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Tag: slams

  • David-West slams ‘jumbo pay’

    David-West slams ‘jumbo pay’

    A former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Prof. Tam David-West, has faulted the ‘jumbo pay’ offered delegates to the national conference, their acceptance of the offer as well as the huge population of the delegates.

    David-West, who spoke to our correspondent in Ibadan yesterday, described the conference as a village.

    He expressed disappointment in both the government and the delegates for offering and accepting the huge amount of financial rewards, despite the economic crunch confronting the nation.

    The former minister said it was disturbing that President Goodluck Jonathan could offer each delegate N30,000 as feeding allowance per day when his administration can not pay workers N18,000 minimum wage.

    A disappointed David-West said: “At last, President Jonathan has inaugurated the jamboree of 492 Nigerians for his so-called national conference. Like a number of Nigerians, I am not enthusiastic about the outcome of the Abuja jamboree. I am not only skeptical; I am cynical about the whole charade.

    “Why 492 people? It is like a village. What is even more obscene and disturbing is that each one of them will have N30,000 for food per day in a country where the government cannot pay N18,000 minimum wage per month. Now, it is giving N30,000 per day to selected Nigerians. In addition, they have N4 million each as housing allowance per month. Government has not faulted these figures.

    “The statistics show unseriousness on the part of the government and members. No doubt, some of the members are very eminent Nigerians, but I am surprised that they did not refuse the huge pay. Why should any responsible and patriotic Nigerian receive any money from government to come and discuss the national question of how the country can be better governed or better exist? None of them has deemed it fit to reject the pay in view of the crunching economy of the country, just on moral grounds. They have lost the moral ground to discuss the national question. This is very disastrous.”

    David-west added that the delegates could not produce anything better than what has been done before within the three months given them.

    He also faulted the listing of discussing true federalism as a priority for the conference, saying it shows poor understanding of the concept.

    According to him, true federalism is already enshrined in the 1979 constitution, but it is only achieved when the masses press the government to practise it. “A country does not become a federation by mere paper pronouncement but by the people believing in it and defending it,” David-West said.

  • Mbu: APC slams PSC, Presidency

    Mbu: APC slams PSC, Presidency

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned the tacit defence of the Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu, by the Police Service Commission (PSC).

    It said the commission, by its unimaginative action, was only pandering to the Presidency, “the sponsor of the impunity in the state”.

    In a statement in Lagos yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party wondered if the PSC understood the constitution as regards the role of a police commissioner.

    The APC said: “For the avoidance of doubt, we quote Section 215 (4) of the Constitution, which stipulates: ‘Subject to the provisions of this section, the Governor of a State or such Commissioner of the Government of the State as he may authorise in that behalf, may give to Commissioner of Police of that State such lawful directions with respect to the maintenance and securing of public safety and public order within the State as he may consider necessary, and the Commissioner of Police shall comply with those directions or cause them to be complied with’.’’

    APC said if the PSC understood the stipulation, it would not only be talking of Mbu being redeployed but should by now be justifying the dismissal of the police boss, who has violated the constitution not only by refusing to take lawful orders but by also constituting himself into the opposition, the de facto chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Rivers.

    “If the PSC wants to be truthful, it will admit that no one but the police commissioner has politicised his own office. It will also admit that no one has asked the police commissioner to be the governor’s errand boy, as claimed by the PSC, but to simply carry out his duties as stipulated by the constitution. If the PSC still does not understand, it should tell Nigerians in which other state of the federation is a police commissioner usurping the role of the governor as the chief security officer of the state,” the party said.

    It described as disingenuous, the decision of the PSC to hinge its shameful inaction in the face of the madness perpetrated by the Rivers police boss on a suit against the commission and the commissioner, saying no court case has prevented the commission from carrying out its duties.

    “The truth is that the embarrassing situation in Rivers has persisted because the Presidency is the sole sponsor and it does not want peace to reign. The moment President Goodluck Jonathan decides to uphold the constitution in accordance with his oath of office, Mbu will not last one day in office.

    “The PSC, which has now taken it upon itself to defend Mbu and even remind Nigerians how some people have been praising him for doing a good job – in a bid by the pliant commission to impress the Presidency – knows that this President is never hindered by a suit when he decides to pursue his own agenda, as he is doing in Rivers. In case the PSC has forgotten, President Jonathan suspended former President of the Court of Appeal Justice Ayo Salami from office even when his case was in court.

