The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Turn

  • ‘It’s our turn to produce council chief’

    ‘It’s our turn to produce council chief’

    Chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ajegunle have resolved to put an end to monopoly of power by the people of Olodi by ensuring that the next chairman of Ajeromi Local Government, Lagos State, emerges from their area.

    The aggrieved members of the party visited the Lagos office of The Nation to present their case recently. Their spokesman, Mr Yunusa Olaosegba explained that Ajeromi Local Government is made up of Ajegunle and Olodi communities. He said for over 40 years, the Olodi axis has dominated political power by  producing local government chairmen, members of House of Assembly and House of Representatives to the detriment of Ajegunle community.

    To prove their case, Olaosegba  gave the names of those that held positions since 1979, all of them from Olodi axis. They are Chief Dele Fayemi, House of Representatives (1979-1983); Hon Japhet Ogunyemi, member, Lagos State House of Assembly (1979-1983); Hon Toyin Bolarinwa James, member House of Representatives (1999-2003) and Hon. Adesina Ogunkoya, member, House of Assembly (1999-2015).

    Others are Hon. Tajudeen Ajasa Oluwa, Council Chairman (1991-1993); Prince Rabiu Adio Oluwa, Council Chairman (2000-2007); Hon Kamaldeen Bayewu, Council Chairman (2008-2014)and the current Council Chairman, Mrs Danmole Fehintola Akaba.

    “We have met with the APC Senatorial Leader, Chief Rabiu Oluwa on the continued marginalisation of Ajegunle and the need to reverse the trend by conceding the party’s chairmanship candidate to us. Ajegunle deserves better treatment. It has the number of votes in the local government. Whenever there is a problem, it is Ajegunle votes that come to the rescue.

    “We have resolved to present Samshideen Arogundade, a talented young man who has empowered many youths in the community and ameliorated water problems of the people through sinking of boreholes. He has been in the struggle for the chairmanship position in the past five years.”

    Mr Bright Obaduemu, a lawyer,  corroborated Olaosegba’s views. He said the marginalisation of Ajegunle was very obvious. The fall out, he said, was the denial of infrastructural development such as good roads, potable water, drainage and waste disposal facilities, among others.

    Obaduemu, who said he was born and brought up in Ajegunle, claimed that there is no street  in Olodi that has not been tarred; they also dominate infrastructural development as if Ajegunle was not part of Ajeromi Local Government Area. This discrimination must stop, he said.

    He said: “Ajegunle is not lacking qualified candidates to hold political offices but they are not given the opportunity to get there. We have plethora of vibrant youths that are competent to be council chairman but we have settled for Arogundade because of his antecedents.

    “I have the privilege of relating with Samshideen Arogundade; he has demonstrated penchant  for philanthropy; he takes youths of Ajegunle abroad for education empowerment in United Arab Emirate (U.A.E.). He has a registered foundation dedicated to the development of the youth and to assist the orphans, elderly and physically-challenged people. His respect for elders stands him out among the youth.

    “He‘s ably armed with ideas; he has been on ground; his international exposure will enhance the development of Ajegunle”.

    A representative of Arewa community in Ajegunle, Alhaji Mohammed Bashir Yusuf appealed to the leadership of the APC in Lagos State to prevail on the  APC leaders in Ajeromi Local Government Area “to  please allow Ajegunle to present chairmanship candidate”.

    Yusuf said conceding the office to Ajegunle will create a sense of belonging and as well ensure equity, fairness and justice.

    He said the people of Ajegunle are very loyal to the APC. “We have never disappointed the party when it comes to election; we want the party to compensate us this time around by conceding council chairmanship position to Ajegunle,” he stated.

    For Mr Nelson Ibebunjo, Ajegunle will develop if the people of the community are allowed to hold political offices.  Ajegunle is a slum. Arogundade has what it takes to develop it. For five years now, we have been struggling for chairmanship position. We are appealing to the APC  national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to come to our rescue.

    The women representative, Mrs Blessing Eze said women in Ajegunle have endorsed Arogundade’s aspiration for the chairmanship position. “All women stand with him;  we believe there will be development in Ajegunle if he becomes Chairman of Ajeromi Local Government Area”, she said.

  • ‘I ‘ll turn Kogi around’

    ‘I ‘ll turn Kogi around’

    Kogi State All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain George-Olumoroti Olusola, in this interview with MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE, explains why he wants to govern the Northcentral state. 

    Why are you in the race for Kogi State governor?

    I was motivated to contest for the position of the governor of Kogi State because of its visible problems. Having seen the blessings that accrue to Kogi terms of the natural resources and human capital, today we ranked about the 34th poorest state in the country. This means our resources have not been adequately harnessed and there is so much poverty in the land. That is why I am motivated to come out to help the situation. I believe we need to do things differently, put in fresh ideas that can move the state forward. There is the need to harness the natural resources for the benefit of our people.

