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Oritsejafor urges clerics to stay off PDP crisis

Following a row over the visit of some Niger Delta bishops to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, yesterday urged the clergy to stay away from the crisis in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He said CAN did not engage in politics, adding that it would not dabble in the PDP crisis.

There were indications that some forces in the Presidency and the PDP were uncomfortable with the visit to Atiku and Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako.

It was learnt that the development forced the forces to conduct an “emergency” search at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

Oritsejafor, who spoke with some select reporters on the phone, said CAN did not know the affected clerics.

The CAN President was reacting to the visit of Niger Delta Bishops and Christian Forum and the Southsouth Christian Forum to Atiku and Nyako.

He said: “We have heard about them and their exploits on meeting various politicians and promising to mediate and initiate dialogue between the PDP and their members.

“We are a Christian body; we don’t involve ourselves in the political party’s internal affairs, let alone mediating between the PDP and its crisis.

“We, as CAN, are apolitical. Honestly, we don’t know them. Their activities are worrisome and I, as the president of CAN, wish to plead and admonish politicians to bear the characters of some Nigerians who use the name of the Christians in Nigeria to do all sorts of things.

“They should be careful with some groups that use the name of CAN to commit atrocities and fraudulent activities. What type of mediation would the so-called Niger Delta Bishops and Christian Forum be doing? I am the President of CAN and I can inform you that we are not aware of them.”

The Niger Delta Bishops and Christian Forum were led by Prophet Jones Erue. The other bishops are: Julius Ediwe, Bob Manuel, Abhulemen Josiah, Konel Offiong, Innocent Chiedozie, Alex Okubo, Felix Ezebunwo, Charles Okoh , Peter Abingon and Archbishop Eddy Ogbonda .

Speaking with our correspondent last night, Prophet Erue said: “Our forum’s visit was borne out of national interest because the Nigerian project belongs to all of us. We are leaders in our own right, the country belongs to all of us, we cannot fold our arms and allow the situation to degenerate. We have core belief in truth, justice and peace, which are the foundations of every good nation. A country not built on these principles cannot thrive. We did not visit Atiku or Nyako on behalf of CAN, we felt we must be a part of those driving the Nigerian project. We were moved by the level of impunity, intolerance and insecurity in the country…”

November 13, 2013
Suspension of Baraje, Oyinlola, others done in bad taste – Saraki

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Senator Bukola Saraki, on Tuesday asked the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to review the suspension of former Osun State Governor, Olagunsoye Onyinlola, former acting national chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja and Ambassador Ibrahim Kazaure from the party.

Saraki, who fielded questions from journalists in Abuja, said the suspension slammed on Baraje, Onyinlola, Jaja and Kazaure was done in bad taste.

He noted that the action of the party had further united the G-7 governors and widened the crisis in the party.

The former Kwara State Governor added that the court ruling that brought Oyinlola back to the party as national secretary was an opportunity for reconciliation in the party.

He noted that the opportunity of reconciliation offered by the court ruling on Oyinlola had been lost through the action of the party.

The suspension, he said, will not help the PDP in its effort to resolve the lingering crisis in the party.

He said, “We woke up to read in the papers today that some key members of a faction in the PDP had been suspended. PDP as a ruling party, 14 years of democracy, I believe it’s unfortunate.

“It is a means of circumventing the ruling of the court. We should not take the issue of the rule of law with levity. Since a court had ruled that Oyinlola should resume as Secretary of the party, PDP should comply with the judgment of the court.

“These are some of the issues that some of us are angry about. The PDP will be there, long after Oyinlola, long after everybody. We should protect the institution.

“We can’t win always. We would win some, we would lose some. By doing this now, how are we going to help the reconciliation? It will surely not help reconciliation. Some of us thought it was a golden opportunity to begin to reconcile.

“I think the party should review its action and give peace a chance because to suspend key members of a faction and still expect the aggrieved governors to be sympathetic to the cause of the party and be attending their meetings will be difficult and would not help the party.

“Apart from the issue of reconciliation, this cannot help our democracy. The party is an institution that we are all holding in trust. We must all protect that institution not by being emotional or by expressing sentiments.

“ The process sometimes could work in your favour, sometimes it may not. The executive there now will not be there forever. It is very sad because some of us have continued fight how we can bring peace to the party. All these things being done behind the scene, we should give peace a chance.”

November 12, 2013
Crisis rages as PDP rejects Baraje, Oyinlola, others

Factional leaders to face Dikko Panel

Four key members of the Abubakar Baraje faction of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were suspended yesterday – an action that is likely to truncate the party’s peace move.

Slammed with indefinite suspension are the chairman of the New PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja and Senator Ibrahim Kazaure.

Baraje is the national chairman of the New PDP – the breakaway faction. Oyinlola is the National Secretary. Jaja is the Deputy National chairman and Kazaure is vice chairman, Northwest.

The PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, who announced the suspension at a press briefing, said the party chieftains were guilty of anti-party activities.

The suspension is coming on the heels of a ruling by the Court of Appeal, Abuja, ordering the leadership of the party to reinstate Oyinlola as the National Secretary.

Oyinlola was removed from office in January, ostensibly on the orders of a high court that voided his election as the National Secretary of the mainstream PDP.

But the Court of Appeal on Wednesday reinstated Oyinlola and directed that he be recognised as the party’s National Secretary. Metuh said the party had not been served a copy of the ruling.

The ruling party said the four party chieftains breached provisions of Section 58 of the PDP constitution by declaring a parallel PDP and carrying out actions that are inimical to the party’s interest.

Metuh said that the suspended party chiefs, who are also members of the National Executive Committee (NEC), would face the Umaru Dikko-led Disciplinary Committee.

