Tag: Suswam

Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam came under fire yesterday for his comment that salaries of all political office holders have been reduced by 25 per cent to make marginal increase to salaries of primary school teachers.

The national leadership of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) described the governor’s comment as “self seeking”.

A statement by NUT National PresidentMichael Alogba Olukoya and Secretary General Ikpe Obong said: “We view this unsustainable commitment by the governor as self seeking, which is aimed at scoring cheap political point without addressing the major issue. We call on the public to disregard such political grandstanding.

“The NUT’s demand is the full implementation of the national minimum wage as applicable to all public servants in Benue State without exception to primary school teachers.

“It is immoral and unjustifiable for the governor to deny primary school teachers national minimum wage on the pretext that the government lacks the financial capacity to pay primary school teachers while others in the public service have  been enjoying the wage increase since 2011.”

The National Vice-President of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Hussaini Yusuf Bosso, yesterday accused Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam of complicity in the Tiv/Fulani clash.

He alleged that the hostility against them was in compliance with the directive of the governor.

Bosso said 134 Fulani herdsmen and 11,915 cattle were killed in three northern states in the last three months.

Suswam’s convoy, on Tuesday, was attacked by gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen at Tse Akenyi on his way to a displaced persons’ camp in Guma Local Government Area.

Bosso, who spoke yesterday in Minna, said their members were murdered in Benue, Plateau and Taraba states.

He said the association recorded the highest casualty in Benue (82 herdsmen, 6,700 cattle; Plateau (43 herdsmen, 4,682 cattle) and Taraba (nine herdsmen, 533 cattle).

Bosso alleged that his members in Benue and Taraba states were attacked by the Tiv, and in Plateau by the Beromo.

He faulted an alleged pronouncement by Suswam that he did not want to see Fulani herdsmen in the state.

“These atrocities were perpetrated by Tiv people. To our surprise, the police are aware but did not do anything to avert the development.

“Not only the police are complacent, the governors of the affected states are also nonchalant.”

Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State said yesterday economic saboteurs are to blame for the drop in power supply being experienced in the country since the privatization of the power sector.

The saboteurs,according to him,are largely responsible for the shortage of gas supply used for generating electricity.

“The fundamental problem with the issue of gas infrastructure is the vandalization of the infrastructure. You know, this is purely sabotage because in crude, you know that people who vandalise these crude pipelines are lifting them and selling them for money,” the governor told reporters at the end of a joint meeting of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and National Council on Privatization (NCP) chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo.

“But when you vandalise the gas pipelines, there is no way you can scoop it. You know it is like air. You can’t scoop it. These are people who are economic saboteurs and they should be treated as such.

“So, this is something that should be of concern to Nigerians because any person who goes intentionally to sabotage an activity of government that would impact positively on the economy of this country should be treated as economic saboteur.

“So we have these issues that are militating against the smooth supply of power even after the privatisation process. So, it is not the BPE problem. I believe that before the end of this year, we will be able to get out most of them.”

He said 42 of the 66 proposals for the purchase of 80 per cent shares in the 10 power holding companies have qualified for financial bids opening billed for next Friday.

He said that evaluation team carried out the evaluation exercise following the approved evaluation criteria and guidelines and subsequent due diligence reports have now been approved and reviewed by the joint transaction board.

