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Tag: Oshiomhole

  • Oshiomhole replies Nyiam

    Oshiomhole replies Nyiam

    Edo State government has replied Col. Tony Nyiam following his action at the sitting of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue in Benin City, on Monday.

    It said in a statement yesterday: “On Monday, Col. Tony Nyiam exposed his hand as a biased member of a committee, which should be above political, ethnic and other sentiments.

    “We wonder when Col. Nyiam became the president’s spokesman as to want to drag the president’s name into his shameful act. We are, however, not surprised, going by his antecedents, the Benin incident was just another manifestation of Nyiam’s lack of respect for constituted authority and his love for disunity.

    “Even as an officer in such a disciplined profession as the Nigerian Army, Nyiam stood out like a sore thumb and his naked ambition for power led to the death of many officers and men, who owned up and faced the sentence for their treason, but where was Nyiam, he ran away rather than face the consequence of his action, as all cowards do.

    “Nyiam said Governor Adams Oshiomhole was ‘talking down on the people’. We wonder when airing one’s opinion or saying ‘I believe that the outcome of this conference will not be different from that of other conferences we have had in the past’ means talking down on the people.

    “Nyiam deserves our pity. He might still be hallucinating, thinking he is an Army officer, who must be obeyed. We recognise that no military officer worth his salt would openly disagree with a superior or a Governor at a forum such as the one in Benin City, but again, we recognise that the maxim, ‘officer and gentleman’ does not apply to Nyiam as he has once again displayed to the people in the open.

    “We find it interesting that Col. Nyiam has exposed the undercurrent motive of the conference, which has also confirmed Governor Oshiomhole’s initial fears about viability, necessity and desirability of same.

    “Inasmuch as we believe that Nigeria is in dire straits, the governor still insists that a talk shop with no agenda is not necessary at this time.”

    Governor Oshiomhole hailed the Army for assisting other security agencies in fighting kidnapping and armed robbery.

    The governor, who said this yesterday when he received the General Officer Commanding the 2 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj.- Gen. Ahmed Jubril, said the Army has supported government in its fight against crime.

  • Why I took on Oshiomhole, by Nyiam

    Why I took on Oshiomhole, by Nyiam

    Nyiam yesterday defended his attack on Oshiomhole, saying the governor made ‘’sarcastic remarks’’ against the proposed national dialogue.

    Speaking on the telephone, with a correspondent, he also accused the governor of “talking down on people.”Nyiam said he felt Oshiomhole, after “lecturing” members of the dialogue advisory panel on his reasons for opposing the conference, during their visit to him in his office, came to the venue and started the same lecture.

    His words: “Governors who have penchant for insulting the President or making sarcastic remarks against the sense of judgment of the President of Nigeria should be ready to tolerate response from Nigerian citizens to tell them no. The committee’s role is advisory, we need to consult with the people to advise us and we will then synthesise the people’s opinion and use that to advise the President because we believe that we need to work towards a people’s-driven constitution which we never had in our history.

    ‘’We thought we should start a bottom-up approach from the grassroots to the top. The attitude was that there should be no talking down on the people we are supposed to engage the people not to talk down on them. Based on this principle, the key feature of our consultation was to meet with the people but out of courtesy we pay courtesy calls on the governors or the king in the city.”

    He added: ‘’ So when people started booing the governor, I went to the chairman to remind him about the rules of our committee. The chairman said we should give him a chance to continue. He carried on with his derogatory remarks and it was at that point I then said ‘no, not again’. When I said that, by this time, his aides tried to come at me, but when I suspected that one was at my back I stood up. I sat down throughout.

    ‘’Not long after, a group of thugs came towards the table. It was then that the SSS people advised that my life was not safe and I was taken away for safety. The girector of the state SSS raises security around us. The Commissioner of Police came to see me and they brought security. The police drove us all through out of Edo State because of the fear of attack. So, contrary to what they said, that I mobilised thugs, it is not true, it is Edo people that protected me.”