The party spokesman added that the actions and conduct of the party chieftains in the past few weeks were capable of causing disaffection among party members.

By setting up the New PDP, Metuh said, the party chiefs committed an offence of “identity theft”, adding that the leadership of the PDP had condoned their excesses long enough.

He said: “We have withheld taking any action for a long time and we have been appealing to them to put a stop to the attempt at identity theft. Our members nationwide are not happy and they think we have been treating them with kid gloves.”

But, in a swift reaction, Oyinlola faulted the suspension, saying it was meant to circumvent the judgment of the Court of Appeal that reinstated him as National Secretary.

Oyinlola said: “‘This is part of the impunity we are protesting against.None of us has been queried or requested to give explanations for any alleged offence.

“And if they are reacting to the issue of the new PDP, why did they decide to leave out the serving governors, senators and members of the House of Representatives who have been very vocal?

“It’s all an attempt to circumvent the ruling of the Court of Appeal. Certainly, the last has not been heard about this matter and I am sure that truth will prevail over falsehood.”

The New PDP also reacted to the suspension yesterday. In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chukwuemeka Eze, the faction said the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP lacked proper understanding of the party’s constitution.

Eze said: “The problem we are having with Tukur and his NWC is that they lack not only democratic character but also common understanding of the PDP Constitution.

“To us, this is an abuse of the judiciary, Nigeria Consitution on fair hearing and, most importantly, the PDP Constitution of 2009 as amended in Article 21 Section 9.”

The section reads: “Notwithstanding any other provision of this Consitution relating to discpline, no Executive Committee at any level, except NEC, shall entertain any question of discpline as may relate or concern a member of the NEC.

These include public office holders, like ministers, Ambassadors, Special Advisers or members of the federal legislature.

Article 21: 10 of the constitution also states that no disciplinary committee at any level, except the National Disciplinary Committee, shall impose any punishment on such category of members.

November 12, 2013
PDP takes sides with Omehia against Amaechi in tenure suit

Supreme Court to rule Feb. 7

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday joined forces with the sacked governor of Rivers State, Celestine Omehia, to ask the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeals filed by Governor Rotimi Amaechi and a chieftain of the party, Cyprian Chukwu, over the renewed dispute on Amaechi’s tenure.

Amaechi and Chukwu are, by their appeals, seeking to void the leave granted Omehia by the Court of Appeal, Abuja to appeal an earlier judgment of the Federal High Court in relation to when Amaechi’s first tenure ought to have ended.

Chukwu, in 2010, applied to the Federal High Court, Abuja for the interpretation of the 2007 judgment by the Supreme Court, in determining when election was due in Rivers State in 2011.

Omehia was sacked as Rivers State governor in 2007 on the basis of the Supreme Court judgment and Amaechi pronounced the governor in October 2007.

In deciding Chukwu’s case, Justice Abdulkadir Abdul-Kafarati of the Federal High Court held that by virtue of the Supreme Court’s judgment, Amaechi’s first tenure ended on May 28, 2011 and not in October 2011.

Justice Abdul-Kafarati held that since the apex court had held that it was the PDP that won the election and the election having not been set aside, the tenure began to run on May 29, 2007 even though Omehia wrongly occupied the office.

Dissatisfied, Amaechi appealed the judgment by Justice Abdul-Kafarati. Shortly after Amaechi appealed, Omehia, who was not a party in the suit at the trial court, applied to the Court of Appeal to be made a party to enable him also appeal the judgment.

Despite opposition by Amaechi and Chukwu, the Court of Appeal granted Omehia’s prayer, a decision Amaechi and Chukwu appealed at the Supreme Court.

Yesterday, parties adopted their briefs of argument. The court adjourned till February 7 for judgment.

The PDP opposed Omehia’s moves to be made a party in the case before the Court of Appeal, but yesterday, it sided with Omehia and urged the court to dismiss both appeals.

Lawyers to Amaechi and Chukwu, Messrs Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) and Rickey Tarfa (SAN), drew the apex court’s attention to the sudden change in the position of Mr Olusola Oke, the lawyer representing the PDP.

Fagbemi and Tarfa wondered why Oke appeared to have changed his position, having earlier aligned with them at the lower court.

Oke, while adopting his briefs, urged the court to dismiss both appeals and uphold the decision of the appellate court, which granted Omehia leave to appeal Justice Abdul-Kafarati’s judgment.

He urged the apex court to ignore the technicalities raised by the appellants in seeking to void the leave granted Omehia.

Omehia’s lawyer, Nnaemeka Udechukwu (SAN), argued in a similar manner as Oke, praying the court to dismiss the appeals.

Tarfa urged the court to allow the appeal and void the leave granted Omehia on the grounds that the appellate court acted in error.

He argued that Omehia did not place sufficient materials before the court to warrant the granting of the leave granted him.

Tarfa further argued that Omehia’s application was wrongly filed because he applied for permission about 200 days after the trial court had delivered its judgment.

Fagbemi argued that as an interested party, who sought to appeal the decision of a case he did not participate in at the trial stage, Omehia failed to comply with the necessary constitutional requirements.

He also queried Omehia’s locus to appeal the trial court’s judgment because he failed to satisfy the court that he had a special interest to protect.

Fagbemi argued that Omehia’s claim to being interested in contesting the 2011 governorship election was not a sufficient ground for granting him leave because he was just one out of the several people who were interested in contesting the election.

Fagbemi argued that Omehia hid from the court, the fact that he actually participated in the 2011 election under the banner of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

He contended that having enjoyed the benefit of the trial court’s judgment by contesting the 2011 governorship under APGA, he could not turn around to attack the same judgment.

