Bauchi Bombings: CAN Begs Christians Not To Revenge, Says ‘Systematic Cleansing Of Christians’ Ongoing

Chairman of Bauchi State CAN Reverend Pokti Lewi

Burial of June 3rd victims at Christian Cemetery in Yelwa Kagadama, Bauchi.

By SaharaReporters, New York

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has reacted to this morning’s suicide bombing attack on a church in Bauchi State, and urged Christians not to take vengeance into their own hands.
The attack, which resulted in several deaths as well as severe injury to more than 40 persons, took place at St. John's Catholic Cathedral in Bayan Gari.
In an exclusive interview with SaharaReporters, the Chairman of CAN in the state, Reverend Pokti Lewi, described what is going on as nothing but systematic cleansing of Christians in Northern Nigeria.
“We cannot express the depth of what we are going through, and the pains we are in presently,” he said.  “Just few Sundays ago we lost nine persons in [another] suicide bombing and today again.
Now we have lost four persons, and over 40 in different severe [injury] situations; in the survivors some will die from what we are seeing presently.  Many of them are between life and death and this is clearly cleansing agenda by those perpetrating this act.”
Rev. Lewi, noting that the suicide bomber sacrificed his life in order to kill Christian worshippers, wondered what kind of world exists today.
“We are sad but are appealing to all Christians to be calm and not seek revenge, we have not kicked against anyone and his or her religion but God is watching and time will tell,” he said.
 He listed those who were killed in the last suicide bomb attack on  June 3rd 2012 when Boko Haram suicide bombers struck at Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel) and Harvest Field Church in Yelwa Tudu, Bauchi State. The victims of those attacks were buried on the June 6th  2012 at Christian Cemetery, Yelwa Kagadama, Bauchi.
Reverend Lewi gave the names of the victims of the June 3rd bombing as follows:
•    Mrs. Nyarim Jingina, who died with three months old pregnancy;
•     Irmiya Hassan Dodo, 67, a Second Republic House of Representatives member;
•    Joseph Kehinde Aiyedipe, 30, a student of Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi;
•    Samuel Olusegun, 16, a SS II student of Divine International School, Bauchi;
•     Augustine Effion Ita, 32, a health specialist; and
•    Suru Bamgboshe, a final year student of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University.
“You can see the pains of what we are going through,” he said.  “We are still managing many others that sustained serious injuries and now another one has occurred.  Where do we go from here if not to continue turning unto God.”

Bakare, Utomi, Fawehinmi berate Jonathan for fuel protest comment

 by Leke Baiyewu

Some of the leaders of the January anti-subsidy removal rally in Lagos have described President Goodluck Jonathan as insincere over his claim that the mass protest against the removal fuel subsidy was sponsored by a political class in the state.

The leaders, who spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH, include the Convener, Save Nigeria Group, Pastor Tunde Bakare; political economist, Prof. Pat Utomi and the first son of the late human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Mohammed.

Jonathan had last Tuesday exhumed the controversy, when he alleged that the mass action, tagged; Occupy Nigeria, and organised by civil society groups, was manipulated by an unnamed class of people.

He had said, “Look at the demonstrations back home; look at the areas these demonstrations are coming from, you begin to ask, are these the ordinary citizens that are demonstrating? Or are people pushing them to demonstrate?

“(During) The demonstration in Lagos, people were given bottled water that people in my village don’t have access to. People were given expensive food that the ordinary people in Lagos cannot eat. So even going to eat free alone attracts people.

“They go and hire the best musicians to come and play and the best comedian to come and entertain. Is that demonstration? Are you telling me that that is a demonstration from ordinary masses in Nigeria who want to communicate something to government?

“I believe that that protest in Lagos was manipulated by a class in Lagos and was not from the ordinary people.”

In his reaction through a text message to our correspondent, Bakare alleged that the President back-stabbed the masses, that had influenced his emergence as late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s successor.

He said, “One word is sufficient to define the president’s thoughtless comment – bunkum. I hope he and his handlers understand the full meaning of the word. In case they don’t, he should supply the names of the imaginary sponsors.

“It is indeed true that the people that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. Human memory can be so fickle. Otherwise, how can the same President Jonathan, who benefited from the civil protests that birthed the “doctrine of necessity” which cleared the way for him to become the acting president, now turns around to blaspheme the same process that once benefited him.”

Also reacting, Utomi, in an interview argued that there was nothing wrong with a protest against an anti-people policy of a government, even if it was sponsored.

He said, “I don’t know if anything is wrong, where the protest was sponsored. If the president understands politics and democracy, then he will know that political parties can organise and mobilise the masses for protests or public awareness campaigns. These are tools and vehicles of politics.

“I can equally be referred to as a sponsor of the protest because I led the professional bodies, which held a rally in Ikoyi, Lagos. The President should know that the political parties can organise public or mass action against a government that is not doing the right thing.”