  • Dialogue panel chief incites thugs against Oshiomhole

    Dialogue panel chief incites thugs against Oshiomhole

    The national dialogue roadshow went awry yesterday in Benin City, the Edo State capital.

    A meeting of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue in the Southsouth zone ended in a fiasco at the Imaguero Hall. The delegates left after comments by Governor Adams Oshiomhole caused an uproar.

    The hall was virtually empty by the time some ethnic groups and individuals were presenting their memoranda.

    The meeting that began at about 2pm ended at 4:30pm after committee Chairman Femi Okunrounmu declared that its members’ lives were not safe in Edo.

    The Isoko, Urhobo, Itsekiri and Bini had presented their stand before the fracas.

    It was as if some people were hired to disrupt the event when somebody from the audience interupted Oshiomhole a few minutes into his speech.

    The voice said” “Two minutes”. “I will do more than that,” Oshiomhole replied.

    The governor went on: “I want to make my own comments. They are my views and not the views of Edo State. It is not the view of any particular ethnic nationality. I think as a Nigerian we all have stake in this country and we have a duty to lay a solid foundation for the future of this country. I have a duty to be honest and truthful on the views and position that I canvass. My views are different. I asked the question, why are we having a national conference?”

    “I believe that anyone who convenes a meeting must be clear why he convened a meeting. I have the opportunity to travel far and wide. You don’t assemble people and then ask them, what do we talk?. Whoever wishes to convene a meeting must be clear on what the issues are. When you have stated why the meeting was convened, you can then ask what should be added or deleted. You have hundreds of agenda. When I was the NLC, a former president convened a national conference and up till now…

    Another interruption. Oshiomhole said: “You cannot shout me down. I know some persons were hired to be here.”

    He continued: “People from various states converged, money was spent and in the end I can’t remember what came out of that conference. It is a valid point to make that we failed before, we can make amend but it is important we learn from our history. I will be surprised if anything changes. As a leader, I have no business to mislead anyone. This conference will not be different from any previous conference.”

    Some ethnic nationalities, mainly from Bayelsa and Delta states, were accused of joining to shout down the governor.

    A member of the committee, Col. Tony Nyiam, stood up and made some unprintable remarks about Oshiomhole which led to a near free for all on the high table.

    Nyiam stood up, banging the table and screaming: “No!”, “no!”, “no”. The ex-soldier was restrained by other members of the committee who appeared shocked at his behaviour.

    The committee members hurriedly left after thugs invaded the hall.

    The governor was still making his contribution when Nyiam started screaming for him to sit down. He was then joined in by the thugs who disrupted the proceedings and many scampered for safety as a result of the unruliness of the committee member and the thugs.

    The governor, who insisted on concluding his remarks, yielded the floor to the thugs, who were getting violent.

    The National Anthem was hurriedly played as the governor took his exit.

    In a statement last night, the dialogue panel condemned the “unruly conduct” of one of its members for joining the crowd to heckle the governor.

    At a visit to him in his office by members of the committee led by Senator Femi Okurounmu either Oshiomhole said he had no faith in the process.

    He said: “All I owe Nigeria now is to speak my mind. It could be error of my head, but certainly not of my heart. As much as I wish you well, I just want to say that I have no faith in this process and I do not think it was necessary at all.”

    The governor added: “I am unable to find any basis to give me some illusion that this exercise will be different from the others.

    He lamented that 53 years after independence, Nigerians still prefer to look at themselves from their ethnic origin rather than being Nigerians. “For me, I am just a Nigerian,” Oshiomhole said.

    Oshiomhole said: “I do not think that more than 100 years when we have set aside billions of naira to celebrate our centenary the fact of our amalgamation of the North and Southern Nigeria, and we have lived together as one country for over a 100 years, and we have gone through independence, we have been free for 53 years and we are coming back to ask the question, how could we be there?