GOVERNOR, Gabriel Suswam, has called on the Federal Government to urgently move to dislodge the Fulani nomads who have continued to attack farmers and destroy farmlands in the state. Speaking with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, he maintained that the activities of the nomads are threatening the economic life of the people of the state. According to him, he was at the State House to brief President Goodluck Jonathan on the latest havoc inflicted on the people of the state by the nomads. Stressing that the situation is becoming very uncomfortable, he said that action must be taken now by the Federal Government in order to check the attack, as it is fast deteriorating. From the meeting, he said that President Jonathan has assured that very serious steps would be taken to dislodge the nomads and restore normalcy in the state. He pointed out that other parts of the country are not safe if the nomads’ activities, destroying lives and properties are not checked. Suswam said: “Well, like I did said, the situation in Benue that is the crisis between the Nomads and farmers have deteriorated. And I have come to brief the president. “Certain actions have been taken by the President to curb the continuation of that crisis. But it is getting very serious, and I’m a bit worried and the entire people of Benue are very worried how these people (the militias) in their thousands are moving freely and causing the kind of destructions that they are causing in Benue State.” On whether the activities of the nomads are connected to the current security situation in the country, he said, “Well, you can’t isolate that. I think some people are taking advantage of the security situation in the country to further create fear in our people. And the unfortunate thing is that the people in Benue are basically farmers and these Fulani militias have taken over some parts of the lands. Some people have ran away into towns and so, down the road we are going to have economic issues.” Meanwhile, fresh attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen have killed ten Tiv farmers and sacked six council wards in the state. Secretary to Gwer West Local Government Area, Mark Dewua, made the disclosure while addressing newsmen in Makurdi yesterday. Dewua stated that the latest attack started on Wednesday, leading to the killing of two people at Enger village. He said the orgy of violence continued on Thursday at Jimba village along Makurdi- Ankpa road. He said a young man who went back to the farm to get food for his family and another friend were shot and killed, and lamented that schools in the affected areas have remained closed for a long time, while farming and marketing activities have seized. Dewua feared that if nothing is done urgently, the attackers, who he described as hired mercenaries, would take over the entire local government area. Reacting, the Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), Daniel Ezeal (DSP), confirmed the incident, but said only two people were killed.

Commissioners and permanent secretaries in Benue State seeking the ticket for next year’s  governorship election in the state were yesterday given up till the end of this month by Governor Gabriel Suswam to resign or  get sacked.

Suswam gave the directive in Makurdi, during  an emergency meeting with PDP governorship aspirants.

  Some commissioners, special advisers  and permanent secretaries in the state are believed to to be interested in the race and  are even campaigning for the ticket.

 A source  at the closed door meeting said the governor expressed disappointment at the manner  some commissioners , serving permanent secretaries and other civil servants were openly campaigning for the governorship position while still in service.

The source said:”The  governor, who was visibly angry with those concerned,  told them that they were undermining his administration and the oath of office they swore to, by their acts.

“He told them that President Goodluck Jonathan was also not happy with the development in Benue State when it was brought to his attention.He  warned the affected persons to  either vacate their current positions by the end of January or be sacked.

In his response, the National President of the Agricultural and Allied Employees’ Union of Nigeria (AAEUN) and the state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Simon Anchaver, said  that the directive of the governor was timely and in good conscience.

Anchaver, who is also a governorship aspirant, alleged that “some of the appointees were using government funds to finance their campaigns which is repugnant to electoral rules and regulations.”

The Supreme Court yesterday struck out a motion in which it was urged to reverse its earlier decision in a dispute on the 2011 governorship election in Benue State.

A five-man panel, led by Justice M. S. Muntaka-Coomasie, held that the motion was incompetent.

The court held that the appellant, Prof Steve Ugba, failed to exhibit its earlier judgment, which he sought reversed.

The apex court, however, allowed a motion seeking to change the name of one of the parties in the appeal from Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The court, on June 8, upheld Governor Gabriel Suswam’s election and dismissed the appeal by Ugba, the governorship candidate of the ACN (now APC).

Ugba urged the court to order the governorship election tribunal to hear his petition seeking to unseat Suswam, irrespective of the 180-day lapse provided for by the constitution.

The court, in its June 8 judgment, held that the constitution had prescribed that election petition should be heard and concluded within 180 days of such petition.

The court held that the appeal was “an academic exercise and an abuse of court process.”

VENUE State governor, Mr. Gabriel Suswam, Thursday read the riot act to proprietors of secondary schools in the state, warning them to desist from using their schools as centres for examination malpractices or risk prosecution. Governor Suswam spoke at the start of a two-day First Benue Education Summit at the JS Tarka Foundation in Makurdi. “We are going to be decisive, irrespective of who is involved; we cannot continue like this,” Governor Suswam told the audience, made up of proprietors, parents, government officials, regulatory agencies, traditional rulers, faith-based organisations, non-governmental organisations, the press and other stakeholders in the educational sector. The governor bemoaned a situation where students, parents and teachers form an unholy alliance to perpetrate exam fraud at some WAEC/ NECO centres, usually referred to as “Miracle Centres” where candidates who write exams at such centres are assisted to cheat just to acquire high grades. Describing such students as halfbaked, Governor Suswam said they were among those who usually got into secret cults on university campuses with the habit of threatening lecturers to award scores to them. He said his administration would not condone such illegality warning that severe penalties would be visited on anybody caught in exam malpractice.