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  • Ex-speaker, Na’abba joins APC

    Ex-speaker, Na’abba joins APC

    A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Umar Ghali Na’aba Tuesday formally joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) barely 48 hours after resigning from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    He said the country needs change and the momentum today is in favour of the APC.

    He said he has decided to join APC to help to grow the momentum for change.

    Na’aba made the clarifications while addressing leaders of APC at a session at the National Secretariat of the party to welcome him into the party.

    He said: “I believe that most of you must have read or heard my communication to my former party the Peoples Democratic Party. The total sum of my communication was that I have decided to leave the party having being a member for the past sixteen years with a brief interregnum of about one year.

    “I believe that more than any time in the history of this country, this country needs change, particularly at the top. In the last 16 years, there has been misrule in this country. Nigerians are being misruled by successive Presidents of the PDP. Some of us fought over these tendencies to no success.

    “I believe that the momentum today is in favour of the APC to change this country and we must never allow the momentum to go down. It is in that quest, that I feel that having resigned from the PDP; I must join the APC so that I can help grow that momentum.

    “It is quite remarkable that since I left the PDP, I have been receiving calls and messages of encouragement from across Nigeria. This is to show that APC is a national party and not what they use to regard it as a religious party, a sectional party. People from all corners of this country have called me, including former members of the House of Representatives from across the country who are in APC.

    “My pledge today is to work with you and the Presidential candidate of the party while trying to consolidate on the gains made so far.”

    Na’aba expressed confidence that the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari will win at the poll on March 28.

    He added: I believe that in General Buhari, we have a messiah and I also believe that democracy is about consultations. You must consult, you must accept and you must also be patient. Patience is the only thing in life that when you do, you will never regret. So, let us be patient let us be steadfast. Let me thank members of the Working Committee and other elders of the party for arranging to receive me.

    ” It is very remarkable that a convention was held and a free and fair election was conducted in which Gen. Muhammadu Buhari emerged as the Presidential candidate of the party and I am a witness to how popular Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is, not just in the north, but all over the country.

    ” I am happy that he is going to be the next President of this country and when he becomes the next President of Nigeria, it is our desire that he continues to be a national leader and not a sectional leader. Nigerians have come a long way and I have continued to say that we cannot continue to rule this country on the basis divisiveness.”

    Na’aba gave insights into why he decided to join political leaders of like mind in APC.

    He said: “I believe that most of you must have read or heard my communication to my former party the Peoples Democratic Party. The total sum of my communication was that I have decided to leave the party having being a member for the past sixteen years with a brief interregnum of about one year.

    ” When I and other senior members of the party left the party between 2005 and 2007, a lot of things happened that we thought were undemocratic and we had to leave the party. Eventually, some of us returned after the late President Umaru Yar’Adua made certain promises to effect change in the party which never happened.

    “We thought that we could cohabit within the party and it is a sad commentary on that party that today. Majority of not only the founding fathers but founding members have left the party and many of them are on this high table. Our elder and father, Alhaji Ishiaku Ibrahim is a founding member of the party, a member of the Board of Trustees and Chief Audu Ogbeh who was a former Chairman of the party. We also have some of my colleagues here and a body of others who we could not invite due to the constraint of time.

    “It is barely two weeks to elections and it is important that I come here and be received so that we will go and continue to work towards the success of the party.

    “Mr. Chairman in appreciating you for receiving me into the party let me also appreciate you for what you stand for. I have worked with you even though not as a member of the PDP.
    “There is something we have in common, we all loved democracy and in fighting to enthrone democracy in Nigeria, most of us were in PDP and those in the APP which later metamorphosed onto the ANPP and transformed into one of the legacy parties that transformed into the APC. As members of those two parties, some of us worked together to see that we defeated what was then known as the third term agenda. We worked together very hard and therefore, we have the same spirit.

    “I believe that more than any time in the history of this country, this country needs change, particularly at the top. In the last 16 years, there has been misrule in this country. Nigerians are being misruled by successive Presidents of the PDP. Some of us fought over these tendencies to no success. ”

    He warned against politics of maligning each other on ethnic basis.

