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Tag: Stalemate

  • Dickson, Labour meeting on levy ends in a stalemate

    Dickson, Labour meeting on levy ends in a stalemate

    The meeting between Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson and Labour unions, over a compulsory education levy on civil servants, imposed by the government, has ended in a stalemate, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    It was learnt the Higher Education Students’ Loan and Education Development Trust Fund Law made it mandatory for workers in public and private sectors to contribute to the fund.

    The government will contribute 10 per cent of its internally generated revenue, while public servants are to pay between N500 and N100, 000 monthly, depending on their grade level, to the fund.

    The unions, however, opposed the levy after the governor signed the Law on March 29.

    Chairmen of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) told NAN yesterday the meeting did not arrive at a consensus.

    Mr. John Ndiomu, the NLC chairman, said the union leaders would present details of the discussion to their members at a joint congress.

    He, however, said the government had approved pending promotions of workers.

    Mr. Tari Dounana, the TUC chairman, noted that the levy and the withdrawal of a 20 per cent tax waiver granted civil servants were additional burden on workers.

    He lamented that the imposition of the levy came at a time the government had failed to settle over six months backlog of salaries.

    The TUC chairman described the levy as “anti-people”, made without the input of stakeholders and the public.

    “It is unfortunate that such laws that will require civil servants to make contributions from their salaries were passed and assented to, without a public hearing for stakeholders.

    “Workers have made enough sacrifice, with between six to 13 months salary arrears and we agreed to support the proposed Health Insurance policy where workers will also make contributions. The latest is one deduction too many.

    “For them to formulate the policy without Labour’s input leaves much to be desired. We are opposed to it,” he said.

    Information Commissioner Mr. Jonathan Obuebite urged workers to refrain from politicising the policy.

    He said the government invested about N50billion in the education sector.

    “The government sees the welfare of its workforce as a priority. The policy is in the interest of the citizenry.

    “It is meant to give world-class education to every child in Bayelsa. We want people to make sacrifices,’’ Obuebite said.

     

  • INEC and Abia stalemate

    Even if the smoldering crisis generated by Justice OkonAbang’s ruling, which sacked Governor OkezieIkpeazu of Abia State is under considerable control, the role of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in facilitating that pass, will unlikely go down well with many.

    For, much of the confusion that trailed that ruling would have been stymied had the commission trod very cautiously in a manner expected of that supposedly impartial body. At issue was the indecent haste with which it issued the Certificate of Return to the beneficiary of the judgment, UcheOgah. Not just that, it went further to lie on the pendency of the notice of appeal and stay of execution of that court judgment.

    Initial comments from the commission had vehemently denied that Okezie filed a notice of appeal and a stay of execution, which legal experts said were the conditions that could bar that electoral body from executing that judgment.

    But the Attorney-general and Commissioner for Justice of Abia State came out swiftly with evidence that both the appeal and motion for stay of execution were duly filed and served; furnishing the name of INEC clerk that received them, the time and date they were received. Apparently, embarrassed by this disclosure, the commission was later to reverse itself, accepting that there was actually a notice of appeal but surprisingly feigned ignorance of the subsistence of a motion for stay of execution.

    But for the court judgment from the Abia High Court in Osisioma restraining the Chief Judge of the state or any other judge from inaugurating Ogah, he would have been sworn-in when he stormed the seat of government in Umuahia to claim the mandate given him by the court and aptly facilitated by INEC.

    Issues have been raised regarding the propriety of the order from theAbia high court. Governor Okezie has also been accused of judicial ambush and sundry tactics to stall the swearing-in of Ogah. We shall return to this later.

    On their part, the AbiaState government has also accused INEC of duplicity and compromise especially given its initial denials of the existence of the notice of appeal and stay of execution until the claims were roundly proven to be false. These denials and the hasty handing over of the Certificate of Return to Ogah have largely been interpreted by that government as evidence of INEC’s hidden motive in the matter.

    They found it curious that though the appeal and motion for the stay of execution were duly filed and served the electoral body on June 28, it still went ahead two clear days after, to issue the certificate of return to Ogah. This was further confirmed by counsel to INEC when he told Justice Abang’s court at the resumed hearing that “by issuance I meant that it was signed on June 28, but the actual presentation of the certificate was on June 30”.

    The government has also accused Ogah of attempting to assume the mantle of governance in an election he did not contest; vaulting ambition and seeking ascendancy into that office through the back door.

    It is difficult to exculpate INEC of allegations of complicity in the matter. It had no sufficient grounds rushing the issuance of the certificate of return when the matter was pending in court. So the Abia State government is on a solid footing to accuse it of bias in the instant case. It ought to have waited for the legal processes to have run their full course before action.

