The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Murtala

  • Murtala Muhammed and 500 years of Nigeria’s history ( III )

    Both the accused person and Abu Sule were said to have entered into a tenancy agreement so as to give the impression that the former had rented the property from Tweeenex Consociate H.D. Limited.

    He added: “Abu Sule also said the accused person issued a Fidelity Bank Cheque for N20 million as rent for two years.  He however, said that he used the money to renovate the property and another property in Asokoro.”

    Daudafurther told the court that MuntairMaidabino, during interrogation, confirmed receipt of cash payment to the tune of $2.2 million from Sule.

    According to him, when the accused person was confronted with the disclosure by Sule, he owned up to the ownership of the property.

    He said both the accused person and Sule were later invited to the EFCC’s office, where they disagreed on the mode of payment.  While the accused person claimed he made the payment in instalments, Sule debunked that statement, saying that he (the accused person) made cash payment to him.

    Justice Ademola fixed November 12 and 13, 2015 for cross-examination and further hearing.”

    It was left to Al-Jazeera and Fox News to alert the entire world regarding what has become of Murtala Mohammed’s legacy.

    Front page headline:                 “Sunday Vanguard” newspaper of December 13, 2015.

    “BLEAK CHRISTMAS AHEAD: BANKRUPTCY FEAR HITS STATE

    ………..one pays 97% of allocation to service debt.

    v            Cash crunch worsens on the heels of Naira’s free fall.

    “Amid deepening cash crunch, there is the fear that many states across the county are increasingly finding it difficult to meet their financial obligations.

    Bogged down by huge debts for which the bulk of the allocations from the Federation Account is deducted to service them the situation has eroded the ability of the states to pay workers’ salaries.

    The bailout package initiated by the Federal Government for the state and local governments to enable them pay the backlog of salaries, it was learnt, provided little respite.

    Analysts feared, at the weekend, that many workers across the country may face bleak Christmas as their state governments may be unable to pay salaries ahead of the Yuletide due to the cash crunch.

    Salary payment in several states remain in arrears for many months.  The huge debts of some of the states were blamed on the sliding Naira as they were denominated in dollars at the time the states took foreign loans, and the fate of the Naira at the forex market was under control.

    Today, the Naira exchanges for over 240 to the dollar.  In July 2014, N630.32bn was allocated to the three tiers of government – federal, states and local governments – from the Federation Account.  Later in August of the same years, N601.65bn was allocated to the states.  For September 2015, the figures just released indicate that N389.936 was shared by all the tiers of government; representing drops of 35% and 38% from the August and July 2014 allocations.  Yet, N601bn in August represented a sharp decline from the previous months in 2014.  At the moment, the three tiers of government are sharing less than half of what was available in January 2014.

    At the end of December, analysts believe states will be extremely lucky to collect half of what they now receive.  The implication is that many states are on the verge of bankruptcy.  The consequences, according to the analysts, may be difficult to imagine.

    In 2013, we had published that states may not be able to pay salaries by 2015.  Earlier in 2014, we published a warning on the drop in aggregate revenue and its consequences.  Then we predicted that the economy will no longer grow at six per cent or more.  Finally, we told investors to get out of the NSE (Nigerian Stock Exchange).

    The governors of many states want to re-negotiate the minimum wage agreement with labour.  That is only the symptom of the dire financial straits in which the states, analysts believe, find themselves.  Even the inevitable mass retrenchment of workers, they say, will not totally get them out of the woods.  “Debt and contractual obligations, which will gulp an increasing percentage of their revenue, will finish them first.  For some, the calamity will set in by the end of the first quarter of 2016.   Unfortunately, most of the states are APC controlled.  They will damage Buhari’s political position – if care is not taken,” one of the analysts told Sunday Vanguard.  Today, we focus attention on two issues which will determine the fate of our states.  The first is the deduction from source, that is, Abuja.  Many state governors, since 1999, have been reckless with public funds.  Even those who have proved to be clever in shielding their recklessness from detection were/are as unpatriotic as those who were careless to be caught.

    Below is table derived from the Distribution of Revenue Allocation To State Governments For September 2015.  Instead of listing them in alphabetical order, they have been grouped into three based on gross revenue expected to be collected from Abuja.  Also listed are the gross deductions from each state’s revenue allocations.  Those deductions are expected to continue indefinitely.

