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Tag: second term

  • Buhari keen on second term

    Buhari keen on second term

    No top politician who has spoken about President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term ambition has been unequivocal. Some of them talk of him with their customary tentativeness, quibbling about “if he chooses to contest”, groaning about his “right of first refusal”, and pretentiously and defiantly chorusing about the ticket being “open to all”. There is hardly any All Progressives Congress (APC) leader who has not spoken on the subject, with many of them struggling to hide or suppress their sarcasm and disbelief. But a few have been really passionate about the prospect of a second term for the 74-year-old president, regardless of the fact that he will be nearly 76 years old when he campaigns a second time, and about 80 years old when he completes a second term.

    If anyone rises up to oppose him in the ruling party, it will be a perfunctory exercise. It is not clear where the nonsense about ‘right of first refusal’ came from, why in the onerous exercise of determining the political leadership of a country of more than 180 million people anyone would transpose the infernal language of business contracts and investment decisions into politics. But Nigerians have seemed to accept it, and their sycophantic zeal has turned it into a popular political, religious and social culture. No one in the APC will dare oppose President Buhari should he enlist. The iconoclasts who tried to oppose his predecessors in 2003 and 2015 have yet to recover from the trauma visited on them.

    President Buhari himself knows that no politician in his party will find it easy to oppose him. The simple reason is that neither the president nor any of his three predecessors were democrats. They were all monarchs, and opposing monarchs is often on pain of complete political ostracism, or worse, death. More than his predecessors, President Buhari knows his monarchical powers are almost absolute, both in his cabinet where no one second-guesses him but prefer to venerate him, and in the larger society where his truculence passes him off as an aloof and remorseless autocrat.

    Of all the presidents who have ruled Nigeria since 1999, President Buhari has the most decipherable body language. His ascetic disposition makes that reading possible. Ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo’s bonhomie, not to say his innumerable dalliances, and his aggressive temper that alternated with relentless and bucolic earthiness gave him off as a president who was at once accessible and inaccessible. Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan was a cross between serious and unserious, a politician and president who was in equal measure pleasant and off-putting. Both Dr Jonathan and Chief Obasanjo sometimes sent mixed signals. Not President Buhari. Yes, he is an inscrutable man with a forced smile, but he nonetheless packs a radioactive body language that leaves his audience in no doubt how his mind works.

    President Buhari’s body language today shows he will seek a second term. He may see consensus building and compromises as humiliating and disembowelling, but even he is not averse to the political culture of giving something in exchange for something. (Notice how he has begun to mellow in some of his actions of late). APC national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun may keep his fingers crossed on whether the president will seek a second term or retire, and former party chairman, Bisi Akande, may talk of the party’s candidacy being opened to all and sundry, but nearly everyone in the party now reads very clearly what the president’s body language is saying since he returned from his second major medical trip reinvigorated. His family and supporters even speak of his miraculous recovery with expectant tones.

    The president is undoubtedly stronger than he was last year. It shows on his face, and his friends, supporters and family are relieved that he seems to have been gifted an extension of life. They would not fret should he tomorrow throw his hat in the ring. He will, and he seems prepared to do it with considerable flourish. Mines and Steel minister, Kayode Fayemi, even thinks there may be no alternative to the president both within and outside the party. Some may still hide under the convenient excuse that the president has not yet disclose his ambition; but in a matter of months, especially with the inauguration of the Buhari Support Organisation (BOS), it will be unwise for any APC member, those who depend on government patronage, and anyone with anything to hide, to speak of the president’s second term ambition in tentative tones. By the opening of next year, the president will expect everyone to know where he is heading. It is a plus for anyone now to speak effusively of his second term, and to frame it in convincing and glorious language before the mad rush for endorsement breaks upon everybody.

    Though it is virtually settled that the president will seek a second term, it will be a tragedy not to oppose him both within and outside his party. His very advanced age and his unsettled health challenges are the least of the country’s problems. Neither qualifies him to take another shot at the presidency, for even if he is as fit as a fiddle now, it will still remain a subject of speculation how far his health can hold up. And at over 75 by the next polls, it is not clear what new ideas and energies he would hope to bring to a leadership he had twice flunked with considerable ease. President Buhari needs competition in his party and very healthy and powerful opposition outside his party in order for the country to convince itself that there are indeed no alternatives. No matter the sycophantic depth the country has sunk, it is unlikely they can come to the abysmal conclusion that good alternatives do not exist. They wouldn’t dare come to such conclusions.

    Even if he is in fine fettle, the president does not appear to have the energy to do for Nigeria in these times what the country desperately desires. By his own admission, not too long after he assumed office, he mourned his lack of sprightliness and wondered what he could have done with Nigeria had he taken power when his body lacked the creakiness that has begun to hobble it. Thus defeated first in the mind, it is impossible for his body, which should submit to the former, to transcend the limitations age has encrypted into his fundamental make-up. With real and substantial opposition both in and outside his party, it should not be difficult to prove that President Buhari has become an irrefutable anachronism, both in the effervescent matters of style and in the much more fundamental and stolid matters of substance.

    First among the many questions those who are pressing President Buhari into service must ask themselves is what his second term would look like when he spent his first term dismantling the selfless coalition that brought him to power, overthrowing the political mores and standards prescribed by the constitution he swore to defend, promoting ethnic exceptionalism so flagrantly that even some of his tribesmen blanched with horror, propounding no idea germane and fundamental to statehood and governance, becoming incurably fixated on himself to the almost total exclusion of others and other values, and promoting the worst forms of division like the country has never known. If in his first term, when he would need votes for a second term, he nevertheless turned on his friends, rode roughshod over the rule of law, carried out no reform in political financing, police and the judiciary, and oppressed and stigmatised those he considered deviants, including Shiites whom his troops massacred, and offered no single exposition on the higher elements of democracy, secularism, and social engineering, what should the country expect from his second term? — that he would simply experience an epiphanic release to remake the country along the lines of the world’s leading nations and statesmen?

