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Tag: Southwest

  • ‘No Boko Haram members arrested in Southwest’

    Some Hausa leaders in Lagos State have denied a report that no less than 1, 000 members of the Boko Haram group were arrested in the Southwest.

    The Seriki Hausawa of Ajeromi Ifelodun Ojoraland, Lagos, Alhaji Adamu Abubakar; Seriki Hausawa of Agege, Alhaji Musa Dogo-Kadai and Seriki Hausawa Idi Araba, Alhaji Hassan Aliyu said the report was false and urged Lagosians to debunk it.

    Seriki Abubakar said there was no time such an arrest was made and that if it were so, he and his colleagues in the Arewa Council of Chiefs would have known. He added that the mention of Southwest in the report without the mention of a particular town where the purported arrest was carried out made the report more suspicious. He wondered why since the report was made public, Nigerians have not been told where the ‘suspects’ were being kept and the security agency that made the arrests.

    During a visit to the Minister of State for Special Duties and Inter-governmental Relations, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN), the Chairman, Arewa Council of Chiefs, Lagos, Alhaji Sani Kabiru, said Boko Haram members were arrested. He did not give details.

    Abubakar said: “The allegation has affected the good relationship between the Hausa and our host community. Also, our people are accusing us of collecting money from the government. I want to believe that the chairman was misquoted. He does not do anything without consulting us.”

    Abubakar said the impression created by the report that Alhaji Kabiru is the Seriki Southwest is false, adding that Alhaji Haruna Maiyasin, who lives in Ibadan, is the Seriki Southwest. He added that Alhaji Kabiru and others who went to see the minister in Abuja were on their own and not representatives of the other Serikis.

    He urged his colleagues to desist from statements that were capable of stoking the fire of insecurity in the country.

  • ‘President needs Southwest’s vote’

    ‘President needs Southwest’s vote’

    A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Senator Bode Ola,  has urged the people to support the second term ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Addressing reporters at the Southwest PDP Unity Rally, at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, he said Jonathan enjoyed massive support in Ekiti State.

    He said: “The Southwest people, in particular, and Nigerians in general, will  return Mr. President to office for a second term in the 2015 presidential election. He has done well and he deserves to complete the mission of transformation.

    “What he has been doing in improving the well-being of the masses, through his transformation agenda in all sectors; education, farming, transportation, among others, is highly commendable.

    “This is why those of us in Ekiti are solidly behind him. We are going to vote for him and he has our solid support.”

    The senator said that what happened in Ekiti election where the people voted for the PDP against the All Progressives Congress (APC) will happen in the Southwest states  in  next year’s elections.

    He described the PDP as a formidable party that could not be displaced by any party in Nigeria. Ola said: “We believe that what happened in Ekiti will still happen in the whole of Southwest”.

    He urged the Southwest to vote for the PDP during the elections, noting that the party’s people-oriented programmes will  promote positive growth and development in the country.

     

  • Akinyelure: PDP can’t displace APC in Southwest’

    Akinyelure: PDP can’t displace APC in Southwest’

    Southwest All Progressives Congress (APC)  leaders have resolved to work hard to make the zone the stronghold of the mega opposition party by winning next year’s elections in the six states. BISI OLADELE encountered them at the maiden zonal meeting of the party in Ibadan, Oyo State capital.  

    The Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Southwest, Chief Pius Akinyelure, has a challenge. Elections will hold in the six states-Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti-next year. The region is perceived as the stronghold of the APC. Can the party triumph at the polls?

    Exuding confidence, the zonal leader said that victory is possible. But, he emphasised that the chapter should put its house in order, learn from past mistakes and work hard.

    Akinyelure presided over the maiden meeting of APC chieftains from the zone at Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    The chieftains were basking in the euphoria of the APC’s success in the Osun State governorsjhip election. The convivial atmosphere  buried the pain over the loss of Ekiti State to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) .

    However, despite their belief in the ability of the party to win the governorship polls in Oyo, Lagos and Ogun, and partliamentary polls in Ondo, Ekiti and Osun, they acknowledged that a lot of work should be done, especially in the areas of giving more opportunities to youths, internal democracy, mobilisation, selection of competent candidates and mandate protection.

