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Tag: Opposition

  • Oyo APC accuses opposition of fomenting trouble

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has said there is a gang-up among the opposition parties, especially Accord, Labour and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to instigate violence.

    The party, in a statement by its Director of Publicity, Olawale Sadare, said: “We do not need to join the emergency advocates of peace which  Rashidi Ladoja (Accord), Adebayo Alao-Akala (LP) and Teslim Folarin (PDP) have been since they started campaigning to come to the Agodi Government House. They are all one hand of violently leprous fingers.

    “We do not have to convince the people that ours is not a violent government or party.

    “In the three and half years of our being in government, we have demonstrated that we hate violence.

    “Can Ladoja and Alao-Akala say the same about violence? Their governments almost grounded Oyo State. They are like the proverbial Ebolo vegetables, which cannot but manifest its smelly antecedent.

    The APC said having identified that the election would be between a government that stood for peace against successive administrations where there were political murders, arson, violence and brigandage, the opposition parties were struggling to paint the APC “as a violent party too”.

    According to the party, the violence in Ibadan South East which reportedly led to the death of one person, as attested to by the police, was a gang war between Accord thugs, and had nothing to do with the APC.

    “If our people don’t know anything about Ajimobi, they know he can’t stand violence. He ordered a Pilgrims Board member sacked and charged to court for being violent. That violent man is with Alao-Akala now.

    “He is one governor who does not go about with thugs. Let them tell us their  antecedents. Luckily, the world knows the truth,” said the APC.

    On the allegation of capital flight, the party said it was an attempt by the opposition to profile its government, stating that no government had patronised local contractors as the Ajimobi government.

    “Our party-led government will soon publish the names of all contracts awarded in Oyo State wherein we have Ladoja, his wives and campaign director as beneficiaries.

    “Let them explain to the world how that amounts to capital flight. The truth of the matter is that, in about four years, non-local contractors are less than five, the rest are sons and daughters of Oyo State,” the party said.

     

  • El-Rufai shocked by Yero’s call on supporters to attack opposition

    El-Rufai shocked by Yero’s call on supporters to attack opposition

    The Kaduna State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has expressed shock on the utterances of Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, saying the governor was calling for anarchy.

    Speaking at the launch of his campaign last Monday, Yero was caught on tape allegedly asking his supporters to physically challenge and confront supporters of rival parties.

    El-Rufai, in a statement issued by spokesman of his campaign organisation, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, said Yero was only jittery of the defeat staring him in the face.

    According to El-Rufai, “it will be difficult to come across a more astonishing articulation of irresponsible understanding of power than this. A supposedly democratically elected governor, in the 21st century, is talking as if he can freely abuse or abridge the right of any citizen.

    “We wish to remind him that the constitution and the laws of this country do not permit him the recklessness he is arrogating to himself. Two years in office as governor seems to have deluded Yero into a mistaken belief that he has the unchecked powers of an absolute monarch or tyrant.

    “We condemn this incitement to violence and the threat to the liberty and property of Malam El-Rufai.”

    The governor in the phone-in programme in Kaduna said he could not have uttered the statement attributed to him.

    He appealed for calm before, during and after the forthcoming elections, adding that, as an advocate of peace right from his early years, his prayer is that people should conduct themselves peacefully and be allowed to vote for persons of their choice without intimidation or force.

  • Lamido orders PDP supporters to ‘deal with’ opposition

    Lamido orders PDP supporters to ‘deal with’ opposition

    Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido has ordered members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and his loyalists not to spare any non-member of the party.

    The governor gave the directive at the weekend when he addressed PDP’s supporters in Buji Local Government Area.

    It was in continuation of the rallies to canvass support for PDP governorship candidate, Alhaji Aminu Ibrahim Ringim.

    Lamido said the order was limited to former PDP members who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and had been “making noise” about bringing change to the state and the nation.

    He said: “This order does not include people like Gen. Mohammadu Buhari and his people, who were in real opposition right from the beginning.”

    He added: “But those in the PDP before, in the state and the nation, people like Senator Danjuma Goje, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Aliyu Wamako and the host of others shouting change, changin Uwasu?”