Similarly, Mohammed said civil society groups were ready to take to the streets again, if government failed to fulfil its promises to the people.

He said, “The President does not understand governance or care about the feeling of the people. How can any government increase the pump price when it is obvious that the economy of the common man depends on petrol?

“Nigeria has what it takes to be one of the greatest countries of the world but for lazy and incompetent leadership. The government should think of the masses.”

Punch

Northern Unity Crisis: Useni Slams VP Sambo, Obasanjo

PEMBI STEPHEN and MUSA AHMAD TIJJANI

The Chairman Board of Trustees’ (BoT) chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum,  Lt Gen. Jeremiah Useni (rtd), has said that Vice President Namadi Sambo, the highest ranking political office holder from the geopolitical north, does not have the clout to rally the north together, while the 19 northern governors were interested in political gains in 2015 rather than suing for peace.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP WEEKEND, Useni said the ACF had on several occasions, tried to provide a platform to foster northern unity and seek solutions to its problems, but with little cooperation from those with political authority.
The media aide to the vice president, Umar Sani, however, said that his principal was very capable and able to lead to the north politically or otherwise but every action of his must be seen to be  patriotic and not regional in nature.
Sani said, “The vice president is not only a northern leader. His duties are guided by the constitution and the constitution gives powers to the president and it is what Mr President tells him to do that he will do. What clout is he talking about if he has no constitutional powers?”
He continued, “The vice president is guided by the overall national interest. He must subordinate himself to Mr President and deliver on their electoral promises.”
Useni also chided northern elder Mallam Adamu Ciroma for only having political interests while blaming former president Olusegun Obasanjo for using regional groups like the Middle Belt Forum to divide the north.
Speaking on the north’s unity, he said, “Take Sardauna for instance, he was a rallying point for both Muslims and Christians. He was a leader, but today so many leaders have emerged from the north. In fact, we have no leader, who can rally the north?
“We have senior officers from the north, the vice president is the most senior government official from the north today, but can he rally the whole north? That is why I said we have leaders but I don’t think we have a leader now who would make a clarion call and everybody would follow like during the Sardauna period.”
Speaking on the lack of development, poverty and insecurity in the north, he said, “These are things that unless we sit down and do something about, it will be too bad for us. We at the ACF are doing our best to ensure that things don’t get out of hand.
“We organised a conference in December last year and we invited all the governors. The vice president who represented the President came and most of the governors came but they left almost immediately without listening to the issues raised and possible solutions.”
Only the host governor, Useni said, stayed to the end. “So, are we at the ACF going to implement anything?  We are not the executive body, not the judiciary and we don’t have the finance to tackle these problems. How do you think we can make a headway with this?”
On leaders who only speak for political interests, Useni said: “But some people, for reasons best known to them, maybe they have not been heard for a long time and they want to be heard now or they want you to know that they are doing something, will start segmenting the north, which is very unfortunate.
“There is the issue of Mallam Adamu Ciroma coming out to say that a particular candidate is the northern candidate for the recent presidential election. That is for a party. After that, did you hear anything from them again? The committee members are alive but did you hear anything from them about the north again?”
He said, “Look at the Middle Belt Forum, which I don’t belong to anyway, because Obasanjo was using them to kill the north. They say they are different from the ‘core north’. Which one is ‘core north’? Why am I chairman of ACF Board of Trustees? If they are ‘core north’, I am from Plateau State.
“So after Obasanjo left, did you hear anything? Even that time they had no office. I used to challenge them to show me their office. You can go to ACF and see the office. All these are for selfish interests.”
Leadership

HOW THE VASWANIS LOOT NIGERIA

(GET N6 TRILLION WAIVER PRESIDENCY CONNECTION LAGOS METROPOLIS IS NOT NECESSARILY BETTER THAN MUMBAI IN INDIA. BUT THERE IS AN ALLURE IN NIGERIA THAT KEEPS THE VASWANI BROTHERS COMING BACK EVEN WHEN THE COUNTRY FEELS IT HAS HAD ENOUGH OF THEM)

NIGERIA might not agree with India on certain isms in religion, marriage, or politics.  There is, however, a language they both speak and understand in business and politics. That  is bakshish - the Indian word for bribery.

And the Vaswani brothers, the Indian owners of the Stallion Group for the past three decades, have used it so effectively that they are now one force to reckon with among the Asian imperialists said to be controlling about 30 percent of Nigeria's economy -  thanks to globalization. The Vaswani brothers now speak the said language as they face myriads of fresh investigations into their business  activities by several institutions, including a National Assembly Committee, the Police, at the Special Fraud Unit, SFU, of the Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID, States Security Services, SSS, and the Presidency.