    If current projections bear semblance to reality, President Buhari will probably receive the unanimous approbation of his party, and probably even go on to win the election should the childish characters in the opposition lack the courage and gumption to fight him with the aplomb feisty Nigerian politicians are accustomed to. Already most of his supporters within and outside the party lend him their ears for sentimental reasons. They are impervious to other arguments. Nigerians must hope that even within the APC, the president will welcome vigorous competition, fight for every inch of territory in that chaotic and misgoverned party, and then, despite his security agencies perfecting the art of haunting the president’s enemies, go on to provide a level playing field for every contestant as envisaged by the constitution. Judging from his weaknesses and all the countless things he has left undone, he can only win his party’s ticket by the skin of his teeth. And given his party’s shambolic nature, not to say the disaffection coursing through the ranks, as exemplified by Hameed Ali, the Customs boss who has suddenly found his voice, they will be unable to provide him the powerful vehicle with which to unhorse the opposition at a national election. After all, he abandoned the party as soon as he won the election, and rejected every attempt and formula at legitimately raising funds to run the party and prepare for the next polls.

    But the far bigger tragedy for Nigeria would be President Buhari winning the 2019 election. If he enacted the atrocious form of governance that has infuriated many Nigerians in his first term, it is unlikely that the second term would suddenly assume a better and more inspiring dimension. His supporters may point at a number of his achievements, but they will be reminded that even the worst government is always capable of at least a few remarkable feats. A second term for President Buhari would not eradicate his insularity, curb his ethnic exceptionalism, promote the rule of law and reform the judiciary, rejigger the police and modernise internal security system, heal the country’s divisions, and see him enunciating, re-engineering and implementing a new social ethos in which Nigerians can see themselves as one. Worse, except he dismantles the cabal upon which he relies absolutely and without whom he would be naked and vulnerable, Nigeria would be grossly unable to provide the leadership Africa and the black people of the world badly need.

    President Buhari may very well seek a second term and even unworthily claim the prize a second time should his party inexplicably come together and work hard while the opposition disintegrates into chaos and futility. But it is hard to see him provoking the revolution that will win over this column, for this column is not for turning. A casual study of revolutions tells history students that no revolution is promoted without a central, logically consistent and invigorating ideal. Nigerians would like to examine those great and unifying ideals their president might wish to propound and propagate beyond the assemblage of eager support groups and tepid and jaded statements passed off as profundities.

  • ‘Obiano does not deserve second term’

    ‘Obiano does not deserve second term’

    Former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi spoke with reporters in Lagos on his tenure and why the people should not re-elect his successor,  Governor Willy Obiano, during the November 18 poll. EMMANUEL OLADESU  was there.

    Sir, how is the campaign going?

    It is going on very well. Electioneering is tough, especially in our country where truth is in short supply.

    As somebody who has gone through elections, I often tell people to restrict their promises during election to what is realistic. In essence, I always advocate for respect for the truth.

    I read Cicero’s manual of electioneering written for his relation called Quintus.  Cicero advised him to tell lies about his opponent and to even invent scandals. That is what I see in Anambra State.

    I am at the centre of the campaign, campaigning for the PDP’s candidate. Everyday, they invent stories about me. They sponsored people to make comment about seven billion Naira, when it appeared it was not working, the man in question said it to himself. You are left to wonder the extent people will go because of election.

    As some one campaigning for my party, I have restricted myself to the truth and I will continue to do so. Every statement I make to buttress the need for a change in the governance of Anambra is the truth. All you hear me say about money I left, the accruals, total absence of projects, my savings, are all verifiable.

    You mentioned the money you left. As the issue is becoming controversial, could you tell us all about that?

    There is nothing controversial about it. Some people are deliberately introducing controversy where none exists.

    All my life, I have managed money. I started business early in life, right from my primary school. By the time I got to the university, I was already travelling outside the country for business. Even as a student, other students gave me money to hold for them, because they knew that with me, their money was secured.

    Whether in business or government, my attitude to money remains essentially one- prudence.

    Now to your question of how much I left. On the 17th of March, 2014, that I left office, I left  a total of N25 billion cash in different banks and another N23,600,000,000, normally called set aside funds to execute some projects already identified, or to finish critical projects already on. It was part of the two- year salary for the last set of civil servants we recruited. We did so in order not to encumber the new governor. Ironically, because these funds were tied to specific projects like the Amawbia to Amansea, NYSC main office at Umuawulu/ Mbaukwu, the hotels, malls. We also had critical projects like the Three Arms Zone, which included Governors Lodge. we did not include them in our hand over note.

    So, if you are talking about total Naira I left, it is actually  money N48,600,000,000.

    What is happening  shows the quality they’ve reduced governance to in my state today.  It shouldn’t be. It’s like a situation where they say my government was able to export vegetables worth $5 million. Where was that vegetable produced? What was the refrigeration process? Where is the documentation process? It is like my government saying they are exporting rice. You saw the  president on October 1, thanking states that are producing rice, he did not even include Anambra state that is now, according to the governor, a net exporter of rice. My government say they had order to export ten million tubers of yam, but everybody knows that in Anambra State most of the yams we eat come from Benue and Taraba States.

    I think what is happening is that in the absence of executed projects to use to campaign, as Cicero advised Quintus,  they are inventing lies and dressing them as truth.  Have you asked yourself why All this controversy about the money I left now that there is an election?

    Nigerians are surprised at what is happening today, considering the vigorous campaign you did for him in 2013.

    If you have interacted with human beings, you would have known enough of some of them to be shocked over what they do.  I read Philosophy and I know about Blaise Paschal, who, in his book called Penses, described man as a chimera, an animal in Greek mythology that had two heads, he is an angel in one and a brute in the other. Such contradiction is what we see among human beings.

    Yes, I campaigned vigorously for him and everywhere I went with him, they asked me this question. I told them he would perform and if he did not, I would be the number one person to campaign against him.

    How much of Obiano did you know before promoting his candidacy?