    “I think Nigeria needs to address very serious issues. When I see eminent Nigerians discussing this issue, I am sure they know that Nigeria’s problem is not this politics of sharing, which the national dialogue is all about; who is getting what, who has this natural endowment, who should do this or not do this. For me, this is the act of perfecting poverty.

    “The real challenge is getting Nigeria back to production. The real challenge is creating industrial base and this cannot be resolved through conferences. We have moved from parliamentary system in our own wisdom to the presidential system. We have test-run it and it was aborted by the military and it has re-incarnated in the present form,” he said, adding:

    “Nigeria does need a serious reflection about how to return to those core values that made Nigeria work before. Those healthy competition between the governments, visit the whole question of attitude and unless that changes, I do not see how any dialogue can work”, he said.

    The Governor said: “I was discussing with somebody last week and he noted that this is the eleventh conference and I ask what ten conferences could not do, how would the eleventh one do it? Why do we think we can continue doing the same thing the same old way and think that this time the outcome would be different?”

    The Governor said nobody convenes a meeting without stating the agenda and asking others to draw up the agenda for that meeting. “From conception we know we want to talk, but we do not know what we want to talk about.”

    Okurounmu said the committee was in Benin as part of its tour of the six geopolitical zones to get their input into the content of the agenda, the duration, choice of delegation and legal framework of the proposed dialogue.

    Okunroumu expressed happiness over the impressive turnout by Nigerians at the different venues of its sittings.

    “Nigerians have accepted the need to have this conference. We have been to four centres Minna, Akure, Jos and Calabar, and the turnout has been impressive and overwhelming.

    “In all the centres, Nigerians came from the rural areas, even from the remotest villages to make presentations to us and there are “no-go areas at all.

    “We are to listen to all Nigerians and I am happy that the turnout has been encouraging to the extent that we requested for bigger halls,’’ he said.

    The chairman noted that “we have been listening to different groups and views, but no single group who threatens to dismember Nigeria has come before us.

    “Nigerians all over the world are entitled to submit their views, but they must not be in the committee to air their views.

    They have our e-mail address. “Let them submit their memo to us and their views will be acknowledged. This is the essence of the committee.

    “That is why we are going round to know what are the things agitating the minds of Nigerians.

    “We will include these views in our report and these will definitely set the agenda for government and tell government how they want to be governed,’’ he said.

  • Oshiomhole, kidnappers and death penalty

    Oshiomhole, kidnappers and death penalty

    At exactly 2.50 pm on Friday, October 18, a tough decision was taken in Edo State as the Governor, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole signed into law a bill passed by the state House of Assembly which prescribes the death penalty for kidnapping in any form. The law, otherwise known as the Edo State Kidnapping Prohibition Law 2009 (as amended) also prescribes the demolition of any property (house/hotel)used by the kidnappers as their operational base to keep their victims.

    A drastic ailment, they say, requires a drastic treatment. This was probably why Edo State government had to do something drastic by prescribing capital punishment for those found guilty of kidnapping.

    Kidnapping of persons in the state has become so embarrassing to the extent that it seems like a major alternative source of cheap money for the jobless criminally minded ones. It also made it look as if there were no security agencies in the state. The kidnappers have become so daring to the extent that it is no longer safe to move on the streets in Benin metropolis let alone intercity movements.

    The government had to rekindle confidence in the people of its ability to protect lives and property in the state and that it’s not just in government, but in power with the strong political will to check crimes and criminality so that the citizens can move around freely and go to bed with their eyes closed. The governor made it crystal clear that he will not hesitate to sign the execution warrant of any kidnapper tried and convicted by the court of law.

    Hear him: “I want to assure the good people of Edo State that government is concerned about the state of kidnapping. We share the pains, the agony and trauma which victims of kidnap are all subjected to, but I assure our people that everything is being done to keep these criminals in check.”