    He said: “We can succeed in this country without maligning other parts of the country because we have all it takes. All the regions of this country have comparative advantages which we can build on and succeed and we don’t have to malign others to be able to succeed. God has created us into different tribes and nations.

    “If we are all Hausas or Igbos or Yorubas, there may have been no desire for exchange among us and we may not know one another. It is a test on all us. We have differences in languages and religion among others so that we can be tested in our leadership. Therefore, we must be patient with one another and we must be tolerant of one another, we have to be considerate and accommodative. Without these variables, it will be very difficult to live together.
    ” So, there must be acceptance, tolerance and consideration in this country.

    The bane of this country is that our leaders don’t carry us along. Nigerians are the easiest people to govern. Once you carry Nigerians along, they can support you to go anywhere. We have had leaders who have the exceptional privilege of governing this country without bothering to carry Nigerians along and that is why we are having all these problems we are having.

    Those at the ceremony were the NationalChairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; a former Information Minister, Prince Tony Momoh, Deputy National Chairman, (North), Senator Lawal Shuaibu, Deputy National Chairman (South), Engr. Segun Oni, National Vice Chairman (North East), Engr. David Lawal, National Auditor, Chief George Moghalu, former National Chairman of PDP, Chief Audu Ogbe, National Secretary, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni, National Treasurer, Alhaji Bala Mohammed, National Vice Chairman, South South, Prince Hillard Eta, the National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; a former BOT chairman of the PDP Alhaji Ishiaku Ibrahim,  a former ED of NIMASA, Hon. Ibrahim Zailani, Hon. Idris  Yahuza, Lumumba Ade, Barrister Mohammed Gambo, Chief Nelson Alakpa and
    Senator Okposo among others.

  • Na’Abba lacks influence, says PDP group

    A group, Kano State PDP Frontiers, has described the resignation of former House of Representatives Speaker Ghali Umar Na’Abba as a non-issue.

    It said the politician “was of no value besides the relics of him serving in an office.”

    In a statement yesterday in Kano by the group’s Coordinator, Ahmed Sani Kabara, he said the party would not miss the former Speaker as “his presence is of no impact, so would his absence be.”

    The body said: “Na’Abba’s purported resignation from our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is nothing short of a publicity stunt and an attempt to re-launch himself, having lost public reckoning.

    “As far as we are concerned, and this is open secret for anyone to verify, Ghali Na’Abba has never been of any use to PDP. Rather, it is the party that has done everything for him; lifting him from a nonentity to national fame. It, therefore, amounts to betrayal and biting the hand that fed him for him to dump the party.

    “The former Speaker is known in the local chapter of the party and at the national level to exhibit traits that are self-centred and unhealthy for a democratic setting.’’

     

    Someone who always wants to lord himself over people should have himself to blame when the table is turned against him.”

    The group recalled that Na’abba “woefully lost his re-election bid to the House of Representatives in 2003 despite occupying the number four seat in the country. He is not known to have promoted any candidate at any level that eventually succeeds. When he vied for the Senate ticket in 2011, he could not garner appreciable votes.

    “Reading through Na’abba’s so-called letter of resignation, one comes across someone who is gone too deep in the self-destruct path of arrogance and self-indulgence and cannot afford to be a follower despite being a paper-weight politician.”

    Kabara told President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP leadership not to be worried about the decision of the former Speaker, “as big name is not the same thing as big influence.”

     

     

  • Ex-Speaker Na’Abba quits PDP 

    Ex-Speaker Na’Abba quits PDP 

    Former House of Representatives Speaker Umar Ghali Na’Abba yesterday dumped the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) citing frustration with the leadership and the running of the party.

    He said it was difficult for Nigerians to know who governs the country and chided President Goodluck Jonathan for dividing the nation along religious and ethnic lines.