    I met Obiano in the bank. I was a bank director and bank chairman. The relationship between a bank director/chairman and someone who works in a bank is not close. However, we knew each other. And I believe that, if someone has risen to a certain level in life, there is, at least, minimum standard of behaviour you can expect from him. For example, when I went in there, I was looking at where I was coming from and the things I wouldn’t do. When I was being impeached, I remember some prominent Anambra people were telling me to do some things, but I declined. I don’t want to do things that in future I will regret.

    How would you react to the claim by Obiano that you demanded N7.5 billion from him?

    This is another regrettable lie. On 23rd December, 2016,  he came to my house for the first time since he became governor.  He came with an ordained Bishop to plead for reconciliation and to ask for my support for his re-election bid. There, I asked him about the N7.5 billion and he said it did not come from him, that he only heard it from people. Now, he is the one saying it. I’m sure the Bishop will be listening to us. And other people who have been in the same meeting with him and I where I have reiterated that I do not want any kobo from him, will know that I have never, on my own honour, asked Obiano to pay me money.

    I have not even been paid my severance allowance since I left office, which I am entitled to. I just told you what I left in office. Nobody has ever left one dollar. If I was desperate, I could have comfortably taken  just $30 million and it will remain $126 million. Nobody on earth will leave money and go and beg the person he left the money for to give him some.

    Because I made it clear to him that I would support my party and perhaps, being told that my support was critical, he now resorted to blackmail. He is doing violence to himself because Nigerians will be reading in between lines and will know who to trust and who to deal with in future. It is unfortunate.

    Beyond the falsehoods, what other issues do you have against Obiano?

    I don’t have any issue with Mr. Obiano. I have issues with Governor Obiano. What ever issue we have, I have forgiven him. But, for Governor Obiano, he has turned governance into what it should not be. You’ve been reading wonderful things in the newspaper, but let Governor Obiano invite you to Anambra. When I was going for second tenure, I invited journalists three months to election and we toured all the projects we were doing and the investments we had attracted. Governor Obiano has attracted $7.8 billion worth of foreign investment, can you people come and inspect those yam fields where we are going to get 10 million yams, or the Ugu field, or the rice field, or where those investments are.

    What role did you play towards the emergence of Obiano?

    I don’t want to go about how he emerged. He has emerged and did not perform. Let somebody else try it. It’s just that in this country, so many people have emerged and they did not deliver. Even in the first world, people have emerged and they did not perform and they were asked to go.

    Don’t you think he has the power of incumbency to his advantage?

    I’m not going to rig the elections. I have never done it before. I am only going to tell Anambra people to ask for what Obiano did in the past four years as a basis for his re-election or being voted out. How many roads did he do? Even in his own senatorial zone, in a local government called Anyamelu, in my first tenure I constructed 43 kilometres of road.. Today, a town called Umumbo, you can’t go there. After Anyamelu is his own local government, where I constructed lots of roads. I did Nsugbe  road. I also did Nkwele Ezunaka  bypass. Apart from Aguleri, his own town, let him tell you which town he has successfully completed two kilometres of road. In another local government in the same north, the next local government is Anambra West, I started reconstruction of Anam to Mmiata  in my first tenure.  If you leave Anambra west, the next local government is Oyi there, I did  Awkuzu and many other roads.  The next one is Onitsha North. In my first tenure, I did Awka road, New market, Old Market, Enugu Road, Marine, New Cemetery, Uguta Road, I can go on and on. In Onitsha South, the next one, I did Sokoto, Creek Road, Oga, Haruna, Port Harcourt Road, and then constructed head bridge to Upper Iweka in my first tenure. From there you enter a local government called Ogbaru, I constructed the Harbour Industrial Estate where you have all our industries.  One can go on and on.

    Apart from roads, in education, I returned schools to the church and if you go there most of the schools have two buses. I gave them one in the first tenure and one in the second tenure. And this cut across schools around there. You can go and verify. I also provided them with computers, boreholes, Internet connectivity, generators, among others.

    So, let Obiano tell the people the one he did that requires him to come back. Let him say how many schools that he was able to give buses.

     

  • Why Obiano should have a second term, by union

    Members of the Omambala Drivers and Park Workers Union yesterday said Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano deserves a second term because of his achievements.

    The union members spoke during a solidarity visit to Obiano campaign office.

     They were led on the visit by their chairman, Chief Godwin Ochie and Grand Patron, Chief Omenife Izuegbu.

    They were received by the Special Adviser on Political Matters to the Governor , Hon Chinedu Obidigwe, Director-General of Governor Obiano Campaign Organisation, Chief Victor Umeh.

    Ochie said that the visit was to assure the governor of their support , adding that the union had started mobilising electorates in Omambala, Oyi Local Government, Anambra, Anambra West and Ayamelum  to vote for Obiano on November 18.

     He promised that the association would do everything humanly possible to secure block votes in the region.

    Obidigwe thanked them for the solidarity visit. He said the good works of the governor in Anambra State remains his selling point. He commended the leadership of Omambala drivers and park workers union for mobilising to ensure that the governor secures a landslide victory in Omambala.

    Umeh said Obiano’s merited 2nd term in office “is a divine sealed deal that cannot be thwarted by any human”. He said Obiano’s opponents has nothing good to offer the people.

  • APC executives back Ortom for second term

    Local government and ward chairmen of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue Northeast Senatorial District have endorsed Governor Samuel Ortom for a second term.

    They spoke yesterday at the Banquet Hall, Benue People’s House, Makurdi.

    Spokesman for the group and Kwande Local Government APC Chairman, Mr. Iorfa Zoho, said Ortom was the best man for the job.

    He listed the reopening of Benue State University and its graduation of more than 150 doctors, reconstruction of schools of nursing and midwifery, facelift of over 700 primary schools as well as implementation of minimum wage for primary school teachers as justification for the endorsement.

    “The Anti-Open Grazing Bill you have signed into law has made you first among equals. This law will end clashes between farmers and herders.

    “Zone A wishes to state without hesitation that you should make haste and declare publicly your intention for governor in 2019,” Zoho said.

    He added: “It has always been the trend and tradition from Aper Aku, through our leader, George Akume, to Gabriel Suswam. All of them governed for two tenure. Ortom cannot be an exception.”