    When states took on huge debt burden, sometimes spent on unsustainable programmes, they little realized that a sharp decline in revenue will doom their states economically.

    Being a product of the military, General Murtala Mohammed would have great difficulty comprehending what has become of the military.  SKY News has opened the Pandora box with its special report based on the headline of “The Nation” newspapers of Friday 4, 2016.

    “EFCC TRACES HUGE CASH TO MILITARY CHIEF’s WIVES, KIDS

    “Some of the U.S.2.1 billion phoney arms deal have been traced to the accounts of wives and children of some former and serving military chiefs, The Nation has learnt.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is probing how the money was spent, may restrict access to all the identified accounts “this week”, a source said yesterday.

    Also yesterday, a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, reported to the EFCC.

    But his invitation was rescheduled for Monday “because of operational reasons”.

    It was learnt that the EFCC may interrogate Air Chief Marshal Badeh alongside some military officers who have also been invited.  A source close to the investigation said some of the former and serving officers under investigation acquired properties  in the names of their wives, children and relations “to hide their loot”

    The source said: “Our investigations have uncovered that some of these military officers under probe stashed their shares of the $2.1billion arms cash in the accounts of their relations, especially wives and children.

    “We have traced such slush funds and we may freeze these accounts until we have screened the inflows and expenditures.  The legitimately operated accounts will be freed after thorough screening.”

    Besides, some houses belonging to the children and relations of some military chiefs have been identified as products of proceeds of financial crimes.  “We have already marked the properties of one of the children of a top military brass.  We have invoked Temporary Assets Forfeiture Clause in EFCC Act,” the source said.

    “It is obvious that some of the arms cash were laundered through proxies, relations and phony companies.  Some even registered companies in the names of their spouses or families.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “We have done enough ground work to interrogate some of these former and serving military chiefs.”

    Air Chief Marshal Badeh appeared briefly at the EFCC but his interrogation was shifted to Monday.

    “We have also summoned most of the former and serving military officers referred to EFCC for probe,” another source said.

    Attempts to get Air Chief Marshal Badeh last night were unsuccessful.

    Apart from the former CDS, others under investigation are Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal M.D. Umar; a former National Security Adviser, Col. SamboDasuki; Col. N. Ashinze, who was the Special Military Assistant to the ex-NSA; and a former Chief of Air Staff, A.N. Amosu; the most senior Air Force officer, AVM A.M. Mamu (the Chief of Administration); AVM O.T. Oguntoyinbo (former Director of Production, Defence Headquarters); AVM R.A. Ojuawo (Air Officer Tactical Air Command, Makurdi; AVM J.B. Adigun (former Chief of Accounts and Budgeting in NAF); and AVM J.A.Kayode-Beckley (Director, Armament Research in Air Force Research and Development Centre); AVM T. Omenyi (MD, NAF Holdings) four top officers at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), Air Cdre A.O. Ogunjobi; Air Cdre GMD Gwani; Air Cdre S.O. Makinde; and Air Cdre A.Y. Lassa.

    Some of the areas of investigation are:

    • How 10 contracts totalling $930,500,690.00 were awarded
    • Payment of N4,402,687,569.41 for unexecuted contracts.
    • Procurement of two used Mi-24V Helicopters instead of the recommended Mi-35M series at $136,944,000.00.
    • 4 used Alpha-Jets for the NAF at US$7,180,000.00 funded by ONSA.
    • Cannibalization of engines from NAF fleet to justify procurement of jets.
    • Excessive pricing of 36D6 Low Level Air Defence Radar at $33m instead of $6m each.
    • Delivery of radars without vital component of Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) that distinguishes between own and adversary aircraft.
    • Strange transfer of $2m to Mono Marine Corporation Nigeria Limited owned by some Air Force officers.
    • N15bn lavished on the maintenance of its Alpha-Jets, C-130H aircraft and Mi-24V/35P helicopters.
    • N2.5 billion contracts awarded to Syrius Technologies (Ukrainian company) not registered in Nigeria.
    • Award of 7 contracts worth N599,118,000.00 contracts to Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) but two delivered”.

    • Bashorun J.K. Randle is a former

     President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and former Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and Africa Region.  He is currently the Chairman, JK Randle Professional Services.

