The Nation Newspaper

Tag: politics

  • Politics solely for material gain

    The Nigerian political landscape has continuously manifested a dangerous pandemic. That is the intractable struggle for power solely for material gain. Among the present contenders for power the constitutional admonition in section 14(2)(b) “that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government” is of lesser import. Instead the majority of the power-mongers are ensconced in an unconscionable struggle for power at all cost, even at the detriment of the very survival of the nation itself. This political disease is akin to the dreadful Ebola virus, which is highly contagious and with infinite capacity to annihilate.

    Unfortunately instead of isolating those already infected by the disease, we have reminiscent of the Liberian Ebola virus export to Nigeria, Mr. Amos Sawyer, carelessly allowed the intermingling of the contagious and the innocent, thereby expanding the carriers of that deadly affliction. The result is that as the 2015 elections approach, our country may already be experiencing her death pangs, unless a miracle happens. What with the multiple symptoms of this dreadful disease, with corruption as the most manifest. Another is the polarisation of armed insurgency; while the most recent is the demoralization and demystification of our national army. Now, unless a miracle happens to stem the pandemic, the next manifestation may be total anarchy.

    As I said, the root symptom of this political disease is corruption. Unlike other successful democracies, ours have become not significantly different from a conundrum of organized robbery. From local council administrators to governors, to the presidency, there is total lack of accountability, which democracy espouses. Tragically, whether in the public or private sector, there is no substantial difference. And like the Ebola virus which spreads without warning; despite the pretences and fraudulent claims of the political actors, the recent West African School Certificate examination has shown manifestly that our educational foundation is a travesty of the false claims of huge investment in that sector.

    So, while those in authority set up a special purpose vehicle, called State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to improve our education; for many of those entrusted to deliver the dividends, it is actually a conduit to steal the nation blind. So, instead of the fund intervening to gift our nation qualitative and sound primary and secoundry education, those entrusted with the intervention funds, cynically use it to better their personal lives. Thus the recent WAEC results show that just a little above 30% of the candidates have been successful in their exams, meaning that we are merely training those who will be permanently incapacitated to take to the different professions, and will as an alternative take to all manner of economic shenanigans to ‘succeed in life’.

    Of course the effect of corruption is also at the root of the failed national infrastructure that we perennially lament about. So whether it is the bad roads that wreck our lives and our cars; the supply of darkness in exchange for electricity bills by companies protected by institutional authority; the dreadful public hospitals, that see health providers engaging in a relay of strike actions, like those contending for medals or the fake but yet regulated products that you unsuspectingly buy for huge costs at your own detriment, the simple cause is corruption. Most probably for every kobo of our loss, one public official or a private citizen has seized a reward, in one form or another. And in several of those cases, the institutional authority set up to protect the citizens, despite the private accumulation of bribes in lieu of service, also deep their hands again into the state funds as salaries and emoluments.

    Corruption is also at the root of the latest manifestation of our endangered polity, that is, the despondency of our army in the face of armed insurgency by members of the Boko Haram. If truly as the protesting wives of the army officers and men recently claimed, their spouses are not supplied with efficient fighting ammunitions and machineries, and yet they are ordered to the war front, to defend our country, the reason can only be a result of corrupt tendencies within our defence establishment. Indeed, the Boko Haram insurgency, like her predecessors in the country, is a product of politics sorely for material gain. As has been claimed without substantive contradiction; those who started the armed groups that eventually metamorphosed into the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents, where merely desperate to keep power as the means to personal aggrandizement.

    The road to our political redemption can only come from our political actors making a determined effort to practice democracy as other democratic nations across the world do. To attempt as we are currently doing to pretend to be practicing democracy, while we ignominiously ignore the universal tenets of democracy, is only an invitation of ruin into our lives. For the sake of clarity for our practitioners who are either hard of hearing or are completely ignorant of what they signed up to, democracy can only thrive in an atmosphere of accountability. That is the defining content, when we define democracy as government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

    Luckily for us, the demands of democracy are not rocket science. Even our constitution, with all its challenges, contains the basic requirements of an accountable society. Indeed between chapters 2 and 4 of the 1999 constitution as amended, the basic requirements of a republic “based on the principles of democracy and social justice” is clearly provided. What has been lacking is the political will to enforce the provisions of the laws. Unfortunately instead of our political actors struggling to have the opportunity to outdo one another to promote such a society, we are entrusted with a class, who see politics only as a means to criminal aggrandisement.

