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches.

    6)    Executive Committee approved arrangements being made to host the grand finale of the 2014 Men and Women Federation Cup competitions in Lagos on Saturday, 16th August, 2014.

    7)    The Committee reaffirmed that the 2014 Elective Congress/General Assembly of the Nigeria Football Federation will still hold as scheduled on Tuesday, 26th August, 2014.

    IN ATTENDANCE: Mike Umeh (Acting President); Emeka Inyama (Member); Mrs Dilichukwu Onyedinma (Member): Effiong Johnson (Member); Barr. Christopher Green (Member);  Shehu Adamu (Member); Muazu Suleyman (Member); Ayodeji Tinubu (Member); Yusuf Ahmed ‘Fresh’ (Member); Felix Anyansi-Agwu (Member); Suleiman Yahaya-Kwande (Member). Secretary, Musa Amadu, also in attendance.

  • Club owners summon emergency meeting

    Club owners summon emergency meeting

    • To discuss state of Nigerian football

    The Association of Premier League Club Chairmen and Managers (Club Owners) have summoned an emergency meeting  to discuss the state of  football in the country.

    According to a statement issued by the Acting Secretary of the club owners, Alloy Chukwuemeka and made available to SportingLife, top on the Agenda of the meeting is the commencement of the second round of the Glo Premier League in the aftermath of the World Cup break.

    The statement added that “the Association will also assess the current situation in Nigeria football with a view to understanding it as responsible, responsive, and relevant stakeholders cum pressure group in football management and administration.

    “All the 20 premier League club chairmen and managers are expected to arrive Abuja today as the meeting will hold  at Kanem Suites, Utako, Abuja by 10pm while accommodation is reserved at same venue,” the statement read.

  • The meeting

    The meeting

    He was the last person I was expecting to see. I could have also missed him. But the grey hair called attention to him. I checked the face and a step behind me was one of the men of influence in today’s Nigeria.

    Our first meeting was in an NGO’s office in Ogba, Lagos. It was in 2008. Then I had just ‘ported’ to this newspaper after working for some nine years in two different news magazines. I am sure he cannot remember that meeting again or even remember me. A big brother and friend of mine had arranged the meeting. He came across to me as a humble human being despite his exploits in the NGO world and his past position as Commissioner for Information in oil-rich Bayelsa. We sat face-to-face and he told me he would need some media mention for a project he was working on then. We parted and only had indirect contacts after that.

    Some months back, I saw him in Lagos. He clearly had no memory of ever meeting me before and I did not bother to introduce myself. He was presenting a book on behalf of the Presidency which he now works for. But what struck me and many others that day was that he had emaciated and grew grey. He looked older than his age. His eyes were bulging as if ready to come out of the sockets. Some of us suggested he should sit while making his presentation. He refused on the excuse that he had been sitting all day.

    As loud as his voice could go, he enumerated the achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan and said politics apart, Jonathan had changed a lot of things.

    Douglas said politicking in the country has blinded the people to the progress being made by the President and his team, adding that a lot of transformation is on-going.

    He said: “When it is time for politics, we should play politics. But there is no need to play politics with development. It is wrong for anybody to say this administration has done nothing. In this publication, you will see evidence that this administration has performed more than any other in record time. Pictures can’t lie and pictures tell stories better than a thousand words.

    “I challenge us to go and verify the facts in this publication and then report back to the public. What this administration has done is unprecedented. We must give credit when due and not allow politics to cover facts about development.”

    He added that Jonathan would not play politics with the Transformation Agenda.

    “This administration is serious about development and will not play politics with development,” he said.

    After the presentation, he answered questions, accepted blames where he should and debunked myths when he sensed one.

    We left the meeting with someone like me praying for him to regain his health and be able to withstand the rigour of his office. I did not know that I was going to see him soon again. On Monday, March 31, I was about boarding a late-night flight from Lagos through London to New York with my wife when I saw him at my back spotting a brown check suit and a pair of black trousers. He had in his hand a black bag. His hair was almost all grey. His gait frail and my heart was broken. The air-conditioning system in the remodelled Murtala Muhammed International Airport was messing up and we could not but sweat. He too was sweating. At some points, he fanned himself with his boarding pass.

    Since he could not recognise me, I did not introduce myself. I told my wife who he was and she suggested I introduce myself or even help him carry his bag given his state of health. I told her there was no need and that from the little I know about him, he would not fancy being pitied to the extent of being helped to carry his hand luggage. He struggled his way into the plane and we never saw again. I suspected he was going to keep an appointment with his doctors.

