The Nation Newspaper

Tag: President Goodluck Jonathan

  • Jonathan’s foster father released

    Chief Inengite Nitabai, the kidnapped septuagenarian uncle and foster father to former President Goodluck Jonathan has been released by his abductors.

    Details of his release were still sketchy at the time of filing this report.

    Nitabai, the former university lecturer, who was kidnapped on February 17, was said to have regained his freedom on Tuesday evening.

    A security source, Nitabai, a community leader in Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, was freed and had re-united with his family.

    The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Asinim Butswat confirmed the development but said he had no details.

     

  • APC, PDP must accept blame for Rivers Killings – Okupe 

    The leaderships of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party must accept blame for the killings in Rivers Rerun election, a former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, has said.

    Okupe, who condemned the killings, also called on the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission as well as the security to take the blame for the deaths.

    “The scale of violence that accompanied the Rivers Re run elections is condemnable and unacceptable. All principal participants must accept responsibility for this intolerable acts savagery. By all principals I mean, PDP, APC and their leaderships, the INEC, and the entire gamut of our security agencies,” he said in a post on his Facebook page.

    He noted that the destruction of lives and properties that have accompanied Nigeria’ selections in varying degrees this year was no longer excusable.

    According to Okupe, the frequent deaths of citizens, electoral officials, members of the security forces have assumed highly barbaric proportions.

    He also condemned the reported death of a Youth Corps member engaged during the rerun election in the state.

    Okupe said: “As a Nigerian parent whose children will still go through this national calling, I cease this opportunity to call on other Nigerian parents and well meaning Nigerians to prevail on INEC to stop with immediate effect the deployment of our children for electoral services.

    “We can no longer bear the pain of losing our wards to mindless acts of lawlessness by thugs and hooligans acting for and on behalf of reckless, desperate and irresponsible politicians and power mongers.

    “INEC stands accused in all this dastardly developments. Before going into an election in any volatile area they ought to obtain full security reports of the area in question and also confer with the police and the army to get written assurance that they can guarantee the security of electoral materials and officers.

    “Firstly it is unacceptable that INEC will still be involved in moving electoral materials all over the place on Election Day. All materials for election must arrive all LGA headquarters two weeks before Election Day.

    “They must arrive all wards one whole week before elections, only to be moved to the polling stations accompanied by security in the morning of the elections. All personnel including security should be at the wards at least 2days before the elections and be familiarized with their areas of duty and their security details before the D Day.

    “In special volatile areas like Rivers and others as to be advised by police and the intelligence agencies, a minimum of five armed personnel per polling station with availability of standby re enforcement in each LGA quarters. If it is impossible for any reason that these provisions can be made available, elections in such areas must be deferred.

    “In the case of this re run in Rivers, INEC the main organ empowered by our laws to conduct and oversee elections ought to have correctly projected these events and prevented it by breaking the elections into two episodes separated by one week. It is not acceptable for INEC, after its publicly manifested incompetence, to just come up after each mayhem, technical and administrative failure, and announce gleefully that the elections are “Inconclusive”.‎

    “If the present leadership in INEC is incompetent, the federal government should not waste time and continue to expose the citizenry to misery and pain. The entire organization should be overhauled. The security agencies must keep their roles to their professional calling. Voting and the processes that are before or after it are not their business.

    “Politicians, thugs and all persons involved directly or indirectly in acts of violence should be tried and if found guilty should be sanctioned with punishments ranging from death sentences to life imprisonment depending on their level of involvement.

    “For the next re run in Rivers, Gov Wike, and Amaechi and at least ten of their proven closest aides must be moved out of Rivers state into protective custody, deprived of their phones for a day before the new elections and on the day of elections. Enough of violence in our elections.”

     

  • Dasukigate: Why Jonathan should face trial – Ndume

    Dasukigate: Why Jonathan should face trial – Ndume

    Senate Majority Leader, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, Thursday said that former President Goodluck Jonathan should face trial if he covertly instigated the sharing of $2.1billion given to former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, to buy arms.

    He also said that Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, should be held responsible for any breakdown of law and order in the state.

    Ndume who spoke to reporters in Abuja noted that if Jonathan who approved $2.1 billion for the purchase of arms turned back to give directive secretly that the money should be shared among his cronies, he should be prosecuted.

