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  • PDP crisis: I won’t quit, Sheriff replies Makarfi

    PDP crisis: I won’t quit, Sheriff replies Makarfi

    •Says no worthy captain abandons ship midway

    The court-backed national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),Senator Ali Modu Sheriff yesterday told those canvassing his resignation as a way out of the crisis tearing the party asunder to forget it.

    He said he is not sold on quitting because   a worthy  captain does not abandon his troubled ship mid-sea.

    “There can be no aircraft without a captain, or a ship without a captain,” Sheriff told reporters after a breakfast meeting in Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State at the country home of his  deputy, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh.

    “Anybody wanting a captain of a ship to abandon his ship in the middle of the sea wants the ship to capsize. We do not want PDP to capsize .PDP will always get their leaders through a democratically elected process,” he added.

    Some party members believe one viable way out of the crisis is for both Sheriff and his rival, chairman of the party’s National Caretaker Committee,Senator  Ahmed Makarfi to resign.

    But Sheriff recalled that he once offered to do that while Makarfi refused to do same.

    His words: “When I offered to resign, just because I wanted the party to survive, the very man talking today said even if I resigned, he will not resign so that he would destroy the PDP.

    “But we will not allow him do this.We have said if your intention is to destroy the party, we will not let you do this. The Court of Appeal has made its pronouncement; that whatever he is standing for is not PDP”.

    He branded those kicking against the recommendation of the PDP reconciliation committee headed by Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State as “agents of destruction” seeking to destroy the party.

    He accused Senator Makarfi of having an agenda different from that of the PDP, but vowed that the ideals of the founding fathers of the party will ultimately defeat the forces threatening the unity of the party.

    He said: “We set up this Dickson committee even before we envisaged any problem anywhere.

    “It was the NEC of the PDP that set up that committee.If it was a committee that was set up under my leadership and all party faithful were present at the NEC meeting; if they make a recommendation that will be a solution for our party why should I reject it?

    “ I am here to build the party, not to destroy it. The working committee of my party totally accepted the roadmap that Dickson put out.

    “Anybody that kicks against that roadmap; they are the agents of destruction .They have an agenda which they are not letting Nigerians to know. Their agenda is not PDP’s; it is something different.

    “ They were sent to destroy the PDP. This party belongs to us.”

    Taking another look at the crowd of PDP supporters who had gathered to receive him,Sheriff  said: “Who are the real PDP and those people who want PDP to grow and those that want the party destroyed?

    “I can assure you this party that was put together by its founding fathers will remain the greatest party in Africa”.

    On the chances of the PDP in the 2019 general elections following its unending crisis, Sheriff said the party lost the last elections because of the culture of impunity but stressed that the current executive led by him will put an end to the  impunity.

    He said:”Why the PDP lost the election to APC at the central was because of the impunity that I am fighting today. “I am working to cancel impunity from the party. We want the people’s choices to man the offices not the candidates brought by Ali Modu Sheriff. We must allow the party to have their way. Democracy is government of the people by the people and for the people and not somebody who wants to plant a governor in Borno, in Lagos; No. Then it is no longer government of the people.”

    Also speaking,Dr. Ojougboh said the

    the Ali Modu Sheriff’s camp was against suggestions that both Makarfi and Sheriff should resign, adding that ex-President Jonathan specifically instructed Sheriff after his meeting with the PDP governors to fashion out a strategy for reconciling aggrieved party members and that the conversation never dwelled on both party leaders resigning their positions.

    His words, “Anybody who is talking about Sheriff resigning is infantile, discourteous , impunity personified and self- serving, envious of the hard won victory of Ali Modu Sheriff and the fact that Sheriff is putting the party back on track. We are therefore stating very seriously that the issue of Ali Modu Sheriff resigning should never be discussed at any forum.

    “ It will not be entertained and we will not listen to it .W are ready for the convention and we are working assiduously to ensure that everybody is carried along for an effective generally acceptable convention that will usher in a new executive that will deliver the PDP in 2019”.

  • Niger Delta group replies Dokubo-Asari, others

    Niger Delta group replies Dokubo-Asari, others

    Following an allegation by the Niger Delta Salvation Front/Nigeria Delta People Volunteer Force (NDPSF/NDPVF), led by Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, that the people of the North and South-West conspired against the Niger-Delta to deny their kinsman, President Goodluck Jonathan a second term in office, the Niger Delta People Confederal (NDPC) yesterday said the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari represents the true wish of Nigerian people.

    The Co-ordinator of NDPC, Mr Iyamu Osaro Culture, in a press statement in Benin City, the Edo State capital, made available to newsmen yesterday, reminded Dokubo-Asari that it was the same regional group they are accusing today that voted overwhelmingly for President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 and sued for peace in order to fast-track development in the region than promoting hostilities or return to the creeks.