Fagbemi also argued that Omehia was left with no interest to protect, having contested the 2011 election under another party and lost.

November 12, 2013
‘Amaechi being hypocritical’

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rivers State chapter, has accused Governor Rotimi Amaechi of hypocrisy.

It noted that it had been vindicated by his recent hypocritical activities, including his alleged clandestine meeting on Sunday in Abuja with other G-7 governors, during which they allegedly oiled their plot against President Goodluck Jonathan.

PDP said Amaechi had never, by his actions, even after his recent public announcement of total submission to President Jonathan, shown any genuine love, commitment, and readiness to cooperate with the President.

The ruling party insisted that Amaechi, who is also the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), should not be taken serious by anyone, who meant well for President Jonathan, the PDP and the people.

The Rivers Chairman of the PDP, Chief Felix Obuah, through his Special Adviser on Media, Jerry Needam, yesterday described Amaechi’s claim of loyalty to President Jonathan as sarcastic and diversionary.

The Rivers PDP pleaded with genuine supporters of the President and the public not to be swayed by the antics of the NGF chairman.

The ruling party said: “We wonder why the Rivers governor, who at the opening ceremony of a symposium on the Port Harcourt Centenary last Thursday declared his total submission to the President, will two days after, facilitate and participate in the G-7 rebel governors’ meeting in Abuja.”

The PDP reaffirmed its position and support for Dr. Jonathan as the party’s national leader and the country’s President and would not allow any member of the party to continue to engage in any act of insubordination and disrespect to the PDP’s leadership at all levels.

November 12, 2013
Party exposes PDP’s, APGA’s rigging strategies

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has exposed the plan by desperate politicians in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to rig Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra State.

It warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against allowing itself to be used to carry out such plan.

In a statement in Ibadan yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party listed some of the rigging strategies as disenfranchisement of voters, especially in opposition strongholds; massive thumb-printing of ballot papers in secret locations; sloppy accreditation process; late or non-delivery of voting materials to opposition strongholds and the use of the police and other security agencies to intimidate voters.

It described the strategies as old tricks, which INEC should be well aware of, if the electoral body was keen on delivering a free, fair and transparent election.

“There are plans to use several secret locations, including Ogidi, for massive ballot paper thumb-printing, and it is an open secret that some of these locations are being fortified for secrecy.

“Plans are also afoot to foist a sloppy accreditation exercise on voters by muddling up names and photographs of voters in such a way that most voters will be disenfranchised.

“Also, areas where the APC candidate is the strongest will either be starved of voting materials or will not even receive such materials at all, while the police – which are fast becoming the armed wing of the PDP – as well as other security agents will be used to harass and intimidate voters.

“These are some of the evil strategies, which the riggers are counting upon on Saturday. This is the same game plan that the PDP used to rig the Delta Central poll last month, with the collusion of some dirty INEC officials,” APC said.

The party warned, however, that Anambra people would not allow a replay of such electoral heist and unmitigated brigandage, “neither would we condone any action that would not ensure a level-playing field for candidates at the poll.”

It warned INEC, the police and other security forces to restrict themselves to their constitutional roles during the election, instead of conspiring with do-or-die politicians.

“We will expose, challenge and shame those bent on ruining the election in Anambra, using our counter-measures.”

APC urged INEC to present and use for the Anambra poll, an authentic, legitimate and reliable voter register; ensure a proper voter accreditation as well as proper documentation of agents and voting materials, starting from the polling units to the collation centre; and make sure that the distribution of election materials are timely, effective and well-monitored.

The party enjoined its supporters to be extra-vigilant before, during and after the election; protect their votes within the limits of the law and their own safety.

November 12, 2013
Jonathan’s Okrika homily

IN President Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration in Okrika, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, that he is not bothered by criticisms, has come a basic contradiction.

The president said he was not bothered by opposition criticisms. Yet, he insisted that he had his eyes on legacy. How sure is legacy if you don’t use criticisms to correct your mistakes? Or is all criticism in bad faith?

Yet, overall, the president’s declaration would appear, in the context in which it was made, not manifestly bad. If it sounded offensive, to the extent that almost every newspaper that reported it led with a declaration that tended to portray the president as contemptuous of criticism, it was because an innate yearning to do good seemed to clash with a Freudian slip to not “give a damn”.

Could the president be so lexically challenged that he would mean the best of things yet sound the worst of things? That really is the worry; and the president and his handlers should be the first to bother, if really they are working towards a post-Jonathan era legacy.

What the president said, at the funeral of his mother-in-law, about public office being like death, and that every public officer is doomed or saved by his action – or inaction – in office should have been near-holy writ for the Nigerian political class. Death is the freezing final. With death, there can’t be a second chance. So, it is with office. After office, there is simply no second chance.

But with the level of impunity in the land, and the penchant to abuse public office for personal gains or use public office to settle personal scores, the president was simply on point.

Yet, ironically, given the location of Jonathan’s declaration – Okrika in Rivers State – the president did nothing but trenchant self-indictment. The way his presidency has grossly abused the use of the police, against real or perceived political opponents in Rivers, is totally condemnable.

The Rivers State Police Command, under Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu, is a classic example of how not to be a police officer. Under his charge, the Rivers police have become a partisan tool: a rod to crack the skull of the opposition (even if opposition activity is entrenched in the Constitution); and a scheming machine, maintained by public money, to aid and abet criminal intolerance by the powers-that-be. Most ruinous: CP Mbu even figures himself a rival power, against an elected governor, all under the unfazed guidance of the Jonathan Presidency!

Besides, how the police have been deployed to harass the G-7 governors, members of a splinter group of the federal ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), does not exactly mould the Jonathan Presidency in the image of a government that particularly cares about its post-office legacy on rule of law, the very pillar of democracy.