    The man I write about is Oronto Douglas, whose name I had borrowed on two occasions on this platform when I need to speak as an Ijaw.

    For some time now, there have been speculations about his state of health. No doubt, all is not well with the Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Research, Documentation and Strategy. He has really emaciated. Gone is the Douglas who co-founded the Environmental Rights Action (ERA). Gone is the Douglas who served Bayelsa as Commissioner for Information. Gone is the Douglas who first joined the Presidency when Jonathan was Vice-President. Gone is the Douglas who sat with me in ERA’s office some six years ago on our first meeting. And gone is the Douglas who qualified as a lawyer many years back.

    I don’t care what illness he is battling. There are speculations around that which I won’t profess. But what I will profess today is that God Almighty, in his infinite mercy, will visit Douglas and restore him to good health. His father did not die young. Oronto, in Jesus’ name, will not die young. Amen.

    Before his foray into government, his collaboration with other like minds, such as Nnimmo Bassey, gave Nigeria its foremost environmental rights group, ERA, which has done a lot in the area of tobacco control (though it is sad that Jonathan refused to sign the National Tobacco Control Bill passed by the last National Assembly) and environmental protection.

    Oronto, the man whose identity I have acquired without his permission, will be one of those miraculous recoveries that the world has ever seen and it will be good in our eyes and we will rejoice in it. It has been difficult for me to forget the meeting and each time I remember it, I pray for the miraculous.

    You will live Oronto and not leave by His grace!

  • Why Southwest National Dialogue meeting failed

    Why Southwest National Dialogue meeting failed

    Many Yoruba leaders boycotted the interactive session organised by the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue in Akure, the Ondo State capital, because of their lack of faith in the process, it was learnt yesterday.

    Also, some stakeholders complained about lack of information on the meeting and the “short notice”, stressing that they needed more time to prepare their memoranda. Others said that their groups and associations were not invited by the committee headed by Dr. Femi Okunrounmu.

    The meeting, in the view of many, failed, as it was attended mainly by Ondo State stakeholders.

    Many political leaders from Ogun, Osun and Lagos states told our correspondent that they were still studying the process.

    They hope to submit memoranda at next month’s interactive meeting in Lagos.

    Some All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains said they were waiting for their party’s position on the proposed conference before taking any action.

    The Interim Chairman of the APC in Ekiti State, Chief Jide Awe, said that the perception of the process may have discouraged many from attending the meeting. He also said that the information about the meeting was not well circulated.

    Said Awe: “Are we duly invited? If people are not invited, how can they come? When I saw the discussion on the television, I wondered.”

    Former Southwest Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) leader Senator James Kolawole also complained about hour the meeting was organised. He said: “I was not invited. I did not get the information.”

    Afenifere chieftain Senator Ayo Fasanmi said the meeting was hasty, adding that it did not give room for extensive preparation. He said: “I have my reservations. I want to watch first. I want to watch, wait and see. I am not comfortable with the timing. I know Okunrounmu very well. He is handling a difficult task.”

    Our correspondent gathered that the pro-National Conference groups in the Southwest were still deliberating on the items to be included in their memoranda when the meeting took place. Sources close to the Yoruba Assembly chaired by Gen. Alani Akinrinade said that the group was still consulting with the stakeholders in the zone on their views on the conference.

    A member of the Assembly, Mr. Ayo Afolabi, said: “Gen. Alani Akinrinade is not in the country. He is expected back this week. The time of the meeting was too close for us to submit any serious memoranda. The Yoruba Assembly has to consult, update materials so that we do not talk against the wish of the people.”

    Lagos APC leader Oba Olatunji Hamzat said: “Since we know that they are still coming to Lagos, we have decided to wait till they come.”

    A social critic, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said those who attended the Akure meeting and made presentations may have gotten wind of the meeting before the notice was sent out.

    He said: “Within that short time, no serious group and organisation would have been able to make any serious and meaningful presentation, if the group or association had not prepared for it. May be, before the announcement of the conference, some people had got the information.”

    First-class traditional rulers in Oyo State, including the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111 and his Ibadan counterpart, the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Samuel Odulana, were not invited to the consultative meeting preceding the National Conference, it was learnt yesterday.

    The Akure meeting was attended by interest groups, monarchs, individuals either of Ondo State origin or based in the state. Virtually all first-class monarchs in the state attended the meeting.