    Speaking on behalf of the ward chairmen, Mr. Terzungwe Gbashinbo of Mbater Ward in Logo Local Government said they agreed with the position of the local government chairmen.

    Governor Ortom hailed the visit, saying it encouraged him, “since the voice of the people is the voice of God.”

    He, however, said he would seek divine guidance before making his decision public by the end of the year.

  • Unease in Buhari’s camp over plot to scuttle second term

    Unease in Buhari’s camp over plot to scuttle second term

    Loyalists and strategists of President Muhammadu Buhari have launched a bid to stop an alleged plot to scuttle his second term ambition.

    They were spurred into action by Wednesday’s comment of Women Affairs and Social Development Minister Aisha Alhassan that she would not support Buhari’s election plan in 2019 because the President promised in 2015 to do only one term.

    The President’s camp, The Nation gathered yesterday, was considering rapprochement plans to “reunite coalition groups and leaders” who made the merger of parties into the All Progressives Congress (APC) possible.

    A key ally of the President, who is also the Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria, Comrade Osita Okechukwu, said yesterday that Buhari did not at any time promise to spend one term in office.

    He said there was no agreement whatsoever that the President should spend four years in office.

    He also said that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was never sidelined by the President.

    Investigation conducted by our correspondent revealed that the Presidency refrained from responding to neither the former vice president nor the minister because of intelligence report that a “plot is being hatched to scuttle the second term bid of the President by distracting the administration.”

    A highly placed source said: “We are all worried. We are concerned and disturbed by the political development in the last few days. It points to a skewed agenda.

    “All loyalists and strategists to the President have actually been reviewing the situation. We believe that a few others might soon come up with such comments.

    “These noises are in line with a script to stop the second term bid of President Muhammadu Buhari. It is a sort of kite flying.

    “There is a grand plan to lure the Presidency into 2019 politics and distract the attention of the administration.

    “But the Presidency will not be part of the frenzy now because it is too early to start politicking for 2019.

    “We are studying the political situation with a measured approach.

    “It is not about the minister, who has the right to say her mind. Our panic is about the larger picture bordering on the abortion of Buhari’s second term ticket.”

    Asked of the way out, the top source said: “We are weighing options, including how to reunite the coalition groups and leaders who made the merger of parties into the All Progressives Congress (APC) possible.

    “There might be some issues in the coalition which can be ironed out amicably. The President and his strategists are watching the unfolding events.”

    Another source in Buhari’s camp said: “We are returning to the drawing board. We have slated a series of meeting to consider options to the looming plot. We cannot pretend that all is well.

    “There is no doubt that the days ahead may be challenging but the hurdles are surmountable.”

    However, Comrade Okechukwu, who is a key strategist of the President, said the President never promised to spend a term in office.

    Okechuwkwu said: “Without being immodest, I can say that in almost all the critical meetings and even private ones with Mr. President, there was no any decision on one term for the President. There was no agreement on one term too.

    “So, for the Minister of Women Affairs to now say that Buhari is to spend one term, I don’t know where she got that from.

    “One, she was not part of the caucus. I am talking as an insider of the caucus and I am somebody who would stroll once in a while to discuss with Mr. President. Sometimes, the President calls me, because we filter what is going on.

    “So, I think she is wrong on that one, and it is a big lie.

    “I don’t want to talk about her support for Atiku. To be honest, she has an inalienable right to support anybody she wants. I cannot agitate or talk on that.

    “I don’t want to run on that line with her. The only part of Aisha’s comments that I am interested in is the issue of one term.

    “Mr. President never told anybody he would spend one term in office. If there was anybody he told, at least we (the insiders) would have been told first.

    “We were there when it was being cooked in Lobito Crescent, Kaduna, Aso Drive and other places the President stayed. We used to go and meet in all these places.

    “He is the type that when he comes for a meeting, he would make sure everybody says his or her views. He has listening ears.

    “And in one of those days, I remember I said, ‘eight years in office is good for you, and after your tenure, Presidency will come to South-East.’ Mr. President only said, ‘Let’s leave it to God.’

    “We were very much aware that the rot in the system cannot even be cleared in eight years. We knew there was rot but not as deep as we met on the ground.”

    Regarding the allegation by ex-Vice President Atiku that he has been sidelined by the President, Okechukwu said the comments were incorrect.

    “I don’t know what His Excellency Atiku Abubakar was saying. If the President has sidelined him, how come he appointed one of his followers as the Minister of Women Affairs?

    “I know those who belonged to the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) from Taraba State, but the President did not appoint them into any position.

    “If he was sidelining people, maybe I won’t be in this small office.

    “I don’t want to argue. But for this to come at this particular time shows that the politics of 2019 has started. But I have great confidence.”

  • ‘Second term ambition not do-or-die affair’

    ‘Second term ambition not do-or-die affair’

    Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom spoke with reporters in Makurdi, the state capital, on the recent recovery of N4.5 billion bond proceeds, his second term ambition, his style of governance and other partisan issues.

    Two days after some youths urged you to seek a second term, some people from the opposition kicked against it, saying that you have not lived up to expectation. What is your reaction?

    What do you expect the opposition to say, the people who are still dreaming that Ortom is governor? I’ve been here and they’ll continue to criticise anything I do. When have you heard them praising me? Are you not enjoying security in Benue State today? Are you not seeing the massive development of our primary schools in Benue State? Have you not seen the massive construction of rural roads, bridges and all that? Have you not seen our agricultural policy? You’re the best people to judge, not me. But, the truth of the matter is what I told those people. I’m a product of divine intervention. In 1992, I told the whole world that God said I was going to be governor. In 2012, precisely 20 years, God told me it was going to be realised in 2015 and by the grace of God, with all the hurdles and the challenges that came, I overcame them and I’m governor. I’m going back to the same God when that time comes. Now, I don’t want to be distracted. I’m doing my work. When that time comes, when the programme is rolled out, I’ll go back to God on my knees and ask God should I go back? If God says I should go, I’ll go and nobody will defeat me that I can assure you. If God says relax, my son, I’m ready to go back to my farm and my business. It’s as simple as that.

