The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Oronto Douglas

  • One year without Oronto Douglas

    One year without Oronto Douglas

    It was in 2004 when I started working with the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), an advocacy organisation concerned with the protection of environment and democratization that I had my first contact with Oronto Douglas.

    In the course of my duties I stumbled on a book titled Where Vultures Feast, written by Dr. Ike Okonta and Oronto Douglas. It took me more than a month to finish reading that book and on completion of it I was curious on why multinational oil corporations continue to engage in unholy activities simply for profit.

    I did some asking about the authors of this intellectual work – Dr. Okonta and Douglas. My immediate boss, Akinbode Oluwafemi told me Dr. Okonta was in the United Kingdom on studies while Oronto who was the Deputy Director of ERA/FoEN was on leave of absence.

    Since Okonta was not in Nigeria, I was naturally curious for the day Oronto Douglas would walk into the office as that would afford me the opportunity of engaging him in a discussion. But that didn’t happen. Nearly two months after, he called Oluwafemi to meet him at the local airport. He took me along to meet this man whose book had captivated me. Ironically this chance meeting was only for five minutes, as he said he was rushing again to catch another flight.

    During our ride back to the office, Oluwafemi told me how Oronto developed the tobacco control desk of ERA/FoEN before passing it on to him.

    After that time I did not see OND, as we used to call him, but continued to hear about him until 2005 when he was named Commissioner of Information and Strategy in Bayelsa under the administration of the late Chief DSP Alamieyesigha. Throughout the period, he came to Lagos regularly until his resignation after the impeachment of Alamieyesigha.

    In 2007 when he was appointed as the Senior Special Assistant on Research, Documentation and Strategy to then Vice President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, he visited Lagos every weekend. Most times he would intimate me about his arrival and ask me to meet him at the airport.

    One thing about being together with Oronto is that at every opportunity, he will always raise a topical discussion as a strategy of imparting knowledge. He would want to know what was going on with everyone around him. For me he would ask about academics, work and family. And sometimes test your intelligence on some questions.

    He was a lover of books. He believed so much in education that he never ceased preaching his gospel that if we must conquer the world, we all must be armed with knowledge. So, he had plans to build libraries in all the local governments. He started this from the South-South geo-political zone and was extending it across to the South West.

    He wielded so much power and influence. We visited so many high calibre people in the country together but that never got into his head. His life was so easy and very humble.

    In my engagement with him I learnt humility, mutual respect, loyalty and hard work. When he was struck by cancer and it started taking its toll on his health, I saw him travel every month for medicals. He became so emaciated that anyone who had not seen him in his hey days would burst into tears on sighting him.

    In the midst of his weak health, he kept working and believing in God that everything will be well.

    Then on February 22, 2015, as  I dropped him off at the Lagos international airport in Ikeja to keep up with his medical appointment in San Francisco.

    Immediately he alighted from my car, he shook hands with me and said, “Thank you. And make sure you fix all the assignments I have given you.”

    “Ok, Sir,” I responded and added: “Have a safe flight!”

    For days after seeing him off at the airport, I didn’t hear a word from him. That was very unusual.

    Even on his sickbed, he never stopped working. OND was full of courage and positivity. He fought the ailment with boldness, courage and believed in God till the end, then April 9, 2015 death came knocking and took this wonderful mind away from us.

    Rest well in the bosom of the lord, Oga!

     

    • By Tunji Buhari

    Lagos

     

  • Niger Delta declares ‘War on Books’

    Niger Delta declares ‘War on Books’

    • “A book must stir you up to do something. To be, we have to think.” ~ Ken Saro-Wiwa”

    For decades, the Niger Delta has been engaged in agitations over the exploitation and neglect of the region by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The region is responsible for over 90% of the revenue that accrues to the Nigerian State.

    Isaac Boro, an Ijaw Nationalist is a forerunner of the Niger Delta struggle. Being a man of conviction, youthful passion and exuberance, he led the region into an historic declaration of the Niger Delta Republic characterized by arms bearing which has since defined the Niger Delta struggle.