     

  • A task for opposition in Nigeria

    Politics has often been described as a game of numbers, one in which the majority decides the future of a people. That theory is becoming more and more obvious each day in the Nigerian political theatre. As expected, leaderships of various parties in Nigeria are aware of the virility of this proposition.

    The governorship elections in Ekiti and the Osun states have raised questions regarding the integrity of the opposition party in Nigeria. If politics is, indeed, a number game, recent statistics point to the fact that PDP still boasts of the highest followership than any other party in Nigeria. For years, the ruling party in the country has monopolised the presidential seat through their sheer weight, number and tact in the game of politics. Following the merger of three political parties to form a formidable opponent to the PDP, All Progressive Congress (APC), powers were divided in the country as some major states in the six geo-political zones were snatched from the PDP. This brought in a wave of alternative to PDP as it became obvious then that people were tired of the power-plays of the ruling PDP.

    However, it is becoming obvious that APC is just another PDP about to be birthed. And with the merger of the defunct New-PDP that broke out of the main PDP, the APC has  accepted all the perceived bad eggs in governance, thereby making it a new political party with the same people of the old order. Who will blame them? They also know that politics being a game of numbers makes it imperative for them to get in their fold, as many as possible, the political bigwigs in the country if they are to seize power from the PDP. This has brought them popularity in some states and contempt in others.

    A major obstacle they will face is eradicating the PDP sympathy in the hearts of many Nigerians. It is beginning to look like Nigerians feel safer with a devil known than an angel unknown. That is a task for its leaders.

    At the last elections in Osun State, a mathematical calculation of the votes revealed that PDP candidate, Sen Omisore, lost to the ruling party in the state, APC, with over 100,000 votes of the almost 700,000 votes. According to INEC through its Returning Officer, Prof Bamitale Omole, APC amassed 398,684 votes while PDP got only 292, 750 votes showing a gap of 105, 934 votes. This gap between the two parties seems a little low considering that the APC candidate was contesting for a second term in office and Omisore was perceived as an outsider in the Osun scheme of things after losing the seat to APC at the Court of Appeal in 2011.

    This shows that PDP still has a considerably large number of sympathisers and supporters in the state. Furthermore, the amassed votes of PDP reveals to be more than the number of votes that secured the governorship seat for Ayodele Fayose in Ekiti state in the June 21 gubernatorial elections and much more than what brought governor Rauf Aregbesola to office as established by the Appeal Court judgement in November, 2011.

    This may be due to more involvement of the citizens of the state in the business of governance or as a result of political awareness and the dire need for change. What’s interesting is that the polls have revealed to the PDP hierarchy that all hope is not lost. Senator Omisore might have lost at the Osun polls, but PDP definitely did not lose. The 49.5 per cent sympathy level achieved by the party in the state shows that the opposition party has not done enough to oust PDP come 2015. This is a huge success for PDP struggling for power in an APC controlled state. The power base of APC, Lagos will determine the final onslaught in the battle of dominance.

    Should this level of sympathy go unchecked by the opposition party in the country? Those players at the top echelon of the PDP might be thinking.

    Obviously, the number game is presently in favour of PDP. When viewed from the side of Nigerians, this might look untrue but when the political powers that be are put into consideration, the proposition seems to be valid. APC knows this, and that’s why they have turned a refuse camp for PDP to dump all their misfits and political over-bearing cargoes. APC, on the other hand, has continued to accept them knowing fully when that soon, it won’t matter who or what they are or were. The only thing that will matter is the sheer number of political big-wigs and supporters each party garners within and outside the country.

  • Fortifying frontiers of opposition politics

    Fortifying frontiers of opposition politics

    Nigeria clocked 54 over two days ago but the search for that great leader with the capacity to inspire the country to greatness continues. To this column, the pertinent questions are:Where in Nigeria is the opposition that is the blaze that tempers the rapier and the frost that calms fiery rage? Where is effective opposition of the mould that the nation could learn from? These questions are what political opposition in year 2015 should provide answers for as subtle planning for next year being one when fresh general elections will be conducted.

