The Nation Newspaper

Tag: storm

  • Ekweremadu’s ride in the storm

    Ekweremadu’s ride in the storm

    The contraption that produced the Saraki-Ekweremadu tango in the Senate appears to have been sealed and delivered. But echoes from the marriage, contracted on the altar of political expediency, may continue to reverberate in a long time to come. Assistant Editor, GBADE OGUNWALE writes.

    Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu has, over the years, grown from the erstwhile rookie in 2003 when he first got elected to the upper legislative chamber to represent the Enugu West senatorial district. The turbulence and instability in the leadership of the Fourth National Assembly between 1999 and 2003 almost thrusted him into the exalted seat of the Senate President. That was when the then Senate President, Aldolphus Wabara was removed in 2005.

    The Presidency, under the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, had settled for Ekweremadu as a replacement for Wabara. Leading the Presidency team was Chief Tony Anenih whose duty it was to ensure that Obasanjo’s choice of Ekweremadu carried the day. However, Anenih’s team met a stiff opposition from the senators, led by the then Deputy President of the Senate, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu. Having apparently had enough of Obasanjo-imposed Senate Presidents who were eventually pulled down by the same forces in the Presidency, the senators decided to call Obasanjo’s bluff.

    Subtle threats issued by Anenih on Obasanjo’s behalf failed to sway the “recalcitrant” senators. They had told Anenih in no unmistakable terms that they were going to pick a Senate President of their own. They dumped Ekweremadu and settled for Chief Ken Nnamani, to the consternation of Obasanjo and his minions. That was how Ekweremadu missed the chance to become the Senate President at the time.

    He however regained his groove in 2007 when he became the Deputy Senate President after securing re-election. He came back to reclaim the seat in 2011 and was able to retain it till the end of the Seventh Senate that expired in June 2015.

    Another opportunity came his way at the June 9, 2015 inauguration of the National Assembly where his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) failed to secure majority seats in the upper legislative chamber. The crevices created by the wrangling among senators of the majority All Progressives Congress (APC) in the race for the Senate Presidency provided Ekweremadu the much desired opportunity to try his luck once again. Taking advantage of the crisis in the APC camp and the inordinate ambition of one of the contestants to become the Senate President, Ekweremadu had mobilised the machinery of the PDP for his own ambition. He found a willing ally in Senator Bukola Saraki who was willing to give his right arm to clinch the seat.

    Cashing in on Saraki’s desperation, the PDP had offered the Kwara strongman the support of its entire 49 senators. But the backing was not free of charge. In exchange, the opposition PDP had demanded to pair Ekweremadu with Saraki to seal the deal. The deal was too tempting for Saraki to resist. And with a handful of the APC senators in his camp, in addition to 49 from the PDP, Saraki was able to swing the balance in his favour, with Ekweremadu in the tag. As events turned out, no fewer than 51 senators of the APC were outside the National Assembly complex waiting for a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari. With all the PDP senators present at the election venue, Ekweremadu got elected as Deputy President of the Senate. He got five extra votes from APC senators to add to PDP’s 49. The rest, they say, is history.

    A section of the public however said while the cap fits Ekweremadu, it is not necessarily befitting, considering the manner he procured the deal. Others argue that there was no way the PDP with its 49 senators against APC’s 60 could have given away the position without a reward. “It would have been an irreparable loss for the PDP to concede the two seats. It’s heartwarming that the PDP did not allow the opportunity to slip by. It’s politics and every political party worth its name must be able to play the game at critical moments. You may call it political iniquity if you like, but it’s a clear case of political brinkmanship”, a commentator had said.

    Be it as it may, Ekweremadu is currently fighting the battle of his life after it emerged he allegedly smuggled a clause into the Senate standing rules to facilitate the emergence of Saraki as Senate President and his own re-emergence as the Deputy Senate President. Some aggrieved APC senators petitioned the police authorities, calling for investigation of the alleged involvement of the Deputy Senate President in the matter. Ekweremadu is currently being investigated by the police and may have to face the music if found culpable. The question on the lips of many for now is how long he can ride the storm.

  • Fatai Alashe takes San Jose Earthquakes by storm

    Fatai Alashe takes San Jose Earthquakes by storm

    Nigeria-born Fatai Alashe is enjoying his time at Major League Soccer (MLS) side San Jose Earthquakes as he has received accolades from manager Dominic Kinnear and fellow teammates.