    Alaafin’s media aide Prince Azeez Fehintola said the monarch was not aware of any invitation for the meeting.

    A member of the Olubadan Council, High Chief Lekan Balogun, also said he was not aware of any invitation letter sent to the Olubadan.

    But Balogun, who is a former senator, said he received a personal invitation from the committee through a text message in the morning of the day the meeting was held.

    He pledged to attend the meeting slated for Lagos.

    The Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) also said that it did not receive an invitation to the meeting.

    The president of the council, Chief Bayo Oyero, however, told our correspondent last night that CCII would sent its memorandum to the committee.

    He said: “We were not invited, but that is not the end of the story. We are preparing our memorandum and we will send it to them. We don’t have to present it. All interest groups can’t be there. We heard the announcement on the electronic media. Public presentation is not the only means of reaching them. We will send our memo to their office.”

    The interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Chief Akin Oke, also said the party did not receive an invitation for the meeting.

    After the Akure sitting, the panel moves to the Northcentral region with a sitting in Jos, Plateau State capital today and Minna, Niger State on Wednesday.

    The train moves to the Southsouth with sitting in Calabar, Cross River State on Friday and Benin, the Edo State capital on October 28.

     

  • Meaningless meeting

    Meaningless meeting

    •Given his role in the NGF election, the President has no business meeting with the governors now

    President Goodluck Jonathan’s intention to meet with Nigeria’s 36 governors in an attempt to resolve the lingering crisis in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) is a profoundly misplaced attempt to win a battle that has already been lost.

    While there can be no denying that the convocation of peace meetings is a legitimate deployment of presidential authority, it is clear that the NGF imbroglio is the natural outcome of underhand attempts to impose a preferred candidate upon the governors’ body by individuals working with the knowledge of the President, if not at his behest. When a player seeks to become the referee as President Jonathan is attempting to do, it is only natural to doubt the honesty of his intentions and the purity of his motives.

    The basic facts of the NGF issue are well-known. On May 24, 2013, the NGF held elections to choose a chairman to pilot its affairs for the next two years. There were two contestants: the incumbent chairman, Governor Rotimi Amaechi, of Rivers State, and Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State. When the votes were counted, it was announced that 19 governors had voted for Amaechi, while 16 had voted for Jang, only for Jang to later claim that he won the election, and to begin to parade himself as NGF chairman with the backing of those who had voted for him.

    An election was held; there was an outright winner and a clear loser. How can a roundtable meeting with the governors whose votes produced this outcome resolve anything? When gubernatorial elections took place in Edo and Ondo states, President Jonathan magnanimously congratulated the winners in spite of objections from some members of his own political party. It is surprising that he now finds himself unable to do the same thing in an election of much less significance.

    The irony in all this is that there are far more pressing issues that could constitute the agenda of meetings between the president and the governors. There is the pressing need to reconfigure the nation’s failing federalism, especially as it pertains to the rights of the states. There is the growing sense of insecurity that confronts all who reside within the borders of the Nigerian nation. There is the spreading cancer of corruption which has continued to manifest itself in almost all aspects of social, political and economic life.

    The president’s desire to convene a meeting about relatively trivial issues when far more serious ones abound is yet another demonstration of a worrying lack of presidential gravitas that has become a distinguishing feature of his administration. Ever since he assumed the office of president in an acting capacity in 2010, President Jonathan has continually shown an embarrassing inability to grow into the requirements of his position. He has lamented the presence of Boko Haram moles in government; he absolved the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) of involvement in the Independence Day bombings in Abuja minutes after they occurred; he infamously ”didn’t give a damn” about publicising his declaration of assets.

    A president, by definition, seeks to be presidential rather than petty. That implies continuous efforts to ensure that neither the office of president nor the person who occupies it is brought into contempt or ridicule. A self-respecting president is therefore one who is very careful to weigh the import of statements before they are uttered, and one who is extremely conscious about besmirching the dignity of his office by getting involved in trivial or morally-improper matters. Rather than disingenuous attempts to destabilise perceived opponents, President Jonathan should focus on the serious business of governing.

     

  • NGF shifts meeting for presidential dinner

    NGF shifts meeting for presidential dinner

    DESPITE moves to divide their ranks, members of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) maintained their unity yesterday. They reported at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, Abuja for their scheduled inaugural meeting since the re-election of Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

    The session was, however, symbolic as the meeting was later shifted last night to attend a dinner organised by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The governors were at the Lodge between 7pm and 8.18pm to defer to the President.