    But things are changing in the Niger Delta, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, an Ijaw man became President of Nigeria and the zone was pacified.

    Niger Delta Books 2The former President, who launched a National bring back the books campaign and oversaw a Niger Delta amnesty programme that witnessed a lot of emphasis on education and training, seems to have set an agenda for his people unsuspectingly.

    Mr. Udengs Eradiri, the President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) who was preceded by the fiery Asari Dokubo and Kaima declaration signatory, Mr. Felix Tuodolo has taken up the charge and has decided to declare a war on books in an attempt to change the course of the struggle in changing times.

    What is not lost upon him is the simple quote ‘Knowledge is Power’ and Mr. Eradiri has taken this message to the Niger Delta youths as the new alternative to violence, arms bearing and insurgency.

    Eradiri’s IYC has sent a strong message to impress this philosophy with the launch of a Library and Information Communication Technology (ICT) Centre at the Ijaw House in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state. He said ‘First of all, they must be educated’ and added that the initiative was set up ‘to create an environment to develop young people’, he said the motives of  ‘a library and an ICT centre’ is primarily ‘to change the perception of our young people’ while it o provide costless means of studying and quality research through internet-linked laptops and computers.

    Mr. Eradiri, said that the center will be used as a resource and also a training hub for youths while noting that it shall develop programmes and ‘enter into agreements to encourage learning among the youths’.Niger Delta Book 1

    Mr. Eradiri’s IYC has entered into partnership with Books to Africa, a UK based international Non-governmental Organization, which donated about 1000 books that formed the first stock of the library and ICT center which has dozens of Computers. The NGO is known to give books from donors majorly in the UK to need areas in Africa.

    The library was named in the honor of the late Dr. Oronto Douglas, a renowned intellectual and writer who has traversed the globe in pursuit of the Niger Delta struggle.

    The Ijaw Youth Council pledged to contribute its quota to ‘ensuring that it (the forum) becomes a breeding ground for leadership.’

    ‘And how do you breed leaders?’ asked Eradiri who intimated the people present at the launch of the facility of the Educational Endowment which his leadership has instituted. He challenged other eminent indigenes and business interests  in the Niger Delta region to contribute to the endowment funds.

    Meanwhile the fortunes of Oil which the bedrock of the agitation is in steady reversal. The instruments of the impending Ijaw resurgence will be data not bazookas.

    [news_box style=”2″ display=”tag” link_target=”_blank” tag=”Niger Delta” count=”6″ show_more=”on” show_more_type=”link”]

  • Flashback: Jonathan’s special advisers and portfolios

    Flashback: Jonathan’s special advisers and portfolios

    As Nigerians await the official release of President Muhammadu Buhari’s list of Special Advisers, it is uncertain who the appointees will be. Only Mr. Femi Adesina, a former Managing Director of The Sun Newspaper has been be assigned the role of Special Adviser on Media and Publicity.

    President Buhari had on Monday sent a letter to the National Assembly, requesting the outgoing lawmakers to approve his plan to appoint 15 aides.

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan picked 18 special advisers for his administration and assigned them different portfolios.

    Here are Jonathan’s special advisers and the positions they occupied:

     

    – Eng. Mohammed Kachalla Abubakar – Deputy Chief of Staff to the President

    – Hassan Tukur – Principal Secretary to the President,

    – Dr. Tunji Olagunju – Special Adviser to the President on NEPAD,

    – Mr. Oronto Douglas – Special Adviser to the President on Research and Strategy

    – Hon. Kingsley Kuku – Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs.

    – Prof. Abubakar Sambo – Special Adviser to the President on Energy,

    – Mrs. Sarah Akuben Pane – Special Adviser to the President on Social Development

    – Mrs. Sarah Jibril – Special Adviser to the President on Ethics and Values

    – Senator Joy Emordi – Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters

    -Pius Olakunle Osunyikanmi – Special Adviser to the President on International Relations.