    Chieftains who spoke on the challenges ahead included Lagos Central leader Prince Tajudeen Olusi, Senator Ajayi Boroffice, Oyo State APC Chairman Chief Akin Oke, Senator Ganiyu Solomon and Dr. Tunji Abayomi. Their views are presented below:

     

     

     Boroffice

    We lost Ekiti at the governorship election, yet we have not lost Ekiti State as a whole. We are still very much strong in the state. We have learnt our lesson in the Ekiti election and by the time Osun State election was conducted, those lessons sprang forth and you could see that all the efforts of the PDP to rig the election, to steal the mandate, failed. Now with the defection of Governor Mimiko to PDP, I think it is a good development for us because for a long time there have been many people in the Labour Party that will love to decamp to APC at the higher level but because of the constitutional provision, it was a constraint.

    Now, the defecting has opened a door for them to decamp to whatever party they like and people’s choice so far is the APC and I want to assure you that but for this meeting we will be holding another rally at the local government level receiving people both from Labour party and the PDP because there are some people in labour party who are progressives and cannot feel at home in the PDP and there are some people in the PDP who believe that Mimiko is an Ebola virus that is going to kill the PDP and these people are leaving the PDP to join the APC. In fact, I can see God’s hand in his defection. Putting all these together, I think the chances of the APC in the southwest come 2015 is altogether strong.

    “We are being energised by these development in Ondo State. We now have a structure in place:  the local government executives are in place, the ward excos are in place, the unit excos are also in place. So, their functions are now being activated to harvest. All these plans will build a formidable party that will claim the state. Conduct an opinion poll today in Ondo State of the chances of both parties winning an election in 2015, the response will be 70 per cent in favour of the APC.

    There are no stumbling blocks to be identified. I think, in the Southwest, what we have to do is to make sure that we put our heart together. I cannot envisage any stumbling block. We must not be complacent as we did in Ekiti. We must be ready to meet force with force and also to ensure that our people are ready, not only to vote but to watch and guide their votes form the polling boot to the collation centre. I think that is the only thing that can be a stumbling block. And of course, we have curbed the issue of intimidation by police and army. And I hope that by 2015, the amendment to the electoral law which makes it illegal for the Federal Government to deploy the army and the police, and SSS will have been ratified. That again will brighten the chances of free election.

     

    Abayomi

    Let’s take it state by state. In Lagos, I believe we are predictably okay. In Ogun, we are relatively okay. In Oyo, we are relatively okay? In Osun, we are dependably okay. In Ekiti, we need to do some additional work. In Ondo State, we need to do a lot of work. If we add everything together,  I think we should be okay.

    Obviously, the INEC declared us as the winner. Anybody can go to the tribunal?, and I think really we should have gone to the tribunal against Omisore, especially on Ife results. The election that was conducted in Ife raises a lot of doubt as to the number of vote committed to Omisore. So, I believe we should initiate a counter petition especially, but apart from that I think everybody followed the election in Osun. I believe that Omisore just wants to be relevant having been embarrassed by the result. You need to understand that before the election, Chief Omisore had boasted, and his party too, that there was simply no way that they will not win in Osun State. Not only that, you will recall that the chairman of the PDP governors had also boasted, so also the vice president. So, the embarrassment was a little large and it needed to be curtailed a little bit by way of petition.

    What happened was that the Labour Party was an irritant in Ondo Sate. It is a party that has no head, no arm and no neck – you know what I mean. It is a party that is surrounded by only one person. You will recall that when Mimiko was going to start his campaign, he said, “When we decided to use Labour party to realise our ambition.” So, the Labour Party (LP) is really a party not to be in a position to be competitive politically in this country. The only significant person in the party in this country is Mimiko. In the future, the coast is clearer, it is now a battle between the titans and that is the APC which houses the progressives and the PDP which houses the retrogressives in terms of achievement. The nation in the last 14 years has enjoyed civil rule. But the only thing the government has guaranteed us is the chance to die. They have not guaranteed us anything. We do not have water, electricity. It took me four hours to go from Lagos, a major commercial city of Nigeria, to Ibadan, the most populous city.  And then, we cannot have any public hospital, none of us has a public primary school where we can put our children without a disturbed conscience. We are not expecting much from the PDP. Only the people of PDP expect much from  thePDP and not the people of Nigeria.