    He said, “I do not want to dabble into that being one of the victims of the insurgency. My house was taken over by insurgents and my town was declared a caliphate of the insurgents. My Emir was killed while these people were smiling to the banks with the money that was meant to buy arms and ammunition.

    “It was for lack of ammunition that the Nigerian Armed Forces had to run away.

    “As far as I am concerned, these people are living on blood money, the blood of so money innocent citizens of this country particularly from the North East.

     “No justice is too much for them, nobody is supposed to be spared. Because the case is judicial and I am not a lawyer to determine who should be brought to book, what I am saying is that justice should be served.

    “Over 10,000 people have lost their lives, at one time you could see my people were slaughtered like chickens and the reason why this happened was because our army was not equipped and not well kitted.

    “And somebody made away with the money meant for the procurement of arms and ammunition.

    “I am not defending President Jonathan but he approved that this money be used for procurement of arms. So if the law says he should be part of those that should be part of the accountability or those that should face justice, I think nobody should be spared.

    “I really don’t want to make comment on that but anybody that is involved in that blood money should be held responsible.

    “If the President approved that money in the name of buying arms while giving a directive that it should be shared among his cronies, then he should face the law.

    “If anybody is supposed to buy arms and you gave them money to buy arms, as the president, after some time you should ask `where are the arms anyway.”

    Let me add and clearly that is my position, if because of this or any other criminality Jonathan should face the law, he should, I did, I am facing the law.

    “Nobody is supposed to be above the law, if Jonathan is a culprit he should face the law: if there is evidence that the former president should face the law then he should. After all, he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

    On the trial of the Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, by Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), he said that the issue is being blown out of proportion.

    Ndume wondered why his own trial on allegation of being a Boko Haram sponsor, is not getting the kind of attention Saraki’s trial by the CCT is receiving.

    He said, “Do you know that I am still in court on a more serious issue.

    “The President of the Senate is in court for assets declaration but I am in court for a more serious issue that I am alleged to be a sponsor of Boko Haram

    “I have been in court for four years so why is it not an issue.

    “I have not complained, it is not a big deal. I am still the Leader of the Senate and my role is as important as that of the President of the Senate but it is not a big deal.

    “Why are you making his own case a big deal? I think the Nigerian press trivializes things, dramatises issues, and concentrates on events and personalities instead of ideas: does that help us?”

    The killings going on in Rivers State, Ndume said that Governor Wike should be held responsible for any breakdown of law and order in the state.

    He noted that as the Chief Security Officer of the state, Wike should on top of situation in his state.

    The Senate, he said, has always “condemned what is happening severally, not just in Rivers but anything that is happening that has to do with loss of lives and criminality we stand to condemn it.”

  • We will refund Nigeria’s confiscated funds – Zuma

    We will refund Nigeria’s confiscated funds – Zuma

    The South African President, Jacob Zuma has said that his government will ensure that the monies confiscated by South African government during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan are returned to Nigeria.

    The South African leader made this known on Tuesday while addressing journalists after the bilateral talks with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    According to him, the Nigerian and South African governments have joined efforts on the matter and that the relevant structures were already recovering some of the loot.

    Similarly, Zuma told Journalists that investigations were ongoing to ensure that anything that was illegally taken to South Africa would be returned.

    When asked about the issue of xenophobia, Zuma described it as unfortunate, promising to address it once and for all.

    His words: “Africans should realise that they are the same and should avoid conflicts and attacks on each other”

  • Tension in Edo PDP over non disbursement of election fund

    Tension in Edo PDP over non disbursement of election fund

    The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo state heightened Tuesday following the revelation by members of the party that the leadership of the party in the state led by Chief Dan Orbih allegedly received the sum of N500million for the presidential election of former President Goodluck Jonathan without the knowledge of leaders of the party.

    Nation gathered that the money which is part of the N2.1 billion which was shared by the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, was said to have been paid into the account of the Edo state PDP through Hartman Company, belonging to the former chairman BOT of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih.

    Nation was reliably informed that the matter which is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) led the commission to contact the Orbih led Executive if such amount was received in the state.