    There were strong indications last night that Na’Abba could join the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    A close aide to the former speaker said: “He may join the APC but he will make his intention known soon.”

    Na’Abba told our reporter on the telephone that many parties were seeking his membership “but I’m yet to decide”.

    Na’Abba, who was a member of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation and member of the Board of Trustees (BoT), resigned his membership in a March 15 letter to the chairman of Sharada Ward in Kano Municipal Local Government Area.

    He sent copies of the letter to the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, and party chairmen at the local government and state levels.

    The letter reads: “You are no doubt aware of the abysmal level to which the leadership of our great country under President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party have reduced governance to, as a result of which our great party has been losing its sons and daughters including so many of its founding fathers and members by the day.

    “All efforts of critical members and fathers of the party to offer advice remain always unheeded. It pains most of us that majority of the founding fathers that had died like Chief S. M. Afolabi, Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar Rimi, Chief Solomon Lar, Professor Osammor, Chief S. B. Awoniyi etc, all died as a result of their frustration by and with the party.

    “Those living, like Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Malam Adamu Chiroma, Dr Shettima Mustapha, Alhaji Asheikh Jarma Dr, Victor Odili, Mr. Isaac Shaahu and many others, are equally living with such frustration. While others, like Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Alhaji Isyaku Ibrahim, Alhaji Musa Gwadabe, two former National Chairmen, Chief  Audu Ogbe and Chief Barnabas Gemade etc have since left the party. The party and the administration clearly possess neither compassion nor empathy.

    “The country’s and the party’s leadership have become cabalised to the extent that while Nigerians are aware that they have a President in the person of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, they are at the same time at a loss as to who governs their country. Both Nigeria  and the PDP are left to drift.”

    Na’Abba regretted that the nation had been drifting in the last few years.

    He said it was regrettable that cartels and shady characters were becoming visible, important and indispensable factors in governance.

    The letter added: “In the 16 years the party has been ruling at the centre, the party’s leadership has failed to lead by example. Instead, it has left us with the conventional wisdom that people can not succeed in life unless they are ruthless and unprincipled.

    “The party has become characterised by corruption and impunity in the way and manner candidates for elective positions are being selected to the extent that in almost twenty states, crisis has engulfed the party over the gubernatorial primaries and the manner other candidates for other elective positions emerged.

    “In short, the party and the country’s leadership have failed to consolidate democratic gains for sister African countries and other transition countries to follow. Instead, under the current leadership, Nigeria is suffering from loss of esteem, as we are now most often consigned to the back seat of international relations.

    “Most worrisome is the current anxiety of most Nigerians as the regime wobbles and tumbles toward the oncoming election.

    “It has today become incontrovertible that cartels and shady characters are becoming visible, important and indispensable factors in Nigeria’s governance. It appears those at the helm of affairs are more comfortable with such characters of easy virtue than with patriotic and altruistic Nigerians. No doubt, in our country today, the quality of governance is going down by the day.”

    Na’Abba queried why critical institutions had been dragged into politics.

    The letter said: “Critical national institutions that unify and weld Nigerians together have been dragged into politics, contrary to wise counsel and political correctness. No administration has used religion and ethnicity to divide Nigerians more than the current administration under the leadership of Mr. Goodluck Jonathan.

    “ The ultimate test of any leader is looking at what has remained after he is gone.

    You will agree with me that such pervasive political behavior should under no circumstances be tolerated by all who subscribe to decent and conscionable political practice.

    “I have relentlessly pushed for reform of the internal policies of the PDP individually and collectively, without success. In fact, it is common knowledge that all critical members of the party have been made irrelevant by the party.

    “ Members who are pliant and who lack principle and who stand for nothing are always more trusted by the leadership to carry out Party assignments. Such members are said to be ‘loyal’. Such loyalty is nothing but a euphemism for people who stand for nothing. Because no one is trusted by the leadership both at governmental and party levels, only a handful of party men and women are always entrusted with such party tasks as National Conventions, fund raising. Such men and women are now fully re circled. Their faces are today so familiar to the eyes of Nigerians.”