    It is important for the opposition to rally support to uproot the current go-slow government from Aso-Rock. The opposition needs to rally by providing leadership option that would throw up a presidential candidate that can inspire us to be what we know we could be.

    However, this is achievable provided the opposition will not submit to covert and overt official attempts to decimate them. President Goodluck Jonathan, like his predecessors in office, seems not to appreciate the existence of the opposition. He seems to have forgotten that the opposition is indispensable in any system. His political henchmen will be machinating on how to pocket the opposition before the next elections but if he allows this rather than good governance as his score card, then he will be acting un-statesmanly.

    Walter Lippmann has some words for Jonathan when he said: ‘A good statesman, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opponents than from his fervent supporters. Perhaps the current direction is that his supporters may push him to disaster unless his opponents show him where the dangers are. So if he is wise, he will often pray to be delivered from his friends who had already endorsed his sole candidacy for the ruling People’s Democratic Party(PDP), because they will ruin him. But though it hurts, he ought also to pray never to be left without opponents; for they keep him on the path of reason and good sense.’ This should act as food for though for the president in as 2015 approaches.

    Again what does the nation’s political opposition have in stock for Nigerians in 2015?

    Whenever one thinks of the current opposition politics in Nigeria, what readily comes to mind is the statement of that British statesman, Benjamin Disraeli when he said: ‘Circumstances are beyond human control, but our conduct is in our own power.’ The statement becomes apt in view of the fact that President Jonathan’s ascension to power was a fait accompli, but his retention of power should not be viewed as such by Nigerians and especially the opposition. The president assumes power not by popular ballot but upon the death of his boss, late President Umaru Yar’Adua, despite high wired intrigues by grovellers of the late president against his constitutional choice. The opposition at this time should do everything to ensure that the president’s re-election bid in 2015 is truly determined by the people. But so far, what is the opposition doing to make sure the process is not hijacked from them? Is the opposition currently doing enough to stop Jonathan by making the votes count in less than six months time? What about the electoral tyranny from the centre government? How can it be stopped?

    Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former governor of Lagos state and national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), unarguably Nigeria’s largest opposition party, in July 2011, delivered a lecture at London’s Royal Institute of International Affairs on “Democracy and the Rebirth of the Opposition in Nigeria” where he gave a dour admonition: “Our country’s democracy remains a parody of true democracies. Ours has mimicked some essential aspects of military and authoritarian rule.” While one agrees with this realistic submission, it will be opportune to equally ask what the opposition in the Nigeria’s political firmament has done to erase all traces of tyranny and authoritarianism in the polity. Are they not complicit in this oppressive game?

    Yes, we might say that the opposition under this democratic dispensation has made remarkable onslaughts in some areas, rising glowingly to the occasion by saving the nation from avoidable periodic tyrannical blows. Let’s have a peep into two of such occasions. One was the attempt by former president Olusegun Obasanjo, a master in the game of tyranny, to elongate his tenure that has now been commonly referred to as the Third Term Agenda, even when the 1999 Constitution (as amended) allows for two terms of four years each. The opposition with the support of some conservatives vanquished the idea. Another was when the opposition party in the south-west mobilised the people to route out of power the oppressively conservative PDP administrations in virtually all the Yoruba speaking states.

    Despite these notable landmarks however, one could still not fathom why the opposition, especially in the south-west, refused to field a presidential candidate in 2003 Presidential election while surreptitiously rooting for the candidate of the centre party? It still remains baffling why and how ‘go slow’ President Jonathan cleared the entire votes in south-west, except Osun state, in the 2011 presidential election when the ruling progressive Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) party, presumably the most popular party in those areas had its own presidential candidate. This I consider to be a gaffe and do hope such will not repeat itself in 2015 because the partisan and the non partisan are now regretting the 2011 electoral choice of Jonathan.