    – Prof. Dan Adebiyi – Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties

    – Dr. Reuben Abati – Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity

    – Mrs. Asma’u Abdulkadir – Special Adviser to the President on Gender Issues

    – Nze Sullivan Akachukwu Nwakpo – Special Adviser to the President on Technical Matters

    – Yakubu Abdullahi – Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters (Office of the Vice President)

    – Barr. Bashir Sufyan – Special Adviser to the President on Legal Matters (Office of the Vice President)

    – Senator Isaiah Ballat – Special Adviser to the President for Special Duties (Office of the Vice President).

  • Painful farewell for Oronto Douglas

    Painful farewell for Oronto Douglas

    Lawyers and activists last week joined other Nigerians to honour environmental rights activist and presidential aide, late Oronto Natei Douglas in Abuja.

    The event, which held at ThisDay Dome in the Central area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was a night of tributes for Douglas.

    Fondly called OND by his friends and associates, Douglas, 48, died on April 9, after a long battle with cancer.

    Speakers at the event all eulogised the deceased, just as they narrated how he positively impacted the lives of many Nigerians.

    •Prof Odinkalu
    •Prof Odinkalu

    At the event were Chairman, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Prof. Chidi Odinkalu; Convener, Save Nigeria Group (SNG), Pastor Tunde Bakare; Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief Anyim Pius Anyim; Ambassador Fanny Amun; and C.E.O. of  Skye Bank, Tunde Ayeni, among others.

    Douglas, who was interred at the weekend in his home town in Bayelsa State, was a foremost environmental activist renowned for his intellectual articulation of the Niger Delta struggle.

  • Oronto Douglas

    Oronto Douglas

    This was my prayer April last year: “I don’t care what illness he is battling. There are speculations around which I won’t profess. But what I will profess today is that God Almighty, in His infinite mercy, will visit Douglas and restore him to good health. His father did not die young. Oronto, in Jesus’ name, will not die young. Amen.

    “Oronto, the man whose identity I have acquired without his permission, will be one of those miraculous recoveries that the world has ever seen and it will be good in our eyes and we will rejoice in it. It has been difficult for me to forget the meeting and each time I remember it, I pray for the miraculous.

    “You will live Oronto and not leave by His grace!”

    My prayer on Oronto Douglas, a very powerful aide of President Goodluck Jonathan, was not answered. For reasons best known to God, Oronto, as he was popularly addressed, has left instead of still living like many of his peers. He died of cancer some days back. His death came not long after his boss, to whom he was loyal till the last moment, made history as the first incumbent president in Nigeria to lose re-election bid.

    I said this prayer April last year after a meeting with Oronto at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport.  He was the last person I was expecting to see. I could have also missed him. But the grey hair called attention to him. I checked the face and a step ahead of me was a man of influence.

    Our first meeting was at the office of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoeN) in Ogba, Lagos.  Oronto and two or three friends founded ERA many years ago. This first meeting was in 2008. Then I had just ‘ported’ to this newspaper after working for some nine years in two different news magazines. The meeting was brief and as later meetings showed he could not remember that meeting again or even remember me. A big brother and friend of mine had arranged the meeting. He came across to me as a humble human being despite his exploits in the NGO world and his past position as Commissioner for Information in oil-rich Bayelsa. We sat face-to-face and he told me he would need some media mention for a project he was working on then. We parted and only had indirect contacts after that.

    Early last year, I saw him at the Eko Signature on Victoria Island, Lagos. He clearly had no memory of ever meeting me before and I did not bother to introduce myself. He was presenting a book on behalf of the Presidency. But what struck me and many others that day was that he had emaciated and grew grey. He looked older than his age. His eyes were bulging as if ready to come out of the sockets. Some of us suggested he should sit while making his presentation. He refused on the excuse that he had been sitting all day.

    As loud as his voice could go, he enumerated Jonathan’s achievements and said politics apart; the president had changed a lot of things. He said politicking in the country had blinded the people to the progress being made by the President and his team, adding that a lot of transformation was on-going.

