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Tag: Momoh

  • Momoh, Alaibe, others set agenda for Buhari on Niger Delta

    Momoh, Alaibe, others set agenda for Buhari on Niger Delta

    •’ Jonathan’s achievements debatable’ 

    Former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Timi Alaibe and former Minister of Information Chief Tony Momoh yesterday suggested ways President Muhammadu Buhari can bring change and development to the Niger Delta.

    Momoh and Alaibe spoke at a talk-shop with the theme: “President Muhammadu Buhari’s Change Agenda and the Niger Delta Struggle for Development” in Abuja.

    The dialogue was organised by the Gatekeepers Foundation, Change Ambassadors of Nigeria and Niger Delta Media Professionals.

    Alaibe recommended broad action strategies to Buhari as a means of delivering infrastructural and socio-economic development to the Niger Delta region.

    The former Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs  said it was still a matter of reflection whether or not Dr Goodluck Jonathan used the opportunity presented him to benefit the people of the region or not.

    He said: “There is unfolding reflections particularly among Niger Delta folks on the one hand whether or not the immediate past administration held by one of our own maximized the available opportunities to actualise the goals of Niger Delta.

    “On the other hand, whether or not Niger Delta people and especially the region’s elites and activists made an earnest, collective and active effort to get the last administration to maximise the opportunity. This reflection described so subtly may continue for quite a while and take on a variety of turns.

    “It may trigger various perceptions and misconceptions as whether or not the answers to the two questions above raise any estoppels however temporarily on the issues and advancement of Niger Delta struggle.”

    He maintained that the people of Niger Delta while maintaining their historical aspirations cannot wait and cannot be kept waiting any longer for development.

    He added that the Buhari’s administration,  would itself be eager to deliver as fast as is realistic on the expectations of Nigerians and to justify the huge wave of local and global goodwill he has received so far.

    He insisted that Buhari would be determined to demonstrate  in all possible ways, in his own words, he belongs to everybody by delivering visible development to the people.

    He said: “So, the question is, what is change for the Niger Delta? The mantra of this new administration is change. What will constitute change for the Niger Deltan?

    “Change for the Niger Delta in terms of development will to a large extent simply mean the following: Provision of critical infrastructure and social amenities that will make life more meaningful to make them communicate and compete on equal terms with other parts of the country and of the world; effective participation in National economy especially in sectors that are based on the nation’s endowments such as maritime and petroleum sectors; environmental protection, particularly, from the ravages of petroleum pollution, safeguarding the fertility and integrity of the environment.”

    Momoh, who was chairman of the event, said Buhari is the only President since independence that prepared himself to lead.

    He said the new administration needs cooperation from the Niger Delta to be able to deliver on his developmental goals across the country.

    Momoh said: “We need all the cooperation we can get. Buhari needs cooperation from the Niger Delta. Niger Delta must remain one of the six zones that contribute to the development of the country.”

    The Executive Director of Gatekeepers Foundation and chief host of the event, Blessing Agbomhere said the programmed was meant to articulate the expectation of the Niger Delta Region from the Buhari’s administration.

    Agbomhere said he believed that Buhari is sincere in his promise to develop Nigeria in general and Niger Delta in particular.

    He said: “We believe the present administration is ready to develop the Niger Delta. We believe they are sincere in their promise to implement all government policies for the Niger Delta.

    “We expect Buhari to be a father to all Nigerians and to the Niger Delta in particular.”

    Other dignitaries present at the event include former Minister of State for Niger Delta, Dr. Sam Ode, Managing Director of Ocean Marine Limited, Peter Dunia, Group Captain Sam Ewang, Chief Executive Officer of A&E Petroleum, Chief Ayiri Emami, Rivers State Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate, Prince Tonye Princewill among others.

  • Momoh: military has no power to decide on polls

    Former Chairman of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) Prince Tony Momoh said yesterday that the only security agents that can guarantee free elections are the police.

    The army, the former minister noted, “has no power or right to decide which day to vote or which day not to vote.”

    His words: “My reaction to this matter is independent. They told us that the election is February 14, and we all worked toward the date. “

    “The only person that can tell us that February 14 is not feasible is INEC. The only security agents that can equally tell us that it cannot guarantee free elections are the police. The army has no power or right to decide which day to vote or which day not to vote.