    The former Speaker canvassed for change in the country to get out what he described as “inept leadership”.

    The letter said: “As a politician with political science background, it is obvious to me that PDP is both self-destruct and irredeemable. Coupled with the regime’s divisive and unpatriotic disposition, Nigeria has become a bye-word for “touch and go”, if examples of contemporary nations are anything to go by.

    “The challenge before Nigerians today, in order to secure a new lease of life, therefore, is how to get out this inept leadership that has neither allure nor inspiration. In its place, Nigerians deserve not just a good president, good governors, and other political office holders, but true and exemplary leaders.

    “And within this context, leadership that is more truly both transactional and transformative and which have more competence and capacity to govern. Nigeria needs  leaders with a clear vision for the future. Leaders that will lead not from the back, side or front but from within.

    “Leaders  that will provide courageous and moral leadership the dearth of which has led to the weakening of political and economic institutions throughout Nigeria.

    “For the above and many reasons, effective today 15th March 2015, I hereby tender my resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party, it’s organs, including the Board of Trustees and all other committees to which I belong at national and state levels.

    “I pray that your mind and those of other patriots would also be illuminated with truth so that you may also act wisely and accordingly.”

  • Mu’azu, Na’Abba, 490 others for national conference

    Mu’azu, Na’Abba, 490 others for national conference

    Eminent Nigerians – most of who, have been part of the leadership of the country since independence – were yesterday named by the Federal Government among the 492 delegates to the National Conference.

    The conference will now be inaugurated on March 17 as opposed to Monday’s planned inauguration. It is to last for three months.

    The leaders of the conference –Justice Idris Kutigi (Chairman) Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi (Vice Chairman) and Dr. Mrs Valerie Azinge (Secretary) resumed yesterday.

    They were taken by Secretary to the Government of The Federation (SGF) Anyim Pius Anyim to a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa. Details of the meeting were not revealed.

    Also yesterday, three assistant secretaries to supervise different departments at the secretariat were named.

    A statement by Anyim said:”The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Eblele Jonathan, has approved the appointments of three Assistant Secretaries to serve in the National Conference Secretariat; they are as follows: Dr. Akilu Ndabawa as Assistant Secretary, Conference Proceedings, Prof Mahmood Yakubu as Assistant Secretary, Finance and Administration and Mr. Akpandem James as Assistant Secretary, Media and Communications”

    “The President has also approved the release of the names of the 492 delegates to the National Conference as attached.”

    “The National Conference shall be inaugurated on Monday 17th March, 2014 at the National Judicial Institute, Abuja at 11:00 am.

    James is the immediate past former managing Editor of Daily Independent.

    Among those on the list are elder statesmen, former public office holders, activists, politicians, clerics, traditional rulers, members of the academia, youths, students, retired justices and judges, industrialists and other categories of people.

    They include: former Ogun State Governor Chief Segun Osoba, former Oyo State Governor Rashidi Ladoja, Ijaw leader Chief Edwin Clark, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, former House of Representatives Speaker Ghali Na’Abba. The list is on page 62.

  • Na’Abba, Kure, Boni Haruna, other ministerial nominees undergo security screening

    Na’Abba, Kure, Boni Haruna, other ministerial nominees undergo security screening

    The security agencies have commenced the screening of President Goodluck Jonathan’s prospective candidates to fill the 12 vacancies in the Federal Executive Council.

    Some of them have personally appeared before the agencies,The Nation can now confirm.

    They include ex-Speaker Umar Ghali Na’Abba (Kano); ex-Governor Abdulkadir Kure (Niger); Senator Umar Gada (Sokoto); a former Executive Secretary of the PTDF, Alh. Hamizu Mai Rago (who is a die-hard loyalist of the VP) and a former Minister of State for Works, Isaiah Balat (Kaduna); ex-Minister Aliyu Idi Hong and ex-Governor Boni Haruna (Adamawa); a former MD of African Petroleum, Bukar Abba Gana; Hon. Muhammed Kumalia and Nicholas Msheliza (Borno); ex-Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope and Alhaji Fatai Akinbade (Osun).