    Former Michigan State midfielder, Alashe, was a fourth overall pick in the 2015 Super Draft and has been consistent in the team.

    Coach Kinnear said Alashe has added value to the team since he joined them.

    “All I can say, bottom line, is that I think we’re a better team with him on the field,” Kinnear remarked. San Jose Earthquakes’ experienced midfielder Shea Salinas said they were not expecting Alashe to start well being a roookie, but he has since proven them wrong.

    “We’d heard that he was a good player, kind of Ricardo Clark-like, but you never really can expect a whole lot from rookies because you just never know what they’re going to be like,” he revealed.

    “But clearly, from the first pre-season game he played, all of us knew that he was going to be a good player and a contributor.

    “He’s just a calm presence in there, I think he finds good spaces to get the ball, and he keeps it well for us. He’s been a big part of our team this year.”

    Alashe needed no time in establishing himself as new coach Kinnear’s first choice as a classic No. 6 providing cover in front of San Jose’s backline. Indeed, the Quakes dealt incumbent Sam Cronin just four days after picking up the 21-year-old with their highest draft pick since 2010.

    To buttress his importance to the MLS side, the team requested for Alashe’s early release from the US U-23 team who were competing in the Toulon Tournament in France, where he scored in USA’s 3-2 win over Costa Rica to win third place.

  • First storm

    First storm

    Some have called it Buhari’s litmus test. Others have said, he rose above the fray. Some others said, it had nothing to do with Buhari or APC, but it signalled that, in Nigeria, democracy had come to stay. A voice of a partisan edge growled that it was the rebirth of PDP.

    But the battles for the Senate and the House signified Buhari’s first storm. The cloud gathered, the lighting flashed, droplets of rain drew faint lines on the horizon. But President Muhammadu Buhari did not know they presaged a storm. Or did he encourage the elemental fury and play bystander?

    It was so perhaps because of his often quoted assertion that he belonged to everybody and belonged to nobody. While the Senate sat and anointed Bukola Saraki as Senate President, the senators regarded him as a nobody even though he called a meeting of all party leaders, including members of both chambers. Or was he the somebody who goaded them on as though he didn’t?

    The other miscue was when Femi Adesina, his media spokesman, broke the ice and said it “somewhat” served the higher purpose of democracy. And analysts wondered, how could it be good when your party lost in its first battle after the elections? Later, in an apparent contradiction, Garba Shehu pitched in for the president and said the APC senators defied their party leader and president. Is it the case of a stern, muscular Buhari playing a wishy-washy card?

    I chewed both releases and wanted to know if Adesina had one brief and Shehu another and whether one was intended to annul the other. That, I thought, was the problem when two persons serve as a president’s spokesmen. I think it is not neat and looks at best like duplication and potentially as a battleground. For the sake of both gentlemen, I hope not.

    “Somewhat” in Adesina’s statement implied ambiguity in the process. But Shehu’s follow-up indicated that the president was interested but not interested enough. For a party of change, that is not good enough.

    But by defying their party leaders and conniving with the opposition, we shall say it was the dubious triumph of politics over commonsense or over values. But what is politics, but the art of the possible. That was the point of the Saraki victory. But the presidency has not up to the time of writing made any indication of moral tone. It has spoken the language of politics and law, and not of values. The reason Buhari was voted in by those enamoured of his biography was his moral and puritan appeal. We did not see this in this first and auspicious test.

    Some have said Saraki was going to win anyway. So why did he not wait for the president? It was an overthrow of decency, if it was political marksmanship. But for me, neither Saraki nor even the PDP lawmakers deserve all the blame. Were the PDP supposed to wait for the president because of an APC meeting? The PDP lawmakers do not belong to APC, so they had the right to fuel the rebellion. On the meeting the party scheduled, we learned that Buhari’s advance party was at the venue, but he did not come. Why not? Shehu said he was about to come when the fait accompli of Saraki’s victory occurred. Was that not enough reason for the president to express open disavowals of condemnation rather than a tame Channels interview? Or shall we say the advance party of the president was a dummy and he was not going to appear at the meeting? After all, Adesina said it was a party meeting and not the president’s.