    It was learnt that in their reply to the Commission, the party Executive agreed that the said amount was received and was disbursed to party Executives and leaders across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state for the Jonathan Campaign.

    The revelation angered both some members of the state Exco of PDP and party leaders who expressed shock that they never knew that such money came. And that was part of the reasons why most of the leaders called for the removal of the Orbih led Exco.

    A leader of the party in the state, who spoke to Nation, “said we are petitioning the EFCC to also investigate how the money was disbursed in Edo state because we never knew about the money until we learnt from Orbih’s response to the EFCC that the money was received. So they should tell us who they gave the money to. We will formally address the media on this issue.”

  • Jonathan’s ex-aide Kuku loses bid to stop arrest

    Jonathan’s ex-aide Kuku loses bid to stop arrest

    The Federal High Court in Lagos Wednesday dismissed an application by a Special Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta Affairs, Kingsley Kuku, from arresting him.

    Kuku had urged the court to restrain anti-corruption agencies from arresting and prosecuting him over allegations of corruption.

    But, Justice Okon Abang held that the application lacked merit.

    “This application lacks merit and is hereby dismissed. I so hold,” said the judge.

    Justice Abang refused Kuku’s prayer to stop the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Department of State Services (DSS) from arresting and probing him.

    The judge, however, said should Kuku be arrested, he should not be detained beyond 48 hours.

    Justice Abang said detaining Kuku beyond 48 hours would be in contravention of Section 35(4)(5) of the 1999 Constitution.

    According to the judge, ‎EFCC has a statutory obligation to investigate Kuku over alleged financial impropriety.

    The court also held that the anti-graft agency has the right to arrest Kuku if he refuses to honour invitation.

    The judge disagreed with the submission that any move to invite Kuku was politically motivated.

    After assuming jurisdiction in the case, Justice Abang held: ‎”It is in my humble view that the invitation sent to the applicant is lawful and constitutional.

    “The court cannot stop a statutory institution from performing it constitutional duty.”

    The court, however, restrained the respondents from arresting the applicant unlawfully, noting that his arrest must follow due process.

    Kuku sued the Attorney-General of the Federation, EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the DSS and the Nigerian Immigration Service.

    He alleged there was “a plot by the respondents to concoct, fabricate or falsify evidence in order to provide a basis for the arrest, detention, persecution and/or prosecution of the applicant (Kuku) for political reasons…”

    According to him, it was “in furtherance of the unconscionable use of the otherwise laudable war against corruption to repress the political opposition constituted by the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), including the applicant.”

    Kuku sought a declaration that any such invitation, arrest, harassment or prosecution on the basis of allegations of corruption in respect of his tenure as Chairman of the Amnesty Programme between 2011 and 2015 is a breach of his right to fair hearing and freedom of movement.

    Similarly, he sought an order prohibiting the respondents from arresting or prosecuting him on the basis of the allegations.

    The Auditor-General of the Federation had raised questions over alleged mismanagement of funds in reports of audit monitoring and evaluation of the amnesty programme.

    Kuku’s lawyer Mr Ajibola Oluyede said the respondents were about to abuse the criminal process by seeking to arrest his client.

    “There is an illegal and unjustifiable intigation of the criminal process against the applicant in a manner that infringes upon his fundamental rights enshrined in Chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution,” he said.

    But the AGF’s and IGP’s counsel, Mr Tijani Gazali, urged the court to dismiss Kuku’s application.

    He said Kuku was only invited to clear allegations of corruption against him, adding that there was no plot to violate his rights.

    “We only invited him to ensure his right to fair hearing. It was only an invitation. Instead, he has run to the court to be conferred with immunity so as not to be investigated. He was invited so as to tell his own side of the story,” Gazali said.

  • DasukiGate: Justice must prevail in citizen’s interest – ACLN

    DasukiGate: Justice must prevail in citizen’s interest – ACLN

    The Association for Credible Leadership in Nigeria (ACLN) has expressed support for the ongoing anti-graft campaign led by the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

    The association also salutes the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for unraveling the level of involvement of some notable individuals in the arms deal, which has somewhat incapacitated the Nigerian military from properly prosecuting the Boko Haram terrorism in North-Eastern Nigeria.