    It was, however, gathered that some PDP leaders are trying to build consensus on Engineer Ezekiel Adeniji, Chairman, Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to make the list.

    Investigation in Abuja revealed that a blanket screening of the potential candidates was conducted all through the week to weed out those unfit for cabinet positions.

    It was learnt that the screening was kept secret to avoid pressure on security agencies.

    A top source said: “Some of those short-listed for the vacant slots are already undergoing screening. This exercise will enable the President to have comprehensive information on them.

    “We have also sent some officers to the field to crosscheck certain information at our disposal on some nominees to prevent error of judgment.

    “The report of the screening will determine those who will make the final list and those to be dropped.

    “I think in the next one week or two, the list should be ready. The National Assembly will soon get a letter to that effect.”

    Meanwhile, another source confirmed that some leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State have been building consensus around the Chairman of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Engineer Ezekiel Adeniji.

    The source said: “I think Adeniji has appeared before one of the security agencies for screening.”

  • Babatope, Na’Abba, Kure, others tipped for minister

    Babatope, Na’Abba, Kure, others tipped for minister

    A gale of protests is trailing the short-listing of ministerial nominees by President Goodluck Jonathan for the 12 vacant slots in the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

    Before the sack of nine ministers recently, there had been three vacancies.

    Former Minister of Defence Mohammed Haliru Bello and former Minister of Youth Development Inuwa Abdulkadir were relieved of their jobs. Minister of State for Health Dr. Ali Pate resigned.

    The President is believed to have short-listed some names for ministerial appointments, especially in some of the states being controlled by the Group of 7 (G-7) governors, who have been locked in a bitter struggle with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership for its control.

    It was gathered that some of the nominees were being considered on political grounds to checkmate the “rebellion” of the G-7 governors, who have been sidelined in the nominations, unlike what obtained in the past when the governors were consulted.

    The list includes ex-Speaker Umar Ghali Na’aba (Kano); ex-Governor Abdulkadir Kure (Niger); Senator Umar Gada (Sokoto); a former Executive Secretary of PTDF, Alh. Hamizu Mai Rago (a loyalist of the VP), former Minister of State for Works Isaiah Balat (Kaduna); ex-Minister Aliyu Idi Hong and ex-Governor Boni Haruna (Adamawa).

    The others are a former Managing Director of Africa Petroleum (AP), Bukar Abba Gana, Hon. Muhammed Kumalia and Nicholas Msheliza(Borno); ex-Minister of Transport Chief Ebenezer Babatope and Alhaji Fatai Akinbade(Osun).

    It was gathered that a former Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Chief Olabode George and some party leaders are lobbying the President to give Lagos the Southwest’s slot, which former Minister of Foreign Affairs Amb. Olugbenga Ashiru occupied.

    According to the permutations of the Presidency, the appointment of Na’Abba, Kure, Gada (a personal friend of Jonathan), Hong or Haruna would checkmate some of the G-7 governors.

    The party structure in the seven states will also be taken away from the aggrieved governors ahead of the “final onslaught” by the new ministers.

    There have been intrigues and protests in some states, including Kaduna, Vice-President Namadi Sambo’s political base.

    It was learnt that the people of Southern Kaduna have been kicking against the appointment of a minister from Kaduna Central where Governor Ramalan Yero hails from.

    Southern Kaduna indigenes are calling for ministerial compensation, having lost the governorship ticket with the death of ex-Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa in a plane crash.

    Although Sambo favours his political son, Hamizu Mai Rago, for the slot, it may backfire politically for Jonathan because of likely protest votes from Southern Kaduna in 2015, observers said.

    Some strategists were said to have drawn the President’s attention to the recent political inroad of the All Progressives Congress (APC) into Southern Kaduna.

    A source said: “The GMD of NNPC,Andrew Yakubu, is from Southern Kaduna, but the belief is that his is a professional calling”.