    That is where the spirit of loyalty failed in APC, and that is where Saraki and company, including Atiku Abubakar, lacked moral grace. More blame lands right at the doorsteps of the president. And I think the president knows that, and that accounted for the afterthought that was Shehu’s frenzied intervention on Channels Television to clarify the president’s stand. The meeting could have been held earlier. Perhaps the previous night.

    But the die is cast. Both houses have leaders that defeated the party choices. I think it is an early lesson for the president, unless the president wants it so. He should now understand that his presidential office compels him to be interested in the direction of politics. If he did not have his politics right, he would not be president today. He would not have the opportunity to set policies. Politics defines policies. What policies can he champion with a Senate full of the members and sentiment of the ancient regime?

    Atiku Abubakar, who lost to Buhari during the APC primaries, recently said the president is a leader and not interested in politics. Atiku, a restless man of ambition but little vision, received Saraki after the victory. He confirmed all the reports that he championed rebellion in his party. The peripatetic harlot of politics who sways right and left simultaneously, may be smacking his lips, but he is no noble man of this era.

    I hope Buhari has learned that he has to be both politician and leader. If you are president, it is because you have a vision. If you have vision, it is because you need men who think like you to pursue the vision. So, as president he was wrong if he stayed off who emerged as leaders of both chambers. And if he didn’t, what sort of agenda can he push now?

    Dogara emerged in a clear contest in the House, and a graceful Femi Gbajabiamila has conceded. If Saraki and his men had waited and allowed the other APC men to be in the chambers, he probably would have won. That could have dispelled suggestions of bad faith, desperation and even the air of hurried primitivism that sullied the process of his emergence.

    President Buhari has started off on a learning curve, and he ought to know that both houses can paralyse him if the PDP works with Saraki in a camp against those who were absent in the chambers.

    What has haunted the president is the “everybody” and “nobody” refrain. I don’t know of any successful leader in modern democracy that is not interested in the leadership of the legislature. The parliamentary system places the law chamber at the centre of activity. The challenge of the Obama presidency is the hostility, sometimes racism, of the Congress. He has not been able to work with Senate leader Boehner. And when Nancy Pelosi was Speaker, she even sometimes did not pick his calls. Obama has disavowed the mushiness of schmoozing with the lawmakers. They have paid him back in brutal kind.

    The National Assembly story is good in that it has given the opposition a new bite, a potential fang. Opposition reminds me of the lament of Poet Walt Whitman: “my enemy is dead. A man divine like myself is dead.” You need your enemies. APC needs a soulful opposition.

    But the APC will end up a contraption of convenience if it allows itself to collapse so early. It will be bad for our democracy, and it will deprive us of the quality of dialectical tension required to build a vibrant democracy.  The APC was built in order to kill its merging partners. They should not hark back to ACN, CPC, ANPP, etc in the pursuit of a spoils system. It will only suggest that what we have is not a party but various parts that have come to pack their own parts of the booties. It will be naïve to shut out their birth places, but to hold on to them as reference points of loyalty only tells us that the party has a lot of work to do to build a family.

    It also tells us that the battle to entrench it as a platform of ideas has not begun. This is still a democracy of big men and not of conscience. That is the lesson President Buhari must take from the National Assembly narrative.

    The National Assembly story may determine much of the pattern of the Buhari era. He should beware not to shoot himself in the foot. As a solider, the message cannot be lost.

  • Storm destroys 50 houses in Ondo

    Storm destroys 50 houses in Ondo

    Fifty houses have been destroyed in Ikare and Arigidi Akoko in Ondo State during a rainstorm.

    School buildings, electric poles and commercial centres, including shops, were also damaged.
    A community leader in Ikare-Akoko, Saliu Okoya, urged the state and Federal Government to assist the victims.

    He noted that the incident  affected power supply to the area and appealed to the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to restore power supply to the area.

    The Olukare of Ikare-Akoko, Oba Akadri Momoh, said the incident would affect socio-economic activities in the town.

  • Youths storm Anambra INEC office over alleged electoral fraud

    Following alleged electoral fraud in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State during the state Assembly elections, angry youths, yesterday stormed the office of the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), requesting a reverse of the result..