In his Okrika homily therefore, President Jonathan has evinced the tragic contrast of a president who knows the right thing to do but, due to political expediency that will sooner than later come back to haunt him, is too undisciplined to do it.

For the sake of Nigerian democracy, it is not too late to correct this tragic flaw. But if the president must, it is to the bitter pill of opposition criticism that he must resort. He must swallow that bitter pill; and demonstrate to everyone he can improve on whatever he is not doing right.

That is the straight and narrow path to legacy. Any other way is the wide and merry way to destruction. The president must choose right. But eventually, the choice is his – and so would be the consequences of that choice.

November 12, 2013
Descent into fascism?

Not a few Nigerians are worried at the way governance is drifting in our country under the guise of politics. Even more are annoyed that President Goodluck Jonathan seems unperturbed by this descent and may in fact be enjoying it. And unfortunately at the centre of this fall is the Nigeria Police.

Penultimate Sunday seven state governors from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were meeting at the Kano State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja when midway or thereabout into their deliberations, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Asokoro Police Station, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Nnanna Amah barged in and ordered them to stop and disperse immediately claiming he had orders from above not to allow the meeting.

Understandably the governors, members of a breakaway faction of the party called new PDP were shocked. This was how Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, the host, described the event: “We were discussing in my sitting room when the DPO came in and asked us to disband. We were discussing how to approach Mr. President and come up with a stand when invited, but this meeting was disrupted by a DPO. We didn’t offend anybody, but like criminals, a DPO was sent to disrupt our meeting.” Kwankwaso went on to say that not even when Nigeria was under military rule did anything like this happen.

The DPO did not disclose who it was ‘above’ that gave him that order, but in the Nigerian situation it is safe to assume that the order came from the Presidency via the Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Abubakar.

The rabidly pro Jonathan camp will vehemently deny this and even call anybody that suggests this was the situation names. But whatever they chose to say would not remove the fact that the Nigeria Police under IGP Abubakar has been used more as agents of oppression and suppression of any view(s) and action(s) that are not in tandem with the second term project of Dr Jonathan.

How do you explain the situation in Rivers State where the Commissioner of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu enforces the law the way it suits his political paymasters? He is in open confrontation with the State governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, one of the G-7 governors and opposes virtually everything the government is doing or wants to do that involves the people gathering. He has banned every political rally or gathering of the sort, disrupting such where the governor and state government are involved yet allowing the Grassroots Democratic Initiative (GDI) of Amaechi’s main opponent and Coordinating Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike to meet freely and canvass for support. But anything gathering for Amaechi must be prevented or disrupted even if violently. This has been going on a long time and both the president and the Inspector-General are conspiring to remain silent fuelling belief that they are solidly behind CP Mbu.

Just last week the IGP announced a ban on rallies and gatherings around and at airports nationwide. The announcement came on the back on the police preventing Amaechi’s supporters from going to Port Harcourt international Airport at Omagwa to welcome visiting leaders of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) who were in Rivers State to woo the governor and his supporters into APC. Meanwhile the First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan who goes about with almost a battalion of policemen each time she visited home (Port Harcourt) and her supporters have free access to the airport.

The Abuja police action against the G-7 was not the first time. The police had, not too long ago, similarly gone to the Sokoto Governor’s Lodge in Abuja to stop a gathering of the governors, but were not so lucky, as the governors fixed that venue as a decoy and actually met at a secret location. Known members, supporters and sympathisers of the new PDP are being similarly harassed routinely by the police in Abuja and the Ministry of Federal Capital Territory. The FCT authorities have threatened to demolish properties being used by the new PDP either as party secretariat or for meetings. In Bayelsa, Gombe and a couple of other states, nPDP leaders and supporters are being hounded by the police.

All these are happening under the president’s watch and the Commander-In-Chief and his Inspector-General of Police are seeing nothing wrong here and saying nothing. PDP elders and the Bamanga Tukur faction are enjoying it. As long as the shoe is on the other foot no problem; but there is a problem here. Our democracy is under threat. Freedom of association, freedom to dissent, freedom of choice et al are being trampled upon by Jonathan’s police just to drive fear into the opposition and make Nigerians submissive to the president’s 2015 ambition.

Nigeria is gradually being turned into a police state where opponents of government are either haunted into submission or punished for cooked up offence(s) using the apparatus and agents of state. This is the way of fascists. Although this looks like stretching the argument too far, the signs are there that President Goodluck Jonathan could lead us down that road if he is not called to order. And the only body that can do that is the National Assembly. But can this Assembly do it? Yes, if the will is there.

But I have my doubt if this will ever happen. This National Assembly is sharply divided. While the House of Representatives might be willing to call the president and his IGP to order, the Senate often acts with too much restraint at times bordering on total submission to the will of the president. Not a few Nigerians believe that this Senate, when the chips are down, will always side with President Jonathan even at the risk of this democracy.

But for how long can and should the senate continue to shield the president and tolerate his excesses? At what point would the Senators act and stop this culture of impunity that is the hallmark of Jonathan’s presidency. Make no mistake about it, the president is a gentleman, as all have acknowledged, but he is grossly incompetent. Doing the routine things alone would not make Jonathan a great leader neither also would he’s being nice. Taking major political decisions in the interest of the state, even if such hurt personally would put him up there as one of our finest; and he can start by calling the IGP and his boys to order, or rather allow the police to work without political interference. He should also rein in the excesses of his supporters especially his Ijaw kinsmen; and not forgetting Madam, the First Lady.