     

    Oke

    As far as we are concerned, I think in the last three years that we have been in the realm of affairs in the Southwest, outside Lagos state, we have done enough to warrant a return in the six states.

    In all human endeavours there are bound to be difficulties and challenges. The reality in Ekiti is beyond human comprehension beacuse what happened in Ekiti is difficult to explain for now and I will leave that to the tribunal. With what happened in Osun, I believe Oyo is okay and Lagos is alright. In Ogun, we have some of our members complaining and there are little quarrels but that has been resolved if that is what you are referring to as stumbling blocks.

    In Ekiti, the scenario will be a different thing come 2015. In Osun, no doubt we are going to win. In Oyo, I can assure you we are coming back by the grace of God. In Ogun, by the grace of God, the difference between our leader and the governor – I know our leaders are doing everything possible to settle the differences. I think Governor Amosun has done more than enough for the people of Ogun to return him back come 2015. In Lagos, we have no doubt because it is the bedrock of progressives in Nigeria – we are going to win.

     

    Olusi

    The chances of our party of retaining Southwest states is very bright. One has to remember that APC is determined to move Southwest forward and to pursue a change for the entire federation of Nigeria. However, history has taught us that when you are pursuing a change from a position to another, particularly a position that will be unpalatable to those who are looting the treasury of our country, then you are going to be confronted with stiff opposition and therefore we are ready for that. Today, we are the predominant party in Southwest part of our country and definitely we are going to maintain that position. We are now ruling a number of states like Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Lagos, Edo and our governors are performing well and they have the support of the masses, so, we have no fear that we are going to win the whole of Southwest.

    I am not satisfied with the Ekiti State election and I have made my view known in the national dailies recently. If you look at the Osun State guber election, you will see the performances of the electoral officers, that shows how INEC must be an unbaised umpire.

    For the APC to retain power in Lagos in 2015, we need to be aggressive in our campaign, we have made a number of achievement in Southwest. See what is happening in Ogun State, see what we have achieved in Lagos State and see what is going on Oyo State. We need to talk and persuade the people, and we need the people to make some sacrifices for the betterment of the people.

     

    Solomon

    The issue of internal democracy is a principle we have to imbibe with the party and our leaders have always been singing it into our ears. They have also exhibited that in the elections in Anambra, Osun and Ekiti. So, they also know the situation on ground now, and they know that party members are willing to participate with their candidates. We will not do anything to the contrary.

    As regards to some other challenges, there will be natural challenges, challenges of candidate, challenges of a now mega party but I don’t see the challenges as insurmountable, because we have at the elms of affairs veteran politicians who have seen it all and we will tap from their wealth of experience in tackling those challenges.

    The chances of our party is very bright in 2015 and in the three remaining states in Southwest we shall return.

    We have so many aspirants to contest for the Lagos State governorship seat in 2015, its good for the party and we shall continue to encourage them, but we should ensure that we create a platform and choose the aspirant with the highest support from party members to emerge as the party’s candidate. Its not about the party choosing alone but its about the electorate knowing about the competence of the candidate and we shall not take the chances of the electorate for granted. The party has not zoned the governorship ticket to anywhere.

  • Southwest to meet on security

    Southwest states will meet in Lagos tomorrow and Thursday to review the increasing security and environmental challenges associated with the growing population in the area.

    They will also discuss the road map for the zone’s development, it was learnt yesterday.

    The meeting is being facilitated by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission via a two-day workshop, where security experts, formal and informal security chiefs and other stakeholders will review data on the various sectors of the economy.

  • Southwest PDP wobbling in crisis

    Southwest PDP wobbling in crisis

    The Southwest Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been enmeshed in leadership crises in the six states. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examines its implications for the party in next year’s general elections.