    It was gathered that there was a heated debate on the invitation by the President, especially why it clashed with the NGF meeting.

    But the NGF members decided to bend backward to prove that they have no personal grudges against the President.

    A source at the session said: “At the meeting, some governors insisted that they should not attend but others wanted the Forum to honour the President.

    “After a consideration of the arguments for and against, most of the governors asked the Forum to honour Jonathan.

    “But what the meeting achieved was that we have succeeded in holding the first NGF meeting after the re-election of Governor Rotimi Amaechi as our chairman.

    “They thought that we won’t be able to sustain our support for Amaechi but we have proved that we are certainly behind him.

    Another source said: “The NGF members were of the opinion that the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should be respected. We have decided to defer to this office and postpone our meeting tonight.

    “Since we are in the majority, if we go ahead with the NGF meeting, we will be ridiculing the Office of the President. We are not at war with Jonathan, we want to prove to him that the NGF battle is not personal, it is about the sanctity of the ballot and democracy.

    “We also want to show that neither Amaechi nor any of the 19 governors backing him is after a do-or-die battle.”

    Asked if the shift was not in connection with alleged division of the NGF by the presidency, the source added: “Not at all. We want Nigerians to see that we are democrats who have respect for the nation’s constitution and the President who is the number one symbol of the nation’s democracy.

    “Any of us could also be the nation’s President; we believe we should postpone the meeting in deference to the presidency. We will old our meeting soon.”

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, who briefed newsmen, said: “We are honouring the president’s invitation to dinner. If the dinner ends in good time, we will be back for our meeting. If it stretches longer than we anticipate we would stick with the President.”

    The governors at the Rivers Lodge are Rotimi Amaechi (Chairman); Adams Oshiomhole (Edo); Fayemi (Ekiti); Sule Lamido(Jigawa); Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); Tanko al-Makura (Nasarawa); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Rabiu Kwankwanso (Kano); Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun); Babatunde Fashola (Lagos); AbdulAziz Yari (Zamfara); Rochas Okorocha(Imo); the Deputy Governor of Borno, Zannah

    Umar Mustapha; and the Deputy Governor of Osun State, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori.

    Amaechi said: “There was no meeting, we decided to defer to the President. We agreed that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and that as compatriots and as governors of different states, we must honour and respect the president and having invited us to a dinner, we decided to go for the dinner.”

    On when the meeting would be re-convened, the NGF chairman said, “the next meeting will be at the next National Economic Council (NEC) meeting.”

  • Why governors shunned PDP’s peace meeting

    Why governors shunned PDP’s peace meeting

    Anenih in rescue mission to Kano

    Tukur: it wasn’t for governors

     

    LEADERS of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have launched a desperate battle to put its peace moves back on track.

    Many governors shunned the grand finale of the party’s peace tour on Sunday in Abuja because of National Chairman Bamanga Tukur’s refusal to convene the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, The Nation learnt last night.

    It was also learnt that the governors – 16 of them stayed away from the meeting – are unhappy over the lukewarm attitude of the party to their problems, especially the insecurity in Kano State.

    But sensing danger, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, yesterday launched a rescue-PDP-mission to appease the aggrieved governors.

    Anenih, apparently realising that Tukur’s reconciliation tour had left the party more divided, met with Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso yesterday in Kano.

    According to a governor, who pleaded not to be named, the governors are opposed to the breaching of the party’s constitution by Tukur.

    The source said: “Part of our grouse is that the National Chairman has refused to call a NEC meeting since July 2012. Instead, he is trying to bully or whip everyone into line, as if we are school boys.

    “We do not know why the party leadership has refused to comply with the provision of PDP Constitution on NEC. We learnt that Tukur is afraid that we might use the NEC to pass a vote of no confidence in him.

    “We will not honour him, until he abides by Section 12.74 of the PDP Constitution.”

    The section reads: “The NEC shall meet at least once in every quarter at the instance of the chairman or at the request of two-third of its membership, who shall notify the chairman at least seven days prior to the meeting and an emergency meeting be summoned by the National Chairman having regard to all the circumstances of the agenda.”

    The governor also alleged that PDP under Tukur had “lukewarm attitude to the problems in some PDP controlled states, especially the security challenges in Kano State.

    “We are all unhappy with Tukur’s leadership but our national leader, President Goodluck Jonathan, appears to be more at home with him because of the 2015 presidential election.”