A good place to start would be in Rivers State where a combination of his wife’s interest, the inordinate ambition of the Coordinating Minister of Education Nyesom Wike, his own second term interest and the uncompromising stance of state governor, Rotimi Amaechi are threatening the peace and security not only of the state but also the wellbeing of Nigeria’s democracy. In between put in a partisan police commissioner and you get the picture of what is going on in Rivers State.

Some of these the president acknowledged in his speech at the centenary celebration of Port Harcourt last week, but he should not just stop at the talking, he should walk his talk and do the needful and douse the tension, not just in Rivers state but also nationwide. He should be mindful of how he uses the police lest we fall into fascism. State governors are not ordinary Nigerians to be harassed by the police just because they disagree with the president. Enough of this, Mr President.

November 12, 2013
Can Oyinlola work with Tukur?

The Appeal Court’s judgment that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should reinstate its estranged National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, has generated ripples. Assistant Editor GBADE OGUNWALE examines the implications of the verdict for the self acclaimed party in Africa.

Former Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola has cause to smile. The Appeal Court has ruled that he should be reinstated as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But he has also not renounced his position as the National Secretary of the Baraje faction.

The puzzle is: can Oyinlola work harmoniously with the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur?

The Okuku-born politician is at war with the party that launched him into partisan politics 14 years ago. The party is also at war with him.

Little did the chieftains guess that the intra-party wriggling, which was triggered by the distribution of party positions a year ago, would fester. The members of the National Working Committee (NWC) led by Tukur came into office amid the controversy. The PDP national convention, which held in Abuja on March 24, last year, was the bone of contention. Many chieftains complained that they were excluded from the exercise.

A crisis broke out between Tukur and Oyinlola, few days after the party officials were sworn-in. The 2015 presidential elections divided the two leaders. While Tukur is believed to be supporting President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term; it was difficult for the President to get the secretary’s support.

The relationship between the two leaders degenerated when they started exchanging memos. Oyinlola accused Tukur’s aides of usurping the functions of the national secretary. He drew the attention of the chairman to extant establishment manual guiding the day-to-day running of the secretariat. Responding to Oyinlola’s memo, Habu Fari, for Chief of Staff to the national chairman, cast aspersions on the office and person of the national secretary.

Things started falling apart at the PDP secretariat. Miffed by what he described as the aide’s insolence and disregard for constituted authority, Oyinlola demanded Fari’s sack. It degenerated to open confrontation between the chairman and the national secretary. The furore died down when Tukur eventually fired Fari. But that did not end the animosity between the chair manand the scribe. On September 11, 2013, Tukur and Oyinlola took one other to the cleaners. Tukur had through his Special Adviser on Media, Oliver Okpara, described Oyinlola as an incompetent official, whose politics is at variance with the prevailing political dispensation.

The chairman also accused Oyinlola of getting into elective positions through the “back door”, citing his ouster as the governor of Osun State by the Court of Appeal in 2010 and his removal from office as the PDP National Secretary. Tukur also accused Oyinlola of directing his frustrations at him, since he was removed as National Secretary. he said: “Under normal circumstance, he should not be heard to resort to platitudes or righteous pontifications on the ideals of democracy and the rule of law.

“This is because, by training and orientation, he (Oyinlola) is a slave to ‘Order and Command’ of the military. Oyinlola was smuggled in as the National Secretary of the PDP, when he was bereft of the basic competence, experience and the pedigree to hold such a sensitive position in a big political organisation like the PDP. Since his removal from office, following the patent loop-holes in the electoral process that produced him, Oyinlola has continued to besiege the portals of our courts in search of far-fetch reliefs, which are neither here nor there. Besides, he now relishes brick-bats and vitrioli on perceived enemies, especially Alhaji Tukur.

“Unfortunately, Oyinlola has refused to understand that Tukur is not the architect of his political problems. Oyinlola’ nemesis is traceable and also has its roots in the way and manner in which he was foisted on our party. His political career will continue to nose-dive, until he undertakes a political re-think. The major mantra in PDP is adherence to the core values of rule of law and due process. In politics, rules and regulations are obeyed, for a statesman is judged by his selfless love and service to his people and not by the enormity of effusions and vituperations from his mouth or pen. Oyinlola should retrace his steps, return to the path of political rectitude, remove his military toga and dictatorial tendencies, study the manifesto and constitution of any party he chooses to join in order to have a place in our current political dispensation.

“Oyinlola was one of those militray putchists, who held down our democracy for a long time. As a former military man, Oyinlola is an unrepentant dictator of the first-order. He lacks any credible credential to sermonise on democracy and due process, including rule of law. No self respecting party can afford the chalice of imposition of candidates like in Oyinlola’s case, which is the bane of Nigerian politics. Oyinlola’s antecedents are well-known. He has been a miliatry dictator, who suddenly became a letter-day democrat. He miraculously became the governor of Osun State and was booted out, following litigation over his election which swept him out through judicial fiat.

“There must therefore, be something vehemently wrong with Oyinlola and his peculiar brand of politics, which always sees him mount the saddle of leadership only to be found tumbling and crashing thereafter. Oyinlola has refused to change with time. He has failed to come to terms with the fact that democratic dispensation is in place in Nigeria and that the ways of democracy are not the same with the command structure of the military. Oyinlola might have been a good military tactician,but a kindergarten politician who requires total political re-adjustment and the removal of his military toga to face the realities of the moment. Oyinlola’s differences with the chairman stemmed from the fact that he could not appreciate the essence of rule of law against the essence of rule by force. It is his lack of democratic posture that made it impossible for him to work with Tukur who is an accomplished statesman, politician and a highly successful businessman with outstanding administrative sagacity and acumen”. Many believe that the statement was full of bile.

But Oyinlola would not let the verbal assualt go unchallenged. According to him, the party chairmnan must have gone senile, owing to his advanced age. He said: “ While I don’t want to join issues with Baba Tukur, out of respect for his old age, one can excuse him on his account of senility.