    He said: “When it is time for politics, we should play politics. But there is no need to play politics with development. It is wrong for anybody to say this administration has done nothing. In this publication, you will see evidence that this administration has performed more than any other in record time. Pictures can’t lie and pictures tell stories better than a thousand words.

    “I challenge us to go and verify the facts in this publication and then report back to the public. What this administration has done is unprecedented. We must give credit when due and not allow politics to cover facts about development.”

    He added that Jonathan would not play politics with the Transformation Agenda.

    “This administration is serious about development and will not play politics with development,” he said.

    After the presentation, he answered questions, accepted blames where he should and debunked myths when he sensed them.

    We left the meeting with someone like me praying for him to regain his health and be able to withstand the rigour of his office. I did not know that I was going to see him soon again. On Monday, March 31, last year, I was about boarding a late-night flight from Lagos through London to New York with my wife when I saw him at my back spotting a brown check suit and a pair of black trousers. He had in his hand a black bag. His hair was almost all grey. His gait frail. My heart was broken. The air-conditioning system in the remodelled Murtala Muhammed International Airport was messing up and we could not but sweat. He too was sweating. At some points, he fanned himself with his boarding pass.

    Since he could not recognise me, I did not introduce myself. I told my wife who he was and she suggested I introduce myself or even help him carry his bag given his state of health. I told her there was no need and that from the little I knew about him, he would not fancy being pitied to the extent of being helped to carry his hand luggage. He had really emaciated. Gone was the bubbling Oronto who co-founded ERA. Gone was the agile Oronto who served Bayelsa as Commissioner for Information. Gone was the alert Oronto who first joined the Presidency when Jonathan was Vice-President. Gone was the Douglas who sat with me in ERA’s office some  years ago on our first meeting. And gone was the promising Oronto who qualified as a lawyer many years back.

    That night, which has now turned out to be the last time I saw him alive, he struggled his way into the plane and we never saw again. I suspected he was going to keep an appointment with his doctors. My friends, who were close to him, such as The Nation‘s multiple award-winning journalist Seun Akioye and award-winning This Day Features Editor Adeola Akinremi and Mr Bode Oluwafemi, who made my path crossed with Oronto’s, had cause to talk about him from time to time and wished he would bounce back. But, secretly we nursed the fear that the end might soon come.

    And now, the hammer has fallen on our dear Oronto. The curtain has indeed fallen and it is the end of the stage drama that life truly is.

    Oronto, whose name I had borrowed on two occasions on this platform when I needed to speak as an Ijaw,  was meticulous with his job as Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Research, Documentation and Strategy.

    I pray that God gives his family the fortitude to bear the loss. But this is my final take: Life is a stage. A very big one at that, with many actors and actresses. We are all playing our parts in a script written for us by the heavenly one. If your part is that of a governor, govern well. If it is your lot to be the president, preside well. And if what life bestows on you is to be a sweeper, sweep so well that when you are gone, it will be written on your grave: ‘here lived a great sweeper’.

    Oronto, as attested to by many who met him despite not being a saint or a super human-being, played his part well so much that we can engrave on his grave: ‘here lived a good man’.

  • Oronto Douglas: Man of uncommon courage

    Oronto Douglas: Man of uncommon courage

    My last lunch with Oronto Natei Douglas was February 22, 2015. Venue was his hotel room in Eko Hotels, Lagos.  President Goodluck Jonathan was just few kilometers away making frantic consultations on his Presidential campaign. Oronto had visited the President briefly in the morning, came back and went straight for a quick nap.

    Unlike before, I had planned not to discuss anything relating to the elections, we were all worried about his health. That day he was billed to travel in the evening to California to keep an appointment   with his doctors.

