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Tag: Shehu Shagari

  • Osun on the march again

    Osun on the march again

    As the final countdown to Saturday’s gubernatorial election in Osun State begins, global attention would once again be focused on Nigeria as the wobbling and fumbling continues in the nation’s quest to join the leagues of real democracies.

    And as had always been the case with elections in western Nigeria since independence, it is going to be a straight fight between federal might and the people’s will. Why the federal government or rather the party at the centre is always interested in controlling south west Nigeria against the wish of the majority beats one’s imagination. I don’t want to hazard a guess, but suffice to say that each attempt whether successful or not have always had grave consequences for the country.

    Attempt by the NPC/NCNC controlled federal government in the first republic to take over western region through its lackeys in the region led to the western regional crisis that later snowballed into the crisis that eventually ended Nigeria’s first attempt at democratic rule. Recall what happened to the second republic when the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) of President Shehu Shagari forcefully claimed victory in Ondo State. The only ‘successful’ takeover of political power in the south west by the party at the centre to date was in 2003 when ‘son-of-the-soil’ President Olusegun Obasanjo manipulated the process, using the federal might, to claim victory for his Peoples democratic Party (PDP)in all but one of the south west states.

    But not too long after, the people realized their mistake and took back what they lost to the PDP, safe Ondo State. Again, applying the federal might policy of intimidation, the federal government is on another mission to forcefully take over the south west targeting Ekiti and Osun states as prelude to pocketing the remaining four states of the region in the 2015 general elections. And with Ekiti already in the bag, Abuja is full of confidence that Osun too will fall. In the last few weeks, the state has been fully militarized by the Commander-In-Chief, President Goodluck Jonathan, who in defiance of wise counsel has moved soldiers, State Security operatives and of course the police into Osun to ‘deliver’ the state to the PDP. Whether he succeeds or not and what becomes of our democracy after Saturday is in the hands of time. For Jonathan, securing Osun, Ekiti and the rest of the south west states is not so much for the wealth of the region, but the millions of votes he needs to secure a second term. Whereas his party men in the region are only interested in the key to the treasuries of the Yoruba states in order to squander the resources.

    With this premise, it is easier to understand the battle that lies ahead for the people of Osun State as the local ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate Governor Rauf Aregbesola confronts the PDP and its flag bearer, Senator Iyiola Omisore stoutly backed by the government at the centre.

    Saturday’s election is not so much in the hands of Aregbesola or Omisore but the people of the state who must decide the direction they want to take their future. Where Osun State was before Aregbesola came in and where it is today should be their guide, and I will use education to illustrate my point here.

    As a beneficiary of the Bola Ige administration free education programme in Oyo in the second republic, I recall what most members of my generation then were going through to go to school and stay in school before the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) came to power in the region in 1979 and education was made free. No more school fees; no more buying of books, all our parents had to do was feed us and buy our school uniform. I can still recall the happiness on my parents’ face when newly sworn in governor Bola Ige announced this at the Liberty stadium on October 1, 1979. They both heaved a sigh of relief as they listened to the pronouncement on radio. Before then they had been finding it difficult paying the school fees of my siblings and I. Even though the skeptics, especially in the NPN said it wasn’t possible and derided the quality of education we were getting in public schools, millions of parents stood by the UPN and their governors defying the federal might to secure their children’s future. Today that decision has been well justified; their sacrifice have not been in vain, their children are now successful men and women in their various fields, thanks in no small measure to the free education programme of the day. The NPN federal government did offer rice and money that time but they rejected them.

    If one looks at the contributions of the Aregbesola administration in the last four years or thereabout to improving the standard of education in Osun State, one is tempted to say that if only for that he deserves, without blinking an eye, a second term in office. And that is the truth.

    I don’t want to talk about the beautiful schools he has built all over the state or even the reclassification of schools that he has done, as some are wont to argue that aesthetics are not enough to make good schools, what about the free feeding programme on which over N3 billion is being spent annually; free school uniforms. What about the tablet of knowledge or ‘Opon Imo’ (a miniature computer or tablet) containing the entire senior Secondary School syllabus, books and WAEC/GCE examination papers given to Senior Secondary School students to prepare them for their final exams.