    He said: “Let no person see the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari as conspiracy against we the Niger Delta people or acceptance of defeat by the father of modern democracy (President Jonathan) as cowardice. Every Nigerian should see the just concluded presidential election, which produced the Buhari as Nigerians’ wish.

    “At this critical time, we the people of Niger Delta wants rapid development of our region, countless youth empowerment and above all want the president–elect, when sworn in, to retrieve all our oil wells which belong to individuals and perhaps re-allocate them to Niger Delta states for aggressive transformation of our region.

    “However, if the President-elect fails to meet our expectations after four years, then we would change his government through the ballot just the same way President Jonathan was shown the way out.

    “Hence we want to appeal to Mr Asari Dokubo to kindly give peace a chance as we look forward to joining the incoming President to transform our region and Nigeria at large, which is not negotiable.”

  • Ikpeazu replies Otti on monarchs’ suspension

    The campaign organisation of Okezie Ikpeazu has asked the All Progressives Grand Alliance’s governorship candidate Dr. Alex Otti to face his campaign instead of joining in a thing that is purely a government affair.

    It said Ikpeazu has nothing to do with the suspension of five traditional rulers in the state by the Abia State government and therefore has nothing to do with government action on the traditional rulers.

    The response was contained in a statement by the campaign organisation of Ikpeazu.

  • Presidency replies critics over Leadership

    Presidency replies critics over Leadership

    Our attention has been drawn to a statement by the Leadership Newspaper titled “Statement on the Arrest and Detention of LEADERSHIP journalists” (April 10), the latest episode in the matters arising from the same newspaper’s publication of an alleged “Presidential Directive” which we have had cause to disavow because the basis of the storyproved to have been a dubious ‘bromide’ containing nothing more than “a mishmash of carefully arranged and concocted lies, presented to the public as evidence of a document emanating from the presidency.” Yet, the Leadership newspaper insisted that “it stood by its story.”

    As a responsible government committed to providing good governance and protecting the rule of law, the rebuttal from the presidency was appropriate; yet its symbolism runs far deeper. It ordinarily ought to have motivated all concerned with or related to the process and issues contained therein, particularly the publishers and editors,to double check their claims, and where errors had been made, to quickly retract the story. This would have been in line with the ethics of professionalism, good conduct and unbiased reporting.

    This approach reflects the crucial role of a bridge which a best-practice media performs, in the management of the civil engagement between elected officials and the citizenry.Underpinning this social contract is the principle that the freedom of expression goes hand in hand with great responsibility. Given the Leadership Newspaper’s insistence that it stood by its story, questions are automatically raised about professional ethics and the social responsibility of the media, which certainly, by the rules and codes of practice of the various media associations in the country do not accommodate the publication of falsehood,or inciting material, or the abuse of the media’s constitutional mandate.

    The circulation of a fictitious ‘presidential directive’ that seeks in the main to cause civil strife, engender a breakdown of law and order, and negate the values of our democracy is a very grievous act indeed that should not be ignored. At its core, such a disruptive act erodes the ethos of governance and professionalism and naturally stirs up those entrusted with the protection of law and order; as it should also, every responsible citizen, interest group and the entire media. In that regard, President Jonathan did not have to issue any orders before those who have as much constitutional responsibility as the media; that is, the police, see the need to act in the public interest.

    Without holding brief for the law enforcement and security agencies, such a publication, like all others that threaten our democracy and undermine law and order, become the duty of the Police as an institution to investigate.The Leadership newspaper should see this as an opportunity to co-operate with the police as required by the laws of the land. The Police have not done anything outside the law. The trite rule is that nobody is above the laws of the land. It is also within the powers of the Police to invite persons for questioning and to conduct investigations, which is what they have done so far in “The Leadership case”. Or are the editors of the Leadership newspaper insisting that they are above the laws of the land?

    This administration believes in and has demonstrated its commitment to press freedom times over. The Freedom of Information Bill (FOI) was signed by this President into law and under this government the Nigerian print and electronic media has grown in number, reach and in terms of freedom to practise. It will be disingenuous to suggest that there is a clampdown of any sort or an attempt to stifle the press.

    Why shouldn’t journalists normally cooperate with the police in this instance? We believe that it has to do with the fundamentals of professional ethos that make journalists operate with a different set of loyalties and a different set of outcomes. Yet,there should be no contradiction under normal circumstances where the pursuit of peace and democracy deepening is concerned. This should ordinarily have been an opportunity for the ‘media’ to help our democracy by collectively rejecting the publication of pure falsehood.

    As recently as March 12, 2013 in the United Kingdom, detectives working with the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Elveden, an on-going British police investigation into corrupt payments to public officials, placed two journalists under covert surveillance by police investigating corruption and bribery allegations against journalists. This process was considered a crowding out of press freedom with a number of people settling for an open invitation by the police for questioning, as was done in previous invitations with regards to Operation Weeting- covering investigations of The News of the World which led to numerous arrests, detentions and eventual convictions.