    “They want the President to ensure religious balance. But the VP’s camp sees Mai Rago as an asset to the President in 2015 because he is a grassroots mobiliser. No decision has been taken on Kaduna’s slot,” he said, pleading not to be named because of the “sensitivity” of the matter.

    On Niger State, a source admitted that the President’s strategists had concluded that only Kure could checkmate the leader of the G-7 governors, “Chief Servant” Babangida Aliyu.

    Apart from ethnic balancing, Kure(from Nupe Kingdom) is said to command a large following and enjoys the confidence of ex-military President Ibrahim Babangida, ex-Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and some political heavyweights, who have grouses against Aliyu.

    Kure’s short-listing has, however, created rumpus within the PDP in the state because his wife, Hajiya Zainab Kure, is a senator.

    Another source said: “The position of Niger State PDP stakeholders is that a family cannot occupy a ministerial seat and hold senatorial ticket at the same time.

    “If we are preaching equity, we must do with clean hands. There are others from Nupeland who are qualified to be minister.

    “There is also a security issue on Kure bordering on alleged rift between him and a one-time Federal Controller of Housing and Urban Development in Niger State, Adekoya S. Olatunji, over access road to E8 and E10 Aliyu Makama Road, GRA, Minna.

    “A petition has been sent to Governor Babangida Aliyu by Olatunji, asking security agencies to investigate alleged assault on him by the ex-governor. Some stakeholders are already capitalising on this misunderstanding to move against Kure.”

    In Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore’s camp is said to be opposed to Babatope’s appointment, based on age.

    Omisore is seeking the President’s nod to nominate a ministerial candidate.

    But the liberal PDP members are pushing for the appointment of Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, who is believed to be acceptable to all factions.

    The fear of PDP members in Kano is that Na’aba is a radical who may be difficult to manage.

    “Although Na’Abba can change the political atmosphere in Kano and challenge Kwankwaso, he may not be able to wrest the state from the governor,” a source said, adding:

    “Some PDP leaders have reservations on Na’aba as a radical leader. We hope the party will not end up being polarised before 2015.”

    In Adamawa, it is a straight fight between Jibril Aminu’s faction and others.

    A former Minister of State for Health, Dr. Idi Hong, is said to be Aminu’s political right hand man, but some stakeholders are rooting for Governor Boni Haruna to curtail the “excesses” of Nyako and ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

    Party leaders in Sokoto are displeased with the President’s insistence on giving his friend, Senator Umar Gada, a ministerial slot.

    They alleged that the preference for Gada might have accounted for the “disgraceful” exit of two ministers from Sokoto State.

    It was learnt that the President had wanted Gada on board since 2010, but stakeholders had always opposed his choice.

    “Since all the nominees from Sokoto State have disappointed him, the President is giving Gada a priority. Actually, Gada was favoured to be the minister of FCT in 2010, but some senators persuaded Jonathan to give it to Sen. Mohammed Bala, who was from the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP),” a source said.

    Some PDP leaders in the Southwest were alleged to have queried why George should shop for a candidate.

    There were indications that the President might get at least two lists from the Lagos PDP.

    As at press time, it was unclear when the President would send the list to the Senate.

    A Presidency source simply said: “We are just fine-tuning the list. We may send it to the Senate any moment from now.”

  • Na’Abba blames parties for lack of internal democracy

    Former House of Representatives Speaker Ghali Umar Na’Abba has blamed political parties for the lack of internal democracy.

    He said the arrangement has also denied the youths the rights to participate in politics.

    Na’Abba spoke at a seminar, with the theme: Democracy and the Public Service in Nigeria – a Case for Organisational Culture, organised by Northern Youths Assembly (NYA) at the Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Research and Training, Mumbayya House, Kano.

    Na’Abba said the most annoying aspect of the arrangement was the replacement of political structure with appointed personnel.

    He said this makes it impossible for all candidates to have a level-playing ground to test their popularity.