    For the lunch, my wife had prepared Amala with Ewedu and Gbegiri soups; those were his favourites. With very deep Egba connections, Amala, ewedu and gbegiri with Orisisi (assorted meats) and Ahon (tongue) menu was the routine anytime Oronto was in town since mid last year. As we finished setting up the table, he insisted that the four of us in the room that day do lunch together.

     He resisted my protestations that I had eaten earlier and that I was full. We all sat down to eat. He took just very little and we began what was our longest chat ever over lunch.

    He poked fun at me first about how my body frame projected “false sense of affluence” and that when he comes back we have to “deflate” my protruding tummy. We all laughed. I gave him a few punches too.  I spoke about how he was detained at an airport in Europe for travelling without any money, and how he and former House of Representatives member Uche Onyeagucha were almost beaten up by Ijaw youths on allegation that he was impersonating Oronto Douglas because the youths could not  reconcile his gentle look with the name and fame. We also talked about how we were arrested in Abeokuta on our way to attend the burial of Reuben Abati’s mum. We all laughed again. We ended up on a long debate about whether I am a mere “Media Strategist” or if I can also double as a “Political Strategist.”  His final word was that it was time that I change my mindset from the current ‘conventional activism’ to ‘governmental activism’ just like he did a few years back.

    By the time I checked my watch, we had spent over three hours at the lunch table.  It was very unusual. As I drove back late evening that day, some surreal feelings enveloped me. It was as if the long chat and banters were a premonition of something about to happen.

    Yes, I do see him very often, but we never sat down for that long to chat since about a year that his health nose- dived. Not only that, I have always been part of very close associates who monitor his engagements so that he doesn’t overstretch himself. This time we had over three hours on the table merely chatting and exchanging punches- it was strange.

    Anyway, Oronto left that night for California and few days after, we got very disturbing reports from the hospital. He had asked his wife and a very close friend to join him in there. Then I became very agitated.

    While on his return trip back from California another common friend of ours, Simon Kolawole who met him at Heathrow Airport, London where he had a stopover, called me that we needed to intensify prayers.

    Then on Sunday March 25, I got this terse SMS from him: “Can we see on Monday? Very warm regards. Come straight to the house on arrival so that you can go back immediately.”

    I eventually entered his Abuja home at about noon on Monday 26th, immediately I saw him on the settee I couldn’t hold back tears. I wept uncontrollably. This was not the same man we did lunch together on February 22. Simon was right after all.

    He asked one of his aides to give me napkin to wipe my tears “Don’t you have faith again in God. My health is now in the hands of God”, he said.”   He then asked me to sit by his side.

    “Bode you are the first person I am asking to come among all our Lagos friends because of the trust I have in you. You have been more than a brother to me. I just want you to know that from now I will no longer be as active…..”  By this time a stream of tears ran down my eyes. He went on to talk about his charity projects I have helped over the years to supervise and several other issues.  I got his message very clear, yet I refused to accept. Oronto was too dear to us. We just don’t want him to go. No. Something will happen, he will survive it. He has always survived such.

    Now I know we cannot dictate to God.

    Before I got to the airport, he sent another SMS: Thanks for coming”.  I replied that he should remain strong for which he responded “Thank you my brother. Your friendship is most cherished my brother.”

    I went back to his house by evening of Tuesday April 7, it was very brief. “How is madam and the kids? I need to release you quickly” he said. Little did I know it was going to be our last. By 5.40 am on Thursday 9th, I got calls from Simon and his aide Ipi Gamsi almost simultaneously on my two phones. Ipi cried: “we have lost Oga.”  It was heart rendering.

    I first met Oronto sometime in 1998 at the Maryland home of another activist, Wale Adeoye. I have just crossed from the defunct Today’s News Today (TNT) to The Guardian. He introduced himself as Abayomi Omowale. He speaks flawless Yoruba. He wore snickers, jeans, face cap and sun shade like a yuppie just back from a foreign country. He was actually at that time one of the most wanted activists by the then military Junta. While they were searching for him in the creeks Oronto was walking freely in Lagos. We had talked for close to half an hour before   he revealed his true identity.