    As we begin the race towards 2015, no rapprochement between the centre party and opposition political parties will foster any good result that could be of common benefit in the end. The fact that something has not been achieved before does not mean it would not be achieved one day. Some might allude to the fact that in the First and Second Republics, efforts geared towards upstaging ruling parties through mergers failed. Fingers will be pointed to the First Republic when the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) comprising the National Council for Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) and the Action Group failed to upstage then ruling centre party – the Northern People’s Congress (NPC). Also in the Second Republic- the National Party of Nigerian (NPN) remained the central ruling party, despite the alliance under the name- People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) by the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), People’s Redemption Party (PRP) and Great Nigeria People’s Party (GNPP). Since the advent of democratic rule in1999, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has forcefully sustained this curious tradition that led those two Republics to nowhere.

    It is a good thing that the All Progressives Congress is soon to present its own presidential candidate that will face President Jonathan next February but the leadership must ensure that the process leading to that do not lead to the decimation of the leading opposition party. The need for the opposition party to be truthful, sincere and steadfast in pursuit of the priced political position is now. This is necessary so as to upstage the ruling PDP centre government. In 2015 expectedly, the opposition will have no excuse for failure because Nigerians eagerly look forward to seeing it lay the foundation for a formidable front necessary for achieving meaningful political re-orientation and desired democratic change.

     

    NOTE: This piece was first published in this column on January 4, 2013 but reproduced here for its continuing relevance to prevailing situations, with slight modifications.

  • Orji to opposition: stop attacking me

    Orji to opposition: stop attacking me

    Abia State Governor Theodore Orji has warned the opposition to stop attacking his administration.

    The governor said the opposition was getting undue publicity from the attacks.

    He described such attitude as wishful thinking and defeatist.

    Orji was reacting to the remarks credited to the National Publicity Secretary of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Ogbuehi Dike, who allegedly accused the Orji administration of failing to develop the state.

    In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Charles Ajunwa, the governor described UPP as a moribund and ghost party that was desperately looking for public attention.

    He said: “UPP, which is a party that was dead on arrival, tops the list of dead parties in Abia State which should be ignored, as the living has no business with the dead, as the people are better focused to developmental achievements of my administration.”

    The governor said the opposition and those he called political failures had resorted to destructive criticisms of his administration as “part of their belated strategies to gain cheap popularity ahead of the 2015 general polls”.

    He described his critics as political chaffs that posed no threat to his administration.

    Orji dismissed the “media attack” against his administration as the ranting of a drowning political desperado.

    The statement reads: “The attention of Abia State Government has been drawn to the renewed media attack on my person and my people-oriented administration by some frustrated and inconsequential political failures whose only method of seeking relevance is attacking the government.

    “The government wishes to state that it would not be distracted by the antics of detractors who will never see the wave of transformation pervading the Abia landscape, courtesy of my focused and purposeful leadership.

    “Joining issues with political Lilliputians and incoherent detractors will only amount to dignifying their untenable fallacies, hence, my resolve to ignore them and remain focused on my transformation agenda which has since restored Abia on the path of greatness.

    “It is only obvious that Abia has no worse enemy than any person or group under any guise which fails to acknowledge the widely applauded strides of my administration, which has successfully laid a strong foundation for Abia’s development in all sectors.”

  • APC leads opposition against soldiers’ deployment

    APC leads opposition against soldiers’ deployment

    •PDP defends military measure  

    •Adeleke cautions security agents 

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) led opposition yesterday to the deployment of soldiers by the Federal Government for the August 9 election.

    Osun State APC’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi, in a statement in Osogbo, argued that the military is not saddled with internal security duties, adding that it is against the constitution.

    The party said the Nigeria Police is best suited for such duties constitutionally, insisting that a military siege for an election is a subversion of democracy and must not be encouraged.

    “The APC therefore insists that the Federal Government must drop the idea because it is inimical to the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria.

    “From Wednesday, immediately after the Ramadan fast, Osun State woke up to sporadic gunshots fired by security men practically announcing their presence that had been anticipated from wide-spread reports in the media, which indicated that the PDP intended to jolt the citizens with fierce-looking armed and uniformed men to pacify citizens in order to rig the August 9 governorship election.”