    There is no end in sight to the crisis rocking the Southwest Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Last week, there was a new twist to the leadership tussle. The Chairman of the Southwest Caretaker Committee, Chief Ishola Filani,  was suspended by the members of the executive committee. He was asked to stop parading himself as the vice chairman of the party in the zone.  Although Filani has been re-instated, following the intervention of party elders, the controversy has continued to rage. Observers view his suspension as a fallout of the power struggle among  party leaders over 2015 calculations.

    The crisis has polarised the zone. Now, there are factions. The level of discontent is such that virtually all state chapters are grappling with one crisis or the other. The acrimony  climaxed when the former National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, appointed Chief Buruji Kashamu as the Chairman of the  Contact and Mobilisation Committee for the Southwest.

    A party stalwart described Kashamu‘s appointment as an imposition, which was intended to spite former President Olusegun Obasanjo and reduce his political influence. He said the former Chairman, acting a script by the Presidency, handed over the  zonal structure to Kashamu to undermine the former President. According to the party stalwart, notable stakeholders in the zone had protested the imposition, saying Kashamu joined the party four years ago.

    Many have also alleged that Kashamu planted Filani as the Caretaker Chairman to checkmate Chief Bode George’s influence and to consolidate his hold on the party. The ultimate goal was to make Filani the substantive chairman whenever the zonal congress is held. The reality on ground today is that Kashamu is in firm control of the party’s structure in the Southwest.

    Reacting to George’s comment that members of the caretaker committee lacked the power to suspend Filani, the Chairman of Ogun State chapter, Chief Bayo Dayo, said George was wrong.  In his view, it is only National Executive Committee that can fault the committee’s action. He added that the Southwest zone is responsible to the NEC, not to the George’s Leadership Forum.

    Dayo said Filani was re-instated, following the intervention of a review committee, the Fairness Forum. He said party leaders have appealed to feuding caretaker committee members to sheathe their swords and let the status quo remain, particularly since the Southwest congress may hold on September 26.

    He said the Fairness Forum mandated the Ekiti State governor-elect , Mr. Ayo Fayose, to  meet with aggrieved members of the committee, with a view to reconciling the warring factions. “This was how the matter was resolved and we hope that substantive officers will emerge from the congress scheduled for this month,” Dayo added

    Lagos State PDP Publicity Secretary Mr. Taofeek Gani aligned with the position of the Leadership Forum on the suspension of Filani. He said the action of the caretaker committee was embarrassing, adding that every stakeholder should be concerned about it.

    Gani commended the decision setting aside the purported suspension, saying it has restored peace in the party. He said the reason for reversing the suspension was very logical.

    His words: “Going by the antecedents of the party, this crisis is not insurmountable. The people behind it want to create confusion in the party. The PDP in the Southwest will go into 2015 elections more united and stronger.

    “This is a critical moment for the party. We are approaching the general elections, there should be no distraction. This is not the right time to overheat the polity. We should all work together to ensure the party’s victory in 2015.”

    The Chairman of the party in Ondo  State, Ebenezer Alade, said all the Southwest chairmen were shocked by the report of the suspension of Filani. He said the committee members who claimed to have removed Filani from office did not carry them along in their action. He also affirmed that members of the committee did not file any complaint before the party and had not indicated at any point in time that the suspended chairman did any wrong before taking the action.

    For more than two years, the Southwest PDP has been battling with a war of attrition. The party is factionalised in the six states. Analysts say the crisis escalated following the exclusion of chieftains loyal to former President Obasanjo from party activities.

    The crisis started at Osogbo, the Osun State capital. Party chieftains from the zone had in 2012 converged on the ancient city for the zonal congress. Aggrieved party stalwarts were bent on whittling down Obasanjo’s influence on the party. A faction of the PDP from Ogun State led by Kashamu  alleged that they were barred from the congress. The aggrieved members, who claimed that they were denied participation, went to court to challenge the validity of the congress. The court ruled that it was wrong to exclude the Ogun State chapter. As a result, it was declared null and void. It ordered that a new congress should be held. The judgment provided a caveat for the Bamanga Tukur-led National Executive Committee to disband the Southwest executive and remove Obasanjo’s men from the executive. The victims were the erstwhile National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, National Vice Chairman (Southwest), Mr. Segun Oni and the National Auditor, Chief Bode Mustapha.