    He with another brother and great friend, Doifie Ola practically pulled me from The Guardian into ERA/FoEN in 1999.  I have since   journeyed with Oronto through the creeks of Niger Delta, through the days of Chikoko Movement till his last job at the Presidency. A journey that makes me, a Yoruba, an observer at  Ijaw Youth Council Congress when Ijaw and Ilaje were at each other’s throats.

    As an activist, Oronto remained a shining hero for human rights and social justice. He was celebrated internationally and loved by his community folks in Okoroba.

    He was a brother, friend, boss, a mentor and many more

    Oronto cares too much about the welfare of others. Back in the days, he will give out all his money to a stranger and come back to borrow transport money from us his junior colleagues at ERA. He has a large heart and generous to a fault.

    As a boss, he helps you discover your inner abilities. He will never accept that any assignment cannot be accomplished. No. “Mr Oluwafemi, Listen”, Oronto will say, you just have to get the message to push the limits. That has helped many of us who worked with him at one point or the other to break frontiers.

    I have been opportune over the past four years, to supervise the Community Defence Law Foundation (CDLF) which he formed. With the Foundation, he had single- handedly built modern libraries in close to 20 communities. Obafemi Awolowo Community Library in Irele- Ekiti, my village, was the last we completed and many more are at various stages of completion.  Oronto’s heart for charity was legendary. He loved education. He romanticized books and will do whatever it takes to lay a book on people’s hands. He read voraciously.

    I leant a lot from him. He will be greatly missed. He was an Akanda Omoluabi. He was a man of uncommon courage. Throughout his battle with cancer, he remained strong.  I believe he has fulfilled his mission on earth. He touched many lives for good.

    Though very heartbroken, for us remaining, we owe Oronto a duty of keeping his dreams alive.

    Adieu OND!

    Rest in the bosom of the Lord.

    -Oluwafemi is Director, Corporate Accountability Campaigns, Environmental Rights Action /Friends of the Earth, Nigeria

  • Jonathan’s aide Oronto Douglas is dead

    Jonathan’s aide Oronto Douglas is dead

    A close associate and Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Research, Documentation and Strategy, Oronto Douglas, is dead.
    He reportedly died on Thursday in Abuja according to sources close to him.
    More details later.

  • Resource control, not stupid

    Resource control, not stupid

    Again, I wear my borrowed cap and my name, if you have forgotten, is Oronto Douglas. And I am Ijaw. But my concern now is a pan-Niger Delta agenda and not the quarrel between my Ijaw brothers, which have been settled in the interest of Mr President’s 2015 ambition.

    Many leaders from our zone are gearing up for the National Conference, put together by our son, Goodluck Ebele Azikwe Jonathan, to discuss the trouble with Nigeria.

    As someone, who started from the creeks, I have a one-point agenda for the conference and the agenda is that we should determine what we give to the Federal Government from the cash made from our region. Not the other way round. This, I think, will help us and also help other regions in the country in the long run and reduce the do-or-die attention on the centre. That brings us to the issue of resource control. The first time I heard the phrase ‘resource control’ was about 14 years ago. Thanks to the then Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah. At that time, I could see wealth around and about me. From Bayelsa to Edo, there was wealth and there is still wealth. The wealth I talk about is not just oil, though it is the main thing. If not for the devastating effect of oil, sea food is another money spinner for the Niger Delta. Also, the rich history is another area we can make money from in terms of tourism. But, oil has overshadowed everything. It has blocked our vision and made many of us unable to see beyond oil. Even the Federal Government is so blinded and confused by oil and things are not moving as expected.

    The Federal Government, at the moment, has too much on its hands. To say the least, many of the things the central government gets enmeshed in now, such as construction of roads, water projects and so on should be none of its business. Its focus should be more on Foreign Affairs and Defence.

    I am particularly glad that the author of resource control, ex-Governor Attah, will be at the conference as one of the representatives of former governors. It should be nothing but resource control all the way. No matter the name it is called. But resource control is not a stupid idea. Is it?