    ACLN expressed their support in a statement, commending the EFCC for being able to expose the corruption in Nigeria, especially among senior citizens without fear or favour. “This shows to us that the government is on the right cause against corruption,” the group said.

    The statement reads; “this is also a confirmation that the current administration empowers institutions and not individuals unlike past administration in the country.

    “It is rather sad for the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Dasuki Sambo (rtd.), who should be leading the battle against Boko Haram insurgents to be found leading the team of corrupt politicians who cared less about an average citizen. What sort of advice was he rendering the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

    “The implications of what Dasuki did include portraying Nigeria and her citizens in a bad light of terrorism before the international community, killing of several innocent souls, as well as squandering national funds which is largely average citizen’s tax money.

    “No doubt, considering the state of infrastructures in the country, the diverted US$2 billion dollars (N13 billion) would have helped to an extent in advancing the course of building Nigeria.

    “The ACLN condemn the wicked act of Col. Dasuki as well as Chief Raymond Dokpesi of Africa Independent Television (AIT) and others involved in the arms deal who are yet to be exposed.

    “We believe like many other logical persons will agree that such callous act is responsible for the further escalation of the war against terrorism in the Country.”

    According to the association, the Nigerian Army, who have tried in terms of manpower despite losing gallant war men to such a petty battle, would have been in control of the battle and secure Nigeria’s territories if they were better equipped.

    “Similarly, the death of these soldiers who were not given adequate weapon to withstand the firepower of the Sect, the killings and kidnapping of innocent and vulnerable citizens (women and kids), who would not have experience such if adequate funding have been made available to the army, all call for justice,” the group added.

    The ACLN urge the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to allow the rule of law prevail as everyone indicted in the deal must be made to face the full weight of the law and ensure that all looted funds are recovered.

    “At this stage of the revelations of the arms deal, the United Nations’ judicial organ, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and all other relevant international authorities may need to step in, to ensure that judgement is not manipulated in Nigeria.

    “We are saying this because despite the magnitude of the effect of the deal and the caliber of persons involved, the Federal High Court sitting at Maitama, Abuja granted bail to Dasuki, the former Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission (NNPC), ‎Aminu Baba-Kusa‎ and three others, to the tune of N250 million each, while all accused persons have suddenly developed strange health issues for which they are attempting to flee the country.

    “What we are saying is that if justice must be done, such penalty is too meager for an offence that has not only claimed the lives of thousands of Nigerians, Niger, Cameroon and Chad have also suffered casualties.

    “The ACLN consider this as a shame on the past administrations for painting such a wicked picture of leadership for the younger generation of Nigerians. Thus, if judgement is not properly melted out, there are chances of today’s youths treading the same path in few years time.

    “We therefore call on the National Assembly to work with President Buhari in overhauling the Nigerian law, if the fight against corrupt practices must be won in the country,” the association noted.

    [news_box style=”2″ display=”tag” link_target=”_blank” tag=”Dasuki, Dokpesi” count=”8″ show_more=”on” show_more_type=”link”]

  • Court sacks PDP acting chair, Secondus

    Court sacks PDP acting chair, Secondus

    • Orders Secondus to vacate office in 14 days

    Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf of the High Court of the Federal Territory (FCT), Maitama, Abuja has sacked the Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus.

    The judge, in a judgment in a suit by former Political Adviser to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Ahmed Gulak, held that Secondus was occupying the party’s Chairmanship seat illegally.

    Justice Baba-Yusuf noted that Secondus was from Rivers State, and not North-east geopolitical zone to which the PDP zoned the position.

    He gave Secondus 14 days within which to vacate the office and directed that the plaintiff or any other party member worthy of that position should take Secondus’ place.

    Lawyer to the PDP and Secondus, Chuwan Isaiah Paul, said the party will appeal the judgment and seek a stay of its execution to allow the party’s  current leadership prepare for its national convention slated for March next year.

    Justice Baba-Yusuf upheld rejected argument by Secondus and PDP (listed as defendants in the suit) that Gulak lacked the locus standing to initiate the suit having allegedly defaulted in the payment of party’s due.

    The judge also rejected the defendants’ argument that Gulak failed to explore the party’s internal mechanism for dispute resolution before approaching the court.