    And given what we know of these election cases, it does not take a genius to come to terms with the realty that the incumbent would definitely challenge the ruling. So INEC had no business embarking on that precipitous and pre-emptive voyage in utter disregard of its prospects for chaos.

    INEC’s position on the matter was further trivialized by its national commissioner in charge of the South-east, Lawrence Nwuruku when he said he was simply obeying court order by hastily presenting the certificate of return to Ogah and that if another court issues another order he would also obey it.It is not just a matter of obeying court order as the propriety of executing that judgment when it has already been challenged in court to the knowledge of that electoral body. That is the issue to contend with.

    It is wrong for Nwuruku to have presented the commission as a robot just obeying court orders without recourse to other developments that may impede their execution as this case has proven. Nwuruku also displayed crass ignorance of the inherent danger in the action when he said that if Ogah is sworn in and another court rules that another person should be sworn in, they will again swear that person in. It is not just as simple as it has been presented given its prospects for anarchy.

    And if one may wish to ask, was the opinion of the legal department of INEC sought in this matter? We raise this poser because, in matters of this nature in the past, INEC is known to have exercised considerable discretion on the appropriate recourse. Why that caution was thrown to the winds in the instant case, is at the root of the allegation that the electoral body had more than a passing interest in the matter.

    Ikeazu succinctly captured the contradiction in the whole process when he asked: so if it were in a matter of capital punishment, I would have been executed before my appeal is heard? That is the crux of the matter and the point where INEC got it all wrong. It should have allowed the legal process to run its full course.

    Moreover, the course of democracy, law and order in Abia State would be at great jeopardy if we accept Nwuruku’s position that Ogah should be sworn in and if the appeal court rules to the contrary, we should have Ikpeazu re-sworn in. That obviously, is nothing than an invitation to disaster. The proper thing to do is for the status quo to be maintained pending the determination of the appeals up to the Supreme Court.

    With that singular action by the electoral body, we have inevitably been entrapped to a situation where a governor is sitting in office while another person with a court judgment and a certificate of return is unable to assume office, a standoff of sorts with wider repercussions for peace and orderly conduct. INEC is largely culpable for this sordid state of affairs.

    So the matter is not as such with the ruling byJustice Abang as the indecent haste with which INEC aidedOgah to assume the mantle of leadership. It does not also have much to do with disclosures that the case, instituted in 2014 had suffered frustrations up to the Supreme Court before it was ordered for re-trial and assigned to the present judge. All those were legal processes conducted within the ambit of the law.

    The thrust of this piece is not the propriety of the judgment delivered by Justice Abang. That is the matter for the appellate courts to handle. No attempt is either being made to encumber Ogah from seeking the enforcement of his rights. If that right is propelled by ambition, so be it. But the proper things must be done before he can lay claims to such rights.And in the pursuit of that right,Ikpeazu’s own right to have his appeal determined must be respected.

    If it took the resort to self-help or judicial ambush for that to happen, it would seem the end has justified the means. If there is anything like judicial ambush in legal lexicon, then the judicial system that allows it has itself to blame.

    But more fundamentally, the judiciary must rise to the challenges of the suspicion that it is increasingly lending itself to manipulation by politicians to satisfy theirselfish ambitions. Such accusations have been quite rife before now and are being freely traded by parties in to case. The judiciary must not only remain an impartial arbiter but must be seen to be so.

  • LMC awaiting match report for Nembe, Gombe stalemate

    LMC awaiting match report for Nembe, Gombe stalemate

    The League Management Company(LMC) says a ruling on the abandoned game between Nembe City and Gombe United will be made only after receiving a detailed match report from the match officials as to what led to the abandonment.

    The tie was stalemated at 2-2 before Gombe United got a penalty in the 89th minute for an alleged handball in the eighteen area by a Nembe player, but play was held up as the home team protested the awarded penalty.

    The melee led to the abandonment of the game, as players of Nembe walked off the pitch, making it the second time in two weeks when a game involving bottom of the table Nembe has been abandoned.

    In the tie postponed to yeterday due to heavy downpour on Wednesday, both teams were level at 1-1 after the first 45 minutes.

    However, in the second half, Austin Ekpoma gave Gombe United the lead in the 63rd minute by calmly picking his spot with a curler from the edge of the box.

    Six minutes from the final whistle, Sanni Yarma scored an own goal in a bid to stop a free-kick from Nembe City to put scores at 2-2.

    The game’s moment of controversy arrived a minute to the end, when a Nembe player was adjudged to have handled in the box leading the referee to awarding a penalty to Gombe.