“Tukur has gone senile. In addition, the fact that I trained as a military officer has never negatively affected my administrative capabilities and abilities. I remain a gentleman in all my services as a public officer and a politician. Tukur should attempt to do an opinion survey at the headquarters of his PDP and I can assure him that his findings would make him abdicate his position without further delay, based on the fact that he lacks the support of the members of staff, who regard his authoritative style as being responsible for the crisis in the PDP.

“That I’m a stickler for due process is a plus for me and Tukur should find out, if I ever circumvented rules and regulations or acted in an improper manner that he (Tukur) always does in company with his co-travelers. I remember he (Tukur) once granted an interview, in which he described me as a fine officer and a gentleman. This same view was expressed by Olisa Metuh in a media interview recently. His statement shows inconsistency and poor leadership qualities”.

Oyinlola described his brief tenure as the National Secretary as the best ever, adding that the records are there to speak for him. He stressed: “It is on record at the headquarters of the PDP, that the period I served as the National Secretary marked remarkable changes in the administration of the PDP. For instance, I made sure that all the rules and regulations of the PDP were strictly followed to the letter and that made it impossible for Tukur to appoint the Chief of Staff, which he wanted, in violation of extant rules and regulations. He also attempted to appoint innumerable special advisers, who were unknown to the establishment manual of the PDP. It is on record, and you can ask any member of the National Working Committee, that he (Tukur) used his special advisers as parallel NWC members, thus effectively undermining the leadership of the party.

“Everybody knows that Tukur’s tenure, so far, has been the worst in the 14 years of the party and nobody should be surprised that Tukur, who came in with pre-conceived personal agenda of caging and antagonizing state governors and other interest groups in the PDP, has been a monumental failure and he is the root of all the crises within the PDP today.

“I ask that the leadership of the PDP should subject our tenure to a management audit to be able to determine who serially violated the PDP constitution through reckless administrative actions and who attempted to sanitise the whole administrative procedure at the national headquarters”.

The staff at the PDP national secretariat will never forget Oyinlola’s brief stay as the national secretary. Within few weeks, he ensured an upward salary review for the workers, who had been on the same salary level, since the inception of the PDP in 2008.

He also ensured that all outstanding allowances owed the staff were cleared. Up to now, the workers testify to the fact that Oyinlola brought a new lease of life to the PDP. So, it was bad news for the workers when a Federal High Court in Abuja, on Friday, January 11, voided Oyinlola’s election as the National Secretary. On January 14, the party replaced Oyinlola with his deputy, Onwe Solomon Onwe, as the Acting National Secretary, pending the time a new national secretary would emerge. Justifying Oyinlola’s replacement, Tukur said: “Pursuant to the powers conferred on the National Chairman by Chapter V Section 35 (1), 35 (1)(b), as well as section 36(2) of the constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party, (as amended), the Deputy National Secretary of the PDP, Barrister Solomon Onwe, is hereby directed to assume duties as the Acting National Secretary of the PDP. Barr. Onwe shall, by this directive, conduct all correspondences of the party, issue notices of meetings of the National Convention, the National Executive Committee, the National Caucus and the National Working Committee as stipulated in the Constitution of our great Party.

“This directive takes immediate effect and is hereby communicated to all the levels and offices of the party”. Many said the speed with which the national chairman replaced Oyinlola with Onwe smacked of vindictiveness.

But the party defended the chairman, saying that the action was in compliance with the court judgment that voided Oyinlola’s election. The statement, dated January 15, 2013 and signed by Metuh said: “The National Working Committee wants to make it very clear that what happened was nothing more than obedience of a court judgement, and the consequential application of the relevant sections of the party’s constitution. Section 45 (1) states that if a national officer of the party is removed or resigns from office, he shall immediately hand over to the National Secretary all records, files and other properties of the party in his or her possession. Section 45 (2) states that inthe case of the National Secretary, he shall hand over to the Deputy National Secretary.

“We want to make it clear that our great party is a law abiding party, which bases its conducts and activities on internal democracy and rule of law. Whatever a court of competent jurisdiction decides on any matter involving the party, the PDP will have no hesitation in obeying and implementing the judgement”. Metuh, in that statement had acknowledged the fact that Oyinlola had appealed the judgment and that the case was pending before the Court of Appeal”.

Metuh also gave a commitment that the party would accord Oyinlola immediate recognition, should he win the appeal.

He said: “In any event, reports have indicated that Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola has appealed against the court judgement and the NWC wants to say that, as soon as the appeal is decided, the party will, in the same way as it did in the case of the Federal High Court ruling, obey the appeal decision”.

Now that the Appeal Court has ruled in Oyinlola’s favour, will the PDP honour its own word?.

However, when he was contacted, the National Publicity Secretary said that the matter has not been discused because the chairman travelled out of the country. He also said that the party’s National Legal Adviser said he did not have a copy of the ruling yet. Metuh promised that the leadership of the party would meet today to take a decision.

The ruling party, according to analysts, have some options. The party can appeal the ruling at the Supreme Court or reinstate Oyinlola in the spirit of reconciliation.

Also, since Tukur and Oyinlola are not the best of friends, the party should broker peace between them, so that they can cohabit peacefully at the PDP secretariat.

But, are politicians good in mence mending?

November 12, 2013
‘Baraje faction can’t survive’

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain and former Transport Minister Hon. Ibrahim Isah Bio contested for the governorship in Kwara State in 2011. He spoke with EMMANUEL OLADESU on the crisis in the party and how it has affected the Kwara Chapter

Senator Bukola Saraki is the leader of the aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party. Are you with him in that boat?