    The youths accused two oil moguls in the state, Sir Emeka Offor and Ifeanyi Ubah, of using the police, army and other security operatives to intimidate the harmless people of the council area.

    Some of the placards carried by the protesters read: ‘People’s mandate must prevail; ‘Shame to money politics’; ‘INEC do the right thing’; ‘Ekwusigo case must not be different’ and ‘We say no to declaration’ among others.

    However, both the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Edwin Nwatalari and the Public Relations Officer of the commission, Frank Egbo, were not around the office during the protest, and there was no INEC official to address the protesting youths.

    Speaking with reporters, the leader of the group, Dubem Ifediora, said they wanted INEC to correct the anomaly of announcing the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Onyebuchi Offor, as the winner of the election.

    He said the election was convincingly won by the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA, Paully Onyeka, saying that in the 12 wards in the local council, the APGA candidate won in all 10 wards declared.

    “But surprisingly, while waiting for the remaining two wards and the people jubilating and pumping Champagne, the next thing we heard at about 5am the following day was INEC declaring the PDP candidate winner because of Emeka Offor and Ifeanyi Ubah.

    “We are not violent, but our mission today is to tell INEC to correct the despicable act or the situation would be catastrophic in this local government area.”

    The youths said that during the April 11 elections, voting continued  late into the night, adding that security operatives were used to barricade all the nooks and crannies of Ekwusigo council area.

    The same situation, according to them, was witnessed during the presidential and national assembly elections on 28th March, 2015, during which PDP chieftain allegedly intimidated, harassed and assaulted other parties with security operatives.

  • When Buhari took Kaduna by storm

    When Buhari took Kaduna by storm

    Tony Akowe in Abuja reports on the day All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, stormed Kaduna to preach his message of change

    The rally was supposed to take place at the spacious Murtala Square in the heart of Kaduna metropolis to flag off the zonal campaign rallies of the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. But it had to move to the Kaduna International Trade and Investment Centre otherwise known as the Kaduna International Trade Fair complex located at Kilometre four, along the ever busy Kaduna/Kano highway. Some believe that the state government was afraid of the crowd that will gather at the facility in view of the fact that the state rally of the APC which earlier took place there attracted an unprecedented crowd of supporters. But another school of thought said the government complained that supporters of the APC destroyed some facilities at the square when they first used it. Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed, a member of the Media and Publicity Committee of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation told The Nation that the only excuse given for not allowing them to use the square was security. The government’s refusal to allow them use the facility did not deter supporters in the state to turn out in their numbers. From the Kawo Over-head Bridge to the Trade Fair Complex, supporters who had no vehicle took over the major road, walking to the square and forcing vehicles to divert to the second lane. It was like a carnival as they sang and danced two hours before the arrival of the APC flag bearer.

    Before the rally, which eventually took off at about 5.00pm, the party had held a town hall meeting with religious leaders at the historic Hamdala Hotel. The interactive session drew religious leaders from different parts of the country. The religious leaders spoke their minds and asked frank questions. Buhari told the religious leaders to be weary of people who are using religion to divide the country in the name of seeking election. He told them that leaders should not be elected on the basis of their religion, but on the competence and ability to do the work of leaders.

    Answering questions posed by the religious leaders, vice presidential candidate of the party, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who represented Buhari, assured that Buhari will not leave any stone unturned in his quest to sanitize the country and end the culture of corruption and insecurity in the country. Osinbajo said Buhari has made it clear at several fora that he will not hesitate to bring to book even members of his family that are found to have soiled their hands in corruption after he is sworn in as President, adding that Nigerians are quite aware of the position of Gen. Buhari on the issue of corruption, adding that no matter who you are, the law would be allowed to take its cause. He said “On the various issues of corruption, what General Buhari has said categorically is that as far as he is concerned, the day he is sworn in as president he would have drawn a line; anybody who runs foul of the law, anything that is being investigated before will continue as it is. If you are found to be corrupt, you will receive the consequence, no matter who you are; whether you are his brother, sister, his friends, there will be consequences. That is what he has said and I think that is in line with the position of the party.” He also dismissed the rumored agreement by Buhari to serve only one term, saying “you know who Buhari is and what he stands for. You know that he will never sign any such agreement. By the grace of God, he will run two terms in office by God’s grace. He is just too straight forward to do that; you know he can never do that, there is no way he is going to sign any agreement; so let us be very clear, I don’t even need to ask him that; I know him well enough that he will never sign anything of such; the man is healthy and strong and by the grace of God, he will run two terms in office by God’s grace.”

