THE leader of The Patriots, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, yesterday said it is left to President Goodluck Jonathan to accept his advice not to contest 2015 poll or not. He also denied that the proposed National Political Summit slated for next week in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State is meant to stop Jonathan from contesting in 2015. Nwabueze, who made the clarifications in a statement last night, said his advice to Jonathan to stay off 2015 poll was personal and not the position of The Patriots. The statement said: “As I said in my interview with the press yesterday, after The Patriots meeting with President Jonathan, the President is perfectly eligible to seek re-election in 2015 and he is free to do so. It is a matter in his absolute discretion to decide whether to run or not to run in 2015. “My position in this matter is totally irrelevant. Therefore, my personal advice to him not to run is only one factor that he should take into account in deciding for himself whether to run or not to run. “My advice is purely a personal one and not that of either The Patriots or Project Nigeria (organizers of the National Summit) and has nothing to do with the Uyo summit as the question of election is not also a matter listed on the agenda of the summit.” He said the Uyo summit was not designed to stop Jonathan’s second term ambition. The statement added: “My attention has been drawn to the insinuation that the purpose of the National Political Summit holding next week in Uyo is to take a decision to stop President Goodluck Jonathan from seeking re-election in 2015. “This is very far from the truth. The purpose of the Uyo summit is to agree on a roadmap to stability, progress and unity of Nigeria . The entire aim of the summit is to build national consensus on how to save Nigeria .”
Tag: Nwabueze
-
Ohaneze Ndigbo is drifting, says Nwabueze
•Calls for people’s constitution
Constitutional lawyer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN), says the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, has lost focus and is now adrift in the nation’s political affairs.
He blames the development on the leadership crisis rocking the once vibrant group.
Speaking at the presentation of his autobiography Ben Nwabueze: His Life, Works and Times, in Awka, Anambra State at the weekend, Nwabueze called for the immediate revival of the group to enable it resume its role in championing the cause of the Igbo in the polity.
“Where is Ohanaeze today?” he asked
“What is happening to the one and only pan-Igbo organisation that can speak for us in relation to the Federal Government and other ethnic nationalities?”
“Ohaneze today is in disarray, split into factions and we are all sitting doing nothing. We can’t allow this to continue,” Nwabueze who was the founding secretary general of the organisation said.
He challenged Igbo traditional rulers to join hands with the governors of the South East states to resolve the problem that has rendered Ohaneze Ndigbo moribund.
He stated that the Igbo need Nigeria more than any other ethnic group pointing out that the Southeast governors should take the lead in fashioning out an agenda for the Igbo in the Nigerian polity by setting up a committee to draft the Igbo agenda.
He also recommended the conduct of fresh elections of the officials of the organisation to make it acceptable to everyone.
He said: “The stories about what happened in the other election make it imperative for a fresh election.”
Professor Nwabueze similarly called for a people’s’ constitution to replace the 1999 constitution, because as he argued, the existing constitution did not emanate from the generality of Nigerians.
Said he, “What we have as the 1999 Constitution is not the Supreme Law. What is its source of supremacy? The military… this cannot be, the source of supremacy everywhere in the world is the people.”
“The constitution so framed will then be out through a referendum, that is the challenge before this country.”
-
Subsidy protest: FG seeks dismissal of suits
The Federal Government has asked a Lagos High Court, Ikeja, to dismiss a suit filed by Prof. Ben Nwabueze and Dr. Tunji Braithewaite, over alleged disruption of fuel subsidy protest in January 2012.
The government made the request on Thursday in two separate applications filed against the suit by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke and the Nigerian Army.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the suit was filed by Nwabueze and Braithewaite– alongside 42 others– before Justice Yetunde Idowu on February 1, 2012.
The applicants had alleged that security operatives had used tear gas to disperse their protests against the removal of fuel subsidy at Alausa, Ikeja on January 19, 2012.
They had asked the court to declare the action as unconstitutional and an infringement on their fundamental human rights as guaranteed by Section 39(1) of the 1999 Constitution.
They had further asked the court to order the Federal Government to pay each of them N10 million for infringing on their fundamental human rights.