    “In any case, one million PSCs will not have been able to save Mbu if his partisanship in Rivers has been in favour of Governor Chibuike Amaechi. The PSC should therefore spare Nigerians its annoying sophistry and stop hiding behind one finger. The truth is that nothing can justify the police-backed lawlessness, harassment of innocent citizens, disrespect for constituted authority and outright thuggery in Rivers.

    “Nigerians know the puppeteer in the Rivers crisis. Nigerians know why the PSC has been ‘handicapped’ in Rivers despite the unprecedented misconduct of the state’s police boss. Therefore, any attempt by anyone, including the spokesperson for the PSC, to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians, will fall flat,” APC said.

  • APC slams PDP for comments on Fashola

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) comment that the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola administration is not performing.

    APC said the comment was “diversionary and deceptive”.

    At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Lagos PDP, the party’s Chairman, Mr. Tunji Shelle, lauded the “performance” of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration and criticised the Fashola administration.

    In a statement yesterday, APC spokesman Mr. Joe Igbokwe accused Shelle of “sailing against the tide”, adding that the “purported AGM” was held to divert attention from the PDP’s failure at the centre.

    He said it was illogical to praise a central government that was fast losing its grip on the National Assembly, noting that the opposition has a simple majority in the lower legislative chamber with the defection of 37 House of Representatives’ members from PDP to APC.

    Igbokwe alleged that organising such a forum had become Shelle’s trademark since he became the party’s chairman.

    The statement reads: “In his empty speech at the meeting, Shelle left no one in doubt that it was a gathering slated for the special purpose of appeasing Jonathan. The event was specially packaged to sell Jonathan and was not a real AGM for a serious-minded organisation.

    “It was an event paid for by Jonathan and solely for the purpose of telling the world that the President is the best God ever created for Nigeria. The meeting was not a platform for strategic thinking, creative approach to politics or synergistic momentum, but a phantom platform for political idiocy and brigandage.”

    On the allegation of corruption levelled against the Fashola administration, Igbokwe said PDP lacked the moral right to accuse the APC government of financial impropriety.

    He said it was “wishful” for the PDP to think it could curry the sympathy of the Lagos electorate with cheap blackmail, adding that Lagosians know which party serves their interest better.

    Igbokwe said the “ongoing drifting” of the PDP has made a mess of its earlier boast that it would rule the country continuously for five decades.

    He said: “At a time the so-called biggest party in Africa is fighting the biggest battle for survival, Lagos PDP is celebrating falsehood. At a time Shelle’s PDP has become the opposition in the House of Reps in Abuja, Lagos PDP still thinks it has some honour left.

    “At a time a peaceful and bloodless revolution is sweeping Shelle’s PDP away, Lagos PDP has failed to come to terms with the new realities on ground in Nigeria.”

    Foreclosing the possibility of the PDP dislodging the APC in Lagos, Igbokwe asked rhetorically: “Can a blind man lead a man with eyes? Can a car move forward by engaging the reverse gear? Can you fly an aircraft without the engine or aviation fuel? I am told that you can manufacture a thousand lies to cover one truth but the truth still has a way of coming out to torment you?

    “Lagos APC and, indeed, all APC states have shown that they have a clear understanding of how to drive leadership and their works speak for them. Fashola’s legacies in Lagos stand tall for all eyes to see and I am sure that wise Lagosians can see them clearly.”

  • APC slams Ladoja

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has said former Governor Rashidi Ladoja lacks the “intellectual depth to appreciate or administer a modern civil service”.

    It said no administration in the state’s history has built the civil service as the Governor Abiola Ajimobi administration.

    APC was reacting to the Accord’s criticism of the Ajimobi administration on the sack of some permanent secretaries.

    In a statement by its Interim Publicity Secretary, Mr. Dauda Kolawole, APC said the Ajimobi administration was rebuilding the civil service, “which was bastardised by previous administrations” and needed to be purged of pollution.