     

     

     

     

  • ‘Politics has robbed Edo of oil revenue’

    ‘Politics has robbed Edo of oil revenue’

    Samson Raphael Osagie is the APC member representing Uhunmwonde/Orhionmwon Federal Constituency and the Minority Whip of the House of Representatives. He spoke with Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia on the challenges facing the Niger Delta Ministry, his obligations and abandoned constituency projects and why he believes he should be the next senator representing Edo South at the  Senate come 2015 after spending almost 16 years as a lawmaker in the state and National Assembly. Excerpts:

    Some of the constituency projects you reportedly initiated have packed up. A typical case is the borehole project in your community, Uruokhuosa in Uhunmwonde Local Government Area. Please tell us what went wrong?

    Because of lack of maintenance, the borehole is not working as at today but I can tell you that when it was commissioned, it was in a good working condition. I mean the citizens really appreciated it. I had to take the responsibility of maintaining it by providing diesel to run it for up to four years. As at 2006, I wrote the local government council at Ehor to take it over. I think what the council did was to buy diesel once. I tried to engage the community to take it over for maintenance – servicing it and buying diesel. It was just one of the many that I initiated in the locality as a constituency project and it was going to be difficult for me to continue to maintain them on a personal level on a permanent basis. Even when I advanced money to community leaders for this purpose, it was mismanaged and that is why the borehole is in the state it has found itself today. So the borehole I sank as a member of the Edo State Assembly has finally packed up. I have boreholes in two communities near Uruokhuosa. For one of them, the community took the responsibility for the borehole maintenance and employed somebody for the purpose and I can tell you that apart from my initial support they have never called me for maintenance. So for Uruokhuosa, at the time the borehole came, the community which is my father’s community had no water. So it was their felt need at the time. It still is. I have personally spent money to sink three additional boreholes in the community with support from Benin-Owina River Development Authority to no avail. I am working on a fourth one.

    Cast your mind back to the Benin Abraka road project which is very critical to your constituency. You have been in the National Assembly for over half a decade and your predecessor glossed over the bad state of the road. What efforts have you made to get this road rehabilitated? At a time we heard contract was awarded but as we speak work is yet to commence on the road project. What is really the situation on the road?

    I initiated the Benin – Abraka road with a colleague of mine when I was on the committee on Niger Delta Affairs; when the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs was created. It was on the same day we initiated the development of the Gelegele seaport. We decided to include the development of the seaport in the first budget of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. But before the budget was concluded, I sought the consent of my colleague to quickly include the expansion of the Benin-Abraka road. I did this because I feared if at the end of the day the Government failed to execute the project, we would not have lost out completely. And I was justified at the end of one year. We put N500 million for the seaport and I asked for a N100 million for the design of the dualization of the Benin – Abraka road. At the end of the year, the Ministry said the seaport was outside their purview. Instead, they wanted to design the road. Luckily for us, the following year, Orhionmwon got a Minister in Chris Ogiemwonyi and I went to him and told him all about the road. He was Minister of State for Works. Shortly after his appointment I left the PDP for the ACN and with his intervention, contract for the road was awarded. The problem with the road is that the Ministry of Niger Delta is almost a failed ministry. I have written severally to them because they have refused to mobilise the contractors to site. Its even more painful that late President Yar’Adua created the ministry and the amnesty programme to douse the tension in the Niger Delta and the Presidency is now headed by a Niger Deltan, yet the ministry is not being properly funded. They fund the amnesty office rather than the ministry which mandate is to carry out development project in the Niger Delta region. As at today you can’t point vividly to the achievements of that ministry.

    What guarantees are there that the plight of the Benin-Abraka road would not be replicated on the Benin-Akure-Ifon?

    The Benin-Akure-Ifon road is under the Federal Ministry of Works. And I think its situation will be different because the current Minister is from Edo. In the case of the Abraka road, it was not directly under Ogiemwonyi’s ministry but the Niger Delta. So he needed to beg his colleague minister for the contract to be awarded. Continuing with the job when he has left office became a problem. Do you know that this road was on the 2012 budget of this same Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs for the sum of N1billion. The man just refused to fund or award the contract. Orubebe was Minister for Niger Delta then. He just refused and I discussed with him before saying I have this project. So the point I am trying to make it that lack of funding is what is defeating our projects and that is why you have a lot of abandoned projects all over the place. I had to approach the Minister for Works and his initial commitment and the flag off thereafter is an indication that this is one road that will not go the same way like the Benin – Abraka road.

    I presume that every Nigerian who is part of your constituency should elicit your concern or rather sympathy or empathy. In 2011, Engineer Ayo Omorogbe was shot and killed as he aspired to contest the seat of House of Representatives which you now occupy. Have you by any chance extended an olive branch to his family ever since?