    Addressing party supporters drawn from the seven states of the North-West, Buhari, who arrived the venue of the rally in an open coastal box clad in a sky blue babariga, accompanied by a large number of supporters who had to walk for about four kilometers to the venue of the rally, told the people in Hausa that his idea of becoming president is not to go into probing past leaders, stressing however that he will allow the judicial process to run its full course in all cases relating to corruption if elected into office, adding that, his government will draw a line as soon as he assumes office. He said further that anyone who embezzles a single kobo after he is sworn in will not only be made to refund it, but will face prosecution as from May 29, 2015 if he becomes president.

    He asked Nigerians to vote for all APC candidates in the coming elections.  At the end of the four years that they are seeking for, they would have spent 20 years in power and we would have been so dehumanized that that we can’t even recognize each other”.

  • Mbanefo in the eye of the storm

    Mbanefo in the eye of the storm

    These are not easy times for the Director-General, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mrs. Sally Mbanefo,  as she contends with  media criticisms, which the DG blames on detractors.  KENNETH AZAHAN looks at the issues at stake.

    For Director General, Nigerian Tourism development Corporation, NTDC Mrs. Sally Mbanefo she may be paying the price for the changes she brought to bear in the management of the corporation as she is bombarded by media criticisms. No doubt, change is always resisted whether positive or negative and perhaps, that might be the driving principle of the head of the apex body responsible for tourism development as she declares that opposition she is receiving is engineered by outsiders who are jealous of the feat she has attained in less than two years on the mantle of leadership.  A cursory look at the NTDC headquarters in Abuja and the Lagos offices will reveal that indeed transformation has taken place there as the structures wear new looks befitting of tourism management organ. Also, vehicles are seeing ferrying staff of the corporation amongst other positive changes that close observers of the tourism sector could notice. In spite of these changes, the corporation is often in the news most times for the wrong reasons.

    Most recent is a publication that went viral purportedly written by the various unions in the corporation accusing the management of corruption and highhandedness. But curiously, copies of such allegations obtained were not signed nor contained names of any leaders of the three unions existing in the corporation.   Apparently, worried by the development, the DG in conjunction with the NTDC board recently addressed the press to put the records straight. For her part, Mrs Mbanefo said allegations of corruption and highhandedness being speculated in the media against her is the handiwork of those who are against the transformation she has brought in management of the corporation in less than two years. According to the DG the briefing was on the instance of the NTDC board to intimate members of the public on some of the developmental stride she has taken to booster the tourism sector as an alternative to over dependence on oil revenue.

    She also denied reports that she was having a frosty relationship with the union members. ”There is no friction between me and my unions. We were in my office for long hours with some members of my board discussing with union leaders before I came here for this meeting with you”, Mrs Mbanefo stated. However, the NTDC boss admitted that the corporation had issues of staff promotions and conversion which she said her team and the board was working to resolve. While highlighting some of the achievements she has recorded, she said it was proper to clear the air that the achievements were not based on moneys that accrued to the corporation from the federation’s account but her ingenuity in galvanizing support from the private sector. ”On assumption of office I made sure I reinvented the corporation, people/structure, grew tourism value chain and reinvented tourism value chain. Also, I have taken premium on staff welfare that are to drive the vision.” She said in spite of the inroads she has made it was curious that some persons outside the corporation were bent on thwarting the progress by publishing malicious stories using the names of trade unions. ”Let me quote from the handover note I got from my predecessor, in 2007, NTDC received N2.5b, 2008, 1.7b, 2009, 1.5b, 2010, 1.4b, 2011, 1.5b, 2012, 1.2b, 2013, 1.0b.” She explained that in 2014, 1.3b was appropriated but only 958m was released, adding that her performance has surpassed her predecessors who were collecting revenue from hotel registration which has since been stopped by Supreme Court judgment.