    However, Oyinlola’s election was not voided by the Independent National Electoral Commission, which nullified the election of 16 national officers. Therefore when he was asked to vacate his office, the Obasanjo camp perceived it as orchestrated plan to eliminate the loyalists of the former President from the party. There were protests by Oyinlola supporters who insisted that he should be reinstated in the spirit of fairness and justice. Oyinlola and Oni went to court to regain their lost positions. The cases were still pending in court at the time both of them defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The reconciliation embarked upon by the Caretaker Committee led by Filani failed to restore peace and trust in the Southwest PDP.  The bitter struggle for the control of the party organs is also fierce among the party chieftains in the zone. Unresolved party matters, including the politics of exclusion, a winner-take-all attitude and emasculation of opponents in intra-party squabbles are still the order of the day.

    In Lagos State, the party has recorded the highest turnover of chairmen: Chief Olorunfunmi Bashorun, Alhaji Murtala Asorobi, Chief Alaba Williams, Bayo Adebayo,  Hon. Sentonji Koshoedo and Capt. Tunji Shelle. Amid the persistent crisis, many founding members have defected to the ruling party in the state. Many party chieftains believe that, since George became the arrowhead, peace has eluded the chapter. There are three factions in the party, namely: the Establishment led by George, the Union and the Non-Align group, all of them are working at cross purposes. Former leader of the Union group, Dr. Abayomi Finnih said the George group is in control of the party executive, while the other two factions are left in the cold. According to him, several reconciliatory moves made from outside, such as Southwest zone, the Presidency and the PDP Governors’ Forum, were to no avail.

    “The panels recommended a harmonised executive that would embrace all the factions, but the George group rejected the proposal. This action has further brought the party down. A serious party should open its doors for every member to be part of decision-making process. Some of us had bent backward by reaching out to George and his group, but their recalcitrant attitude did not allow them to reason with us. Politicians don’t behave that way. There must be compromise.”

    The Ogun State chapter is another house divided against itself. The State Executive Committee led by Adebayo Dayo, an engineer, does not have the support of the former President. Dayo was installed by Kashamu. Obasanjo had supported Senator Dipo Odujirin for the chairmanship. Since the court pronounced Dayo as the authentic chairman, the Obasanjo group has repeatedly shunned  party activities. The peace initiative by the party’s national secretariat was  also rebuffed. Similar efforts by President Goodluck Jonathan and the Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman, Chief Tony Anenih to reconcile the Obasanjo camp and the state leadership did not yielded any positive result. Obasanjo refused to grant Dayo and his group audience when they visited him on his birthday anniversary. Dayo was not pleased with the development. He said  certain party elders in the state have refused to embrace reality, wondering why they should constitute themselves into local warlords at a time they should be playing the role of father figures and conscience of the party.

    The appointment of Prof. Wale Oladipo as National Secretary to replace Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola is still generating ripples in Osun State chapter. A group known as the Osun PDP Concern Forum has kicked against Oladipo’s appointment. The Forum insisted that the mode of selection did not conform with the PDP Constitution and that the choice of Oladipo does not reflect the popular wish of members. The office of the National Secretary was zoned to Osun State by the Southwest PDP. Besides, the emergence of Chief Iyiola Omisore as party governorship candidate in the August 9 election has further polarised the party in the state. Other aspirants believe the primaries were rigged in favour of Omisore.  A party stalwart said that was why the likes of Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi  and Hon. Wole Oke distanced themselves from Omisore’s campaign.

    In Ondo, the return of Governor Olusegun Mimiko to the PDP is causing disaffection among the party leadership. Those against Mimiko’s defection have vowed to leave the party in protest. The Ondo State chapter is like a wounded lion. Since the chapter lost power to Labour Party, the chieftains claim that they have been left in the cold. To survive, some LP members have gravitated towards the LP governor. Thus, during the last governorship election, they worked against the PDP candidate Chief Olusola Oke. The decision to disown Oke, a former National Legal Adviser, led to the factionalisation of the party during the electioneering. Oke complained to the national secretariat, but no concrete step was taken to whip the pro-LP supporters in the PDP into line. Defending their action, they claim that they were plotting the return of the governor to the PDP.