    Alams’ loot: Whose game?

    One of the major news of the week centres around the so-called attempt by the Bayelsa State government to claim the N1.4 billion and another $1.3 million recovered from former Governor Diepreye Alamieyesiegha by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The state government believes the money belongs to it and mandated the Chief Executive of Panic Alert Security System, George Uboh, to get the money released to it.

    Uboh, in a petition to the anti-graft body, urged the release of the money to his client within seven days. That was last year. The petition yielded no fruit. Now, a report said the Bayelsa government has dragged EFCC to court.

    Bayelsa, according to initial report, believed the failure to release the money is an act of corruption and an economic crime contrary to sections 6 and 7 of the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004.

    The initial report also said it was asking for the interest which had accrued on the money. The state also wants EFCC to pay 21 per cent interest on the N1.4 billion and the $1.3 million from November 1, 2013 until judgment was delivered by the court.

    The state, said the initial report, also wanted the court to “direct EFCC to pay to it $400,000.00 being the amount forfeited by its former governor and which funds had since been repatriated by the United States Government to the EFCC”.

    When I first heard the news, my thought was: Governor Seriake Dickson is on a wild goose chase. I also felt nothing would come out of this case. At best, Dickson, I thought, will only end up wasting tax-payers’ money on lawyers.

    Delta tried the same game with the loots of former Governor James Onanefe Ibori. We all know what came out of it: nothing. Lawyers enjoyed though while the case lasted.

    Dickson has since denied the lawyer who filed the suit, making one wonder whose brief the lawyer took. Or has pressure been put on the governor to abandon the ill-advised venture? Whatever it is, we thank God that the people’s money won’t be wasted on frivolity.

    Ama Pepple’s revelation

    Former Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Ama Pepple, in an interview with Daily SUN on why President Goodluck Jonathan sacked her as minister, said: “Our elders came from Rivers State. Amaechi was not there. They were led by Victor Odilli. He is the chairman of Rivers State Elders Forum. He was there. Justice Karibi-Whyte was there, Professor Tekena Tamuno was there. These are men in their 80s. There was Professor Fubara who was honoured in the centenary celebration. There was Professor Nimi Briggs who at one time was the Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT). There was Osi Harry, the former Executive Director of Finance, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). There was also Chief. Agbarho, a civil servant and there was also a lady, Dr Constance Sarowiyo. She is from Ogoni and she was much, much my senior in the secondary school. We went to the same secondary school but I didn’t meet her in school. She was one time a commissioner in Rivers state. So, this problem just started, but we could see the signs that it was not a healthy thing. And all of them without exception, spoke and asked that there should be peace, there should be forgiveness and peace so that the people in Rivers State will be comfortable and feel safe in their environment. I added my voice to it and I begged. I also begged Amaechi so that peace can reign. The Bible says blessed are the peacemakers.”

    My take: If Ms Pepple lost her job to being a peacemaker, it is a sad development. People should only be relieved of their jobs on the basis of incompetence. Rivers’ crisis and incompetence are not one and the same. Yes, it is important that leaders need loyal aides, but loyalty should not be misconstrued with sycophancy. Loyalty entails that one will not do anything to harm his or her principal’s interest; it does not mean you will always tell him or her he wants to hear always, which is sycophancy.

     

  • I’m a poor teacher, please free my wife, Oronto Douglas’s daughter’s husband begs kidnappers

    I’m a poor teacher, please free my wife, Oronto Douglas’s daughter’s husband begs kidnappers

    Husband of Auguster Douglas-Azibayam, the kidnapped sister to the Presidential Adviser on Research, Documentation and Strategy, Mr. Oronto Douglas, on Friday made a passionate appeal to the abductors of his wife.

    “Please, Please, release my wife. I am just a poor teacher,” Azibayam Apaga muttered in a voice laced with grief.

    Douglas-Ayam was seized and whisked away to an unknown area in the creeks by nine gunmen who wore army uniforms.