    “Their own area of operation is the external affairs. They are to protect the territorial integrity of the country against external aggression. If there is problem in 14 local government areas, in a country with 774 local governments and if you minus the councils with problem from those without problem, elections can still be held successfully.

    “They are telling us not to hold elections in all other areas because 14 councils have problem. So, we must find out why there are no guarantees for INEC to conduct elections in all the other areas. They must tell Nigerians.

    “With the commission of some other people, they are imposing their own wishes on the Nigerians people to derail our democracy. I begin to think of the June 12, 1993 scenario.

    “Nigerians will not accept the June 12 scenario now. It is only the police that will be present where INEC will carry out elections.

    “Everybody should know that this is an attempt to divert attention; and nobody attention should be diverted.

  • CNPP, Momoh, others fault call for transition govt

    CNPP, Momoh, others fault call for transition govt

    THE National Publicity Secretary of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), Osita Okechukwu, former Minister of Information Prince Tony Momoh and President of Nigeria Voters Assembly, Mashood Erubami, led some influential Nigerians yesterday to fault the call for the postponement of next month’s elections.

    The Convener of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), Pastor Tunde Bakare, who is also the general overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly Church, last weekend called for the postponement of the elections, saying the nation was not ready.

    Bakare called for the constitution of an interim government that would in turn organise future elections, saying such steps would help prevent the danger ahead.

    But, Momoh said the Federal Government must conduct the general election because the constitution did not provide for a transition government.

    According to the former minister, any suggestion that did not support the provision of the constitution cannot be used to prevent elections.

    Momoh said: “Anybody, who suggests what the constitution does not support is on his own. The constitution has provided guidelines to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the conduct of election.

    “The guideline is a very tight one. It is in view of that guideline that  the All Progressives Congress (APC) started its campaign yesterday in Port Harcourt. And in fact, we are covering Akwa Ibom and by the end of the week, we would have covered the whole of Southsouth and Southeast.”

    The APC chieftain said the party is ready for the coming election, adding: “The only thing is to appeal to INEC to ensure those who are qualified to vote are not disenfranchised because that is the beginning of rigging.

    “It also boils to the fact that every institution in the land should do its work properly. INEC should do its work, the police must do their work and other security agents must do their work without fear or favour and in accordance with the law that established them. If this is done, the election will be free and fair.”

    Okechukwu, who spoke during a telephone interview with The Nation in Abuja, said the reasons advanced by Bakare for the postponement could not outweigh  Nigerians’ readiness for the elections.

    He said: “Pastor Bakare got it wrong this time. All the indicators he cited as reasons for the postponement cannot outweigh Nigerians’ readiness for the  general elections.

    “The core ingredient of democracy is passing of referendum on the performance of the incumbent and the character of the challenger.

    “Nigerians are eager to vote out or vote back president, governors, legislators depending on their performance. Nigerians will frown at any shift of the election.”

    He said it was dangerous to call for the postponement and establishment of an interim government on the basis that INEC was not ready.

    The CNPP spokesman and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said: “Only God knows when INEC will be ready as envisaged by the man of God. Therefore, his reason cannot be sustained.

    “The beauty in our democracy is that it has reached the zenith of liberal democracy, where two parties dominate in a multi-party system, which means that there is mutual assured destruction. Neither PDP nor APC will rig at will.

    “The constitution he is talking about is a rigid constitution. He knows that four attempts have been made in the past to amend it without success. He also knows that his six months time-frame is not enough to amend the constitution.”

    To Erubami, the call was “a veiled attempt by its protagonist to create confusion and run away from fixing the identified national emergencies we are inundated with.”

    Erubami, who is also the former president of the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), said those calling for a transition government only a few weeks before a general election were “stylishly calling for tenure elongation of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.”

    The statement reads in part: “Democratic consolidation cannot be easily achieved by the preference of politicians who are inconsistent in their vision for deliberative politics and participatory democracy, believing that democracy can be achieved anyhow, as if towing democratic path does not matter.

    “Whereas, we cannot close our eyes to a change process that would bring into political office another set of unserious politicians in the name of national unity, who are not concerned with bad shape in which the Nigeria economy is and the deteriorating conditions under which the citizens sleep and wake up  daily, as a result of lack of foresight of ruling PDP government.

    “Calls for transitional government a few weeks to conducting  elections into various elective offices is a veiled attempt by its protagonist to create confusion and run away from fixing the identified national emergencies we are inundated with.”