    Edo is probably the first of the 36 states in the federation to sign a law prescribing capital punishment for kidnapping. Delta State House of Assembly passed similar law, unfortunately, the bill is gathering dust on the table of the state governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan,, apparently lacking the political will to sign it into law. Yet, the people of Delta State groan daily under the terror of kidnappers. Without mincing words, I believe Comrade Adams Oshiomhole deserves an applause for his uncommon courage and guts to dare these hoodlums by appending his signature to the law passed by the state House of Assembly. That is the hallmark of leadership, the ability and political will to take decision for the common good of the majority, no matter how unpalatable it may be to the minority in certain quarters.

    Oshiomhole has bluntly refused to give a dime as ransom to kidnappers in the state. Severally, government functionaries and his political party officials had fallen into the hands of kidnappers. He refused to yield to pressure to use government money as ransom for their freedom. I hear some state governments in the Niger Delta region set aside some money in the region of 20 million naira from their monthly security vote to appease these hoodlums called kidnappers. Again, I hear that the Comrade Governor has rebuffed them and refused to be part of the dirty deal. What a rare courage! For this, I beg to vote him my Man of The Year 2013!

    It would be recalled that the coalition of civil societies in Nigeria, the Amnesty International and other holier-than-thou foreign bodies were raising dust earlier in the year when Oshiomhole set aside all sentiments and dared to sign the death warrant of some armed robbers who robbed, raped and killed their victims in the state.

    He also scored the first in that regard as the governor of the 36 in the federation to sign the death warrant of robbers tried and condemned by a competent court of law. He however gave reprieve to those who robbed with violence but did not kill their victims by commuting their sentences to life jail. Not just that, in furtherance exercising his powers of prerogative of mercy, he freed one of the condemned robbers and directed that he be given some money to set up business of his choice.

    This is to prove the point that Oshiomhole is not one who delights in shedding blood through the instrumentality of government. This assertion is supported with what he was quoted to have said while signing into law the anti-kidnapping bill. “Having signed into law the death penalty, let me assure the good people of Edo State that as reluctant as one wants to be in matter of life and death, I am convinced that the overriding public interest dictates that we invoke the maximum penalty available in our law on those involved in the act of kidnapping”.

    Recently, the Chief Justice of Federation had cause to cry out that the nation’s prisons were brimming with criminals, apparently, a good number of them are condemned criminals awaiting the hangman. Again, unfortunately though,it boils down to the fact that the state governors are shying away from their responsibility of signing the death warrants brought before them. It is therefore not surprising that cases of jailbreak are now common occurrences across the states leaving in their trails deaths and maiming of hapless prisons officials who dare to show some form of bravery. These hardened criminals will feed fat on government’s lean resources, break

    lose, with all the energy in them, unleash mayhem on the society with vexation. In some cases, they go straight for the jugular of the IPO/prosecuting counsel and the trial judge(s).

    It is therefore in this light that all well meaning and peace loving Nigerians should salute this rare courage displayed by Edo State governor, Comrade Oshiomhole. As the society is becoming more complex and the criminals are devising more sophisticated means of carrying out their criminality, Nigeria needs leaders with strong character, guts and uncommon courage for taking decisions, especially for the common good.

    This is food for thought as we approach the year 2015.

     