    Recently, you signed the anti-open grazing law and other states are following suit, would you say peace has finally come to Benue with this new law?

    I’m optimistic that peace has come, but that is giving leadership; what we did in Benue State. We have given leadership and we believe that this is the only thing that can restore peace in Benue State and any other state that wants peace where herdsmen are terrorising them. that is the way to go. Globally, what is being practiced is ranching, not this nomadic life of moving from one end to another and destroying peoples farms and all that. If you want peace that is the way to go. But, like I keep saying, I’m challenging anyone, including the herdsmen and Miyetti Allah and anyone who cares to listen to me, if you have a superior policy that can restore peace, other than ranching, bring it on the table and let us debate it. I challenge anyone, if you have it, bring it, then, if you defeat me I’ll go back to Benue people and ask them to follow your policy. But for now, that’s the way forward.

    What happened between you and Alhaji Abubakar Tsav last Sunday?

    I think we issued a statement on this. The Chief Commissioner and six other commissioners from the six geo-political zones came to appeal to me to ask the Attorney-General to withdraw the case instituted against Alhaji Abubakar Tsav for spreading falsehood against the state government. He in turn apologised and I accepted him as a father. He’s old enough to be my father and I’ve been brought up to respect old age. As a Christian, since he has apologised, I’ve forgiven him too. He can join me and contribute meaningfully to the development of Benue State. We need everybody to be on board. You know we tagged our blueprint “The Collective Vision for a New Benue.” I’m willing to absorb views from the opposition; I’m willing to accept criticisms that are constructive, not destructive like the opposition in Benue State does it. every day, they tell lies. But, I think that, if people have things that can truly add value to the development of the state, Samuel Ortom is willing to partner with them, no matter where they’re coming, irrespective of political, religious or ethnic inclination, I’m ready to partner with them. We are very open and we’ve told Alhaji Abubakar Tsav that we’re not stopping you from raising alarm, but anytime you have issues, first of all, seek to confirm. Otherwise, everything he has been publishing against me and my government is false, there is no iota of truth, but I’m ready to give information if you want. Like I keep saying, my government is anchored on the fear of God and core values like transparency, equity, fairness, justice, accountability, and integrity are integral part of my government and I’ll always fight to protect these values. I think that we’re on the same page now and we told him that we can work together, he is a father of the state and we can work together, instead of destroying the state. The people say that the words of our elders are words of wisdom. Someone of his status can be of great benefit, if he uses his experience positively towards the development of the state, but not to join some of these youths who are not experienced, who have not seen what the world is and so they insult and all that. I think we have settled the matter. Of course, the conditions I have given were that retract these things and apologise to me publicly. You cannot undress an elder, I’m governor. so, I can also say I’m an elder because nobody is older than me in Benue State by virtue of my position, so you cannot undress an elder in public and then dress him later in the room. I’ve said that a public apology and then retract what you’ve written and then communicate to those people that what you’ve written against me that those things were based on falsehood. That you were given this information and you went and published without cross checking the facts.

    We heard from the grapevine that you’ll soon be traveling. is it an investment trip?

    No, I’m going on leave. I’m taking a two-week leave from the 17th or so, but I’ll communicate to the House of Assembly, I’ll make it public.

    Some say that you’re leaving because you’ve received the second tranche of the Paris Club refund…

    No, I want to assure you that you will be the first people to know when we receive that, like I did with the first tranche. Once it hits our accounts, I’ll give you the figures. Workers should not worry when it arrives we’ll all sit down, look at it and agree on what should be done.

    Can you explain the N4.5 billion recovery, which you talked about a few days ago?

    The issue is very clear, like we said; the whole process was anchored on falsehood, forgery and lies. that was what we discovered. As you are aware, bonds are meant for specific projects in the case of Benue State, this particular one was meant for 13 projects. These included the Daudu-Gbajimba road, Oshigbudu-Obagaji road, Wannune-Igbor road, Zaki-Biam-Afia road, Oju-Obussa-Utonkon road, the water projects in Otukpo and Katsina-Ala, all together about 13 projects. When this money came instead of channeling this money to these specific projects that this bond was approved for, it was used to service overdraft of N4.5 billion. That was where we had issues. We engaged a consultant who approached the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, and wrote a petition. SEC did an investigation and decided that this money should go back to the original use. That is what has been credited to our own account so that we can go ahead and complete those projects that originally this bond was collected for. I think I’m understood. Now the issue of overdraft and those documents that were written and used to offset the overdraft were forged by the past administration, that is where we are having a case with them. There was no executive council meeting on the day the purported extract was obtained and given to the bank that exco directed that that money should be converted to overdraft. There was no exco but the extract was generated, so it was just packaged. All the other documents that were written to the bank on this matter were not in the file and all the reference numbers were forged so this is where we have a case. But the former Governor instead of looking at the main issues bought a page in The Nation of 8th June, 2017 and denied that he collected this money. I’m not surprised. He denied selling Benue State shares in the Benue Cement Company, he denied selling Benue State shares in Julius Berger, but they were sold and the evidence is there. These are the issues. Actually they collected overdraft amounting to N4.5 billion. This we have verified from the bank and we agreed that we do not have the resources to talk of paying the overdraft within one month or sixty days as the case may be so we have to restructure. We have agreed with the bank that we will restructure the overdraft and repay in a period of four years. This is about N136 million a month. This is the issue.

    Benue State University lecturers appear to have ignored the executive order to return to work. what would you say?

    Nobody ignored my executive orders, I sent it to council and I’m yet to have a response from them. I understand they’re meeting next week; nobody has ignored my orders to reopen the school. I’m bent on opening the school. I think I’ve done so much. You are journalists who can confirm from other state universities, even federal universities including the one in Makurdi, how they’re faring. Check in Kogi, check in Plateau, check in Katsina, and check in Ebonyi, check all other states that have state universities whether what I’m doing is not better than these universities or not.

    Your Information Commissioner told us that massive fraud has been discovered in that university. is the state government planning to institute a probe?