    The party said Osun citizens were unimpressed by the show of force by these armed gunmen who had earlier been sighted amassing at the DSS office along Gbongan-Ibadan road.

    The party said: “On Thursday however, the DSS security operatives got a shocker around 5p.m in the evening along Okefia, when in company of some masked men, the security operatives rent the air with a burst of sporadic gunfire to simply intimidate people.

    “Rather than scatter in fright, the people, with brooms in their hands, flooded into the street in utter defiance singing songs of praise of Aregbesola and the APC, and telling the security operatives who wanted to frighten them that no amount of threats and violence will change them from supporting the governor. The security people least expected what they saw.”

    It added: “The stage is being set for a showdown in the heart of Yorubaland and what is at stake here is whether or not democracy will stand a chance to survive 2015 in Nigeria.”

    But the State PDP Publicity Secretary, Prince Bola Ajao, who addressed reporters yesterday in Osogbo, defended the high security presence ahead of the August 9 poll, saying it was meant to protect lives and property.

    He explained that deployment would help in the maintenance of law and order before and during the exercise.

    The first Executive Governor, Osun State, Senator Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke, has also emphasised the need for security agents deployed for the election to conduct themselves “most professionally in the discharge of their duties and in accordance with their oath of office.”

    He said events in the last 24hours, when some of the security agents arrived in the state, “were not dignifying and edifying.”

    “There is just no point in creating unnecessary fear and intimidation against the law-abiding citizens of Osun State that cut across different political parties.

    “The alleged sporadic shooting into the air, as witnessed on Wednesday, July 30th 2014 in some areas in Osogbo by some security apparatus is unwelcome.”

    He appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to display absolute neutrality towards the election.

    A civil society group, the Democracy Vanguard, has decried the heavy presence of the state security men.

    A statement by its state coordinator, Comrade Olowu Emmanuel, said the “intimidating” number  of the operatives “is a threat to the peace-loving people of the state”.

    The group noted that Osun has been one of the most peaceful states in the country and despite the governorship election that is only eight days away; the people have remained peaceful and are living in harmony.

  • ‘Opposition thriving under Jonathan’

    ‘Opposition thriving under Jonathan’

    Opposition parties are thriving more under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, a group, the Jonathan Trust Foundation (JTF), has said.

    It said the Jonathan administration has given more room for the opposition to express itself than any other previous government.

    Speaking with The Nation yesterday in Abuja, the group’s President, Mr. Abiodun Dada, recalled that under Jonathan’s watch, opposition parties controlled more state governments and seats in the National Assembly.

    The spokesman urged the opposition to always offer alternative solutions whenever they criticise national policies.

    He said the Jonathan administration could not turn the country into a one-party state.

    Dada said: “The opposition has even thrived more under the administration of Goodluck Jonathan. Recall that under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, it was more like a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thing. But now, you have opposition parties holding states and people coming out to talk at the National Assembly.

    “Where were they during Obasanjo administration? So, saying that Jonathan is turning the country into a one-party state is false. I believe we should have opposition in Nigeria and the opposition should not just be there condemning. If you have to criticise, let it be constructive criticism.”

    The spokesman explained that despite the distraction and other disadvantages the Federal Government was facing, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources had lived above board.

    He also said the Ministry of Works had not only built new roads but its Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) had also rehabilitated most of the collapsed roads across Nigeria.

  • Chime’s Chief of Staff and the opposition

    Chime’s Chief of Staff and the opposition

    Since 2007 when Governor Sullivan Chime assumed duty as the governor of Enugu State, the level of transformation has been unprecedented. This is despite the state receiving meager amount as allocation from the Federation Account; Chime has been shrewd in utilising the much he gets to provide benefits of democracy to the people.

    In terms of road network, Enugu ranks among the states with the best road network in Nigeria. In the area of crime-free society which has eluded the state for almost a decade now, Chime has done a lot in tackling crime wave in the state.

    Hardly does one walk more than 200 meters without meeting a flashy police car stationed in the vicinity. He supplied the police with many patrol vans with a view to ensuring that Enugu residents go about their businesses unmolested.