    Any parent or guardian that understands what it takes to buy whole set of books for their children or ward(s), buy their uniform, pay their school fees and above all feed them (at least once a day) will appreciate the burden that Governor Aregbesola has taken off their shoulders. And it is only right and even godly to appreciate the man by giving him another term in office. This is the least they can do for a man who has taken it upon himself to better their lot. To Governor Rauf Aregbesola, serving the people (of Osun) is a commandment from God. I chose to dwell on his education programme (only a fraction of his achievements in this sector) because I believe, like Chief Obafemi Awolowo who saw the future of his Yoruba people in education far back in the 50s that is the best foundation for the future.

    Aregbesola has laid a solid foundation for the future of his people in Osun, the people should allow him to build it further by rewarding him with a second term. Any other decision to the contrary could lead to eternal regret. A word is enough for the wise.

     

  • Photo: IBB, OBJ,Shagari, Abubakar in Aso Rock

    Photo: IBB, OBJ,Shagari, Abubakar in Aso Rock

  • No surprise Nigeria stagnated for decades

    No surprise Nigeria stagnated for decades

    Much more than the mileage the Jonathan presidency hoped to achieve with the emblazoning photograph of past Nigerian rulers wearing their medals and displaying their centennial award certificates late last month, the picture actually tells a far more poignant and iconic story. There were seven of them: Abdulsalami Abubakar, Muhammadu Buhari, Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo, Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida and Ernest Shonekan. Smack in the middle was, of course, President Goodluck Jonathan himself. Given his predilection for sham celebrations, it is surprising he did not seize upon the same argument of the centenary to award himself a certificate of honour. In any case, Dr Jonathan was the only one in the pictures published on March 1 newspapers not brandishing a certificate. Others dutifully wore their medals and/or displayed their certificates, thereby indicating their concurrence with the queer and questionable philosophy behind the centenary as well as the disgraceful rational for picking the honourees.

    The photograph, though powerful and resonating, nevertheless tells the very depressing story of futile uniformity and lack of rigour. It tells the story of former rulers whose unquestioning perspective and fondness for the meretricious led them to embrace a project as wasteful as it is truly and totally mendacious. None of the seven questioned the ideological basis for the centenary, nor joined issues with the financially oblique accounting system that made the celebrations possible. None of them was politically conscious enough to appreciate the centenary’s distortionary effects on our history and identities. There was none of them with enough sagacity to disprove the base and conflicting logic that underlined the compilation of the list of honourees, thus indicating that the former rulers were insensitive to their own individual legacies and unable to disambiguate legacy as a word and concept.

    The group photograph of former rulers should illustrate the power and glory of Nigeria, of our best men and leaders, of the rich custodians of our politics, culture and essence. Instead, the group photograph illustrated something so surrealistic it is a miracle the country has not collapsed under the weight of their collective obscurantism. They had no idea what our history says, of how we were humiliated and traumatised with a lasting injury by colonialism, of how Lugard’s foundational rule and years of self-misrule combined to misshape our values and enthrone a vicious form of mental and economic slavery. It was therefore okay by them to celebrate, and to carry out that sickening exercise in company with one another, the liar with the perjurer, the tyrant with the murderer, the inept with the experimentalist.

    The photograph inferentially tells the numbing story of how and why the country decayed so badly for decades, and by their admission, now needs revolutionary work to salvage, if indeed, as one of them said, it can still be salvaged. If they could not question Dr Jonathan’s frivolity and rebuff it, if they did not understand the history of the country they led for decades, and if they were unable to share its pains and sorrows, how indeed could they fashion brilliant and workable plans for its development and greatness? How could they make it the pride of the black race? To participate in Dr Jonathan’s revelry, they must have gone to extraordinary lengths to muffle their consciences, and to shut the tap of remorse which a clear mind and ample soul sometimes lead a decent man and patriot to demonstrate.

    The photograph of the eight men reminds us how our country was ruined. Gowon dishonoured his word and rendered it impotent; Shagari’s stolidity and indulgence clogged the national arteries until we choked; Buhari had little or no appreciation of the rights and freedoms of man, and how man is ennobled by these attributes; Babangida was the inappropriate watershed between the age of innocence and the age of vice, as he gave birth to the worst in us; and Shonekan was the bemused and amoral inheritor of a stolen legacy. Abubakar’s misguided and messianic reign produced the highly schizoid Obasanjo who had, and still has, no capacity for differentiating between truth and falsehood. And Obasanjo archetypically begat meddlesomeness in such a manner that the country’s ruin was complete under his predecessors.