    The party said: “Ajimobi inherited accumulated dregs and dirt in all sectors; from the Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala administration’s debasement of the values of the civil service to the Ladoja administration’s lack of mental depth to understand the rudiments of the service. It was a civil service that needed purification and restructuring. Our concentration was on rebuilding it and restoring the dignity of an average civil servant to see himself/herself as the engine room of the government and not a lap-dog to politicians in power.

    “In the state’s history, no administration has trained as much civil servants within and outside the country as the APC-led administration. We have trained 12,211 teaching and non-teaching workers in secondary schools; promoted 1,714 civil servants from all cadres in 2012; trained over 13,000 civil and public servants; and dedicated 10 of the 100 43-seater buses we procured for the transportation of civil servants to and from work, among others. All these can be cross-checked. We challenge Ladoja to tell the world what his administration did for civil servants.

    “Ajimobi believes the government should not play politics with the future of its people and has restored the dignity of civil servants. It is apparent that in the quest to reposition the service, the accumulated dirt of the past would have to give way for a new dawn in the foremost civil service in Nigeria, which produced the late Madam Tejumade Alakija.”

  • APC slams govt over sack threat

    APC slams govt over sack threat

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has slammed the Federal Government for issuing a sack threat against striking university teachers, saying the resort to such military-era tactics reflects the government’s poverty of ideas.

    In a statement issued yesterday in Lagos by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party criticised the Supervising Minister of Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, for talking down on the teachers, while issuing the ill-advised, go-back-to-work-or-be-sacked threat.

    The government denied the issuing threat, saying it was (the threat) from the Committee of Vice Chancellors.

    ‘’Wike’s language was crude, his presentation was rude and his threat was demeaning and counter-productive. We believe his lack of finesse and the inability to think out of the box in handling the whole strike issue will not bode well for a quick resolution of the crisis.

    ‘’We also disagree with the Minister’s inference that the lecturers should automatically call off the strike because the President intervened and sat for long hours with them. It is this unnecessary deification of a democratically-elected President that has almost turned this President into an Emperor. What is the big deal in President Jonathan sitting with ASUU members, his former colleagues for that matter? What is a President elected to do if not to solve problems?’’ it queried.

    APC said it was unfortunate that Wike can be threatening to sack university teachers at a time there is a shortfall of 60,000 lecturers in Nigerian universities, adding that the threat itself has shown that the government does not understand the enormity of the problems facing public universities in particular and the education sector in general.

    ‘’The poor remuneration of university teachers and the inadequate facilities for teaching and learning in our public universities have combined to trigger a brain drain in the institutions. The pauperisation and frustration of the teachers through the non-implementation of the pacts aimed at ameliorating the situation have discouraged those who may want to become university teachers. Yet, the few who have defied the odds to take to this noble path of helping to mold our future leaders are being threatened with dismissal. This betrays a painful lack of understanding of the long and tortuous path it takes to produce a university teacher.

    ‘’It also shows that the so-called Supervising Minister of Education is not better than the misguided market women who, having being hired and paid to protest against ASUU, threatened to invade the universities to chase out the lecturers if they won’t call off the strike.

    ‘’This is what a country gets when it puts round pegs in square holes. It is not everyone who can mobilize campaign funds for the President or organize thugs during an election who should be rewarded with a ministerial post, not to talk of being given such a sensitive ministry as that of education, which is directly responsible for the future of our youth and of course our country. No one who knows the value of education will toe the path taken by Wike in issuing his empty threat,’’ the party said.

    It said ASUU was right in demanding certain benchmarks, including the non-victimisation clause and the need for a senior government official, such as the Attorney-General, to sign the agreement, before calling off its strike, in view of the fact that the government has a history of reneging on its agreements.

    ‘’Yes, our party is eager for this prolonged strike to end so that our youths who have been marooned at home for five months can resume their academic pursuit. Yes, we believe this strike has gone on for way too long, and that it will impact negatively on our country’s development in the long run. But we believe the issues at stake must be resolved once and for all, so that we won’t have a repeat of these recurring strikes.

    ‘’The onus rests on the FG to work with ASUU to resolve this lingering crisis. President Jonathan should get off his high horse, roll up his sleeves as Presidents elsewhere do and tackle squarely what has now become one of the biggest challenges facing his administration.

    ‘’However, if the Jonathan administration has run out of ideas, as we now fear it has, going by the infantile threats being issued by it, then let it hands off the negotiations and allow other stakeholders to find a way out. We are all stakeholders in the education of our youths,’’ APC said.