    The judge had, on November 30 reserved judgment in the case after entertaining argument from parties.

    Gulak had argued that Secondus was occupying the position illegally. He contended that by virtue of the provision of Article 47(6) of the party’s constitution, “the 2nd defendant (Secondus) form Rivers State, cannot replace the immediate past Chairman, Alhaji Muazu, who left office about seven months ago.

    He faulted the defendants’ claim that the party’s elders were working on a process to ensure a replacement for Muazu by next March,

    Gulak argued that it was unlawful and a breach of the party’s constitutional provisions for Secondus to hold office for over seven months in Acting capacity and refuse to allow a member form the geo-political zone where the last chairman came from to replace him.

  • Lame

    Lame

    Among his many acts of notoriety in recent memory, Nyesom Wike’s more memorable absurdity concerned the judiciary. Not the recent shellacking from the tribunal at the weekend. Of course, it was a major one as it signals the beginning of the end of an infamy.

    The story concerns a visit to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He was not an august visitor, and very curiously he kept it a secret that he was not welcome into that majestic vault of justice. But as things sometimes happen in the comic flow of Nigerian politics, it burst into the open air.

    His excuse? That he wanted to pay a visit to the supreme man of law in the country without any form of notification. This column lashed out at him, and noted that he lacked the wisdom, savoir-faire and temperament to be governor.

    He knew he had a case in court. His so-called election as governor was under adjudication by officers under the control of the man. Yet he tried to sneak a visit on him.

    A man who did not understand the obstacle of conflict of interest in such high office as governor was a small foot in a large shoe. But how could we blame him? Under his former boss and President Goodluck Jonathan, he wrote the script of recklessness. He was in cahoots with Mama Peace to turn the state into a classic swath of anarchy, undermining the governor, supporting gangsters, whipping up tribal antipathy and stoking the flames of blood and death.

    When April 11 came, this column knew that it was going to be a difficult proposition to witness an election. A nightmarish parody of it alone stood tall in the imagination of expectation.

    Barely four hours into the polls, I placed calls to persons I knew lived in town, some journalists and others conscientious observers. “This is not an election,” said one of them in horror. “It is war.” “I have never seen anything like this in my life,” said another. “How did Nigeria turn this way?” asked a third.

    The facts were confirmed by many news reports. Yet, when the Independent National Electoral Commission amassed its data, it affirmed Wike as governor. That was the tragedy of it. The law, as we know it, allowed Attahiru Jega to declare as legitimate what was palpably evil. The devil wore the toga of saint and the heavens said amen.

    For all his heroics and defiance of the Jonathan crowd, Jega actually presided over a flawed system. It is a pity that he appended his signature to the bloodstained victories. He pled helplessness. He could not contradict the resident electoral officers or their subordinates.

    But as a moral being, I expect him to have raised a righteous voice over the permissiveness of our law. He should have told us that the law has made many saints devil and vice versa. He should have explained his constraints. He should have come out as an exemplar of complaint about a law that sanctified the wrong while the right sulked in silence. He had often said the right thing was to go to tribunals. We experienced this during the Anambra State governorship poll. If he kept mute in office, he should have screamed out of it.

    It left all those who know the truth to wonder aloud in a parody of Shylock in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, “Is that the law?”

    It took the court, not the electoral process, to tell the truth about Wike and his false victory. Meanwhile Wike had taken over office and inaugurated a regime of revanchism. He wanted Amaechi’s head. He had to dig up something, set up a committee, rile his predecessor with whom he was friend and partner, and on whose back he rose and the same back he stabbed.

    Knowing that Amaechi no longer had immunity, Wike launched an attack of impunity with a view to unearthing impurity. Whose impurity? Wike’s or Amaechi’s? The goal was to anoint himself and send Amaechi to hell. Hell also meant he would not be minister. Well, he has stumbled twice. Within a week, he has failed to win in legislature and judiciary. Amaechi’s ministerial screening is going well in the Senate and Wike just lost his gubernatorial dreams in the court. That means he may be kicked out of the executive soon. Montesquieu’s theory of separation of powers seems to be on song. The three branches seem to be working in partnership to decouple Wike and his wiles from the seat of power.