    Email:   jkrandleintuk@gmail.com

  • Murtala: The unforgettable leader

    Murtala: The unforgettable leader

     As Head of State, the late Gen Murtala Ramat Muhammed led a simple life. He moved without a siren-blaring convoy and mixed with Nigerians in the market and other public places.Forty years after his death, his life and times were celebrated last week at a photo exhibition tagged: Our Hero Past at the National Museum in Onika, Lagos. Assistant Editor Arts OZOLUA UHAKHEME reports.

    Murtala jolted a sleeping nation into life. The vibrancy in his voice was arresting. The fire in his eyes charmed and awed the nation. …Murtala adopted a low profile policy. The 504 replaced Mercedes Benz as the official government car. Only the Head of State rode a Mercedes Benz: not bullet proof and not the 600 series type. For the 200 days Murtala was Head of State, he lived in the house he had occupied as Director of Army Signal Corps. He drove to work at the Dodan Barracks every morning from his house accompanied by his driver, his orderly and his ADC. No convoy. No sirens. No outriders. Few days after his assumption of office, Murtala shunned the sirens and convoy and rode alone with his driver from Lagos to Kano, a journey of more than 1000 kilometres in his personal car.” These were the words of former Nigeria’s High Commissioner in Namibia Ambassador Adegboyega Christopher Ariyo, guest speaker at an event organised by the National Commission of Museums and Monuments (NCMM), in collaboration with Murtala Muhammed Foundation and Ikoyi-Obalende Local Council Development Area (LCDA) to mark the fortieth anniversary of the death of former Head of State Gen Murtala Ramat Muhammed.

    He said the late general had only N70.20 in his account when he died on February 13, 1976.

    According to him, Muhammed brought activism and forthrightness into the Nigeria diplomatic enterprise in the actualsiation of the national interests of Nigeria. “Nigeria justified by the moral authority of his campaign for the total eradication of colonialism and obnoxious, dehumanising apartheid white racist regimes in South Africa and backed with strong economy and committed diplomatic and military machines, was able to influence decisively programmes, tasks and strategies that contributed significantly to the liberation of the Southern African states and restored the dignity of Africans.

    “Indeed, the activities that led to the golden era of Nigeria foreign policy were hatched under General Muhammed and his colleagues. Though geographically in West Africa, Nigeria became a member of the Frontline States of Southern Africa,” he recalled, adding that his ‘Africa has come of age’ speech at Addis Ababa,  Ethiopia was a clear signal that Nigeria had the resources to tend her future in dignity and would not take any nonsense. But, unfortunately, Nigeria lost focus as money became the god of our leaders.

    Ambassador Ariyo said competition and self-centredness took control of our living as a people while destroying our culture and values. He noted that we adopted foreign culture, uncaring and undisciplined system of governance, destroyed systems, institutions and processes for national stability and prosperity through strange political acrobatics unknown to real ideas-based democratic practices.

    Continuing, he said: “Our people lost hope and human life became worthless. Insecurity, corruption, disunity, lack of focus, joblessness, excruciating internal and foreign debts rendered us voiceless where it matters. Our military lost the steel to protect us and be relevant in power equation in Africa and the world to allegedly inept and corrupt leaderships.” The former Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Namibia asked what lessons can Nigeria learn from the life of the great legend?

    Information and Culture Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the late general left an indelible mark and record that were difficult to surpass, noting that his patriotism and love for the nation and her people is certainly unquestionable.

    “As a military officer, he was a gallant, brave andpatriotic soldier. He served the nation in variuous capacoities during his military career. He was among the crop of young military officewrs that represented Nigeria as part of a Uniteed Nation’s peace keeping mission tot he then Congo (Zaire) now Congo DR in 1962. During the 30 month Nigerian civil war between 1976 and 1970, he fought gallantly to keep the unity of the nation. He was one of the heroes of the war.

    “His brief reign as head of military government witnessed several landmark achievement , the legacy of which we still have with us today.  One of these was the creation of seven additional states on February 3, 1976 among others.

    The minister who was represented by the Director-General of Centre for Black African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) Mr Ferdinand Anikwe said there is nothing that is done to remember the late Muhammed that is too much but rahter it is in appreciation of his great contributions to the socio-economic and political development of the nation. he described the photography exhibition as a challenge to the wide spectrum of today’s leaders to serve the nation with patriotic zeal, eschew corruption, nepotism, political thuggery and rigging, tribalism and personal aggrandisement. According to the minister, the event is a clarion call to the youths to see themselves as key players in the nation’s socio-economic and political development.