  • ACN slams Ondo senator for underage marriage

    The Ondo State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday condemned the action of the Labour Party (LP) lawmaker, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, on underage marriage.

    Akinyelure, representing Ondo Central, said he voted in “error to support underage marriage.”

    A statement by the ACN Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Agbede, reads: “The senator’s shameful involvement in lending support to the much- criticised paedophilic amendment being inserted into the constitution, no doubt, has brought an indelible stain and stigma to the name and people of Ondo State.

    “More worrisome to the people is a statement credited to him that he voted in ‘error’, as this manifestly showcases the calibre of people and quality of representation offered the people of the state by the LP.

    “This trend of poor performance is more evident in the below-average performance of the state government under the leadership of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.

    “It is unfortunate that a state, such as Ondo, known to be a repository of knowledge and high intellectual capacity, could parade the like of Senator Akinyelure in the Senate.”

    The party said it is amazed that the best LP can offer the state is a man that does not understand the simplest working of the Senate (voting) and flow of deliberations on the floor of the Senate.

    It said this put a question mark on the integrity of the LP.

    The statement added: “From the foregoing, it is obvious that the lawmaker has not been contributing meaningfully to debates in the Senate. A man who cannot interpret correctly a motion put to vote, thereby committing an error while voting, cannot comprehend the flow of debates during plenary.”

    ACN urged the citizenry to see this development as an eye-opener and take pre-emptive measures during the next round of elections in the state.

    It said the electorate should take cognisance of the situation and vote for credible and competent individuals for effective and efficient representation at all levels.

    The party noted that electing an individual, who will have committed an “error of judgment”, only to come back and weep like a baby, does not augur well for the state and its indigenes.

  • ACN slams Presidency on Oguta poll

    ACN slams Presidency on Oguta poll

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has slammed the Presidency for seeking to usurp the role of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by describing the rerun to the Imo House of Assembly in Oguta as inconclusive.

    In a statement yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it was up to INEC to determine whether the election was ‘inconclusive’ or marred by ‘violence and irregularities’, not the Presidency.

    “To the best of our knowledge, it is either the candidates or the parties involved in an election that can take a legal recourse over any perceived irregularities. It, therefore, baffles us that the Presidency has rushed to declare the election inconclusive and marred by rigging, and to call for the prosecution of those involved, simply because its preferred candidate lost.

    “According to the information at our disposal, the INEC cancelled the results in eight of the 232 polling booths for one reason or the other. That is less than four per cent of the number of booths; it is definitely not enough to make an election ‘inconclusive’, as the Presidency did by assuming the role of an umpire,” ACN said.

    The party also accused the Presidency of being selective in its quest for the prosecution of those who rig or engage in violence during elections, wondering where the Presidency was when the last Ondo State governorship election was marred by massive rigging and violence.

    It said: “Let’s be clear: It is not the business of the Presidency to pronounce any election inconclusive or marred by violence. That is the business of the INEC. The Presidency is wrong in trying to pre-empt the INEC, simply because the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate lost the election to the Rochas Okorocha faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

    “Would the Presidency have raised the alarm if the victor had come from the Peter Obi faction of APGA? Why didn’t the Presidency speak up over the Ondo State governorship election, which was marred by massive violence and rigging? Is it because its favoured candidate won?

    “We are the undisputed advocate of free and fair elections: one-man, one-vote, and of peaceful conduct of polls. But we will not support selective perception, as the Presidency is now doing. There must be no sacred cows. Whoever perpetrates rigging or violence must be brought to justice, whether or not they belong to the ruling/favoured parties.”

    ACN said the Presidency was afraid that the outcome of the election in Oguta may be a referendum on the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan and a sign of things to come; which of course it is!

    “The Presidency should be prepared for more of the drubbing it received in Oguta, because henceforth, that is what will happen to the PDP in subsequent elections. It is a sign of things to come, hence the Presidency is right to be jittery. But what it has no right to do is to usurp the role of the election umpire or assume the role of a political party,” the party added.