    The DG alleged that those behind the attacks on her were persons who were bent on arm-twisting her to use government money to pay them for contracts they did

    which are unsubstantiated.  ”Since assumption of office, I have had several persons coming here to demand for payments for jobs they claim to have done for NTDC and when we asked for documentation they simply say my predecessor gave them contracts by word of mouth. ”I inherited N143, 594,649 both local debts and N198,880, 000, foreign debts which we are still paying till date. From the date I assumed office to date we are paying staff N50 million debts incurred for foreign trips and these are things that were budgeted for in the years the trip were made”. The DG vowed not to bow to any blackmail to use government funds to pay debts that are not verifiable.

    Also speaking, representative of the Controller General of Customs who is a director on the board, Wale Adeniyi, assured that the board would support the DG to deliver on her laudable ideas to drive the tourism sector. He stressed that the DG was committed to driving tourism to become an alternative source of income for the nation and needed the corporation of all stakeholders to making her vision a reality. On the issue of promotion, he emphasized that there were laid down rules which are not only guided by merit but there must be vacancies for such promotions to be made.

    Most contracts were awarded by word of mouth and cannot be verified, about N75,664,837 million was left as IGR (Internal Generated Revenue) which she cannot touch and they want her to make such payment. Also the domestic and foreign debts as stated in the handover note is N163,482,649.

    Therefore, the DG vowed not to bow at any blackmail to use government funds to pay debts that are not verifiable.

    Also, speaking, representative of the Comptroller General of Customs and also a director of the governing board, Mr. Wale Adeniyi assured that the board would support the DG to deliver on her laudable ideas to drive the tourism sector.

    On the issue of promotion, Mr. Adeniyi explained that there were laid down rules which are not only guided by merit but there must be vacancies for such promotions to be made.

     

     

  • Storm destroys community

    More than 100 houses have been destroyed by a rainstorm in Ifira-Akoko, Akoko South East Local Government Area of Ondo State.

    The 30-minute downpour was accompanied by a heavy storm that uprooted trees and damaged poles and houses.

    Two churches and a private secondary school had their roofs blown off.

    A community spokesman, Chief Boboye Ojomo, said property worth millions of naira was destroyed.

    The Olufira of Ifira, Oba Olu Olugboja, urged the government and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to  aid the affected people in his domain.

  • Evbuotubu prays for completion of Storm Water Project

    Evbotubu Iguediayi Community in Egor Local Government Area in Edo State could be accessed either through Owina, Ekehaun or Siluko roads in Benin City, the state capital. It is a boundary community between Oredo and Ovia North-East Local Government Areas.

    It is one of the satellite towns in the state and is expected to expand as population increase in the urban. Areas. However that dreams is being stymied by poor access roads leading in and out of the community.

    Residents of the area usually pray for the dry harmattan season to come early because it is the time when they are able to heave a sighs of relief from their difficult terrain. Niger Delta Report gathered that driving in and out of the community is a difficult task because all the roads leading to and from the community are in a bad state. During the raining season, it is takes dexterity and good knowledge of the ditches and ‘pools’ on the road to reach the community.

    Two major roads leading to the community from Benin City, the state capital and Iguobazuwa and other towns have collapsed. The perennial flooding and lack of access roads have also made it difficult for farmers in Evbuotubu to convey their farm produces to the markets. Apart from the major roads, all other link roads are impassable. Last year, the chairman of the local council, Mr Victor Enobakhare, released N500,000 to the community leaders. The money was used to provide temporary relief for the embattled community. It was gathered that fund was deployed to grade and sands fill three earth road and streets. The relief didn’t last long as the first two rains of the season washed away the effort.

    A residents in the area who gave his name as Sam said “government has abandoned the Community for a long time. When the Comrade Governor came on board 2008, he visited the Community and promise to fix the major road leading to the Community but that promise has not been fulfilled as we are still expecting him to do so”.

    However, our checks showed that the N30bn Storm Water project currently being done by the state government would helped solve the perennial flooding problems in the locality. Besides, the major roads leading the community are to be tarred upon the completion of the gigantic project.

    Government sources said Governor Adams Oshiomhole preferred to tackle the problem with a lasting solution rather than fall prey to past experiences when the roads are done but are soon washed away due to the perrenial flooding in the area. “It is better to treat the ailment rather than the symptoms”, our source stated.