    Before he died, I recall recommending him for appointment into the NDDC. And when he was going to marry I was called and I attended the marriage. When he had a baby I recall he came to me and I also gave him some money, thank God it was a cheque. It is still a painful thing until today. His death is as painful as my being fingered in the allegation. I find it curious each time I think about it, how I could possibly go to the family and give assistance. Because if a man I assisted so much, I could be fingered during his death, of what significance would my intervention – how will my intention to assist the family be interpreted? It will be misconstrued. It’s a very painful thing and there is nothing I could have done in the circumstance. Although some of the family members have come to apologise to me because they now know the truth. But that does not mean that it is not one matter that I feel worried and concerned about.

    You once raised the issue of a Nigerian who was killed in Spain at the National Assembly. Was it because he was a member of your constituency?

    Let me say that as we speak the recognition and the awareness that we now have about the role of government in the welfare of citizens, especially those abroad, can be traced to that motion I moved in July 2007, barely one month I was elected into office. Osamuyi Aikpifanyi was a member of my constituency in the first place. He was a Nigerian from Edo State. He was one of those youths who left Nigeria to overseas in search of greener pastures. He died at the point of deportation. The impetus I had to take up his matter in the National Assembly was the circumstances surrounding his death. My investigations was that he was to be deported in a very dehumanising condition. He was not a thief but was alleged to have violated immigration regulations and was to be deported. He was put in a sack and it would have been better to put him in prison. They were going to carry him as a cargo and he died. Cognizance of the fact that there are many of our people living abroad, I used the motion to draw national attention to this incident to show to the world that we are an endangered species.

    Are you disturbed about the lingering crisis on the Edo/Delta border, involving Iguelaba/Jesse residents? What have you done in this regard?

    The issue of Iguelaba/Jesse crises and the problem of oil well in Edo being credited to Delta State or any other for that matter has been on for quite a while. I recall that the two state governments have engaged each other over the issue, however it goes down to the politics of oil exploration. The worrisome aspect of it is that oil flow stations are located in Delta State whereas the oil wells are located in Edo. It is basically technological; this politics I talk about as oil companies tell you that the they cannot site flow stations here in Edo because the quantity of oil is not enough compared to Delta so they are forced to transport them, using pipelines there. Now the policies of the revenue is different. This is supposed to be part of the duties of the Revenue Mobilization and Final Commissioner. Unfortunately, states are not their brothers’ keeper. In the past, it used to be that in order to decline your oil revenue, you must be influential. Recall the episode between Cross Rivers and Akwa-Ibom and how the four lost over 76 oil wells, making Akwa-Ibom the richest state in Nigeria today.There are several issues involving Deltans and Edolites who have lived together and have lived peacefully.

    I believe Delta people in the locality must respect existing traditional boundary lines. This is the key to resolving the crisis. The point I am making is that we must have a defined boundary between Edo and Delta. The crises has become endemic and encroachment is persistent because of the oil revenue. The National Boundary Commission has done a lot in this regard but the parties are not accepting and abiding with the decisions reached. What is needed in for all stakeholders to agree on the way forward.

    Some are of the opinion that having been in politics as a lawmaker for 16 years by 2015 you should aspire to serve as governor not as a senator. What is your take on this?

    I believe that God gives power and if you look at the history of how people emerge as governors, it is either they were not prepared for it or by divine providence. I am not averse to becoming Governor of Edo State but right now it is not my ambition, I can’t tell about the future. At this time, I will be more comfortable crowning my legislative career as a Senator. I have had the rare privilege among the lot since 1999 among all those we started together of being the only one in Edo South Senatorial district still making laws for our people. I believe it is not a bad idea to advance this career to the highest level, more so when I have become so experienced in the parliament. If I get to the Senate I will get precedence over a number of persons who will come and meet me there; even former governors in terms of law-making. Because I am not just a member of the House of Representatives, I am a Principal Officer of the House. And that comes with a lot of advantages for my constituency. One, given the experience and ranking, I would have more privileges of becoming a committee chairman or a Principal Officer that can attract more development to my constituency. I have attributed more development in the last three years as a Principal Officer than the previous twelve years at the State House of Assembly and the House of Representatives as a legislature. That is the truth, it is politics of the parliament. So it is to the advantage of my Senatorial District that among the lot asking for it, there is none that has my record. Some may have served three tenures in the House of Representatives but to the extent that they were not part of the Leadership cadre of the House, they cannot have the same kind of experience and expertise that I have.

    Many of your opponents say your district in the Benin zone has produced two Senators in Danjuma and Owie and that it is the turn of old Oredo/Egor/Ikpoba Okha, this time around. Do you agree?