    The endemic water problem in Enugu became a thing of the past. In front every house, there is a water pump installed as it used to be in the 60s and 70s. Schools have been renovated and the over 400 secondary schools in the state were given a bus each.

    These are just few among the numerous democracy dividends achieved by the Chime administration. But the governor’s achievement is attributed to his choice of his Chief of Staff, Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo, a Chartered Accountant. The governor once said of her amid the flurry of attacks on her: “I have no regrets appointing her. If I am given another opportunity, I will appoint her a hundred times over.”

    The prudent spending of the state’s resources guided by Mrs. Nwobodo made the governor to have absolute trust in her and would not take any final decision on an issue without considering her input.

    Her refusal for the government to open the state treasury for political hawks to loot became a source of worry to many people. And for her stance, she had incurred the wrath of politicians, especially the opposition. The opposition and those not “favoured” by the government hold Mrs. Nwobodo responsible for their misfortunes. She is always blamed for any “wrongful” or “distasteful” position taken by the government.

    She is even being blamed for the current travails of the embattled Deputy Governor, Sunday Onyebuchi who is facing accusations of wrong doing that could lead to his removal by the state House of Assembly.

    They speculate that the Deputy Governor is being put on trial to make way for Nwobodo to become the Deputy Governor in order to have immunity to contest the senatorial seat of Enugu East. They alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is after her for financial crimes. But sources say the EFCC has not gone after her now that she has no immunity.

    However, enquiries at the EFCC, Enugu office showed no evidence of such allegation. She was even accused of being responsible for the governor giving the governorship slot to Enugu North Senatorial zone which was announced by the governor last year.

    As the general elections draws closer, those in the National Assembly who are afraid that they might lose the ticket for re-election also blamed their woes on Mrs. Nwobodo.

    For having performed creditably as the Chief of Staff and for having uplifted so many people from her zone, the Enugu East Senatorial zone, the elders, professionals, intellectuals and who is who from the zone unanimously adopted her as their representative in the Senate come 2015.

    Before this development, there was a policy by the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that all those in the National Assembly who have served up to two terms would not get another dropped to enable them to make way for others.

    All of them, including the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu who is in his third tenure, were affected by this policy.

    “The policy was introduced to pave way for Ifeoma Nwobodo to replace Gilbert Nnaji as the Senator representing Enugu East,” an aide to Nnaji alleged. But one thing that goes in her favour is the goodwill being showered on her by people of Nkanu.

    Recently, an advertorial in a national newspaper which was signed by “Save Enugu Movement” castigated the Chief of Staff, accusing her of being responsible for the removal of the former chairman of the Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board (ESUBEB), Mrs. Ethel Nebo-Ezeabasili.

    That advertorial was, however, consigned to the “dustbin” as one of the aides of the Chief of Staff put it “the faceless writers are at it again. If they know what they are alleging is true, let them come out and be identified. Afterall, this is democracy. There is no group known as Save Enugu Movement. There is Save Enugu Group; that we can identify.”

    Nonetheless, an activist and national coordinator of a group known as Southeast Revival Group (SERG), Igwe Willy Ezeugwu said he was out to defend the Chief of Staff because “if allowed to continue, these faceless writers would give the impression that Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo is a tyrant and corrupt person.

    “The attention of the Southeast Revival Group (SERG) has been drawn to a rambling, badly written and illogical hatchet job by faceless hired guns that go by the name “Save Enugu Movement” on page 11 of the Daily Sun edition of Tuesday, July 15, 2014 in which they attacked the person and office of Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo, the Chief of Staff to the Governor of Enugu State, and indirectly maligned the hard working and ever-performing Governor Sullivan Chime. Ordinarily, we of the Southeast Revival Group (SERG) wouldn’t have dignified this piece of junk writing with a modicum of response except that if such garbage piece of fiction is not replied, the reading public will swallow their lies, falsehood and meaningless diatribe hook, line and sinker,” the activist said.