    We have to sanitise the place because every month, out of the N2.5 billion I get from the Federation Account, I cough out N570 million to pay to Benue State University alone. I compared notes with some of my colleagues. In Ebonyi for instance, they pay N200 million; in Nasarawa, it’s N183, in Plateau it’s even less, though I admit that Benue State University is a bigger and maybe an older university but I think that is too much. There are too many people hanging around there without doing anything.

  • Anglican Synod backs Ambode for new term

    Anglican Synod backs Ambode for new term

    From the pulpit has come a second term endorsement for Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.

    The Diocesan Bishop of Lagos and Dean Emeritua, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. Ephraim Ademowo said the church was proud of the governor and his achievements.

    It was at the opening of the 33rd Synod of the Diocese of Lagos, with the theme: “Serving”.

    Rev. Ademowo said: “We have been watching and studying the progressive administration of our Governor. As a trail blazer and innovative leader, he has taken our state to a greater height. Lagos State has become a reference point for other states.

    “We are proud to be identified with your laudable achievements in making Lagos a great financial hub, and a reference point for other states in the country. Let me say equivocally that your predecessors did eight years in office, and I say without any doubt that you will also use eight years.

    “We thank you for your absolute devotion to duty and life of practical humility, doggedness and total commitment to the growth and progress of Lagos State, as well as your efforts at making Lagos second to none, and a reference point for other states.”

    Ambode emphasised the need for Nigerians to embrace selfless service to humanity, saying such remained the essence of existence to positively impact others.

    The governor urged political and religious leaders to continually tow the path of service to humanity, noting that politics in the real sense should be about selfless service to the people.

    Ambode described the Synod and the theme as apt and historic, having coincided with the celebration of 50 years of existence of the state, which, according to him, was all about celebrating those who had served and still serving the state.

    “Serving, be it in government, churches, mosques or wherever, is like a clarion call from God and for me, I believe there is no way I can give back to humanity for the greater blessings God has endowed me than serving and serving selflessly, without expecting a return.

    “For us that are government officials or politicians, what makes the difference is getting feedback from people that you have made their lives easier. People don’t want any other thing from us, but to make their lives easier; to make them move around easily; allow them send their children to school and make them comfortable.

    “Those little things are the things that really matter to our people, and that is why we are more committed to say that on a godly template, this is a calling that we need to serve, whether we are praised or not,” he said.

     

     

  • Oyegun on Buhari’s second term

    Oyegun on Buhari’s second term

    IT is difficult to tell whether National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John Odigie-Oyegun, was being perfunctory or serious when he reiterated to reporters in Benin, Edo State, that President Muhammadu Buhari deserved a second term. He had made the same suggestion sometime in the past, prompting reporters to ask him one more time whether he thought his suggestion was reasonable in view of the president’s obvious health challenges. Though reporters were sceptical, given the tone of their question on the matter, the ruling party chairman brushed aside their quizzicality and impressed his own political enthusiasm on his listeners. His logic was ingenious.
    According to him, “This is a free country. I have my views and I have expressed them. Why do I say so? I said so because the main gift President Buhari is giving to this country is what he represents and that is his absolute integrity. What Nigerians should aspire to be, the kind of country that we want Nigeria to be, a country where a man’s yes is his yes. A country with leadership that treats with respect public resources, a nation that is disciplined; a nation that is not wallowing in indecent corruption that we have today that is making one ashamed, that is what Buhari represents.”
    The question reporters asked him, however, was whether the president’s struggles with poor health could lead any top politician to lend untrammelled support. But the party chairman still evaded the question and pressed on with a recap of the president’s great qualities. “He (Buhari) is like a General leading a charge against the major ills of this country. The job is so enormous that one term cannot do it. The job is so enormous that two terms cannot do it. Even after President Buhari’s tenure, we still need people like him to continue in office. So, my prayer is that God gives him robust good health and once he enjoys that, of course as an individual, I will work that he should come back for another term.”
    Typically, highly religious Nigerians often respond with prayers in place of frank assessments and practical steps when they are confronted by desperate real life situations. Mr Odigie-Oyegun adds, “But those things are in the hands of God because we are not God and we cannot play God. I am only saying that because of the enormity of the task that we are facing, when we talk of change, a lot of people talk about physical change. The main one is the change in the mentality and ethics of Nigerians, especially the attitude of Nigerians to right and wrong. So, the task is enormous and we need continuity in principled leadership which President Buhari represents.”
    For an enormous task that requires enormous efforts, more than one term or even more than two terms are needed, in addition to a determined and knowledgeable general to lead the charge, as he elegantly put it. But it is remarkable that Chief Odigie-Oyegun was not struck by the irony of his answer. The thin veneer of religiosity notwithstanding, especially the fatalism he implied when he spoke of the ineluctability of fate in the hands of a distant and inscrutable God, the party chairman did not in fact have an answer. The reporters did not ask about the president’s endowments, some of which, especially the political ones, are controversially exaggerated; what they asked was whether the president’s health could withstand the constant buffeting of cabinet intrigues and policy miscarriages in the short run given the arduousness of the task at hand. Indeed, they were all but asking the party chairman whether he could indemnify the country against the certain and disastrous consequences of saddling a teetering leader with onerous responsibilities so demanding as to be nearly regarded as a fantasy even in the best of times and good health.
    Chief Odigie-Oyegun was also evasive in answering many other questions, including one on the mendicant state the party he leads had evolved into in less than two years of indifference and absent-mindedness by party apparatchiks. A solution had been found to the party’s habitual impecuniosity, the chairman said, even though that solution was long in coming. He described the president as a harbinger of change whose frugality meant the party had to take a fairly longer time in coming up with novel and sustainable ethos of political financing. Sounds sensible and fair. But whether the party can step up its game and engineer a better and deeper purse to replicate the accumulation of huge billions it spent in the months preceding the epochal elections of 2015 is a totally different ball game.
    What will, however, define the party in the months ahead, if the current confusion and pussyfooting unnerving partisans are anything to go by, is the challenge the president’s delicate health will pose to a party now seduced by its own penchant for evasiveness and indecision. No matter how deeply party leaders are probed on the president’s health matters and a putative second term, they are unlikely, as Chief Odigie-Oyegun has shown, to be forthcoming, not to talk of being precise.