    Democracy does not discriminate against the constitutional right of any citizen to contest for a public office. You cannot say that because my forefather was a senator, I cannot aspire to be a senator. In America, from where we copied our democracy, the Bush family, a father and a son were Presidents of the United States. The point I want to make is that it was coincidental that Daisy Danjuma and Senator Roland Owie were Senators and hailed from Uhumwonde. There was no time Edo South people sat down and decided that Uhunmwonde should produce the Senator. There was no time they also decided that Uzamere should be Senator. Otherwise, the time Uzamere left Oredo for Ovia, he would have lost it. He would have become unqualified. While opponents will like to use that as a point against me, my message to Edo South people is we cannot sacrifice merit on the altar of zoning otherwise you will produce morons, mediocre, at the expense of excellence. So I am qualified, I have all it takes. I am more experienced to be the Senator for Edo South in 2015. I am yet to hear those who are aspiring say, they are more qualified than me.

  • Politics, peoples and principles

    In the name of politics, people act in ways that raise the question “what principles motivate their actions?’ Then, of course, there is a not-too-strange-for-our-clime reaction: “in politics who needs principles?” For which a reasonable response is available: human beings do; otherwise we are no different than brutes.

    What is depressing is that the majority refuses to ask questions and we are all still prisoners of primordial attachments and sectarian affiliations. Break loose and secure a semblance of the freedom of the mind, which in the end is the most prized object of our humanity, and you become a suspect subject to mental evaluation. Political correctness runs amok and the irrational loyalty of tribal jingoists and religious bigots are ever present distractions of readers’ comments on many topical stories on the websites of our media outlets.

    A case in point: Question the propriety of invading states with the intimidating force of the military and the aggravating scenario of having them masked and you are immediately underwhelmed with a variety of responses, not a few justifying the practice on nothing but an unsound recourse to “my side is always right and the other side is never right.” And when the Chairman of INEC himself came up against the practice, was there a rethink on the part of those folks who saw nothing wrong with the practice? No. It makes the stomach turn.

    The need for principles in our politics cannot be overstated because just like vision, without principles, the people and the nation perish. And there is a difference between principled approach to politics and its tactical counterpart, though it is easy to confuse them. Almost all voluntary actions are aimed at achieving one goal or another and tactic is the chosen path or method of getting there. Needless to say, if the goal is devilish, nothing can make the tactic or method angelic. Just as a good end does not justify an evil means so a good means does not justify an evil end. And much of what we have in our politics is the combination of evil means and evil ends.

    We need a constant reminder that the ultimate end, the fundamental assumption, the principle of politics, especially democratic politics, is the good of the people. When monarchs fight over territories, they play politics, but not necessarily for the good of the people. Our advancement from monarchical rule in favor of the republican ideal is an indication of our belief that the people’s interests are the sole justification of whatever we do and their voices are pivotal to the recognition and promotion of their interests. We err irredeemably if we act as if we know more than the people what those interests are and how they ought to be promoted.

    Elections are the means or method by which the people not only register their interests but also choose how they will have them promoted and through whose instrumentality they will have them satisfied. Let us concede that even in matters so fundamental and so intimately connected to the people, they can be mistaken in their judgment about how or by whom. But that is their prerogative: to be mistaken. We cannot therefore justify the imposition of our will on them by appeal to the possibility, even probability, of mistakes on their part.

    By and large, elections are the means by which the will of the people is frustrated, violated and undermined. And much as it may have been cast in that light, this is not just an inter-party issue, it is also an intra-party phenomenon. Witness the demand for internal democracy within political parties. With elections, tactics trump principles for a good number of our political players, and because it has happened very often, even otherwise decent and morally conscious people take it as the norm. Coming in a variety of forms and shapes, it is anything but normal.

    With the fierceness of our electoral competitions, where the stakes are high, political tactics come into their full focus. While principles underpinning elections are about fundamental ideals of government by consent of the governed, tactics are the means of brightening the electoral chances of particular candidates. These may include such mundane ones like securing the support of political heavyweights or, in the case of a party, fielding popular candidates. These appear innocuous though the devil is in the detail.

    There are far more insidious tactics, including the use of de facto political power to intimidate opponents (with troops and police), the use of state funds to buy voters and starve opponents of access to funds, and most objectionably, the politicisation of ethnic and religious sentiments to divide the people with the sole objective of manipulating the electorate and having an edge.

    This has gone on for far too long with impunity. Many would maintain that the political parties are equal opportunity offenders, but the most daring culprit has always been a party that controls the centre. We don’t have to quibble over this because the evidence is copious from the beginning of the republic. Unfortunately it is getting worse and it is time that reasonable stakeholders, people of goodwill, think seriously about the harm it does to the psyche of the electorate and our long term interest in the deepening of democracy.