    Yes, it was just one simple photograph published in newspapers. But, alas, it told a million sad stories, unknown to the former rulers who lined up quizzically for the photograph on February 28, and perhaps unfeeling.

     

  • Centenary: Jonathan has restored unity, says PDP

    Centenary: Jonathan has restored unity, says PDP

    President Goodluck Jonathan has restored unity with the centenary celebrations, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stated yesterday.

    The celebrations, the party added, have ushered in a new and beautiful era of oneness, brotherliness, unity and peace in the nation.

    A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, commended the president for organising the event.

    The PDP said: “It not only succeeded in putting the nation on the international arena to showcase our best but also fostered unity and genuine reconciliation among our leaders and the people.”

    The statement said: “The Centenary celebrations have ushered in a new era. They have rekindled the Nigerian spirit in all of us. They have revived our sense of patriotism; our inner love for one another as one people under God.

    “The Centenary concert not only reminded us of our common root but also pointed us to our rich heritage, which comes alive only when we combine our energies as a people.

    “It showed we are indeed one people determined to succeed and that our divisions are as ephemeral as they are artificial.”

    The PDP added: “Nigerians were moved and their hopes of a peaceful great nation were rekindled when they saw former President Shehu Shagari, General Muhammadu Buhari, General Ibrahim Babangida and General Abdusalami Abubakar come together.

    “Nigerians were moved when they saw General Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan together irrespective of their perceived misunderstandings.

    “This shows that our differences and disagreements as a nation do not get to the bones and can always be resolved.

    “Let us stand up and collectively establish and defend the unity and greatness of our dear nation so that the labours of our heroes past shall not and shall not be in vain.”

  • North’s governors eulogise Shagari at 89

    Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) yesterday described former President Shehu Shagari, who turns 89 today, as a statesman of uncommon pedigree.

    In a tribute by the Chairman of the forum and Niger State Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu in Minna, the forum said Shagari as Nigeria’s President played politics without bitterness and placed premium on the values and virtues of constitutional democracy.

    A statement by Aliyu’s spokesman, Malam Danladi Ndayebi, said: “Shagari’s politics eschews bitterness. Even opponents concede that he is a disciplined man, whose life symbolises a rejection of the corrupting influences, which distract the commitment of some leaders to improve the lot of the common man.”

    The forum referred to the nation’s first executive president as the greatest statesman around today and urged Nigerians to emulate his exemplary life characterised by honesty, selflessness and the fear of God.

    It said it was proud to be associated with the achievements of the former Nigerian leader, especially his contributions to the deepening of the nation’s democracy.

    The forum prayed God to grant him good health, courage and years of selfless service to Nigeria and humanity.

     

  • ‘Why insecurity persists in North’

    ‘Why insecurity persists in North’

    Human rights activist Sa’id Usman is the National Deputy Coordinator of the Northern Youth Development Forum (NYDF). He spoke with Austine Tsenzughul in Bauchi on the activities of the group, insecurity in the region and 2015 polls.

    Why is the North under-developed, unlike the South, despite the judicious allocation of resources to the region from the Federation Account?

    To start with, the moral standard of our people, as experienced in the 1960s to early 1990s, is no longer there. The quality of secondary school education our current leaders got in the 60s, 70s and up to 90s has been thrown away. Our health facilities are better imagined, the roads are death traps from the South to the North or from the East to the West. In those old good days, you had the responsibility to correct your neighbour’s child or ward, if he committed a wrong, and nobody complained. But, it is not so these days. You dare not reprimand your neighbour’s son or daughter, if they go wrong. We were our brothers’ keepers, but is it like that today.

    True justice was always meted out to offenders by either the law courts or court constituted by elders at home, and their judgments were upheld by the parties involved. There was what we called social justice too. Your neighbour had the right to watch over your house while you were away on a journey.

    Why is politics now a do-or-die affair in the region?

    There were political parties and there were politicians too. But politics was certainly not a do-or-die affairs. Yes, there were fights occasioned by irresponsible ,who practiced their trade on tribal sentiments. But, politics in the sixties and eighties and early nineties, except in the election of the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola, which was practiced basically on regional basis, but it was peaceful, as there were hardly intra or inter-party fights that spilt blood. The practice of politics was essentially along the North, South and Western and East divide. This, of course, was the same during the Shehu Shagari’s time. We witnessed that in the Western Nigeria, Middle-belt, and some areas in the North too. But, with time and sensitisation and understanding, the fights stopped. We noticed what I call ‘’de-tribalised partisan politics in the case of June 12, 1993, when Chief Abiola, a Yoruba man, won in the freest election in Nigeria. Politics was so many things to many politicians. To some, it is an instrument for societal development. To others, it is for individuals to amass primitive wealth or steal from our treasury and build a personal kingdom as it is being done today.