    How formidable is your structure?

    This is a structure that I have built since 2007, under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). I obtained form too in the same year for the position of the governor, I was screened and cleared. But the leadership of the party prevailed on us to step down for Prince Abubakar Audu which we did. As a loyal party man, I have remained with the party, helping the party in whatever capacity. In the last election, we demonstrated it by winning three senatorial seats and six out of the nine House of Representatives seats. We won 11 out of the House of Assembly seats. So, the structure is formidable. In Kogi west, where I come from, where I have always been known to belong to the progressives, I have been playing my part in ensuring that the party is a force to reckon with.

    What are your plans for the state, if elected?

    My plan for the state includes investing aggressively in agriculture. Kogi State today, about 70 per cent of its population work force is agrarian. But, this is a sector that had been largely neglected by subsequent governments since 1999. Kogi State that used to be the food basket of the nation is now the importer of food. Again, because of the impact of the ozone layer, it is really difficult for farmers to go to the farms in the morning without the necessary support. The administration under my supervision is going to provide farm implements and equipment for all farmers in all the local governments. We are going to procure fertilizers and ensure that we eliminate middlemen and allow the product to get directly to the farmers. We will ensure that the farmers have direct access to the equipment. In addition, we are going to establish a revolving soft loan for the farmers. This is going to motivate farmers, who are the largest number of our work force. The education sector is another critical area to look into. It has been neglected by successive governments. There is no single secondary school that is comparable in terms of quality or standard to the Kings College in Lagos State. We used to have good secondary schools in Kogi. So, we are going to invest largely in education. We are going to revive it by ensuring that we rehabilitate the structures that have collapsed. We will motivate the teachers, who are currently spending more time at home due to strikes. This is because the current government has refused to implement the elongated salary structure agreed upon with the governors’ forum.

    What will you do about this, if elected?

    Our primary school teachers have been at home in the last eight months for lack of implementation of good condition of service. We are going to ensure that we implement the elongated salary structure. I have plans under my administration to explore the tourism potential of Kogi State. Kogi State has so many histories behind it, being the first administrative seat in Nigeria, where Lord Lugard resided. It is the place where Nigeria was pronounced as a country. We have so many structures behind us; we have the only cemetery that housed the European armies who fought in the world wars, in Lokoja. We have other exiting tourism attractions, but this has largely been neglected. We are going create awareness about these and invest in them. We are going to invest in the cargo handling capacity in the Ajaokuta and Jetties. We thank God that the Federal Government is dredging the Niger Delta, which is going to be of help in the development of our state. The state government is going to invest, to ensure the cargo handling equipment is useful to our people. We will get the public/private partnership to harness the natural resources that the state is blessed with. The Ajaokuta Steel Complex which government has invested a lot in will get our support, but for the past 32 years the project has been abandoned. My plan is to do position paper and present it to the Federal Government for a consortium arrangement that is going to be tripartite in nature. This will include the federal, state and private investors to bring it back to life. This will create about 10,000 direct employment for Nigerians and indirect employment of about 90,000. Many industries will spring up immediately, if this is done. We are targeting 100,000 jobs directly or indirectly. This will also help the state to improve the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). Another area we want to pursue is the power generation. Kogi State has large deposit of coal in Kabba area, Koto Karifi in the western part of the state. The coals are unexplored and we know that part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda is to improve power generation at reasonable cost.

    How can your party have a rancour free primary?

    I am a team player and I have always advocated to the leadership of the party, to ensure that we have a free and fair primary. The choice of the party is paramount to me. I have always worked for the party as an individual; I have also worked for the party in cooperative terms. During the general election, we worked so hard for all the successes we recorded for the President. We are committed to ensuring that the party takes over Kogi State, because of the strategic role Kogi has continued to play in the national economy. We are committed to ensure that Kogi State is taken over by our party; we are appealing and praying that the primary is going to be free and fair. That all the other aspirants are going to work with whoever emerges.

    Are you not worried that the Igalla people have been the ones dominating the state?

    It is true that since 1991 when the state was created, and lately since 1999 that this democracy started, it has always been the Igalla ruling the state. I am not a strong advocate of power shift, but I believe that the best candidate will emerge. In last election, it clearly shows that 50 percent of the votes came from Kogi West and Central. If we have the system that can guarantee free and fair election like we had in the last election, I can tell you that from Kogi West and Central, they can win. They have 12 local governments out of 21, Kogi east has nine. So, in a free and fair primary under the supervision of the national body, if the west and central work together, they can always deliver a candidate that will win the election.     