    The effectiveness of such odious tactics has always been an issue but it depends on the integrity of citizens and how much they understand the evil that the actions of the politicians do to the system. If they have a good understanding, it also depends further on how much they personalise the actions as an insult to their dignity, itself a factor of education and wellbeing.

    In 2011, candidate Jonathan rode high on the goodwill of the electorate who saw in him a fresh start with a transformation agenda. They also saw him as a victim of a gang-up by a section of the political class. But the honeymoon didn’t last before the realities of federal ineptitude stared citizens in the face. Increased insecurity, increased mass poverty, increased corruption and the regionalisation and spiritualisation of disenchantment have marred the transformation agenda of the president. In the face of these developments, the ruling party has effectively severed the relationship between politics and principles in favour of crude political tactics. Included here are such tactics as the recourse to the politicisation of religion, the manipulation of ethnic sentiments and the deployment of security agents for partisan advantage. So much for transformation!

    The few examples I cited are not unknown to readers. But someone would object that having observed that all political parties are implicated, I chose to scapegoat the ruling party. It is no scapegoating and there is a good reason for taking my samples from the practice of the ruling party. The PDP has ruled the country since the return of civil rule. Since 1999, states and governors have been at the mercy of the centre. The various agencies of government, including the EFCC, Police, Military, etc, have acted under the direction of the President, the leader of the ruling party, or his designee. A truly transformational agenda would have nipped the repulsive practices in the bud. Instead, the proverbial witch has only continued to breed more offspring.

    I have alluded to the common belief that the parties aren’t different and there may be some truth to it. But at the inception of the political parties in 1998, what was true and still is to some extent was that PDP was the party of the military, peopled by characters with no moral scruple about politics and people. They didn’t care about the evil that was visited on the nation post-June 12, 1993; they were into militarised politics and they had a shareholder mentality about politics, including a cut-throat competition for power for material benefits, with no enduring agenda for the common people. Fifteen years later, this leopard has not changed its skin a bit.

    I grieve internally for some of the genuinely decent and humane persons now taking a decision of a lifetime to associate with this group of devourers.

  • Myke Ikokwu gets serious

    IT is that time of the season when men and women with self-belief throw their hats into the wrestling ring of politics. One of the latest entrants is popular socialite, Myke Ikokwu, popularly known as Evangelist. Not that the Imo State-born businessman is a neophyte in the murky waters of politics, but this is the first time he will be testing the might of his goodwill in Imo State.

    The former Chairman of Imo State Tourism Board is one those who control the social scene in the eastern part of the country. His footprints in the entertainment-cum-hospitality industry in that part of the country remain indelible. He is the proud owner of All Seasons Hotel, NV Lounge and Mimi’s Place in the capital city of Owerri.

    The Nkwerre-born socialite made history by ensuring that Imo became the first state to host the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria beauty pageant in 2009, as the pageant was hosted for the first time outside Lagos 22 years after it made its debut through the efforts of the Silverbird Group.

    Only a few weeks ago, Ikokwu, the chairman of Obiron Group, held a consultation dinner at the club, Sheraton Hotel. His exact political destination remains yet unknown. Many say he has his eyes on Governor Rochas Okorocha’s seat while others say he wants to go to the National Assembly. Ikokwu is said to be counting on his popularity in night club business for this end.

  • ‘PDP should stop politics of exclusion’

    ‘PDP should stop politics of exclusion’

    Mr Ahamdi Nweke Emmanuel, former governorship aspirant and chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State, in this interview with journalists in Aba, bares his mind on why the Ukwa Ngwa zone should produce the state’s next governor. Sunny Nwankwo, was there. Excerpts: 

    2015 election is around the corner and Ukwa Ngwa is being touted to take the governorship slot in 2015. What is your take on it?

    Of course, it is right to cede the governorship position to the Ukwa Ngwa area. That had been the position of the governor ever since; right from the declaration and pronouncement he made in April and openly at the Abia Poly pavilion during the reception by the Abia south politicians. He has been repeatedly on record said that he is an advocate of zoning based on the Abia charter of equity and I believe him when he says that.

     Is it really the turn of Ukwa Ngwa to produce the next governor?

    I do not see any contention or confusion whatsoever in the issue of Abia charter of equity or where power should be ceded to at this time.

    The Abia charter of equity as it stands now for all intents and purposes rotates power between the political blocs which is the Old Umuahia; what we now know as Old Bende and Old Aba zone which now know to be Ukwa Ngwa.

    There was of course the issue before Afipko, Ohaozara and the rest of them were ceded to the now Ebonyi state, that there could have been some argument. Isiukwuato on its own is only one local government and could not possibly have become a province.