  • Lagos ACN slams PDP, Presidency over NGF crisis

    Lagos ACN slams PDP, Presidency over NGF crisis

    The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has lambasted the Presidency and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for allegedly sowing and sustaining the crisis in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

    The party said the PDP and the Presidency under Dr Goodluck Jonathan, are creating doubts on the minds of Nigerians on their faith in democracy, by their “noxious actions”.

    It noted that they have “leveraged this to gain undue advantage over Nigerians since 1999”.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary Joe Igbokwe, ACN noted that the PDP and the Presidency created the crisis in the NGF.

    The party said the audacious manner they are going to sustain this crisis “…are enough to warn Nigerians that those that benefitted greatly from our fight against militarism are not ready to depart from the paths of illegality and unconstitutionality”.

    It said: “By now, Nigerians are all aware of the undue interest shown by the PDP and the Presidency to annex the NGF for their self-serving purposes before the NGF election. Such desperation found meaning in the orchestrated campaign of calumny the Presidency and the PDP launched against the Chairman of NGF, Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi, over the unfounded speculation that he was eyeing the Vice Presidency.

    “Further signs of this inordinate desire to conquer and annex the NGF were the hasty formation of a PDP Governors’ Forum, threats against governors suspected not to harbour positive interest of the PDP and the Presidency’s agenda, deployment of carrot to woo governors to support the takeover of the NGF, among other means…”

     

  • Alliance talks: Oyelese slams Ladoja, Alao-Akala for ‘poor performance’

    Alliance talks: Oyelese slams Ladoja, Alao-Akala for ‘poor performance’

    Two chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State, Elder Wole Oyelese and Senator Lekan Balogun, have criticised the proposed alliance between former Governors Rashidi Ladoja and Adebayo Alao-Akala.

    They described it as “self-seeking” and a “purposeless marriage of convenience”.

    Speaking with The Nation at the weekend, Oyelese said the alliance did not have the blessing of PDP leaders in the state.

    The former Minister of Power and Steel said the poor performance of Ladoja and Alao-Akala while in office created room for Governor Abiola Ajimobi to become a star within two years in office.

    Oyelese said: “I think Ladoja and Alao-Akala are getting it wrong on the so-called alliance. Their approach is wrong, as they are not carrying other PDP leaders along. It is unfortunate that they are coming together for the wrong reason because I read in the papers that they came together for the sole purpose of preventing Ajimobi from winning the election for a second term in office.

    “For now, it is possible to say that Ajimobi has performed in his first two years. But I believe he owes this perception largely to the inability of Ladoja and Alao-Akala to do some of the basic things he has done when they were in the same position.

    “If they had done it, Ajimobi would not have become such a star that he now appears to be for doing basic things. Ajimobi should not be their reason for coming together, as I do not believe he is the best Oyo State can offer and should therefore not be a big issue.

    “At any rate, if their ambition is to come back as governor, the current situation where they belong to two different political parties smells of confusion. I think one of them has to make up his mind to join the party of the other in order to have a platform. We also need to ask them if they are the only people in the PDP that can govern Oyo State, should Ladoja decide to join the party.

    “Their approach is faulty and not in the best interest of the PDP and Oyo State. Other party leaders, including me, do not think much of what they are doing. It is at best another way of further dividing the party, as the duo do not have better claim on the PDP than the rest of us leaders.

    “I think the alliance is a self-seeking venture. It is time they stopped thinking about themselves and their political aspiration to rule the state again and begin to think of the state’s progress.”

    Balogun said: “It is a political gimmickry that has no purpose. The people are not fools. The voters are now wiser than before. Today, both of them will not get up to the lowest of the votes one of them got the last time.

    “The masses are not fools. They are more intelligent than what these people take them for. Ladoja and Alao-Akala are not as popular as they think.”

    Ladoja and Alao-Akala raised a 10-man committee last week to work out modalities for an alliance between them.

  • Oyo ACN slams PDP over Ajimobi

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State yesterday said the state has moved beyond the “pedestrian politics of the Lamidi Adedibu/Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) era, when falsehood was concocted to malign runners of the government”.

    It was reacting to the PDP’s allegation that the ACN administration was giving too much power to the wife of the governor.

    ACN said: “We lived in this state when the wife of a former PDP governor was always signing files for her spouse. The PDP apparently thinks ours is a reincarnation of such familial governance, but that is not true. The governor, assisted by his executive council, runs Oyo State alone.”