    • Musa is a public affairs commentator based in Auchi, Edo State

  • Oshiomhole commissions 100 taxis for ex-Okada riders

    Oshiomhole commissions 100 taxis for ex-Okada riders

    Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has commissioned one hundred units of Suzuki cars procured by Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of the state for distribution to former motorcycle riders who were banned from operating in the area. Speaking at the ceremony, Oshiomhole said the Ministry of Transport has been directed to ensure that all vehicles old or new used for commercial purposes are painted in the taxi colour approved by the state government. The governor said: “The value of these vehicles shows how a local government can complement the efforts of the state government. It was my lot to try to take into account the overall interest of our state. I found myself having to reverse myself when I announced the banning of Okada. It was not the best mode of transportation and for many of us who have travelled to other parts of the world, I realised that it remains a shame.” “But I had offered to support them because they were my allies during the struggle to reclaim my mandate. When the interest of the overall security of the state compelled me to reverse myself and to invest my political capital in order to enhance the security of the state, I had to take the painful but inevitable decision to ban the use of motorbike for commercial purposes in the three core local governments that constitute the heart of Benin City. “I did promise that we would try to provide palliative jobs for okada riders as well as take long term decision to increase the fleet of the Comrade buses and provide cars for the original okada riders. We are still working on that. So, for me, it was a brilliant surprise when the Chairman of the local government invited me to come and commission these taxis. I am not ashamed to say that you have worked faster than me,” he said.

  • Oshiomhole accuses police of fraud

    Oshiomhole accuses police of fraud

    Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has accused the police of aiding ballot box snatching, supervising electoral fraud and intimidating voters in the just-concluded Esan North East Local Government election.

    Speaking at the swearing in of the council Chairman, Mr. Sam Oboh, at the Government House in Benin City yesterday, the governor said: “I am embarrassed that the police have become electoral officials.”

    According to him, “what I heard yesterday and I am still investigating; if the reports are correct, then Nigeria should be put on notice that the police may well have chosen to become the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) or Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC) officials and have chosen to overthrow those who are authorised by law to conduct elections.

  • Oshiomhole vows to recover Edo property from PDP chiefs

    Oshiomhole vows to recover Edo property from PDP chiefs

    Edo State Governor Comrade Adams Oshiomhole yesterday vowed to recover the property the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sold to itself during its days in power.

    The governor challenged the Chairman of the PDP in the state, Chief Dan Orbih, to bid for the Edo House in Lagos if he was interested and stop a campaign of calumny.

    He said it was sad that the state government property, especially the guest houses, were auctioned at ridiculous prices.

    Oshiomhole spoke during an interactive session with media executives in the state.

    He said it was scandalous that a kobo was not remitted to the state’s coffers of the money made from the sale of the property.

    Governor Oshiomhole assured the indigenes that every legal means would be explored to recover the property.

    He stressed that the beneficiaries would be made to pay the worth of the property or forfeit them.

    “Let me tell you, this PDP politicians are fond of deceiving innocent Nigerians by telling unnecessary lies. You can imagine a serving senator bought such property for as low as N5,000 inside the GRA in Benin. It is ridiculous.

    “But I can assure you that we will explore all means in ensuring that they pay for the full value of such property.

    “They did all these with impunity. They were hoping that one day they would again sneak into government through the back door so that they could allocate the remaining property of the state, including the one in Lagos that my friend, Dan Orbih, is crying over,” the governor said.

    Oshiomhole, who lamented the deplorable state of the property in Lagos, said his government could not be wasting money in maintaining a property that was not yielding a kobo.

    He said recently, the Lagos State government brought a bill of N60 million as property tax to be paid on the Edo House in Lagos.

    The governor said his mandate was to develop Edo State and not Lagos and if the sale of the property in Lagos would help transform Benin City and create jobs, he would waste no time in putting it up for sale, once the proper procedure was followed in selling the property.

  • Council agents warned not to harass travellers

    Council agents warned not to harass travellers

    Governor Adams Oshiomhole has warned councils to desist from illegal mounting of roadblocks to collect money.

    The governor, who spoke yesterday when he received a delegation of elders from Ovia North East Local Government at the Government House, said government would set up a task force and anyone caught would be dealt with.

    He said: “We have stopped the local governments from collecting taxes on traffic-related issues. The Local Government Act does not allow them to do so. It does not allow them to set up traffic control units, impound vehicles and collect money from alleged violators. This has led to crises and we told them to stay off.