    The gunmen who operated on a black speedboat abducted her at the Ogbia waterside at about 8.45 pm on Monday after shooting into the air.

    But four days after keeping mum, the kidnappers contacted the woman’s husband at about 2 am on Thursday and asked for a whopping N500 million.

    The husband could only beg the bandits to release his wife.

    His appeal came shortly after it was learnt that the kidnappers had slashed their initial demand of N500 million ransom to N17 million.

    The bandits were said to have reduced their outrageous ransom on Friday when the traumatised husband of their victim contacted them for further negotiation.

    A family source who monitored the conversation said the kidnappers were furious when Azibayam told them he could not afford the money.

    He said the abductors became indignant when Azibayam said he could only afford N3 million.

    “The kidnappers were angry and threatened that they would kill the woman. But the husband told them it would be of no benefit to them as killing her would not bring out the money.

    “He asked them to accept his proposal as he is just a mere teacher. But they cut the phone and promised to call by 3 pm,” he said.

    The source further said the kidnappers tried in vain to establish communication with Douglas.

    He said: “That was their expectation. They thought that they could get money from Douglas. But they didn’t know that the woman they kidnapped has not been benefitting from the Presidency.

    “She was just struggling like every other Nigerian with her husband. If she had been that rich, she wouldn’t have been doing petty trade at Ogbia waterside. She is also teaching in a primary school to sustain herself.

    “If she had been close to Oronto, she would have been in Abuja enjoying her life. The kidnappers have been trying in vain to reach Oronto.”

    When Azibayam was contacted, he insisted that he could not afford the money demanded by the kidnappers and appealed to his wife’s abductors to release her.

    “I am just the principal Government Secondary School, Ogbia town. Since I started teaching in the past 35 years, l have never seen such money the kidnappers are demanding.

    “I have emptied my bank account and my other financial sources. I could only raise N3 million. Maybe if they release my wife l could pay them the money by installment. We are not rich. We are just managing our lives,” he said.

    He also confirmed that the kidnappers promised to call him again by 3pm. They were yet to call him at the time of filing this report.

  • Kidnappers of Jonathan aide’s sister want N500m ransom

    Kidnappers of Jonathan aide’s sister want N500m ransom

    Abductors of Auguster Douglas-Ayam, the sister to the Presidential Adviser on Research, Documentation and Strategy, Oronto Douglas, broke their silence on Thursday morning.

    They were said to have contacted the husband of their victim and demanded N500 million ransom to free the 48-year old woman.

    Douglas-Ayam was seized and whisked away to an unknown area in the creeks by nine gunmen who wore army uniforms.

    The assailants that operated on a black speedboat abducted her at the Ogbia waterside at about 8.45pm on Monday after shooting into the air.

    But after keeping mum for four days, the kidnappers contacted the woman’s husband at about 2am on Thursday and asked for a whooping N500 million.

    A source from the family said the call was brief and straight to the point.

    The source, who pleaded anonymity, said efforts by the family to contact the kidnappers again through the number proved abortive.

    But he said the kidnappers allowed the husband to speak to the wife.

    He said: “The kidnappers said the money should be given to them on or before Friday this week otherwise they will kill our sister and drop her corpse where we will pick it.

    “We tried to call the number they used in calling the husband but it did not go through. The amount they asked for is outrageous. Where do they expect us to get that kind of money?

    “We know they are in business but this particular demand is not reasonable. The kind of money they asked for could only be gotten from the Central Bank or from the treasury. We asked them to make their demand reasonable but they angrily cut off the phone.

    “We could hear our sister crying at the background. She was sick before she was kidnapped. This is very painful. We are still waiting for their call. We appeal to them to release our sister. We don’t have such money.”

    A top security source also confirmed that the kidnappers demanded the ransom but said it would surely be negotiated downwards.

    He said security operatives were monitoring the situation with care because of its delicate nature.

    “The kidnappers should have a rethink and release the woman because no matter what they do, we will get them,” he said.