    Making reference to the SUBEB issue raised in the advertorial, Ezeugwu said: “For the avoidance of doubt, and for the interest of the reading public, the matter that the so- called “Save Enugu Movement” labored in vain to promote to the status of a current issue has been thoroughly investigated by both the Nigeria police force and the EFCC and the verdict of these two institutions are clearly well known to the parties involved. The matter under reference is a long settled case at the level of criminal investigation; what is baffling is that rather than avail oneself of the services of the courts and the nation’s judicial system if the matter means such and as the constitution provides, someone (and several unseen hands) are using the pages of a newspaper for mock trial. This latest attempt to pull wool over the eyes of the people has already failed.

    “Let me point this out; the issue of SUBEB is a red herring, a decoy by a few failed politicians from Enugu State to sow the seed of discord among the people and distract the Governor and his able team from completing the laudable state-round renovation projects they embarked upon since 2007.

    “The governor’s achievements are as sterling and glaring as to blind these failed politicians into thinking clearly and correctly. These failed politicians know who they are, not minding their rigorous newspaper propaganda and ever growing list of fictitious names deployed to achieve their nefarious ends.”

    Blaming the advertorial on Enugu politicians at the National Assembly he said: “Let the truth be told, plainly and simply, there is no group, entity or individual called ‘Save Enugu movement’. The piece of garbage put out in that name is the handiwork of a few Enugu State politicians who are (1) opposed to the governorship of the state rotating to Enugu North [Nsukka Senatorial Zone] in 2015 and (2) who are opposed to the collective decision of Enugu State stakeholders that those who have served in the Senate and the House of Representatives for three terms (2003-2015) should make way for a new set of representatives to serve their people.

    “To fish out the faceless characters behind this campaign of calumny against Governor Chime and his team is to identify, in utterances and deeds, the politicians who want to sit tight in the Senate and the House of Representatives as their permanent life ambition; indeed, as their birthright.

    “Let me sound a note of warning, Enugu State is our collective inheritance under the leadership of Governor Sullivan Chime. Enugu State political destiny will be decided by the collective will of people of Enugu State, and not by the whims and caprices of those who want to remain Senators for life and who, without any shadow of doubt, sponsored the drivel I am currently rebutting.

    “One million faceless advertisements will not change this situation. After their Abuja political grandstanding and throwing of untested weight around, we await them at home, and we will defeat and disgrace them.”

  • Onaiyekan to Presidency: stop linking opposition with Boko Haram

    Onaiyekan to Presidency: stop linking opposition with Boko Haram

    The Catholic Bishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has urged the Presidency to stop labelling critics of his administration, particularly opposition politicians, as enemies and supporters of the Boko Haram sect.

    Speaking on a radio programme “Face the Nation”, on Rockcity 101.9 FM Abeokuta, Ogun State, the frontline cleric advised those in positions of authority to be tolerant of the opposition.

    He said: “The issue of the politicisation is very serious and dangerous, where the party in government sees anybody who doesn’t agree with them as the Boko Haramist that are out to destroy the nation. What this means is that, if you do not agree with me, or if you are not in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), you don’t love Nigeria… That we disagree in politics doesn’t mean we don’t love our nation. And until we get that out of our heads, not much will move forward.

    “By the way, before I’m misquoted, it’s the same thing from the part of the opposition, who think they are the only ones who love Nigeria and those in the party in government don’t like this country and are destroying our nation. That kind of attitude cannot help us.”

    The former Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) president also said the insecurity in the land is disturbing.

    The cleric expressed disappointment at the Presidency’s information managers.

    He said: “When things are not going well, and if there is anything on which Nigerians are agreed, irrespective of political parties, it is that things are not going well. The only time I’ve heard that everything is perfect was recently on television, on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), when Okupe was telling HARDTALK that ‘everything in Nigeria is perfect’.

    “He is the only one I’ve heard saying that kind of thing, that the government has done everything perfectly. When he was asked about the girls in the bush, he said: ‘Oh, don’t worry, they will soon come back.’ Who is he deceiving? We all agree that things must change. I’m hoping that the more and more Nigerians will realise that we can’t just sit down and wait for things to change. Worse still, we don’t sit down and say, ‘Only God will save Nigeria’.”