  • Obasanjo: I warned Jonathan over Diezani, second term bid

    Obasanjo: I warned Jonathan over Diezani, second term bid

    FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo has said he warned ex-President Goodluck Jonathan against assigning the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, the former minister.

    He said Jonathan ignored him and the nation could feel the consequences.

    He also said he asked Jonathan not to seek a second term ticket in office in line with the agreement he had reached with prominent Northern leaders.

    He said although Jonathan enlisted Pastor Enoch Adeboye and Bishop David Oyedepo  on January 12, 2015 at the Hilltop residence in Abeokuta  to beg him, he said he stood his ground that Jonathan must abide by the one term agreement.

    Besides, he explained that poor handling of Boko Haram insurgency made him to oppose Jonathan’s return because a continuation of the administration could endanger the country.

    He accused Jonathan of considering state matters within the prism of Ijaw politics.

    Obasanjo made the disclosures in a new book, “Against The Run of Play”, written by the Chairman of ThisDay Editorial Board, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi.,

    The ex-President said:  “He (Jonathan) gave me the impression that he was not going to give her (Diezani) the portfolio but at the end he did and we can see the consequences. He of course knew what he was doing.”

    For about two years, the ex-Petroleum Minister has been under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    Besides the N23.29billion poll bribery scam, Mrs Alison-Madueke has been implicated in the $1.04billion Malabu Oil Block scandal, and the $15billion “missing” NLNG dividends, among others.

    But the ex-Minister, who was arrested in London on October 2, 2015 by the National Crime Agency (NCA), has said that she has left all allegations against her to God.

    In a statement, she said: “I have absolute regard for the law and believe that people who have breached the laws that govern societies should be made to face the wrath of the law. But in a civilised society, a responsible government owes its citizens absolute commitment to the principles of rule of law, equity, fairness and justice. I have been wrongfully and maliciously maligned and those behind this reckless action know it.

    “I leave them to posterity, their conscience and above all the Almighty God who is the final judge of all.”

    Obasanjo insisted that she ought not to be the Minister of Petroleum Resources.

    He was not forthcoming in the book on why she opposed her being chosen for the portfolio.

    The former President recalled how Jonathan became the Vice President in 2007 and how he stuck out his neck for him to be elected president in 2011 to solve minority agitation.

    He said: “You know of course that Jonathan was not my first choice as running mate to your late boss (Yar’Adua), it was Dr. Peter Odili. But whether by fate or some conspiracy, Odili had hurdles that made it impossible for him to take the position. That was how I settled for Jonathan.

    “I saw the emergence of Jonathan as an opportunity to solve the minority agitation. The three majority ethnic groups can always sort themselves out but not so for the minority.

    “A good example is my state here in Ogun. Despite the best intentions, nobody from Ogun West has been able to become governor because of this minority issue and it will take a conscious effort to make it happen. “So, it was in that context that I had to plead with prominent people in the North to allow Jonathan run for a term.”

    On Jonathan re-election bid in 2015, Obasanjo spoke of how the ex-President told him that he would not seek a second term in office.

    He added: “I confronted him several times but he kept deceiving himself and when I could no longer put up with it, I had to register my opposition to the idea on record as I did in my letter to him.

    “I didn’t join them in supporting Buhari; I joined in opposing Jonathan so Buhari was just a beneficiary of my opposition to Jonathan since my opposition was AOBJ: Any Option But Jonathan

    “Jonathan and his handlers believed they could buy the election and they were so arrogant about it that the PDP would print only one nomination for him and him alone.

    “If he was wise, he would have yielded the ticket to somebody else in the PDP.”

    He said although Jonathan enlisted Pastor Enoch Adeboye and Bishop David Oyedepo to beg him at the Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, he said he stood his ground that Jonathan must abide by one term agreement.

    He added: “It was only Pastor Adeboye that Jonathan told me was coming with him but Bishop Oyedepo is a man I also know very well so I had no problem with his presence at the meeting.

    “I told him in the presence of his witnesses that I was not going to support him for a second term and I gave my reasons.

    “Aside the issue of zoning on which he was reneging, his stewardship at that point had also shown very clearly that he was not up to the job.”

    Obasanjo also explained that poor handling of the Boko Haram insurgency made him to oppose Jonathan’s return because a continuation of the administration could endanger the country.

    He said: “Jonathan and his people turned Boko Haram into an industry for making money. Rather than seek for solution, Boko Haram became an ATM machine for taking money out of the treasury.

    “Take the issue of Chibok tragedy. If he had acted within the first 48 hours, they would have found most of the girls. The CAN Chairman of the local chapter in Chibok was here to see me and he explained how they were helpless with no reaction from the authorities for several days.”

    But Obasanjo clarified that he has no personal grudges against Jonathan except that it was based on certain principles he was not ready to compromise.

    He said: “My decision was based on what would be for the good of Nigeria and since I didn’t consider Jonathan good enough, I told him to his face. What would I be afraid of?”

    The ex-President accused Jonathan of seeing the world and attending to state matters within the prism of Ijaw politics or nationalism.

    He said: “I once asked him (Jonathan), ‘What is this Ijaw thing all about? Can the Ijaw people make you President?’

    “I remember when he granted pardon to Alamieyeseigha and it became an international embarrassment, I also asked him, ‘Why did you do it? He started by offering the lame excuse that it was a Council of State decision before I reminded him that Council of State was merely advisory and that the decision was his.

    “After a while, he said if I was at the meeting, he probably could have acted differently because nobody opposed it. I then counseled him on what he could do to address the problem. But either because he didn’t have the courage to broach the issue with Alamieyeseigha or he didn’t think it was important, he did nothing afterwards.”

    He admitted not knowing Jonathan well enough before taking a political bet on him.

    Obasanjo added: “But then you really cannot know people until you give them power and responsibility. That is when you will gauge their capacity.”