    Anenih met with Kwankwaso in company of a former President of the Senate, Chief Ken Nnamani; three former national chairmen of PDP- Chief Barnabas Gemade, Senator Ahmadu Ali, and Dr. Haliru Bello Mohammed – Chief Ebenezer Babatope and Air Vice Marshal Larry Koinyan(rtd).

    A party source said: “With the failure of the reconciliatory tour of the National Chairman of PDP, Chief Tony Anenih has now been saddled with the responsibility of salvaging the party from collapse.

    “As a matter of fact, Anenih conceived the reconciliation programme but while he was trying to implement his vision, Tukur emerged from nowhere with the failed reconciliatory tours.

    “Most PDP governors, stalwarts and members boycotted Tukur’s tour because it was not well-intended.

    “I think we may have good reasons to listen to Anenih, who does not mind to call a spade a spade.”

    The failed reconciliation marked the second challenge Tukur would face in one year.

    The G-84 members in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had on January 9, 2013 written President Goodluck Jonathan, claiming that the party was stinking.

    The G-84 comprises eight deputy members of the National Working Committee (NWC), 24 ex-officio, 37 state chairmen of PDP and some former leaders of the party.

    They alleged that the National Working Committee (NWC) was becoming cultish, with the total exclusion of elected officers of the party.

    They urged President Jonathan, as the national leader, to save the party from brinkmanship.

    The issues tabled before the President by the G-84 are:

    •breach of PDP constitution by not holding National Executive Committee(NEC) meeting;

    •wrongful and consistent misinterpretation of PDP constitution;

    •management of the party in a cultish nature;

    •exclusion of elected party officers by NWC;

    •Wasting of party resources on personal events, functions, and chartering of aircraft;

    •Fixing of wages and allowances by NWC members to the detriment of other elected officers; and

    •arbitrary sharing of honourarium both in cash and kind.

    The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, yesterday said he did not boycott the meeting.

    Tambuwal, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media, Alhaji Imam Imam, said he was away in UK.

    “The Speaker was in the UK on a visit when the meeting was held. He has not returned to the country,” Imam said.

    Also yesterday, Tukur rose in defence of the governors who failed to attend the Abuja parley.

    In a statement from his office, the chairman said the parley was not meant for the governors in the first place. According to him, some of the absentee governors were not in the country during the event.

    However, the programme of events circulated at the venue indicated that the governors were expected to arrive at 2.15pm.

    Only the governor of Akwa Ibom, Godswill Akpabio and his Kogi State counterpart, Idris Wada, attended the event. Four others sent their deputies.

    Tukur said: “Many of the governors were absent from the rally mainly because they were part of the reconciliation meetings in their respective zones, and had made useful contributions during the visit by the National Working Committee members, a reason it was never compelling for them to be in Abuja.

    “Some of the governors were not in Nigeria during the weekend event while others contacted the national headquarters about their inability to be in Abuja for the rally with stated reasons.

    “The reconciliation meetings across the zones and Abuja were meant for members, most especially those who were estranged, and not necessarily for state governors who had played their parts meaningfully in the party’s reconciliation agenda at the zonal level.”

    The statement also quoted Tukur as describing the reconciliation initiative as a huge success.

    “We were in the southeast zone and the governors turned out. When we visited the southsouth, Governors Uduaghan, Akpabio and Amaechi came to welcome us and made useful suggestions.

    “Indeed, the Rivers State governor spoke to us on behalf of all the PDP governors. Bayelsa State governor, I reckoned was busy with a special task, while the same story of success trailed our visit to the north”, the chairman added.

    Tukur appealed to the media to show a deeper understanding in the party’s efforts to promote democracy, inclusiveness and a sense of harmony among members.

    According to to him, the party remains the best political instrument for deepening democracy in the country.

    He said the PDP would always be ready to partner with the media in the task of nation building, appealing to the media not to give a chance to those he described as pseudo-democrats whose sole agenda is to pull down the PDP while having nothing tangible to offer Nigeria.

    Tukur continued: “This is the first time in the history of democracy in Nigeria that the NWC of a party would embark on a nationwide tour on reconciliation drive.

    “This is the first time that the leadership of the party went out of comfort to have a feel of what has been happening to our members at the grassroots. This is the first time that we are making conscious efforts to return the party to the owners; the ordinary members.