    He said: “Today in Nigeria, what this has done is to kill the future of youths, particularly governors who have sealed the future of the youths, as they cannot make any progress through their God-given endowment, as they have been suppressed in PDP and other political parties because they cannot use their endowment by allowing them to be elected in any free and fair election by political parties.

    “This is most unfortunate and this has a huge implication on the acts of governance and that is why it is declining.”

     

     

     

     

  • Na’Abba blames deportation of pilgrims on inefficiency

    Na’Abba blames deportation of pilgrims on inefficiency

    The former House of Representatives’ Speaker Ghali Umar Na’Abba yesterday berated the management of Hajj affairs for the ad-hoc arraignments that led to the deportation of Nigerian pilgrims by Saudi Arabia.

    The former Speaker told reporters in Kano that impromptu arraignments were responsible for the embarrassment.

    He noted that Nigeria likes applying what he described as fire-brigade approach to issues.

    According to him, the poor management of pilgrimage reflects in the poor management of the nation’s electoral system.

    Na’Abba identified what he described as godfatherism as the bane of Nigeria’s political parties.

    The former Speaker noted that a lack of internal democracy in the parties is gradually killing the system.

    He said sycophancy has stripped Nigeria’s politics of morality, adding that all political parties in the country are guilty of the anomaly.

    Na’Abba said: “Our best brains are becoming casualties. They are the ones that understand the workings of democracy. People now engage in sycophancy so that they can remain relevant in the scheme of things.”

    The former Speaker said a high percentage of those occupying political positions in Nigeria got there through the back door.

    He said: “The situation in the country is so bad that people don’t ask who is elected but who is given a party’s ticket.”

    According to him, the intellect is no longer a requisite in Nigeria’s political arrangement.

    Na’Abba, who is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), did not spare the party in his critical assessment.

    The former Speaker noted that in PDP’s 13 years of leading the country at the federal level, it has not been operating with a clear-cut manifesto.

    He said: “I believe that the missing link is leadership. Elections in Nigeria must be free and anybody who wins must be allowed to take his or her mandate. The issue of the absence of internal democracy portends danger in Nigeria. You see so many incompetent people in the administration of our country; from the local governments to the federal level.”

    Na’Abba accused the Olusegun Obasanjo administration of swindling the hard-earned democracy in the Fourth Republic.

    According to him, Obasanjo’s highhandedness encouraged dictatorship and “godfatherism’ in the PDP and other parties.

    He said: “In all honesty, since the inception of the Fourth Republic, in all the political parties, there is absolutely no internal democracy.

    “While I was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, I did so much to entrench internal democracy—to see to it that the phenomenon does not continue, I did a lot, including even trying to impeach Chief Obasanjo.

    “You see, anytime this problem of lack of internal democracy is being discussed, Obasanjo’s name must be mentioned. He pocketed the PDP and planted his stooges as leaders and political office holders. He also planted his stooges in other political parties and caused confusion in the system.

    “During Obasanjo’s tenure, every region in the country, including his own zone, the South-West, complained of marginalization. I aware that Obasanjo’s project was to destabilize the North; and a number of the northern political leaders are helping him to achieve this agenda,” he stated.

    The former number four citizen, regretted that 52 years after, Nigeria has continue to grapple with political and economic problems, urging Nigerians to rise up and fight against injustice and maladministration.

    According to him, the successive governments since the Fourth Republic have been extravagant in appropriating public funds, just as he revealed that what Nigeria earned within 1999 to date is threefold more than what was earned between 1960 and 1999, adding that in the last 13 years of democracy, Nigerians are getting poorer despite the huge oil revenue.

    On whether elective office holders or the party leadership are to be blamed over lack of implementation of manifestoes by political parties, Na’Abba noted that the blame is symbiotic.

    “Our political parties today operate without manifestoes because politics have been privatised. Nobody talks of party manifestoes. The failure in the system is symbiotic. It is both the failure of the President, governors and the party leadership,” Na’Abba noted