    Asked how much due diligence he did on the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, he said only sought “two clarifications out of which Yar’Adua gave him a medical report”.

    He said: “One, the lingering doubts about his health, while the other was a very pervasive allegation that he had manipulative wife who had too much influence on him.

    “Not being a medical practitioner, I gave the report to a friend and renowned professional in the medical field who reviewed it and told me that the person in the report was not on dialysis, which meant that he didn’t have kidney problem or that he had successfully undergone a kidney transplant. That was the report I had about his health.”

    Jonathan has always insisted that he never signed any agreement to do one term.

    He said his comments in Addis Ababa in February 2011 on tenure were grossly misinterpreted.

    He added: “I had made a proposition for a single term of seven years. That was the context in which I spoke in Addis Ababa that if the idea was accepted, I would not run again. It was not the context of a second-term of four years.

    “Of course, at that period, the issue of one term was brought up several times at different meetings and some people took it upon themselves to pledge on my behalf but I never said I was going to spend only one term…the question was always usually randomly asked and I never made any such commitment to anybody.

    “In any case, you can make a political promise and change your mind, so long as it is within the law.”

  • Buhari deserves second term, says Oyegun

    Buhari deserves second term, says Oyegun

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun spoke with reporters in Benin City, Edo State capital, on the crisis rocking the ruling party and why President Muhammadu Buhari should seek re-election in 2019. Excerpts:

    APC chieftain, Tony Momoh has said the party is in dire need of funds because governors are not funding the party. What do you think is responsible for this?

    I am not quite clear what he meant by governors donating or funding the party. What the governor or any major supporter does is to bring his friends together, solicit for funds and then move those funds to the party. A governor can donate from his own personal resources, but this is the Buhari administration and we have just come out from a disastrous PDP administration where government became an Automated Teller Machine (ATM), a situation whereby government funds are diverted into politics.  That will not and cannot happen under this administration and that is what is going on today.  So, the party therefore, has to be innovative in raising its own funds.  We have concluded all the arrangements, put the machineries in motion. We now get regular contributions from the executive arm of government, meaning government or political appointees. We get from the senate, we also get from the House of Reps and we have concluded online arrangements to get from the generality of membership all over the country. Every member will now have to pay the sum of N100 only per month as a member. And if at the end of one year there are members who do not pay at all, then they are automatically delisted. For any member of the party to be qualified to vote or be voted for, you must have valid membership credentials, which includes paid up membership. So, the party is set and running. It has taken time to fine-tune, particularly the membership drive nationwide and we have to take the general educational level in the rural areas into consideration and of course, since it is a low level of cash but cumulatively amounting into a lot of money, we have to design a system that is fool proof as possible. That is being rolled out in another month and then the party will be relatively better off but of course, this does not obviate the need for well-off members to also help the party when major events are coming up.

    But, the reports everywhere right now are that the party is in huge financial crisis; salaries are being owed and you are unable to meet other financial obligations. How true is this?

    The reality is that yes, we have had difficulties on paying salaries once or twice. That is normal in the situation we are in. People are missing the point. The Buhari administration will not touch one kobo of government funds for political purposes. So, the party, like any other institution, will have to raise funds. Occasionally, we don’t get all the funds that we require to meet all our commitments, but things are improving on a daily basis and very soon, all these will be things of the past.

    What was the major challenge you faced since assuming office as the national chairman?

    There are challenges everyday. so, it is difficult to pick on one as the most challenging. but, the main issue I can say is the arbitration between the different major interest groups in the party. It is an ongoing thing but in spite of that, the party is coalescing into one strong force despite the occasional outbursts of dissatisfaction of leaders and the problems that we have in the National Assembly which we are now getting on top of in order to ensure that there is civility and amicable relationship.  That does not mean that everybody must agree with one another but it means that in our disagreement, we must be civil and principled.

    Some members of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) recently protested against what they called alleged marginalisation by President Buhari. What is your view on that as the national chairman?

    I don’t know about that because we no longer have CPC, ANPP and ACN members anymore. I wonder why anybody, for purposes of forming a pressure group, will still go back and exhume names that have long since buried. We have no such members in our midst. We only have APC members and if anybody within that family has an interest he wants to push, they have the liberty to do that, but not to go back into history that is long forgotten. So, I don’t know of any CPC members in APC.

    Can you say you were fair in your handling of controversy surrounding the governorship elections in Kogi?

    There is no problem in our handling of the Kogi governorship election. The court has pronounced on that and that is the final word. They went to court and the court has said we did the right thing. So, the case is closed.

    Many Nigerians have criticised you for saying you will beg President Buhari to seek re-election in the 2019 general election. Given his state of health, don’t you think it is best to advise the president to rest so as to attend to his health?

    This is a free country. I have my views and I have expressed them. Why do I say so?  I said so because the main gift President Buhari is giving to this country is what he represents and that is his absolute integrity.  What Nigerians should aspire to be, the kind of country that we want Nigeria to be. a country where a man’s yes is his yes. A country with leadership that treats with respect public resources, a nation that is disciplined; a nation that is not wallowing in indecent corruption that we have today that is making one ashamed, that is what Buhari represents.  He is like a General leading a charge against the major ills of this country. The job is so enormous that one term cannot do it. The job is so enormous that two terms cannot do it. Even after President Buhari’s tenure, we still need people like him to continue in office. So, my prayer is that God gives him robust good health and once he enjoys that, of course as an individual, I will work that he comes back for another term. But those things are in the hands of God because we are not God and we cannot play God. I am only saying that because of the enormity of the task that we are facing. When we talk of change, a lot of people talk about physical change. The main one is the change in the mentality and ethics of Nigerians, especially the attitude of Nigerians to right and wrong. So, the task is enormous and we need continuity in principled leadership which President Buhari represents.

    Do you think the APC still enjoys the support it got from Nigerians in the 2015 general elections?

    Every election that we have held so far has indicated that. We know that things are hard at the moment but we are grateful to God that people do understand how that came about and they are giving us all the opportunity to come out of it, and which President Buhari is determined to do. We are beginning to see an upward swing and there is no looking back.