    So, those who are arguing that I think is part of plot by some people to rewrite what should be done in Abia state and I said that these are people who have no good intention for Abians. Power should be revolved between Old Bende and the Ukwa Ngwa. That is what all have to believed and that is what Abia charter of equity stands for. And of course that is why his Excellency in all his pronouncements previously has said that power should go to Ukwa Ngwa.

    Recently, a prominent son of Ngwa within the Abia Central Senatorial zone made a statement which was published in one of the national dailies saying that the governorship position is going to Abia south and not Ukwa Ngwa. By implication Isiala north and south including Osisioma are “excluded” from contesting the guber race if the person’s statement was anything to go by. Do you subscribe to such individual’s position?

    The pronouncement which you referred to was said to have been made by Elder Adaelu. He has said that he didn’t make those comments and I believe him because I do not believe that someone like him would come out to say [something that may lead to the] disenfranchise of three major local governments (Isiala Ngwa North, Isiala Ngwa South and Osisioma).

    In fact, Elder Adaelu has been with us in the fight, indeed in the forefront of our fight for ceding power to the Ukwa Ngwa people. How and when did he suddenly come out to say that it has become Abia south? That would also be disenfranchising himself because his own local government would be one of those local governments that would be excluded.

    If he did say that and I doubt that he did, what has been promised, why on earth did he say a thing like that? I don’t believe that Elder Adaelu would say anything like that because it would reduce him and his influence within the Ukwa Ngwa area if by any chance he has sold out the very people he is one of the recognized leaders.

    We learnt that Isiala Ngwa is the head of Ngwa land and by virtue of that, if something is coming to Ngwa land for the first time they are supposed to be the people that would benefit first. But from what was reported to have been said by Elder Adaelu, it’s like trying to give that which belong to the first son to somebody else. How do you see that? Yes! We are talking of the governorship of Abia state. I have heard that argument been proffered because Isiala Ngwa north and south are the first born, they should take the plump position before others. That is a very parochial view. That is not the basis upon which I am saying that the rest of Ukwa Ngwa people should be included. We are opening up the contest within the entire Ukwa Ngwa land and let the best of our people win. Who are they afraid of? If their competent people from Ukwa East, Aba North and South, Obingwa, Ugwunagbor, Osisioma, Isiala Ngwa North and South, who is to say that one of them would not emerge? Whose interest is being served by excluding these three local governments (Isiala north and south and Osisioma)? That is the question one should ask. Elder Adaelu has been one of the advocates of the Ukwa Ngwa governorship whom we fought against the previous administration when we all supported Enyinnaya Abaribe. We all fought including elder Adaelu on the basis of Ukwa Ngwa. When did he suddenly change? Some people are arguing that the governor said that he is a product of rotation and therefore Abia central has gone, as a matter of fact, the governor is not a product of rotation at all. If anything, the governor’s emergence as the governor messed up rotation based on Abia charter of equity. Abia charter of equity rotates power between the old Bende and Ukwa Ngwa. The current tenure of the governor has made it two times to old Bende when Ukwa Ngwa hasn’t had slot at all. When he (Governor Orji) contested, it wasn’t that we are giving it to the Abia central that was never the argument.

    On what argument did you people allow the governor to run? There was a lot of acrimony within the PDP, Peoples Democratic Party when he came back on his second tenure and that was seen as the way of ensuring that everyone comes back together within the fold and have a sitting governor who wasn’t going to re-contest fresh election coming in to go for the second time. When he went for the first, he wasn’t a PDP governor. The zoning if it was then done was PPA, Progressive Peoples Alliance (his former party). So to argue that PDP was zoning power based on senatorial districts, nothing could be farther from the truth than that. His Excellency, Governor T.A Orji is not a product of PDP or any other party’s rotation of power on senatorial districts. As at the time he was contesting, I contested the very first tenure he went for in 2007 election. everyone one had agreed it was Ukwa Ngwa agitation, everyone had agreed it was going to the Ukwa area as at then but it didn’t stop our brothers including Isiukwuato of course from contesting the election as at that time.

    At what point did you think that Ngwa people missed producing an Ngwa governor as at then?

    I know that PDP then as a party actually supported an Ukwa Ngwa candidate even though an Ukwa Ngwa person didn’t emerge. That’s the whole thing about these suggestions that are being made. It is good to make them and follow them through but anything can happen. This is politics, it is an election. As at that time, the PDP supported candidate was Okezie Iheanacho Orji. You will remember that who emerged from the PDP even though that the party as a party had suggested Okezie Iheanacho Orji, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu emerged within the PDP. And that is what we are saying, now that everyone; all the stakeholders including the governor as the leader of the party, it is not for him only to decide where it will go. His view is a persuasive direction and it ends as only a persuasive direction. What will play out in the end will be more of the party; the party chairman and other PDP stakeholders will have a final say in that. He is only giving guidance and we believe him when he said that the guidance was going to go to the Ukwa Ngwa.