    What is the solution to the insecurity in the North?

    It is true that Boko Haram, a devious creation by few selfish and unpatriotic Northerners, businessmen and politicians in the Northeastern, Nigeria have created unwarranted insecurity in the North and its unwholesome activities have collapsed our socio-economic activities and driven investors away. No new investors are coming and we are getting poorer. Boko Haram activities have more profound negative effects in the Northeast because there is virtually nothing that is functioning. People in the area hardly sleep with their two eyes closed; neither do they move about freely. Boko Haram has literally imprisoned us. As we talk to you now, even going to pray either in the Mosque or Church is dangerous; people cannot even worship their God freely.

    Farming has stopped, as the sect members even hunt their victims on their farms. Business centres, markets, residential houses, hospitals, churches, mosques, recreational places, the airport and schools have been bombed and these places are still targets for bombing. Motor parks, railway stations, schools, airports, and state houses of assembly have been deserted due to insecurity. We succumb to the fact that our youths are involved in all this inhuman acts, but against their collective wishes. The youths have been used as mere canon folders by these politicians, through some religious leaders, who have succeeded in imparting negative teachings in them in the name of Islam. I know for certain and I can assure you that, Islam and Christian teach and preach love for your fellow human being and, if you love your fellow man, you will not fight or kill him because you are wealthier or stronger than him. Instead, you share what you have with him.

    What has NYDF done in this regard?

    Initially, we had no choice but to watch hopelessly while the destruction took place. Later, the shock wore off and we mounted pressure on our elders to put a stop to the carnage because youths, women and children were being wasted. So, we began with pressures on our elders, parents and the state governments. We also mounted various campaigns to educate and enlighten our youths on what was happening. Youths who are supposed to be leaders of tomorrow were being terminated irrationally. This campaign led to the federal government’s positive response, but not until Nigeria started getting a very negative status in the comity of nations.

    The insecurity has brought untold hardship to all of us, irrespective of where you come from in Nigeria. Southerners and Northerners have been killed, properties worth billions of naira have been wasted; no more investment. Imagine a society without commerce, and you know even trade by barter is a form of commerce and there is no way trade by barter can flourish in a chaotic and dangerous environment.

    What is your view on the rotation of the Presidency?

    The North does not have the monopoly of wisdom. That is why we have the North, South, East and West. The leadership of the country has to rotate so that we can utilise talents from the six regions, have a strong sense of belonging and feel loved and wanted by each other.

    But, we have to put our house in order in the North before we can achieve our aims, aspirations and destiny, which is greatness. There is the need for us to de-emphasise religion, ethnicity and regionalism. These factors only fuel and generate negative and disastrous outcomes. If we achieve our aims, I am sure other countries of the world will bow for Nigeria, look up to Nigeria for leadership and tap from our managerial acumens.

    As the country prepares for 2015 polls, what is your advice to the political class?

    Without Nigeria, there can be no President Goodluck Jonathan, Senate President David Mark, the National Assembly, the Niger Delta or the North. There cannot be any Ndi-Igbo. And of course, if these politicians were wasted when they were youths, would they be where they are today? Let us reflect on our past, assess our present, analyse our being and plot our tomorrow. This is our stand, this is our desire.

    The Independence Electoral Commission has released the 2015 General Election Timetable. What is your reaction?

    The time table just released by INEC is a bad omen for the Nigerian democracy. Bad because our politicians want power at all cost and by all means. The presidential and National Assembly elections should have come last and not first. The President can use the instrument of his office to diabolically deal with some governors and other members of his party who cannot deliver their states for him. He can deal with them negatively, he can circumvent the constitution to his advantage, he can use his influence, including the use of security agencies to coarse or even intimidate them, withhold funds to states that opposed to his party in order to cripple them financially, thereby reducing their chances of legitimately winning at the polls. I think the INEC timetable is a lot doctored.