    “It is a call to the military to serve the nation with patriotism and help safeguard the unity of the country and protect our young fledging democratic process. It is a call to all Nigerians in all facets of life to love this country that we call our own so that we can individually make very meaningful patriotic contributions towards national development in tandem with the change agenda of this present democratic administration. I implore us to see ourselves as veritable tools in the change agenda and vision of the present administration and endeavour to make meaningful contributions to the socio-economic and political development,” he added.

    First daughter of the late general, Aisha Muhammed Oyebode, who is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Murtala Muhammed Foundation, said she was humbled by the legacy of his late father. “I am always humbled by his legacy. I also feel humbled when I see the kind of response that people have towards him 40 years after. So, I really feel it is something that makes me very proud. At times I realise that he really was a visionary because so many things that he talked about 40 years ago are the ones affecting us today,” she said.

    Aisha, who was 12 and a Form 2 pupil at Queens College, Lagos, when her father was killed in a coup spearheaded by Lt. Colonel Buka Sukar Dimka, recalled that for quite a while she did not know her father was killed. “As soon as it happened, the Head Mistress called me into her office and said  I needed to go home. The lady that came to pick me was the Principal of my former school. “It was when we got to Kano the following day which was on Sunday morning that my father’s mother told us that my father had been killed. That was after he had been buried. All this while my mother was away, maybe if she was around we would have known earlier,” Aisha recalled.

    Earlier in a message, Aisha said the event provided the foundation the platform to celebrate the contributions of her late father to the project of nation building for which he was very passionate. She added that it also allowed the foundation to highlight the very ideals eschewed by the late Muhammed on which the foundation is founded.

    “It also allows us an opportunity to remind the younger generation of the rich heritage already laid down by Hero’s Past, which ultimately will enable us all to attain the full development and scope of the potential that this country is capable of attaining. Such an endeavour will surely be the greatest tribute we could pay to the memory of our Hero Past, General Murtala Muhammed,” she said.

    Director-General NCMM, Yusuf Abdallah Usman, said despite the short rule of the late Muhamamed, he made quite some long-term contributions to the nation’s development.

    “General Muhammed ruled Nigeria for only 200 days but they were the most action filled, most dynamic and probably the most impactful 200 days on the contemporary political and social history of our nation. Three things remain indelible: His commitment to good governance, robust attempt to root out corruption and fierce battle against indiscipline,” Usman said.

    He disclosed that the late General’s tomb has been proposed as a national monument as a  reminder of the great contributions of the great man.

    Our Hero Past showcases some of the vantage photographs of the late general at different locations and events during his service in the military. It also shows some of his public pronouncements especially after the civil war. Such pronouncements are: “In the endeavour to build a strong, united and virile nation, Nigerians have shed much blood, the thought of further bloodshed, for whatever reasons, must, I am sure, be revolting to our people…”

    “It is incumbent on us not to misuse our public offices and to hold sacred and utilise in the most efficient manner, the public funds entrusted to the care of the Federal Military government,” this was made during the swearing in ceremony of 10 of the new governors on July 31, 1975.

    The exhibition is to honour a national hero whose numerous attributes are worthy of emulation by the present greneration. The show is also to encourgae young Nigerians to be deligent in service, truthful and courageous. According to the late SG Ikoku, Muhammed ‘is a martyr of the new Nigeria. What we owe General Muhammed is to work even more painstakingly for the realisation of the dynamic disciplined and self-directed nation he toiled so hard to build.’

    The event also witnessed the presentation of a collection of postage stamps by representatives of Nigerian Postal Services as memorabila in commemoration of Muhammed ‘s 40 years anniversary.

     

  • Emulate Murtala, group tells govt

    Emulate Murtala, group tells govt

    A group, the Movement of Intellectuals for Justice (MIJ), yesterday urged the political class to emulate the virtues of former military Head of State Gen. Murtala Muhammed,   who was asassinated on February 13, 1976.

    The group noted that President Muhammadu Buhari, who worked  under the former leader as governor, is on a rescue mission.

    The group said in a statement by its leader, Hon. Isaac Oyebade, that the kind of patriotism demonstrated by the late Gen. Muhammed is required by the current administration.