  • It’s time to turn the page

    It’s time to turn the page

    It happens often each time I sit quietly reminiscing and recollecting my thoughts. Quite recently I found myself reflecting on how I came to be involved in public service.

    I finished my University education in 1986. That was to mark the end of my sojourn as a student activist. What to do after the mandatory Youth Service Corps programme was the next big task I had had to shoulder. With my younger ones yet to attain any height, the challenge of getting them to where they could fend for themselves was daunting. The reality of my parent disengagement from teaching service in years ahead was to compound the situation further. No earnings from a paid job held any sustained promise of meeting these challenge. A choice of engineering practice in any capacity came handy as an option and I did just that.

    Friends and relatives came calling, wondering why I am not participating in politics given my outings in the University. But I knew that politics in the University environment was different from that in the larger society. The former is acclaimed as ideology based that works on behalf of the body of students to whom the power belongs; in which one assumes power as a leader and leaves as a leader only through a transparently structured growth process. And the later reputed for being dirty and nasty, a business instead of a mission, working on behalf of self and not the society; in which one professes to be a leader only when looking for votes and becomes a ruler (Igwe!) shortly after getting it. It is reckoned for distracting us from issues that affect our lives while pouncing on every gaffe and association, faking controversy and expect that everyone plays along; and above all plays on our fears and exploit our differences to turn us against each other and slices and dices the society for political gain.

    For caring, less about society against the picture of the most flourishing one that the minds of our forebears had erected, the dreams of happiness and prosperity becomes the harbinger of pains, hardship and insecurity. Like many who think alike, the cynicism about what politics can achieve for the people turned me away in frustration. But the more patriots of my ilk keep away, the more the void created is occupied by notables who simply pass for thinkers – wrecking more and more havoc on society and taking its spirit for granted.

    As a part of the larger society, my State of Akwa Ibom was to have a fair share of the imponderables. In 1994, I decided to break out and found solace in Peace advocacy through Voicecon International Peace Foundation. It was to become a resource group to the Office of the President of our Federal Republic and in 2001 launched the Civil Works Organisation of Nigeria – The Crown – A Rights Advocacy group that ran a SPOTLIGHT programme on Akwa Ibom State Radio for 73 weeks leading to the 2003 general elections. It was speculated that it played a leading role in the re-election of the PDP government in Akwa Ibom State at the time.

    I was appointed the Commissioner for Informationn in Akwa Ibom State. I was thereafter appointed as the Commissioner representing South-South in the National Assembly Service Commission. Shortly after, I was elected as Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State. In each of these, I worked to the best of my ability notwithstanding the subordinate roles and I injected novel ideas and creative thought into governance to the extent that the roles could admit and the internal intrigues surrounding those roles, which make politics seem nasty.

    And what they permitted were small enough to establish the common ground needed by the degree of consistencies our decay has assumed, leaving the challenges of the past to threaten to hunt us for generations to come. And rather than seek the common ground, we fundamentally engage in blame game, talk the problems to death and crush initiatives under the weight of the same old politics. Today we look at government only as cash and carry business enterprise for the plunderers, blackmailers and lobbyists who do nothing but take us apart and more and more make politics the game only them can play. I am not in this race with the thought that I could avoid this kind of politics. I am contesting for Governorship because this is the time to end it.

    I throw my hat into the ring to turn the page, and to lead and not rule. I’m running for governorship because the time for faint hearted excuses is over. It’s time to turn the page and lead an awakening that will launch us into stable character, decent living, esteemed ethical conducts, prosperity, stake in one another and faith in humanity. An empowered mind is an empowered state.

    I pledge that I will render service not as a favour but as social responsibility. It is a solemn declaration to an agreement with you, Akwa Ibom people. I volunteer to surrender myself to be held accountable for any failures or deviations. Doing so is itself the most important part of the change that you need.

    I will turn the page on employment and bring about an atmosphere where school leavers and graduates become job providers and not seekers. We can neither wait for the private sector that is non-existent nor for the banks that make themselves cash warehouses and hardly loan. This will be pursued in three concurrent flanks simultaneously and under a state of emergency that our industrial incapacitation calls for.

     

    •Ekpotu is a former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom and governorship aspirant.

  • It’s Anambra North’s turn for governorship

    It’s Anambra North’s turn for governorship

    SIR: In the interest of fairness, equity, egalitarianism and justice, the next governor of Anambra State should come from Anambra North Senatorial zone. Since the new Anambra State came into being in 1991, no person from Anambra North Senatorial Zone has ruled the state.

    Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, who ruled the state between 1991 and 1993 hails from Anambra South; Dr Mbadinuju, who also ruled the state from 1999 to 2003 is from Anambra South; Dr Chris Ngige from Alor in Anambra Central Senatorial Zone, was in the saddle of leadership in the state between 2003 and 2006. The current governor, Peter Obi comes from Anambra Central. He has been ruling the state since 2006.