    “Traffic control is the exclusive prerogative of the state government as well as parking rightly or wrongly and we are trying to create a proper identity for them so that we do not turn the state into a nightmare for road users. We also want to stop them from stopping vehicles passing through Edo State. They ask the drivers to produce their radio and television licences. The signal transmitting to cars are not from the local governments.”

    Oshiomhole went on: “As a government, we must ensure that we do not behave as thugs. Those travelling through Edo State must have a feeling that they are travelling through a civilised and secure state. People doing this purport to be doing it on behalf of the local governments, but in most cases, the money is never remitted to the local governments.

    “We have set up a task force and anybody apprehended will be prosecuted.

    “I am worried about the things you have raised that have led to the underdevelopment of the local governments over the years. What we are seeing on ground is the many years of abuse, corrupt practices, manipulation by the agencies, including the state universal basic education board and those in the Ministry of Education and the Local Government Service Commission.

    “The population of Ovia North East does not justify the huge overhead not only in primary education, but also in the employment of the local government. The purpose of creating local governments is not to collect monthly allocation and share it to employees only. The primary purpose is to develop the localities.

    “Yesterday, I directed the Local Government Service Commission chairman to transfer out of Ovia North East at least 40 per cent of the workers because they have no business being there. Whether they are medical or whatever, they just post them to the health centres and in those health centres you won’t find them there.

  • PDP kicks over sale of property

    PDP kicks over sale of property

    •It is an abandoned building, says Oshiomhole

    THE Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State has vowed to stop alleged plans by the state government to sell the Edo House in Lagos State.

    It said the Edo House, a multipurpose commercial complex located in Victoria Island is the most priced asset of the people of the state.

    State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, who spoke at a press briefing yesterday, said the property is valued at N3.5billion.

    Orbih said the party would “go full length to stop the satanic sale” of the property.

    Chief Orbih, who described the sale of the property as fraudulent and evil, said the process confirmed their fears that a top government official was interested in buying the building.

    He said their fears were confirmed by a clause in an advertorial placed in national dailies for the sale of the property which states that “the client has no obligation to accept the highest or any bid”, saying “if the reason is to get more money, why is the government not accepting the highest bid?”

    Chief Orbih also raised the alarm that the state government has concluded plans to sell the parcel of land given to the state by the federal government at Asokoro, Abuja, as well as water pipes for N300million.

    Special Adviser to Governor Oshiomhole on Media and Publicity, Mr. Kassim Afegbua, said the house was put up for sale “because that is the best thing to do in the light of long years of decay in the hands of PDP government.”

    Kassim noted that the state government would rather utilise the building’s economic value for the overall good of the people of Edo State than leave it abandoned.

    “What purpose is Edo House serving in Lagos as we speak when there are lots of developmental challenges back home in Edo State? We take decisions based on the public interest of Edo people, not personal interest of some PDP demagogues who plundered our collective patrimony in the past,” Afegbua said.

  • Deaths shocking, says Oshiomhole

    Deaths shocking, says Oshiomhole

    Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State says news of the plane crash which claimed the lives of the Ondo State Commissioner for Tourism and other prominent people of the state came to him as a rude shock.

    The governor, in a statement in Benin City, yesterday said: “News of the crash came to me as a rude shock, especially as the people of Ondo State were still in mourning following the recent death of the former governor of the state, Dr Olusegun Agagu.

    “The death of the state Commissioner for Tourism and some other senior government officials; family members and close associates of the late governor in the plane crash is an unfortunate double tragedy which saddens all of us.

    “Our hearts are with you and the good people of Ondo State in this hour of grief and we pray the good Lord will console you.

    “I offer my personal commiseration as well as the condolence of the good people and Government of Edo State over this painful incident.

    “We join you to pray for the repose of the soul of the late governor and the souls of all who lost their lives in the plane crash. We also pray our Heavenly Father to strengthen you and the people of Ondo State in this trying period.”