     

  • Money politics in Cross River?

    SIR: Despite the fact that the tenure of most of the current elected political gladiators will not end until May 29, 2015, the race to get political relevance in the post-2015 political dispensation has already gathered momentum. More than half of the present elected governors across the 36 states of the federation would not be eligible to contest for governorship offices in 2015 as they would have expended two terms of four years each as governors of their respective states as provided for in the constitution. One of such states is Cross River, where Senator Liyel Imoke has presided as governor since May 29, 2007. The fact that Imoke has been acclaimed as one of the most impressive governors in Nigeria since the current political dispensation makes him a very important factor in the race for the 2015 diadem at Diamond Hill, Calabar.

    Yet as they say, all manner of knives are invited to an elephant’s funeral, the race in Cross River State is not short of all shades of characters. One name that has continued to make appearance on the list of candidates declaring interest in the governorship in the state is Goddy Jeddy Agba. Even without formally declaring for the exalted position, the man is said to have started throwing money about. Indeed, there was a lot of buzz in the state last December with claims that Agba was dishing out millions of naira to all the chapter chairmen of the PDP.

    Even before picking his party’s ticket, he has started producing souvenirs like mugs advertising himself. Much as several hangers-on would like to identify with someone who calls himself a reigning “Billionaire” in town, just for the complex politics of the stomach, not many have bothered to ask who Goddy Agba is. Other politicians from the northern part of the state (where the governorship slot has been zoned to) who are interested in the contest have granted interviews to the popular press to sell their plans, ideas and worldviews. This is to enable the electorate know them and study their respective programmes in order for them to make intelligent and alternative choices. Agba has done none of the above.

    The only known identity Goddy Agba has is that he worked with the NNPC where he was in charge of the lifting of Nigerian crude oil to the international markets. What was he before he joined the NNPC as an employee?

    If Agba is to stand any chance, his campaigners who are currently interested in what they can get from him, must change their strategy. Presently all they do is abuse and insult people with contrary opinion to him. A case in point was the unbelievable claim by the state chairman of the PDP, Ntufam John Okon that Agba was not a card-carrying member of his party. The reaction of Dr Sandy Onoh, the Director-General of Agba’s campaign organisation was very uncouth.

    The truth is that Cross Riverians need to know who Goddy Agba is beyond being a money bag. Rather than spend time insulting people with contrary opinions to theirs, or second guessing the incumbent administration which is on its way out, can Agba’s handlers unveil their blueprint if at all they have any?

    If he is a democrat as the jesters and political jobbers hacking around his court would have us believe, why are they attacking people with contrary views on him? Recent events have shown that media fireworks don’t translate to votes in an open election.

    Stupendous wealth also does not guarantee success in a free and fair election, especially in a state with a long history of an enlightened culture like cross River State. The people of Cross River State do not kowtow to pressure from money politics. It is alien to us.

     

    • Barister Obasesam Eyong,

    Abuja

     

  • Photo: Aregbesola’s rally

    Photo: Aregbesola’s rally

  • The problem with politics

    The problem with politics

    In this part of the world where looking an elder in the eye is an aberration, girls are still considered the ‘lesser’ sex, cows are esteemed as sacred by a particular tribe, 200 children are abducted without cause and where in the 21st century, the First Lady of my country is berated for crying on national television *sic* I dare say there is a fundamental flaw in the design of the fabric of our thought pattern as regards all things politics.

    This might come across as a random thought leaning on the edge of jibby-jaber but there’s a fleck of validity here. Let take a second to analyze the situation.

    Since economic inequality is such a big theme in the grand blueprint of national campaign, it’s amazing to watch in bewilderment as successive democratic governments since 1999 have consistently tried to sell us the idea that this ‘situation’ is the sort that can be eradicated.

    It can’t…and here’s why: In your spare time, take a cursory look at the family structure, which serves as the foundational unit upon which society is built. Ever observed how during meal times, one particular kid (the favourite child usually) gets a larger portion of the feast over and above all the others who are left to contend with the leftovers? All is well as long as everyone is fine with this arrangement; try to make a fuss over it and you are unconsciously cast out in the cold until you align. This is economic inequality at its finest and a flawed political ploy by most parents to secure the affection of said child with the hope of safeguarding a comfortable future in old age. How are other children who watch this emotional abuse go on unchecked believe there is any use for justice in the world?