    Proponents of strict adherence to democratic ideals and ethos insist that the contest for the governorship post should be open to all people in the state. They argue that it is undemocratic to shut out people from outside Anambra North from the next governorship contest.

    But, in order for us to achieve peace and unity and attain great economic and technological heights, we should evolve democratic ideals and ethos to suit our cultural peculiarities. Imitating the western models of democracy sheepishly and foolishly won’t augur well for our development. Rather, we ought to adapt western models of democracy to our cultural and social realities in order to guarantee peace and progress in our home state of Anambra.

    In order to ensure the continued existence of Nigeria as one indivisible entity, northern interests and other kingmakers helped Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to become president in 1999 on the ticket of the P.D.P. to assuage the South-west, whose son Chief M.K.O Abiola, was denied the post in 1993 after he had won the June 12, 1993 Presidential election.

    So, in the interest of fairness and continued unity and cohesiveness of Anambra State, it is imperative to give the people of Anambra North the political platforms on which they will actualize their dream of producing the next governor of the state in 2014. The zone has seasoned and tested politicians who can lead the state to greatness if they’re offered the opportunity to lead the state. Among them are Joy Emodi, Margery Okadigbo, Oseloka Obaze and other great politicians.

     

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye

    Uruowulu-Obosi Anambra State.

     

  • Rangers turn back Victor Ezeji

    Rangers turn back Victor Ezeji

    Enugu Rangers will not sign veteran striker Victor Ezeji for the coming league season.

    The 31-year-old Ezeji, who last season featured for Sharks, has been training with Rangers with a view to signing for the ‘Flying Antelopes’.

    “Rangers will not sign Ezeji,” an official informed MTNFootball.com.

    Ezeji, who was top scorer of the NPL in 2002, did not feature in Rangers training on Wednesday morning.

    The striker, who has featured for several clubs including Enyimba as well as Club Africain in Tunisia, was capped by Nigeria eight years ago.

    Rangers have already rejected another experienced campaigner Ezenwa Otorogu, who is now training with Heartland.

    MTNFootball.com has learnt that Rangers plan to register a total of 35 players for the coming season with Warri Wolves stars Chigozie Agbim and Sunday Mba as well as Enyimba skipper Josiah Maduabuchi still part of their plans despite media speculations to the contrary.

  • Caroline Danjuma’s one good turn

    Caroline Danjuma’s one good turn

    BEFORE she got married, Caroline’s style could be described as “the girl next door” look. There were lots of t-shirts, jeans and minis in her wardrobe. After her wedding and babies, her style became sophisticated, though a little mature for someone in her 20s. Caroline seems to have found the perfect balance, and has been spotted looking good courtesy of her shipping magnate hubby, Musa Danjuma, younger brother of ex-defence minister, General T.Y Danjuma (retd).

    She played host to the crème-de-la-creme who attended the wedding of her step-daughter, Mary, in Lagos last week. Not only did she perform her role as a step-mum, the mother of two made sure everything was perfect to make the day grand for the bride. And trust the bride’s father, Musa, who has enough bucks to throw around.

    Insider revealed that the former Delta girl’s gesture towards Mary is like a case of one good turn that deserves another. In the heat of marital challenge that the former actress encountered in the Danjuma home, we learnt it was Mary that prevailed on her father from sending the mother of two out of her matrimonial home.

  • Turn to God, Nigerians charged

    Turn to God, Nigerians charged

    Nigerians have been advised to turn to God for solutions to the various problems bedeviling the nation.

    The National President, United Gospel Churches Association of Nigeria (UGCAN), Rev. (Dr) Priscilla Otuya, made the call during the national regeneration conference tagged “Nigeria! Solution Doth Come” in Lagos.

    Otuya said: “If God is good enough to be consulted during elections, then he should be good enough to be consulted in the open as a nation for solution.”

    She said the challenges of Nigeria are beyond the ordinary and requires extraordinary wisdom.

    Otuya noted that Nigeria is groaning under rising insecurity, poverty and corruption, which are having devastating effect on Nigerians.

    A civic education project was launched during the conference as part of efforts to awaken Nigerians to good governance.

    A leadership Integrity award was also given to Christian leaders and professionals.

    Some of the awardees include the General Overseer, World of Eternal Life and Revival Ministry, Rev Samuel Olutoye, Superintendent of the Apapa District of the Assemblies of God Church, Rev Kola Ogunbola, and Executive Secretary of National Summits Group, Mr. Tony Uranta.

    Other awardees are National Secretary of Middle Belt Forum, Dr John Dara and President of Journalists for Christ (JFC) Lekan Otufodunrin.