  • Adams warns Southwest over insurgency

    Adams warns Southwest over insurgency

    The National Coordinator of Oodu’a Peoples Congress (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams, has expressed fear over the likely spill-over of Boko Haram insurgency to the Southwest region, if not properly curtailed.

    Adams, who spoke to reporters at this year’s Oranyan yearly festival in Oyo, at the weekend, said the revolt was taking serious toll on the people’s lives and property in the Northeast.

    He noted that indications were rife that Boko Haram had entered the Southwest, saying an instance was the explosion at Apapa, Lagos State, which the sect’s leader, Shekarau, laid claim to.

    The Oodu’a chief said drastic solution must be taken to curtail the menace of the Islamic sect in the Southwest.

    Adams said the zone’s governors were showing nonchalant attitude towards the issue, adding that as a leader of OPC, none of the governors has called him to discuss how to take measures to curtail the threat.

    “I have been to 51 countries, launching Oodua Progressive Union. I just came back from Europe and what they were asking me was the issue of Boko Haram.

    “We need to organise a stakeholder meeting on security to chat a way forward on how to secure and sanitise our region from Boko Haram insurgency,” he said.

  • Group prays for peace in the Southwest

    A Lagos-based group, the Christian Ministers’ Welfare Initiatives (CMWI) has devised a working plan to use prayer as a strategy in ensuring peace in all the six geo-political regions of Nigeria, starting with the South West.

    Speaking at a press conference in Lagos at the weekend the founder and President of the association,Apostle Daniel Aderemi Adebiyi explained that all the challenges facing Nigeria stemmed from the lack of effective prayer by both Christian and Muslim leaders.

    Apostle Adebiyi said one of the covenants the Lord gave him was the covenant of peace, adding that the association gathered in Abuja on June 26, 2014 to save the nation from being dragged into the abyss by the insurgency of Boko Haram.

    He said: “As an association, we believe prayer is the only effective weapon that can destroy the power of darkness enveloping the nation.”

    CMWI–MOG, as it is fondly called, according to its president has about 4.3 million members that cut across 36 states of the nation.

    Flanked by his Deputy President, Bishop Joy Eberico, and the Chief of Staff, Pastor Gbenga Koyi, Apostle Adebiyi said: “The association holds in high esteem  its Grand Matron and Ambassador of Peace, Chief (Mrs) Remi Adiukwu, who was the pillar behind  the National Prayer Rain for Peace in Abuja.”

    Describing Chief Adiukwu as a woman of honesty, truth and integrity, he said the CMWI could not have achieved what it has in the last one year of its existence without her support .

    Also speaking on why the group inaugurated General Oladipo Diya (rtd) as its Grand Patron, Apostle Adebiyi said: “The General always gives the association both moral and spiritual support. His constant advice has put us in good stead, and his fatherly role in our day-to- day decision-making cannot be quantified.”

    He further said: “We don’t just appoint a Grand Patron. We appoint one after proper screening. We have about six committees. They were all involved in the appointment. This is to show the calibre of our patrons. The General is a great Nigerian who has greatly contributed  to the advancement of this nation in many areas of life. His appointment was in recognition of his greatness.”

    The association will move to Kaduna on September 6 for the National Prayer for Peace Rain 2015 and the inauguration of the CMWI, Kaduna Chapter.

    Apostle Adebiyi said the Kaduna prayer has the support of  Governor  Muktar Ramalan Yero and other senior government officials.

    The group will move to Taraba State on September 9, 2014.

    Speaking on the achievements of the association, Apostle Adebiyi said:  ”The achievements of the group lie in its membership. The association is waxing stronger in numerical strength. We are mobilizing these members politically and socially for the good of the nation.”

  • EKSU ‘most responsible in Southwest’

    The Ekiti State University has been ranked ‘Most ethically responsible university’ in Southwest geo-political zone of Nigeria.

    The exercise was an outcome of an independent assessment and research by an internationally reputed non-governmental Organisation (NGO) Centre for Ethics and Self-Value Orientation (CESVO).