    A few fireworks rang through the media waves in the wake of the tribunal verdict. Wike is appealing, and he would fight the battle to the end. So he now knows the value of rule of law. He should have asked his supporters to do so on April 11, and the result, whichever way it went, would have been clear to all. “To obey is better than sacrifice,” said the good book. We have gone through a lot of sacrifice to get here. Many have died, confidence in our system shaken, lots of resources splurged that should go to somewhere else.

    It seemed victory is about to repeat itself. In the case of Amaechi, one Owu chief said his case had K-leg. I think citizens with knocked knee are good looking and they should have caviled at the man for a slur about their physical condition. Any way, justice and law loved the lineament of K-leg and it won the beauty contest. Hence Amaechi became governor.

    Peterside Dakaku, the APC candidate, may well be the second coming of the beauty contest. He has won round won. Once the bikini contest is over, we shall know that both contestants have nothing to hide from the crowns of their heads to the soles of their feet. And the winner will waltz gracefully to the crown.

    It may then be a sort of invocation of the title of one of the great works of short fiction by Flannery O’connor: “The lame shall enter first.” First can be defined in two ways. It could mean the lame shall enter first before the whole enters. Which means the moral lameness of Wike enters first, so a whole Dakuku’s whole enters later. The first, as Christ said, shall be the last. The second interpretation may be the lame shall enter first, meaning the top position. The lame here could stand for the oppressed in the same the way OBJ described Amaechi’s K-leg. In either case, it’s Dakuku’s hope. So will Wike cope?

  • A tale of two states

    A tale of two states

    Perspicacious Ekitis, if any remains at all, should ask themselves where El Rufai got  the tens of  billions he is going to spend providing free education in Kaduna State but Fayose must inflict this punishment on poor Ekiti parents.

    On these pages last Sunday, I showed how President Goodluck Jonathan, eager to ensure his own victory at the 2015 Presidential election, suborned the entire Nigerian army to rig the 2014 Ekiti gubernatorial election for candidate Ayo Fayose of the PDP. As should be expected with an order from the Commander-in-Chief, Major-General Kenneth Tobiah Minimah, the Army Chief of Staff, a Cross Riverian, unerringly delivered Ekiti to Ayo Fayose. Since his ‘victory’ and inauguration on October 15, 2014, Governor Fayose has shown abundantly, that he is a product of the gun, and not of the ballot box, no matter how many times he repeats 16:0, 20: 0. He can, of course, take consolation in the fact that he is ruling over an awe-struck, fawning and adoring Ekiti people. Concerning this emerging Ekiti sociology which tramples all the qualities everybody once knew Ekiti for, some young researchers must show interest in what is certain to be a rewarding academic exertion.

    Two momentous events happened this past week. The first: concerned with education and how it has plummeted in Ekiti under governors who did not deliberately encourage cheating at public examinations as we  learnt in the course of the sittings of the Fayemi Education Task force, governor Fayose took the decisive decision of conveying a 3-hour education Summit under the lead of a highly respected monarch, a former Chief Justice of the state who cannot  be described  as a novice in matters of Education. Fayose evidently needed such a highly regarded Oba to lean on even if his intentions were not pure.  Then the second, in faraway Kaduna State,  in those far flung places where those of us in these parts humour  ourselves into foolishly believing they know nothing, the new governor of example, the stormy petrel, no nonsense and,  take no prisoners Nasir  El Rufai,  literally re-invented the wheel. It is not that fees had ever been a major part of the school architecture in the North, but here, indeed, was a John the Baptist, in the depth of his free education programme.

    Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai is an educated governor.  He could have read any of Medicine, Engineering, or Chemical Engineering and he, indeed, had a scholarship from the Kaduna Polytechnic to read Mining Engineering at the Camborne School of mines in the U.K which he declined and opted, instead, to read Quantity Surveying at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.  Nobody will therefore be surprised that he appreciates the value of education and its place in the development of a people, state or nation. There was no way he could have introduced school fees in Kaduna State.  I quote below, how newspapers reported what El-Rufai did in Kaduna State in this regard: “The Kaduna State government yesterday instituted free education across all government owned primary and junior secondary schools in the state. According to the state Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai who announced this, his administration would spend N9 billion annually on free feeding of over one million primary school pupils. He further stated that the free education in junior secondary school will gulp N600 million yearly noting that the programme will save parents N3.7 billion for them to channel to other family demands. He added that, 5,000 tailors would be engaged to sew free uniforms which will be distributed to pupils across the state. He mentioned that,  (not  surprisingly) the free education introduced by the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration in the state was a fraud to milk parents dry as the programme did not work.”