    Nembe players, after protesting the decision, walked off the pitch, forcing the referee to call off the game after five minutes, the stipulated time for a referee to call off a game if a team leaves the pitch in protest.

  • Moses, Aluko in Europa stalemate

    Super Eagles forward Sone Aluko was in action as Hull City drew goalless at Trencin of Slovakia in a UEFA Europa League qualifier first leg match on Thursday night.

    Moses Simon gave a good account of himself for the hosts; in a game Tom Huddlestone missed a penalty kick.

    Former Enugu Rangers star Kingsley Madu was an unused substitute for the hosts at the Štadión Pod Dubnom.

    A lack of composure cost both sides in Zilina as chances went begging, leaving the tie wide open for next week’s return fixture at the KC Stadium.

    Early pressure from the hosts saw Bosnian forward Haris Hajradinovic have the first sight of goal in the 14th minute, but the 20-year-old’s effort was well blocked.

    It was a good outing for Simon and Aluko, but Madu should hope for better days ahead in the colours of his team.

    Having kept their hosts at bay, the Premier League side were unlucky not to break the deadlock 28 minutes in through Shane Long.

    It was Simon who saw two efforts blocked in quick succession after 35 minutes, first from an Alex Bruce tackle and then a Davies block which diverted the ball for a corner.

    After dominating large parts of the first half, the host’s maintained control of the game and eight minutes after the break Patrik Misak had the best effort of the contest so far.

    Having weathered a few half chances, Trencin finally found a foothold in the game inside the final 15 minutes when they started gain more possession, with Simon looking particularly dangerous when given too much time to run at City’s defence.

  • Stalemate in Delta over $16b project

    Stalemate in Delta over $16b project

    On the beginning, it elicited excitement. It was a piece of good news that got many hopeful of a better tomorrow. Prayers were said for the initiator of what was seen as a marvelous project. But, no thanks to controversies of various hues, the Federal Government’s $16 billion Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Delta State is no longer good news. It has generated bad blood, bred hatred and made many fear blood-letting.

    The EPZ project shares home with the multibillion dollar Escravos Gas to Liquid project of Chevron Nigeria Limited. Analysts are concerned about the fate of the project. On one hand, they wonder if the project will ever be allowed to take off; on the other, they wonder if it will be allowed to function optimally and achieve its objectives.

    The project was not unconnected with a communal strife among the Itsekiri of the Ugborodo communities, which left several people killed or injured and properties worth millions of naira destroyed. Then the issue was who was going to represent host communities’ interests. This gave rise to two Itsekiri factions, which received funding from wealthy interested parties for arms and ammunition. The story of that bitter experience lasted several blistering months and the marks of the experience are still wounds, not scarred yet; a heavy cloud of seething resentment and distrust in Ugborodo.

     There is, however, a more ugly scenario gathering storm over and around the project, which if not well handled and properly dispelled, might consume more than just the multibillion dollar project, but might topple the delicate balance on which the Warri is based.  Just as the dust created by the Ugborodo communities’ strife were settling, stakeholders of the Ijaw communities in Warri Southwest started expressing displeasure over the handling of the project.       

     The nature of the relationship between the two ethnic groups, Ijaw and Itsekiri, is well known; they are neighbours in more than one local government area of the state. They share a lot in common, but again, they have been involved in a long-drawn strife, which claimed several lives and destroyed multimillion naira properties. The nature of their relationship has left most of the places where they cohabit to remain the all-time read spots of Delta State, where an unprovoked fight can easily break out.

     The Ijaw said the handlers of the project have skewed the process in favour of their Itsekiri neighbours. During the week, representatives of communities in Gbaramatu-Ijaw kingdom, led by Chief Godspower Gbenekama, the Benemowei of the kingdom, re-echoed the position of the Ijaw groups in Warri Southwest Council Area. The stakeholders, who addressed a news conference in Warri, alleged deliberate exclusion of the Ijaw in the preparation and near take-off of the project.

    Gbenekama said outstanding issues must be resolved before the take-off.  Their number one case against the project is the appellation tagged on it; ‘EPZ Ogidigben’. Ogidigben is an Itsekiri community in Ugborodo and is one of the many communities providing the large expanse for the EPZ. Ijaw people’s problem with this name is that it presupposes that the project ‘belongs’ to the Itsekiri.

    According to the representatives of Gbaramatu kingdom, including Mr. Godwin Akori, Hon Mathew Diofelo, Mr. Williams Tortor, Dr. Clement Tonfawei, Odudu Edward, Lucky Bebenimibo, Edwin Ayetonghan, Tangbe Andrew and Orubu Emmanuel,  this development is both dubious and dangerous. They said it was a similar issue that gave rise to the bitter Ijaw/Itsekiri war of the past. They added that it is dubious because the Ijaw are contributing more of the land being used.