I am not with him and I am not going to be with the new PDP. I belong to the PDP and I don’t believe in the struggle or the ideals of the new PDP. I’m an ardent follower of Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki, the great Waziri of Ilorin, and for the last 20 years, I have been very close to Baba Saraki (may his soul rest in peace). I believe in his leadership because it is genuine and transparent. You could see the zeal in what he was doing and you could see him being a good philanthropist, kind and focused.

By 1998, I was one of the people liaising for Kwara State for those people who wanted to be in the PDP. But shortly after, I was almost neck deep in the PDP when we realised that Baba Saraki was going to join All Peoples Party (APP). So, most of us left the PDP and followed him to the APP. Unfortunately, in 1999, they denied him the presidential ticket in Kaduna and gave it to Ogbonnaya Onu, if you can recall, and it metamorphosed to Chief Olu Falae/ Shinkafi ticket. But Baba Saraki did not revolt in Kaduna. He pleaded with us to stay calm rather than being violent. He left in the night to avoid violence. These are good qualities of a leader. In politics, you don’t win all the time. You lose some time and at other times you gain. That is the kind of philosophy I believe and agree with.

But the present leadership of Bukola Saraki that we have is about the politics of elimination, politics of coercion and politics of me first before others. It’s no more politics of carrying people along.

Are you faulting the style of the new PDP?

When they came up with the issue of the new PDP, I believed it was ill-timed, ill-conceived and very selfish. In every organisation, there are supposed to be grievances and misunderstanding; there are supposed to be some sort of disaffection. But you don’t tear an organisation because you are not getting your issues addressed. There are structured ways of addressing grievances in any organisation, including your house. If your child is aggrieved, he will go and tell his mother that Daddy didn’t pay my school fees or Daddy didn’t do my shoe, not that the boy will just get rid of you. I think they have taken are wrong because there are better ways they could have expressed their grievances and they could have been heard.

Again, those people that are complaining, most of them have presidential ambitions. I know the governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, has a presidential ambition. It is not a secret that Sule Lamido has presidential ambition. It is not a secret that Dr. Bukola Saraki has presidential ambition; neither is it a secret that Rabiu Kwankwaso has a presidential ambition and they believe the best way to go about this is to, first of all, get rid of President Goodluck Jonathan ,who is the current President, and the coast will be clear for them.

If you want the party to survive and you want the Presidency to be honoured as the highest authority in the country, then, people should respect that office and negotiate. But in any case, whether we like it or not, President Jonathan is already there. 2015 is the hand of God. Who knows who will be alive in 2015? Who knows what will happen in 2015? You sit down with him and say Mr. President; you have already gone more than half way. If the constitution allows you to go for a second term, so be it; then, we can renegotiate. After the Southsouth has gone, let it come back to the North. But for people to say they must tear the party or disgrace the President, I don’t buy it and I don’t believe it’s the right thing to do. I don’t think I should belong to that kind of arrangement. Even, in the school, there are ways of addressing grievances. In your family, there are ways of addressing grievances. The same goes for a political organisation.

You were a close ally of late Olusola Saraki and Governor Bukola Saraki. Did he not take you into confidence on the agitations?

Regrettably, I don’t think Bukola Saraki trusts me as much as Baba Saraki did. I have personal issues, which I’m not ready to discuss at this moment because I’ve followed Bukola Saraki and I’ve come to a conclusion that this is a man who does not trust me the way Baba trusted me. I tried to belong, but invariably, I found out that I wasn’t fitting into his system. So, I stayed back. For instance, way back in 2003, I was in the House of Reps when Baba Saraki said I should leave the House of Reps. He initially promised that I was going to the Senate. But later he said, please, can you come back to serve the people because I don’t want the kind of political infringement I had with late Lawal. That is why people unanimously agreed that Dr. Saraki should bring Bukola on board to be the next Governor so that he wouldn’t have crisis with any other Governor and he said he wanted somebody with experience and whom he trusts to come and handle the House of Assembly and I accepted. I left the House of Reps and became the Speaker of Kwara Assembly for six years. But the same Baba who told me that if by the grace of God governorship comes to my area, he was grooming me up later said he needed to give me national exposure. That was why he asked me to be Minister. Before the 2011 election, I sat down together with Bukola and I said, can I put in, if it is the wish of God to succeed you. He said go ahead. I bought the form. But later, Bukola Saraki denied that he ever asked me to buy the form.

I left, flagged off my campaign and I asked all Kwarans to elect me as governor. It was the mother of all campaigns, only for Bukola Saraki to call me around 2.00 am on the night of the primaries and said he had decided to zone to Kwara South and give it to Abdufattah Ahmed. I took it with faith. After all, it’s not everything that one wishes that one would get. But while I expected Bukola to have called me and said okay, it’s not everything you look for that you get, and sooth the balm of all the injuries he has caused me, he continued to treat me like a cancerous part of the body.

Apart from that, he promised to refund my campaign money. But up till today, he has not and it has been very well known in Kwara State that anybody close to me in Kwara has never been given any appointment, whether as SA or even a Commissioner or an Assistant. Even, the ward chairman in my place, anybody close to me, they make sure he is eliminated. So, I decided that let me stay aloof and watch. So, that is the difference between’s Baba’s leadership and Dr Bukola Saraki. Bukola Saraki’s leadership is the leadership of annihilation; break them and extinct them. If Baba offends you, he will call you and one way or the other sooth you and make you feel that you are important and you go ahead fighting a common cause for the party.

If the Baraje faction leaves the PDP, do you think it will spell doom for the party?