    And what did governor Fayose do in Ekiti, leveraging on his 3-hour Education Summit? Here, I must say that we have variations. While his spokesperson gave some ludicrous figures of   N2, 400 and N3000 per term for primary and secondary schools respectively, figures for which Fayose would never even as much as consider a minute’s summit, parents of new secondary school students claim they had been asked to pay N35, 000, besides the cost of   chairs, desks, bags, school uniforms and books that the parents will have to bear. Even if N2400 per term is correct for primary schools, you are still talking of a lot of money for some parents. Add to that, the cost of chairs, desks, books etc.

    These patently illegal charges will not stand in Ekiti as long as the Lord liveth. Some concerned individuals are already working at calling governor Fayose’s attention to the provisions of the Universal Child’s Rights Act, already domesticated in the state and they may, if he refuses to withdraw the charges, head to court. The Act sets out to “Empower our children with Children’s Rights Education so that they can build a global culture of respect for human rights as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child. Then each child can fully develop into critically literate, rights- respecting citizen who will collaborate with others to uphold human rights and question the root causes of social injustice in the pursuit of global peace.”

    Besides that act is the UBEC Law, flagged off 29, September 1999, by President Olusegun Obasanjo and being executed by the government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to eradicate illiteracy, ignorance and poverty as well as stimulate and accelerate national development, political consciousness and national integration. By the law, years 1-9 of schooling in Nigeria is free of all charges as the federal government intends to make it a world class education intervention and regulatory agency for qualitative and functional basic education in Nigeria, and one which will operate as a monitoring agency to progressively improve the capacity of states, local government agencies and communities in the provision of unfettered access to high qualitative basic education in Nigeria. It also has the objective of providing unfettered access to nine (9) years of formal basic education which will be FREE to every Nigerian child.

    I have gone all this length just in case the governor or even the summit acted out of ignorance of these extant provisions. I shall not be surprised, however, if Governor Fayose knows all these but still decides to use all manner of nomenclature to rake in some free money he could spend without question. Perspicacious Ekitis, if any remains at all, should ask themselves where El Rufai got  the tens of  billions he is going to spend providing free education in Kaduna State but Fayose must inflict this punishment on poor  Ekiti parents.

    Fayose revokes Ayo Orebe’s house

    In a classical case of the son being punished for the sins of the father, governor Ayo Fayose this past week revoked my son – Ayo Orebe’s sale agreement with the Ekiti Housing Corporation all because, as chairman of the tenants’ association he, with the executive, went to court when the governor barricaded their homes, he with a 3 day old baby. Fayose wants the case withdrawn to give him a free hand to send them packing. This, in spite of Ayo, a banker, paying monthly to his primary mortgage institution and the governor rejecting the tenants’ payment terms of N30, 000.00k per month.  My family is happy that  the ‘Daramola Option’ hasn’t been contemplated. But even then, he who the gods will destroy, they first make mad. Some three weeks ago, I contacted  Wole Olanipekun, SAN, about this probability, asking him to  talk to  the governor and  informed Femi Falana, SAN, as soon as it happened. Let Ayo Fayose continue to add to his long list of cases none of which has a statute of limitation. He is neither God, nor is four years eternity.  Post Buhari, a thousand SANS will not be able to help the likes of Fayose and the consequences of his disregard for Nigerian courts will be fully visited on him. Even while the case is in court, the world now knows  he will still send his thugs to evacuate the family even with a month old child. He will have his comeuppance as palaces in South Africa or Dubai will have no more effect than they did in the Ibori case.  And what is more, government being a continuum, since none in Ekiti – not  Obas,  not  nobility whose hero he is,  nor  his beloved Okada riders – can  advise or restrain  him,  Ekiti people should  know  that be it 20 years,  they  will  end  up paying  for all of Ayo  Fayose’s impunity and  infractions in office.