     

     

  • Jonathan calls Council of State meeting on security, others

    Jonathan calls Council of State meeting on security, others

    President Goodluck Jonathan will today meet former Heads of State and governors on the platform of the Council of State to address some pressing national issues.

    There were concerns among the governors that President Goodluck sidelined the statutory bodies (including the Council of State) recognised by the 1999 Constitution, for the Economic Management Team (EMT) he created, in taking critical economic decisions.

    Investigation by our correspondent revealed that all members of the Council of State, including governors had been notified.

    Other past Heads of State expected at the session are ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo; ex-President Shehu Shagari, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida; Chief Ernest Shonekan; and Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar.

    It was not clear last night whether Chief Obasanjo and Gen. Buhari would attend the meeting.

    There was an open exchange of letters between President Jonathan and Obasanjo which might prevent the latter from attending the Council of State.

    Also, Gen. Buhari is actively involved in opposition politics and it was learnt he would want to be careful on his contributions to national issues at such a session to avoid a backlash.

    A source, who spoke in confidence last night, said: “We have issued notice to all council members as statutorily required. We expect a full house.

    “All I can tell you is that the Council of State is a non-partisan body. And some of the issues which have negatively heightened tension in the country might be discussed at the session.

    “The President will also brief Council of State members on some national issues, achievements and challenges facing the country.”

    Responding to a question, the source said: “We have not got a firm commitment yet from Obasanjo on his attendance.

    “But there is no way some members will not revisit his face-off with a sitting President. The truth is that some of them had intervened in the last one month to resolve the crisis of confidence between the two leaders.

    Some of the issues likely to be discussed are:

    •the 2014 Budget

    •the proposed National Conference;

    •the extension of the State of Emergency in three states in the Northeast;

    •the crisis in Rivers State and fresh security challenges in Plateau, Borno, and Yobe with attacks on military formations;

    • the change of Service Chiefs

    •disagreement between the President and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo on the state of the nation;

    •proposed Constitution amendment;

    •Reduction of political tension in the country;

    •growing intolerance among political parties;

    •the ongoing mutual suspicion between the President and some governors;

    •the state of the economy, especially accruing revenue from oil and global challenges in the industry, and

    •preparations for the 2015 poll which may dominate the third and fourth quarter of this year among others.

    It was gathered that the National Security Adviser, Mr. Sambo Dasuki, might brief the Council of State on the security problems nationwide.

    Another source added: “Definitely, we will get briefing on the worrisome security challenges in some parts of the country and what had been put in place to address these.

    “As a matter of fact, the Council of State session is long over due. Some of us have been calling for it because we believe two heads are better than one if they are not rotten.

    A governor said: “We got notice of the meeting but we have been unhappy that the President had failed to convene the Council of State meeting in spite of some challenges. He had been depending on his Economic Management Team (EMT) instead of the constitutionally recognised body like this.

    “You can imagine that the Council of State had no input into the 2014 budget. We had no privilege of the economic direction of the nation. This was not the practice in the past.

    “Maybe the crisis in PDP might have overstretched the presidency to the extent that it could not summon a meeting of the Council of State.”

    Another governor said: “In spite of the agenda, we have some issues to table at the Council of State session. We won’t play fool gladly.”

    Sections 5 and 6 of the Third Schedule (Part 1) to the 1999 Constitution say: “The Council of State shall comprise the following persons – (a)The President, who shall be the Chairman(b) The Vice President, Who shall be the Deputy Chairman; (c )All former Presidents of the Federation and all former Heads of Government of the Federation; (d)All former Chief Justices of Nigeria; (e)The President of the Senate; (f)The Speaker of the House of Representatives; (g)All former Governors of the States of the Federation; and (h) The Attorney-General of the Federation

    “The Council shall have power to – Advise the President in the exercise of his powers with respect to the – (i) National Population census and compilation, publication and keeping of records and other information concerning the same. (ii) Prerogative of mercy. (iii) Award of National Honours. (iv) The Independent National Electoral Commission (including the appointment of members of that Commission). (v) The National Judicial Council (including the appointment of the members, other than ex officio members of that Council), and (vi) the National Population Commission (including appointment of members of that Commission; and

    “Advise the President whenever requested to do so on the maintenance of public order within the Federation or any part thereof and on such other matters as the President may direct.”