    “Who should appreciate these kind of efforts, if not you people in the media? If we are making efforts to promote peace in national interest, no right thinking person or group of persons should make attempts to promote hate and cause disharmony.

    “I think the media should not join the pseudo-democrats, the demagogues and treacherous fellows who always love to reap from chaos and crises. This is why we require media support in our desire to re-invent politics and recreate Nigeria.”

    The party chair said the PDP would never succumb to blackmail, coming from those he described as virulent opponents of the party whose desire is to paint a picture of a PDP being at war with itself.

    He stressed that the PDP has always been in a healthy accord with its members and all its governors, as evident by the encouraging outcome of the reconciliation tours across the federation.

    Tukur was quoted to also have said that the PDP had realised that imposition of candidates during elections had been the root cause of the misunderstanding within the party.

    The party, he said, has been fashioning out agenda to promote internal democracy and transparency in future elections, as a means of earning the confidence of its members.

  • State pardon: Group seeks minutes of meeting

    An anti-corruption group, the Say No Campaign, has asked the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, to provide it with a copy of the minutes of the National Council of State meeting where the decision to grant state pardon to some convicted Nigerians was taken.

    Among those granted pardon at the meeting, held on March 12, was former Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Diprieye S.P. Alamiyeseigha and six others.

    The group made the request on March 21 based on sections 1(1), 1(2) and 3 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 2011.

    It said the demand was due to the need for Nigerians to know how “this ridiculous decision” was taken.

    The group said it was against the backdrop of denials by some members of the National Council of State that the pardons were not discussed.

    The request, signed by Ezenwa Nwagwu and Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani), added: “If this assertion is true, it raises serious question on the legal validity of this decision and effectively annuls these pardons.

    “We are hoping that the SGF will expeditiously attend to this request in the interest of rule of law and transparency.

    “We also wish to reiterate our unequivocal condemnation of this pardon as expressed by the civil society groups working on anti-corruption press statement of March 14th 2013.

    “The Say No Campaign is a platform of Nigerians committed to fighting corruption and impunity.

    “It is committed to ensuring not only the reversal of the pardon granted to persons convicted for corruption but also to promote good governance and rule of law in Nigeria.”

     

  • Amaechi: I didn’t shun PDP governors’ meeting

    Amaechi: I didn’t shun PDP governors’ meeting

    Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi yesterday said he did not shun the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ meeting.

    “I only just returned to Nigeria from the Commonwealth Observance Day, which took place at the Westminster Abbey in London.”

    Amaechi, who spoke through the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, said contrary to rumours and speculations in some quarters, he holds the PDP Governors’ Forum in high esteem and would not have ignored the members.

    The governor was one of the three high-profile speakers at the event, with the theme: “Opportunity through Enterprise.”

    In a statement, the commissioner said: “One wonders why mischief makers will insinuate that the governor shunned the PDP Governors’ Forum, when in actual fact he was flying the nation’s flag at the historic global event.”

    The commissioner also described the governor as a loyal party man, who always participates in PDP activities,.

    Mrs Semenitari added: “The time has come for detractors to acknowledge the fact that mudslinging cannot overshadow the global recognition given to a people-oriented governor.

    “Governor Amaechi remains committed to the building of our nation, Nigeria and the democratic ideals of his party, the PDP, and no amount of blackmail can change this incontrovertible fact.”

     

  • Lagos lawmaker ‘not part’ of PDP meeting

    THE  member representing Ojo Constituency 11 in the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Lanre Ogunyemi, has dissociated himself from a meeting purportedly held by a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, with PDP leaders and youths in Ojo Local Government.

    Ogunyemi said the PDP group, Ojo Broom, circulated text messages and posted on facebook that his former campaign manager and aide were at the meeting.

    Speaking with reporters in his office at the Assembly Complex yesterday, the lawmaker said he was not perturbed by the development, adding that the group’s effort to tarnish his image had failed.

    He said: “I have and would continue to enjoy the confidence of my leadership about my person and integrity. I remain a loyal member of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and my loyalty to the party’s leadership has never been in doubt.

    “It is on record that in my political career in over 20 years, I have exhibited unwavering loyalty to our party leadership. I have served at the topmost echelon as the state secretary, special adviser and now member of the House of Assembly. “Even when I did not hold any political office, my character remained impeccable and dependable. I thank all my leaders, constituents, supporters and well-wishers, who through their numerous call and visits, have expressed their concern, solidarity and confidence in my steadfastness.”