    It is also at this level that we are trained to accept the reality that some people will always have the capacity to get away with any crime. For example, in many families, it is a natural phenomenon for the child with the sleekest tongue and cheekiest smile to get away with anything…and I mean ANYTHING! The boy dips his hand in the cookie jar in mum’s absence without fear because he knows that when he’s caught, all he has to do is smile. All the other sharp kids quickly learn that to survive in life; you must master the art of manipulating your way through every situation. Right there, the decadent seed of corruption is sown in their lives. Good politics flies out the window.

    Conclusively, have you heard any human being with great political inclinations tell the undiluted truth without an allusion to personal gain? … Almost never! It’s a tool for self-preservation we learn as kids when we deny committing a crime so as to dodge the heavy whooping and konking our African progenitors are wont to dish us if we state otherwise.

    Having said all this, we find that the problems with our perception and application of political tenets are fundamentally structural – habits, lessons and experiences we are exposed to as children; at a time we are most vulnerable and by the people we ought to trust the most – our parents and guardians.

    We can’t fix this misnomer by screaming for better leadership at the national level, it’s often too late at that point but the errors can be rectified if we, who now know better, vow to sit up and raise better children under egalitarian circumstances with the vision of a healthier future in mind.

    Ohai, a journalist reports business, health and gender news as well as blogs at www.ritaohai.blog.com

  • Nursing students review role in politics

    The role of nursing students in politics was the heart of discussion at a seminar held last week at the University of Benin (UNIBEN).

    A guest speaker, Prof Adenike Ojo of the Department of Nursing Science, said if the students could be involved in politics, problems facing the profession would be solved.

    Prof Adenike, who spoke on The Nurse and contemporary politics, highlighted the challenges facing the profession.

    He decried the rivalry between nurses and community health workers, who were assuming the role of nurses in rural areas. He urged nurses to accept others without prejudice, adding that the competition for supremacy among nurses was hindering progress of the profession.

    Dr A. Osasuyi of the Department of Nursing Sciences, Delta  State University, Abraka, spoke on the causes and effect of peptic ulcer.

    Dr Osasuyi stated that government must provide employment for the population, adding that the major cause of the disease was hunger.

    Highpoint of the event was the launch of the Nigeria Universities Nursing Students Association (NUNSA) Almanac.

    Awards were later presented to deserving staff of the department including Dr F. E. Okafor, Mrs Bolaji Osagie and Dr Florence Adeyemo.

    Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE, Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, praised the department for organising the seminar.

    “I have listened to the agitations of the nursing students of which the issue of internship for graduates of nursing topped the list. I will take their agitations to the floor of the National Assembly for deliberation,” he stated.

    The Head of Department of Nursing Sciences, UNIBEN, xx, called on the Federal Government to consider the plight of nursing students, stating that graduates of nursing be  allowed to undergo a one year internship like their colleagues in the medical and dental disciplines.

    He lauded the management of the university for supporting the growth of nursery education in Nigeria.

    “Most of our achievements are tied to the developmental strides of our Vice-Chancellor, Prof Osayiuki Oshodin. Upon his assumption of office, we lacked accreditation. His effort succeeded in our moving to a permanent site and procurement of learning materials. During the last accreditation exercise, the accreditation team was impressed by the level of infrastructural development in the department. “

    The seminar which held at the lecture theatre II of the School of Basic Medical Sciences had in attendance participants from the Igbinedion University, Okada and Delta State University, Abraka.

  • Nasarawa Assembly serves Al-Makura impeachment notice

    Nasarawa Assembly serves Al-Makura impeachment notice

    Lawmakers at the Nasarawa State House of Assembly Monday passed a motion directing the clerk of the House to serve Governor Umaru Tanko Al)Makura with an impeachment notice.
    Sixteen of the 24 members rushed back from an ongoing recess and held a plenary session that lasted only about 12 minutes where they discussed only one item – the impeachment process, which was raised under Matters of Public Interest.
    The House said the impeachment process became necessary after a report of a recent probe by an adhoc comnittee of the House indicted AlMakura over alleged “gross misconduct” and “Abuse of Office.”
    Twenty of the 24 members; all of them members of the PDP signed the impeachment.
    The House resolved and directed the clerk to process and to serve the Governor with an impeachment notice, and to copy the judiciary to commence judicial processes towards the planned impeachment.
    Speaker Musa Ahmed Mohammed who explained the urgency and importance of the issue recalled members back from the recess, did not however say when the House will return for further deliberations on the matter.

    The session held as the state was awaiting the arrival of President Goodluck Jonathan who is in the state to commission a farm owned by a foreign investor.