During Thursday’s proceedings, Counsel to the Chief of Army Staff and the Nigerian Army, Mr. Musa Ibrahim, urged the court to dismiss the suit.
Ibrahim said the applicants’ claim of their right to protest was not supported by the Nigerian Constitution.
-
Presidency tackles Nwabueze on Nigeria’s failed state indices
The Presidency yesterday rejected the statements credited to elder-statesman, Prof Ben Nwabueze that symptoms of a failed state have already been manifesting in the Nigerian state.
Nwabueze, who spoke in Enugu on Saturday at a function organised by the Igbo Youth Movement, said Nigeria was sliding into a failed state, as the indices were glaring enough.
But the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe yesterday described Nwabueze’s comments as “irresponsible” and “unpatriotic” by any Nigerian.
According to Okupe, available facts and figures do not suggest anything near a failed state in the country.
Okupe said: “A failed state is where there is erosion of legitimate authority, where there is instability and the country cannot afford to provide public services like the provision of light, good roads, water supply and security services.
“In Nigeria, there is a serving national and state Assemblies providing quality legislative services and issuing out good and quality legislations for the good governance of the country and the states.
“There are guaranteed laws and services in Nigeria, even in states like Borno and Yobe where there are security challenges like the Boko Haram insurgency. Even today, Nigeria is providing security services to Mali. All these have not suggested any iota of a failed state.
“They are dreaming negative dreams for the country and it will not happen. None of the indices of a failed state is applicable to Nigeria. There is no breakdown of law and order in Nigeria”.
Also the Special Assistant to the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Governors and Governance, Mr. Osaro Onaiwu decried what he described as the average Nigerian’s penchant to run his country down.
Apparently referring to Nwabueze’s past service as Education Secretary under the late Gen. Sani Abacha regime, Onaiwu said: “This is even more disturbing, knowing that some of these statements are coming from elders who contributed to the decimation of Nigeria during their service to various undemocratic regimes in the past.
“Now that our democracy is displaying stability even in its infancy, these statesmen should be thankful to this government for tackling some of the fundamental problems that were thrown at us by regimes that were not accountable to anybody. These are problems that we all know cannot be solved overnight” he added.
Onaiwu cited Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investment, which, he said, stood at over $9 billion as an indication that the country could not be categorised as a failed state.
“I doubt if all these foreigners pumping money into our country think Nigeria is a failing state”, Onaiwu said.
The PDP chairman’s aide regretted that while foreigners see a fledgling democracy in trying to bring prosperity to the Nigerian people, some Nigerians believe in painting gloomy pictures of their conuntry.
“Foreigners see better communication, they see better transportation, they see a pool of educated youths, they see improvement in power and security amongst others”, he said.
He challenged those seeing indices of a failed state in Nigeria to visit states like Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Jigawa, Edo, Kano, Gombe and others that are working hard to bring development to their people and see if the people of these states would the country is failing.
-
2015: Maitama, Nwabueze call for national conference
Eminent Nigerians, including Alhaji Yusuf Maitama and Prof. Ben Nwabueze, on Saturday rose from a meeting in Lagos, calling for a national conference before the 2015 elections.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the meeting, held under the aegis of Project Nigeria, was jointly chaired by Maitama and Nwabueze.
Addressing journalists after the closed door meeting, Nwabueze said that “any election held before such a conference considering the situation in the country may spell disaster.”
“The convoking of the national conference is essential before any elections are held,” he stated.
He said Project Nigeria would facilitate the forging of a national front, comprising various groups, to press on the Presidency and National Assembly, the demand for a national conference.
“The team will meet with the president and leaders of the national assembly and submit a memorandum on the conference.
“The memorandum will spell out how delegates are to be chosen, the preparation of a draft constitution and preparation of a referendum,” he said.
He said there was need for Nigerians, both as members of ethnic, civil society groups and individuals, to deliberate and agree on what terms and conditions of living together.
“The conference will also adopt a constitution whose source is the people. A constitution that will ensure justice, peace, development and progress to all Nigerians, “he said.
Maitama, who led the Northern Elders Forum to the meeting, said that justice was the key to power all over the world.
He said that dialogue was important because “contact removes conflict.”