    The Storm Water project is expected to tackle flooding and erosion problems not only at Evbuotubu but also at Upper Siluko, Uwelu, Uwasota, Adolo and its environs. Already, the flooding experienced at the notorious Teacher’s House axis at Upper Siluko has disappeared while over 50 landlords that abandoned their houses many years ago within the vicinity may soon return home due to the improved condition brought about by the project.

    Chairman of Evbuotubu Community Development Association, Mr. Sunday Osaro Evbonaye said government attention was also needed to repair many other deplorable link roads within the community, which were ravaged by years of constant exposure to flood water.

    He disclosed that that community added N3.5m to the N500,000 given to them by the local authorities for grading of earth roads. Mr. Osaro Evbonaye said cars given to youths of the community as part of youth empowerment have already broken down due to the bad road.

    He said the poor state of the roads contributed to developers’ unwillingness to acquire land in the community adding that plans were under way to open up an abattoir and a burrowed pit in the community with a view to creating employment opportunity.

    However, a top government functionary who spoke with our reporter on telephone, explained that the stae governor was determined to fulfill his promise to the people of Evbuotubu, stressing that the community is part of suburbs that would be changed by the multibillion naira project.

  • Storm over Tompolo’s gunboat

    •Granting Government Ekpemupolo’s private company licence to import gunboats is subversive of our laws and dangerous to our existence

    The Jonathan presidency appears fixated on turning Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, into a sinister scarecrow. This is dangerous, and we condemn it.

    The latest in the flagrant abuse of power, bordering on nepotism, is the allowance granted Tompolo’s private company, Global West Vessel Services, to unlawfully import warships into the country. We know that such right is the exclusive prerogative of the Nigerian Armed Forces, and not even that of the Nigerian Maritime Services Agency, which has been trying to provide a cover for the importation of the war ships.

    No doubt, Tompolo, an ex-militant and an Ijaw just like the President, has enjoyed tremendous patronage under this government. But the extension of this privilege to the exclusive responsibility of the Nigeria Armed Forces is a call to anarchy, and Nigerians should rise against it.

    This development becomes even more sinister, when it is viewed in the context of the volatile nature of the region; as the Ijaws, the Urhobos and the Itsekiris square up against one another in battle, over the ownership of the water ways and the land, in that area.

    So, is it possible that, as already alleged by Ijaw rival ethnic groups, that Tompolo’s war vessels may be pressed into service by his own ethnic group, if a dispute arises?

    As has been eloquently argued by Professor Itse Sagay, a constitutional lawyer, there is no provision in Nigerian Law that allows the bearing of arms by private individuals and corporate entities, to provide security services in Nigerian waters. That is the exclusive prerogative of the Nigerian Navy, as an arm of the Armed Forces of the country.

    Section 3 of the Armed Forces Act, Cap A 20 of the 2004 Laws of Nigeria, provides: “The Armed Forces shall be charged with the defence of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by land, sea and air and such other duties as the National Assembly may from time to time, prescribe or direct by an act”.

    Section 4 of the Act further provides: “Notwithstanding the generality of the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, (a) The Navy shall, in particular, be further charged with (i) enforcing and assisting in coordiating the enforcement of all customs, laws, including anti-bunkering, fishery and immigration laws of Nigeria at sea; (ii) enforcing and assisting in coordinating the enforcement of national and international maritime laws ascribed or acceded to by Nigeria; (iii) making of charts and coordinating of all national hydrographic surveys; and (iv) promoting, cordinating and enforcing safety regulations in the territorial waters and the Exclusive Economic Zone of Nigeria”.

    We decided to provide an elaborate quotation of the relevant Armed Forces Act, to show without equivocation that the Jonathan Presidency is on a frolic, when he unlawfully extends the exclusive rights of a major national institution, to a private company.

    Such a conduct becomes a double jeopardy when it boders on the security and general well being of constituent parts of the country. As provided in the act, it requires an act of parliament to extend or derogate the powers granted the Armed Forces under the act. So it behoves on the National Assembly to rein in the executive, in this instance.

    On our part, we urge President Jonathan to watch the uses to which he puts his kinsman, if he wishes to be regarded as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, instead of as a sectional leader. If he does not, then he should be ready to accept the appendage of a sectional president.

    So we urge the President to immediately do away with this scarecrow; and to restore his legitimacy as the Commander-in-Chief.