    The people, who accused the Delta State government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of playing games capable of reigniting the bitter  Ijaw/Itsekiri strife of 1997 to 2004, demanded that the state government must set up two more interface committees for both Gbaramatu and Ogulagha kingdoms, for the sake of equity and peace. According to the group, more than ten communities of Gbaramatu Kingdom would be losing land to the project.

    They said:  “It is pertinent to state that the site for the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) is spread across lands and communities belonging to both the Ijaw of Gbaramatu and Ogulagha kingdoms and the Itsekiri of Ugborodo community. In fact, one can safely say that about 70 per cent of the land belongs to the Ijaws, contrary to the impression being bandied about by the Itsekiri and the Delta State government, under Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, who is an Itsekiri man.

    “While the purpose of this news conference is not to take up the case of the Ogulagha Ijaw, we state without fear of contradiction that the bulk of the land is provided by the Ijaw and over ten Gbaramatu Ijaw communities namely; Ikpokpo, Atanba, Opuede, Opuede Bubor, Tebijor/Okpelama, Okerenkokogbene, Gan-ama, Oporoza community land, New Jerusalem, Joula and several others are hosts to the project

    “The people of Ikpokpo community, which is the site for the proposed seaport and entry port to the proposed EPZ project, will suffer the most because its entire land will be swallowed up by the project. What this means is that Ikpokpo will cease to exist. The people will become homeless and strangers in other communities, while only the bushes and the peripheries of Ugborodo communities of Madangho, Ajudaibo and Ogidigben, which the project is now named after, will be affected.”

    The Itsekiri, on the other hand, have long buttressed their ownership of a large portion of the land, citing several landmark court judgments and documents. An Itsekiri group, Warri Study Group, in an advertorial in a national daily of June 13, further highlighted this. The group described the Ijaw as their customary tenants.

    Gbenekama debunked the claim, saying: “Most of these cases referred to by the Warri Study Group are still being litigated upon while a number of them have been remitted back to the appellate court for trial to commence de novo. One of the court cases is presently before the Court of Appeal in Benin Division.

    “If the Gbaramatu Kingdom is their tenants, how much tenement rate have they paid to the Itsekiri of Ugborodo or any other Itsekiri community for that matter? If we are their neighbours, where do these neighbours live? The Ijaw of Gbaramatu are tenants to nobody. These assertions are very provocative and enough to cause a breach of the pace we currently enjoy in the area.”

    Gbenekama said while the Ijaw are not claiming sole ownership of the lands for the EPZ, they want their due to be given them.

    “The name of the project must be changed from EPZ Ogidigben to another name that reflects the joint ownership of the Ijaw and Itsekiri in the project. We align with GIBABU, as suggestion by the Gbaramatu Traditional Council of Chiefs. We totally reject the present name because of past experiences and antics of the Itsekiri of Ugborodo in bastardising our communities’ name.

    “We demand that two interface committees be set up for the Ijaw of Gbaramatu and those of Ogulagha respectively. We have a 23-man committee in place to negotiate Gbaramatu interest in the EPZ project. The committee’s list and names of members have since been submitted to the Delta State government and the NNPC.

    “In the interest of peace and unhindered operation in the area, the NNPC should immediately open up channel of discussion with the various Ijaw groups, especially the host communities of Gbramatu kingdom. If the NNPC has its own secret agenda to sideline the Ijaw and Gbaramatu people in particular, they should be aware that we are prepared and they will not have an easy ride.

    “NNPC should change the name as suggested above and have an MOU with the communities of Gbaramatu Kingdom before groundbreaking ceremony of the project.

    “We also demand that Julius Berger Nigeria Limited, henceforth, stop its wicked divide-and-rule antics in the EPZ project and carry the Ijaw along in whatever they are doing. We have written several letters to them on our position and have so far refused to open a channel for discussion. Enough is enough,” they said.

    He added: “How can the place take off without our demands being met?  I am telling you that my grandfather’s grave will be no more. He was buried in Ikpokpo, the seaport into the EPZ, a community which has lost its entire land to this project and they didn’t deem it worthy of being immortalised by naming the project after it. Ikpokpo is the entry port into the project. How can it takeoff? It’s not possible. It’s possible for them not to listen to our demands, it’s not possible.”

    Dates had been set in the past for President Goodluck Jonathan to perform the groundbreaking ceremony, but it had been shelved because of these disagreements. And the way things are, it does not look that the issues can be sorted out anytime soon. So, the stalemate stays.