    He urged the country to reflect on the contributions of the former military leader to socio-economic and political development and the significance of his decisive intervention 40 years ago.

    Oyebade recalled that Muhammed initiated a credible transition programme, which his successor, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, implemented between 1976 and 1979.

    He said: ‘The Kano-born General,  Murtala Ramat Muhammed took over power from Gen. Yakubu Gowon in a bloodless coup on July 29, 1975. He presided over a revolutionary government that wage war against corruption and other forms of indiscipline in the society.

    “Before he assumed the reins as the Commander-In-Chief, he was a civil war hero and minister of communications.

    “The lesson of 40 years ago is that the war against corruption is still an unfinished business in Nigeria and the current administration should redouble its effort.”

  • Nasarawa trains 1,400 youths

    Nasarawa State government has said it will train 1,400 youths.

    It said N400 million has been set aside for the training across the 13 local government areas.

    Special Assistant to the Governor on Youth Empowerment, Murtala would reduce unemployment and encourage self employment and reliability.

    The youths, he said, would be trained as sanitary inspectors, traffic marshals and community watchers.

    Adogi said 4,500 youths would be trained to help reduce youth restiveness.

    “I emphasise that the areas of focus under this scheme requires physical strength and agility so, expectant or nursing mothers would not be accepted,” he said.

  • Murtala Ramat Muhammed (November 1938-February 1976)

    Murtala Ramat Muhammed (November 1938-February 1976)

    Some 37 years ago Gen Murtala Ramat Muhammed was assassinated in a coup d’etat led by Col Bukar Sukar Dimka. He was barely 38 when he died. Right from the time his participation in the countercoup of July 1966 brought him to the fore of Nigeria’s often cataclysmic struggle for power at the age of 28, the intensely ambitious military officer never left the thick of military politics and leadership until assassins’ bullets stopped him on February 13, 1976, a little over six months after he seized power. He was a man in a hurry who died in a hurry, in the prime of his life. Imagine what he could have done with power had he lived for a little longer, say, until he handed over power to an elected civilian government in 1979? Could the transition to civilian rule have proceeded the way his sanctimonious successor, General Olusegun Obasanjo, managed it? Indeed, in spite of his glaring weaknesses, particularly his riling and famous impetuousness, would he have handed over power to Alhaji Shehu Shagari, especially considering his highly publicised antipathy towards the gentle style of Gen Yakubu Gowon, his predecessor? These are indeed interesting areas of discourse historians and political scientists should engage themselves in.

    But for our purpose today, let us simply remember the young officer who at 28 had the chutzpah to want to rule Nigeria consequent upon the success of the countercoup. In the event, and to his eternal dismay, the opportunity of ruling Nigeria went to another northern officer, the then Col Yakubu Gowon, perhaps because the scheming American and British advisers read him (Murtala) correctly and knew he was too hot-headed and opinionated to be amenable to their dictations. He proved the meddlesome duo right in 1976 when he took power and began the most intense domestic policy and external relations transformation the country had ever witnessed. Indeed he was at once so activist and populist that the undiscriminating intelligentsia of the day idolised him and the less finicky rabble to whom he had seemed to throw caviar were ecstatic.

    The love affair between the country and Murtala was so instant and so passionate that few paused to ask questions about the appropriateness or long-term impact of his radical policies. The nationalisation of the so-called commanding heights of the economy, the takeover of the very large newspapers of the day, the Daily Times and New Nigerian, and the appropriation of private and state schools unleashed such social devastation and developmental dislocations that the consequences are still being felt even today. And who can forget the tsunami he unleashed against the civil service, a catastrophe that the hitherto professionally-run institution has not recovered from?

    Yet, it was clear that after many years of the Gowon government, and especially the casual manner he reneged on the original 1976 handover date, the country had sunk into such stultifying staleness that only a horse dose of adrenalin could have brought the country back to life. Murtala rode on that resuscitated crest for about six dizzying, unbelievable months. Would to God he had ridden more carefully, and dealt with antagonistic foreign powers more circumspectly. But there is no denying he is still regarded as one of Nigeria’s true heroes. He was detribalised, he was authentic, he was eager, he was extraordinarily bold, and he was a patriot who truly loved his country, even if many of his policies were misconceived and misplaced. Could anyone say the same of his successors, particularly the pretentious Obasanjo and the considerably insular and divisive President Goodluck Jonathan?