     

  • Perilous times

    Perilous times

    •Unbridled impunity in Rivers, by criminalising state organs, is a danger to democracy

    A very democratic administration in Nigeria has had its own security man Friday, those overzealous policemen, whose fierce interpretation of their briefs often alarmed the polity.

    Second Republic President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, had his Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Sunday Adewusi. Mr. Adewusi had garnered due fame as the no-nonsense crime buster, whose many exploits made Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, so famous as Nigeria’s crime-busting capital. Yet as IGP, the mobile arm of the Police under him earned the unenviable moniker of Kill-and-Go: especially when the matter was partisan strong arm tactics in favour of the ruling party.

    President Olusegun Obasanjo too had his own IGP Tafa Balogun. During both the Chris Ngige gubernatorial abduction saga and the death, through alleged tear-gassing, of Chuba Okadigbo, colourful politician and former president of the Nigerian Senate, IGP Balogun was there to rationalise, in the grey areas between duty and criminality.

    So, President Goodluck Jonathan, with the unending “federal might” in Rivers State could well take these previous examples as some cold comfort, in his continued toleration of the execrable conduct of Mbu Joseph Mbu, who has continued to desecrate his office so much that he could pass as an outlaw in police uniform.

    Still, it is doubtful if anyone has before brought the Police more odium than this Mbu. What has he not done? He has conspired to aid and abet illegal sitting of the Rivers State legislature, leading to comical claim to Speakership by one of the partisans. He has, in the media, called Governor Rotimi Amaechi names, as an opposing partisan (not a police officer loyal to the Constitution) would, even if to be fair, the governor himself has returned the favour.

    He has barred the governor from entering the Government House in the state, even as his men have fired teargas into the place. He has illicitly delayed a chartered aircraft bearing the governor to Abuja, though he did not have the guts to carry out a search in the aircraft as the governor had offered. In short, he has serially levied war against the Rivers State Government, as lawfully constituted, and jeopardised the security and well being of citizens there, in criminal contravention of his terms of service as a police officer.

    Yet, unlike Messrs Adewusi and Balogun, Mr. Mbu is only a CP!

    But what is more annoying: Mbu’s outlawry or the conspiratorial silence by the authorities?

    President Jonathan, his commander-in-chief, has been hiding behind a finger, denying he has no hand in Mbu’s brazen lawlessness. So has his IGP, Mustapha Dahiru Abubakar, who sees no evil, hears no evil, on Mbu in Rivers, even if we had had cause to challenge him in one of our earlier editorials.

    Even from the Senate, whose member is the latest victim of Mbu’s brutality on innocent citizens, has come a tepid response. A statement released by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, the Senate spokesperson, calls on IGP Abubakar to probe the disturbance and ensure such does not recur, but nary any sense of outrage.

    Abaribe wrote as if he had been away in space all this while. It is doubtful if the matter is now not beyond IGP Abubakar. He appeared powerless in Mbu past partisan forays. It is doubtful if he would regain his powers in this one!

    Which brings the matter back to President Jonathan. Those stoking trouble in Rivers State do so in his name, and in the name of his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan. We have no business with Mrs Jonathan because she is no official of state. But we have serious business with the President, because he is accountable to us, the people, and he has bounden duty not to desecrate the high office of President, by letting his name be linked to high constitutional crimes.

    If the President knows nothing about the Rivers serial illegality, he should speak and decry it in clear terms. If he doesn’t, we would have no choice but to call on institutions of state, which have oversight over him on behalf of the Nigerian people, to call him to order by doing the needful.

    This constant rape on the Constitution under the Jonathan Presidency must stop.

     

  • Yakasai tells governors to be above petty interests

    Former Adviser to ex-President Shehu Shagari on National Assembly Matters, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, has expressed disgust over the outcome of the Governors Forum election.

    Reacting to the development in Kano yesterday, Yakasai said that he is uncomfortable with the turn of events, mainly because governance is one of the three pillars that the majority of Nigerians regard as the embodiment of national unity.

    According to Yakasai since the formation of the Forum, Governors have been interacting with one another, putting the interest of the nation above all other considerations.

    “They have been dealing with one another without regard to their political party differences,” he said.

    He, said that the other bodies that Nigerians regard as the embodiment of national unity are the National Council of States and the National Assembly.

    What happened on Friday, he emphasised, has put the dignity and reputation of the governors at stake and made the country a laughing stock.

    Yakasai appealed to the governors to put petty considerations and personal interest aside and consider the interest of the nation.