Let me confess to you that the loyalty Baba Saraki commanded for 42 years, I don’t think Bukola Saraki has the capacity and wherewithal to command that kind of loyalty and support of the people. Well meaning people, well meaning Kwarans and well meaning politicians are not happy with the events in Kwara. For some of us, we just stayed aside and said let’s watch. For instance, look at thelocal government election that took place in Offa. Everybody saw it and it is still in the internet. The APC had about 11,000 votes and PDP had about 4,000 votes. Then, they went and changed it overnight and announced the PDP with 25,000 and made the APC 20,000 votes. That’s not the quality of good leadership and that is not a democratic culture in the state. People are aggrieved and people are not happy with that kind of thing. The last local government election that took place sometimes on the 26th of October was a kangaroo election where they bought the SDP and one party called Labour Party and no other party had a candidate in the whole of the 15 Local Governments in the State, either as a Councilor or a Chairman. The beauty of democracy is let the people have their say, and then the majority will have their way. But when you cajole the people, you oppress the people and you use state machinery and you think you are a good leader that people will follow, you just watch and see. People are fed up with the kind of system we are practicing. I believe PDP is the party that everybody wants to follow.

The major grievance of the ‘G-7 Governors’ of the PDP is that there was a certain agreement with President Jonathan not to re-contest. Are you are aware of such agreement?

The way the seven governors are going, if there was actually a written agreement, they would have published it by now. Commonsense would have prevailed on them by now to produce that agreement to the press and to Nigerians.

One of the issues that the G-7 Governors are talking about is power shift to the North. Should power shift to the North in 2015?

Power shift or party arrangement or zoning arrangement, either agreement with Jonathan, those are based on moral understanding and political ethics. But the issue of legality and constitutional power to contest, nobody can take that one from you. The only person who can say okay power should shift to the North is, if Jonathan is not interested. But if he is interested, he has the rights and the Constitution says he should contest, if he so desires. So, the issue of power shift, zoning and rotation doesn’t arise, unless we remove the legal issue. But when the man says he is interested, it has overridden every other thing.

it is the main thing that the President is trying to fix and I admire it a lot.

One of the reasons Nigerians are against Jonathan’s President is the issue of insecurity. Secondly, is the issue of corruption. I remember there was a time he said some Directors in Abuja have more houses than Dangote. People are worried that not much is being done to curtail this. You have seen the man accused of pension scam. The man is still hiding and the police have been unable to arrest him, even after declaring him wanted?

Let me talk on security first. Security issue is a very complex issue. For instance, who would have believed that the al-Quaida that Bin Laden started will now come and engulf the whole world today. Bin Laden is long gone, but we still have elements of Al-Quaida which had metamorphosed into Boko Haram, Taliban and all sorts of things. The security challenge we have with Boko Haram in the North-Eastern part of the country, I think the President has tried to address the issue as a human being who does not have the monopoly of wisdom. First of all, he opened the window for dialogue and called all of the Boko Haram members to put down their arms, just the way they handled the Niger Delta issue and that they will give them amnesty. That is a leadership that wants to resolve an issue. That is dangling the carrot. Then he set up a Committee led by Hon. Minister of Special Duties, Barrister Turaki to go round the whole place and try to get the Boko Haram to come to dialogue. That is an attempt. Then when all those ones failed, he imposed curfew, declared state of emergency and then the soldiers have been asked to address the insecurity which is on-going.

You can agree with me that since the last five or six months, we’ve been sleeping well in Abuja. There is relative calm in Kaduna now and there is relative calm in Kano as well. In the past, we were not even safe in Abuja. We had at least three attacks. A military barrack was attacked, the Police Force Headquarters was attacked and the UN was attacked. Thisday was attacked in Abuja. But within the last six months, I don’t think Boko Haram has been able to attack Abuja and Kaduna. So, these are the progress being made in my own assessment. You can see America using Drones to kill Taliban daily. But it has not come to that level in Nigeria. Even the people in the North have come to agree that these things are no more religious issues. I don’t believe a Muslim will slaughter another human being like a ram and be happy. I believe that there are more undertones, which is predominantly the issue of unemployment and people have been left aggrieved for long. They say an idle man is a devil’s workshop. They didn’t emanate or start with Jonathan. They are things that have been there over the years and apparently we are seeing the overflow now and he is doing his best in addressing them.

The issue of corruption, you will agree with me that corruption has become so endemic in Nigeria. It has almost become our way of life. In our individual homes, we all witness corruption. If you send your brother to go and buy petrol, seven of them will buy petrol of N7,000 and tell you it is N10,000. If care is not taken, you go to school, you find teachers probating marks and sleeping with students and students ready to buy ties and shirts for lecturers just to get marks. Corruption is not only in government. Corruption has eaten deep down in the fabrics of our moral existence in this country and it is going to take a long time. I believe the religious leaders must intervene from the mosques and the churches for people to develop moral righteousness. It’s not an issue of carrot and stick that will address Nigeria’s corruption because it has gone deeper than that. It’s not just the ones you see in government because there is corruption everywhere. Today for instance, I came back from Lagos and by the time you come down, somebody who opened the booth for you is expecting you to give him gratification. By the time somebody weighs your clothes and luggage, he is expecting you to give him gratification. So, it has become our way of life. It’s a national malaise and it cuts across even in our homes. If you ask your boy to go and buy you bread, if you have a balance, he will not give you until you ask. It’s a sort of corruption. In as much as I’m not going to hold forth for President because he holds the ace, corruption should be tackled vertically and horizontally and both at government level, religious level, in our homes and at the village level. So, I will ask Mr. President to take a more serious stand against corruption so that he will be adjudged to have done his own bit while in office, just like I’m appealing to all Nigerians to do their own bit both in the house, in the communities, even in the churches and mosques.

ENDS.

November 12, 2013