    The developments at The News of the World, which centre around the resort to illegal means to obtain and/orpublish otherwise dubiously obtained information led to the setting up of the Leveson Inquiry, a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press. The Inquiry published the Leveson Report in November 2012, which reviewed the general culture and ethics of the British media, and made recommendations for a new, independent, body to replace the existing Press Complaints Commission, which would be recognised by the state through new laws. Some of the changes recommended include sweeping measures that will allow police officers to demand information from sources; rights for police to seize materials from the press, changes that may force journalists to reveal whistleblowers’ identities; and other rule changes that may define freedom of speech. To show the extent of an ordered approach, part 2 of the inquiry has since been deferred until after criminal prosecutions regarding events at The News of the Worldare concluded.

    In Nigeria, the place of our media is well regarded by the government and its freedom within the law, is regarded as sacred. The Nigerian media is self-regulated and is required to abide by defined codes of ethics. The incident with the Leadership newspapers is not an attempt by the government to muzzle a critical bridge in the societal value chain. Rather, it reflects the professional gaps that need to be bridged within the profession as the media continues to play its very crucial and necessary role in nation-building.

    This development therefore offers the media an opportunity for introspection, one that requires an emphasis on the responsibility of a media house as regards issues of ethics and professionalism; and extends in the main to how such a media house builds corporate governance rules to ensure that reckless, unfounded and grossly misleading publications have no place in the esteemed profession and outputs from its stable.

    Nigerians fought so hard to end an era whereby serious attempts were made to muzzle the media and our recent history will attest to the heroic role played by the media in our emergent democracy. We intend for that to continue and welcome unfettered contributions, investigations and accountability audit of those holding public office today and tomorrow.

    What must not be encouraged is voodoo journalismor the deliberate and malicious attempt to use a medium that is designed to inform to now take on the inglorious task of being a mouthpiece for a narrow agenda based on disinformation, deliberate scaremongering, civil society baiting and the offer of media platform(s) to those hell-bent on causing disharmony through well-woven conspiracies.

    This government is proud of its record on press freedom, its relationship with and promotion of access for the media and civil society. The publication of a spurious document and the alarmist approach to the routine invitation extended to the Leadership journalists should of itself provide proof of a choreographed attempt to deliberately cast the administration in bad light; especially given the synchronized communications from the newspaper, the Action Congress of Nigeria, and others.

    Once again, we urge the Nigerian public and the media to pay careful attention to those who parade themselves under different garbs and push forth information intended to subvert the cause of peace and order. The Nigerian government remains a committed advocate of a free but responsible media that can and should hold the government to account even as it seeks to educate and inform the citizenry for whom we are all responsible. This is the social contract we are all agreed to, for and on behalf of the Nigerian public.

  • Akpabio replies Attah on projects

    Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State yesterday said there was no need for his predecessor, Obong Victor Attah to twist facts on the construction of the Ibom International Airport and other projects in the state.

    Fielding questions from newsmen at the Government House Banquet Hall in Uyo, the state capital, Akpabio said former Governor Attah failed to acknowledge his successor (Akpabio) in his write-up on “Re: insight into Onshore-Offshore Dichotomy – Arc (Obong) Victor Attah”.

    According to the governor, Attah had, in the write-up, which was widely published in the newspapers two hours before the reconciliation meeting between him and his former political son (Akpabio), said: “In the evil days of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s dichotomy, I was given a mere N600m (Six Hundred Million Naira) every month with which to run and develop Akwa Ibom State which was classified as non oil producing.

    “Despite that, I was able to built an airport with maintenance hanger and the best runway in the country. I built an Independent Power Plant (IPP) of 191 megawatt capacity; I built the Le-Meridien Hotel with a marina and a golf course that today is the tourists’ delight and the place of choice for conferences, retreats and business meetings; I built housing estates, hospitals, schools; I built roads; I gave the people pipe-borne water and rural electrification.”

    But Akpabio who spoke in an emotionally charged tone told reporters that the airport project could have become another abandoned project like the Science Park project Attah’s government left behind, if his administration had not taken control of it from site-clearing level.

    He added that if the former governor is now claiming that he built an airport with the best runway in Nigeria, what happens to the bill Akpabio’s administration has been sending to the State House of Assembly for the construction of the airport project?

    Explaining that it is not the amount of money a governor receives that determines performance, Akpabio said what the former governor needed to do was to state emphatically that he initiated some of these projects which were completed by his successor.

    His words: “So, you want to make nonsense of the five years of the appropriation from the House of Assembly by saying you built the airport. If I abandoned the airport at the site-clearing stage I met it, it will remain abandoned until I leave government. Look at the Science Park, in his write-up, he said I started the Science Park with an ICT because Akpabio’s government have not gone there to complete it.”