    According to its President, Prince Saliu Musa Yakubu, the activities of the organisation, involves beaming searchlight on public institutions and individuals with the aim of exposing corruption, maladministration, inefficiency, graft and fraudulent conduct of public officers and public offices.

    Prince Yakubu said CESVO started its covert assessment of EKSU and other universities three months ago and have conducted non-bias investigation using questionnaires, opinion poll rating and stakeholder interviews to assess the quality of the university and management performance.

  • Southwest conference delegates insist on regional autonomy

    Southwest conference delegates insist on regional autonomy

    Southwest delegates at the National Conference are insisting on institutionalising regional autonomy.

    The delegates, in a position paper circulated to delegates from other zones yesterday, said the 2014 National Conference must be a discourse aimed at and inclusive nation building.

    They insisted that “Yoruba people will not be part of a charade that will not create the needed national consensus on key issues in the country. The National Conference must emerge with outcomes that must be enduring solution to perennial and contentious national issues.”

    The 85-page position paper is entitled, “Regional autonomy or nothing” with a subtitle “The unity of Nigeria is negotiable and must be negotiated”.

    It appeared as a response to a position paper circulated by Northern delegates marked ‘Key’ issues before the Northern delegates to the 2014 National Conference” with a subtitle “Northern Nigeria, the backbone and strength of Nigeria.”

    The Southwest delegates noted that the National Conference commenced against a backdrop of pervasive cynicism about the real intention of President Goodluck Jonathan and serious doubts about the leadership’s capacity-implying a requirement of personal strength of character and political clout, to deliver the radical restructuring that are necessary to resolve the fundamental problems of the legitimacy of the ‘Nigerian project.’

    They said that “despite these thoughts and views, it was rightly decided that a strong presence of Southwest delegates are required at the conference to advocate a radical restructuring of Nigeria.

    Optimists, they said, perceived the conference as a golden opportunity to undertake a holistic transformation of the federation, to realign its structures and commence the institution of attitudinal changes necessary to locate Nigeria on a trajectory of political stability and economic development.

    The delegates said the first two weeks of the conference was used to debate the president’s speech, which they said appeared a delay tactics and red herring.

    The delegates added that “the Emir of Adamawa’s submission on the floor of the National Conference on 27th March 2014 signaled some of the North’s intent which has been suggested to be blackmailing the nation to submission, resulting in the retention of the status quo”.

    The delegates noted that it had been well argued that a multi-cultural and multi-lingual country needs, at least, a federal system of government if it is to achieve any measure of economic, social and political development.

    They regretted that “ however, signals emerging from the on-going national conference indicate a resistance to the radical restructuring of the country to consolidate the nation’s unwieldy and unsustainable political structures.”

    According to the delegates, “this direction of travel is a rejection of the imperative for a profound realignment of and political restructuring of the nation by the consolidation of the unwieldy and unsustainable 36 states structure into six geo-regional political arrangement.”

    They noted that “ with this impending outcome, the 2014 National Conference appears to have entrenched the very logic of operations that has brought Nigeria to the precipice.”

    On the stand of the Southwest, the document said that “The Southwest is committed to the consolidation of the 36 states’ structures into a regional structure.”

    The delegates noted that the arrangement “is what is in the best interest of Nigeria and the people of each region.”

    The delegates said, “The Southwest is reaffirming and rededicating itself to this principle. Any attempt to only tinker with the splintering of Nigeria (for instance, the recommendation to create an additional state in the South East) will only entrench a logic that has proven deleterious for Nigeria’s political and economic development.”

    They noted that the continuing structural imbalance of Nigeria is detrimental to the attainment of dynamic and progressive constituent units of the country and would continue to be an impediment to social and economic development of the Southwest, Southsouth, South East and indeed the ‘North’.

    The delegates noted that as a nation, there is the need to achieve a radical transformation of ‘project Nigeria.’

    They warned that inherent in the emerging outcome of the 2014 National Conference is the danger of exacerbating the problems of the more dynamic constituent sections of the country that are determined to join the global race for rapid transformatio, such as Yoruba people.

    “Hence, the Yoruba people would not be nail roaded into endorsing premeditated outcomes that further undermine our development and the execution of laudable Regional developmental initiatives.

    The delegates noted that the publication that acknowledges the collaboration of the Northern Governors and other socio-political organisations in the North presented to the 2014 National Conference titled “Key issues before the Northern delegates to the 2014 National Conference” attempted to “distort Nigerian history and re-calibrate the geography of the nation in a manner reminiscent of Hausa-Fulani approach to national political matters, before and after independence.”

     

     

    They described the publication as “a hyperbolic self-assessment- explicitly directed at and against the South,” and “littered with non-evidenced and poorly referenced assertions and claims about the North being the backbone and pillar of Nigeria.”

    The delegates noted that “the publication that insults the rest of the country with imperial language that subtends its claims,” is at variance with the pronouncement presidential address that delegates should not approach issues with suspicion and antagonism.

    They said that the Northern publication was needlessly provocative.

    The delegates agreed that without doubt, a release with the subtitle of “Northern Nigeria the backbone of Nigeria” smacks of gross insensitivity to the feelings of ethnic nationalities outside the orbit of the North.

    They said that the National Conference appeared to have created a space for ethnic nationalities to unearth their long established fear, political, ethnic and cultural subconscious.

    “Therefore, Northern Governors, Arewa Consultative Forum, and other organizations consulted before the crafting of the North’s position paper have clearly exteriorised the innards of the Region’s political assessment of Nigerians, and indeed the South,” they said.

    The delegates dismissed the claims of the North on oil exploration and production in the country, revenue allocation and others.

    The South West made the following demands: Regionalism which embodies a restructured Nigeria federation consisting of a central government and regional governments of other ethnic nationalities that could be based on the current six geo-political zones.

    The delegates said that the South West Region must include all Yoruba people outside the imposed artificial boundaries, in Edo, Delta, Kogi, and Kwara States.

    The demanded a negotiated legislative Exclusive, Concurrent and Residual List and a unicameral legislature at the centre and a parliamentary form of government at the centre.

    The also wanted a right to self determination on and up to the right to secede among other demands.

    The South West delegates concluded that “ Whilst the focus of the North should be on developing this new form of required leadership-hopefully with less focus on dependency on oil revenue and the quest to perpetually rule Nigeria- the focus of Yoruba people continues to be the development of a people and a nation, upholding our core values and the strength to defend ourselves, whilst continuously seeking ways to be cohesive and focused as a nation so as to keep advancing in properity.”

    “For Yoruba people, it is regionalism or nothing,” they re-emphasised.

     

  • Don’t import war to the Southwest

    Don’t import war to the Southwest

    THE All Progressives Congress in Osun State yesterday rejected what it called war intention of the PDP in the Southwest ahead of the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State and the August 9 governorship poll in Osun State. Vice President Namadi Sambo speaking in Abuja on Wednesday had declared that the impeding elections would be a ‘war’ which the PDP will ‘fight’ to regain the two states. However,reacting to the Vice President’s statement,the Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of the APC in Osun,Mr.Kunle Oyatomi said “ this is a sadistic declaration of war by a government, on its own people and it is also patent evidence that the PDP is the actual cause of the war Nigeria have been having in recent time, including that of Boko Haram.” Mr. Oyatomi warned the PDP to think twice before it imports war to the Southwest which,according to the APC, has been the most peaceful area since the return of democracy. ‘We reject this war proposal of the VP because it will spell disaster for the country’, the APC said. It said the Federal Government already has a series of wars on its hand which it has “failed woefully to win.” “ To therefore start a new war on a peaceful people in the West will be biting more than the government can chew.’It will be inviting anarchy,” Oyatomi said. The APC reminded VP Sambo that he has enough troubles in his home state in Kaduna which he desperately struggled to win in a rigged victory against the defunct CPC in 2011. ‘Namadi Sambo should bother more about Kaduna than scheming for a war in the West. It will be a very unpleasant experience for him and his party,’ the party said. On the PDP governorship candidate in Osun, Mr. Iyiola Omisore, the APC described the ex-senator as ‘a politician who lacks electoral value in the State’. It said, “for instance, Omisore was comprehensively defeated in 2011 by the youngest Senator in Nigerian Senate today, Babajide Omoworare.