These probes, like others, if sincerely and dutifully carried out, may have a devastating outcome, including, but  not limited to, the likelihood of deportation of the Vaswani brothers, who have been twice lucky. In the event of  this deportation, it will be the third time in eight years. The alleged crime has never changed; its dimension has  only got wider.
Sabotaging Nigeria

New Delhi believes that its nationals, like the Vaswanis and other Indians in Nigeria, are actually strengthening  the economic tie between the two former British colonies.

Mahesh Sachdeva, the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, gleefully declared on May 1, 2012, that the bilateral  business relationship between the two third-world nations has grown to $16.4billion. But the slew of sharp  practices - which appear more like sabotage - trailing Sunil, Haresh, and Mahesh Vaswani, has made the partnership  a lopsided one.

Nuhu Ribadu, former chairman of the once dreaded Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, knows how tightly these brothers have gripped the veins of Nigeria's economy. He first ran them out of the country in 2002, but they clawed their way back. ''It is very glaring the nation won't enjoy much prosperity, especially in the domestic economy, as long as the Vaswanis remain in Nigeria,'' the former anti-graft czar once reportedly lamented. Tongues in the presidency are wagging as feelers by way of petitions reaching it allege that between 2002 and 2010, Nigeria lost about N150.8 billion in over-invoicing, waivers abuse, and tax evasion to the group's import business. But for some hunch, they would have strung Nigeria along again in a  N200 billion car importation waiver proposal and N150 billion in the Badeggi, another rice deal production nearly sealed by the Vaswanis and their Thailand collaborators.

Something else that effectively cripples Nigeria's economy in the manner they conduct their business is capital flight, which results from repatriation of profits, in dollars, back to the United Kingdom, Dubai, India and other countries where they have businesses. A 2009 study of the Global Financial Integrity estimated that Africa lost $903 billion that year, and about $800 billion annually. Nigeria, according to the report, topped the losers' list.

NASS Digs in
Maybe the deluge of petitions the seven-man Senate Committee on Privatisation received on the alleged economic crimes of these Indians will be heavy enough to confirm that the brothers hold Nigeria in the jugular. Economic analysts have always argued that it will take some doing for the country to really get industrialized with its current expansionist import policy.  The Stallion Group particularly appears more obsessed with dumping goods on the economy. With its 15 subsidiaries and a conglomerate of fronts in Nigeria, the group imports practically anything from rides to rice. That is one way of keeping Nigeria a perpetual consumerist nation, unlike India that is, to a large extent, known for its booming technology, health exports and manufacturing.

The Vaswani greed may have led to their latest scam in the acquisition of the Volkswagen Nigeria Limited, VON. The Senate is already convinced Nigeria has been short-changed in the sale of the company.

Very revealing are the video clips of the Senate Committee's fact-finding visit to the VON office in Apapa, Lagos, almost six years after sale.

The vast premises of the former German-Nigerian auto plant are now a bonded terminal, one of the three bonded terminals the group owns in Lagos. That conversion of a key driver of an economy into a storage facility is illegal, going by section 1 of the Memorandum of Association of the automobile company.

What further throws more light on the shady deal is the account of a 24-year old business romance gone frosty between Kashim Bukar Shettima, owner of the Barbedos Group. Shettima, in 2006, bought Nigeria's 35 percent in Volkswagen for N612million, shortly after the brothers, who also bid, were deported. Although they were poles apart

after then, the bond remained fairly strong between the Vaswanis and Shettima. “I made every effort to get their return,” he asserted. The brothers had won the bid for N400million in 2003, but a rice importation fraud pitted them against former President Olusegun Obasanjo who had to fling them out of the country. Yet Shettima ensured the Stallion Group was running on autopilot until 2007, when the late President Yar' Adua, after a business luncheon, brokered by their Nigerian beneficiaries during his first visit to the United States, okayed their come-back.

Their Mafian Style
But the Indians came back with a vengeance. They had registered and incorporated a Barbedos Virgin Island (BVI) in the UK, in February, 2005, with which they later partnered with Shettima's Barbedos, Nigeria Ltd, as Overseas Partner, to acquire the remaining 35 percent Federal Government stake in the company.

Petitioning the federal government and the National Assembly, Shettima said the Vaswanis cheated Nigeria by short-circuiting due process, under a company called Avolon, to acquire Germany's 51 percent in Volkswagen. According to presidency sources, it was a breach of the pre-emptive rights of the federal government of Nigeria stated in section 151 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990.

The BVI, however, had their reason. The National Council on Privatisation was aware of the under-hand deal. In a letter dated August 25, 2005, Atiku Abubakar, former vice president and chairman of the NCP, was informed by the Bureau of Public Enterprises, under Irene Chigbue, to waive Nigeria's pre-emptive rights to acquire the 61 percent shares of the German partners.

While Abubakar knew then that the Vaswanis had been banished from the country, he blinked over the BPE request.

Again the debt of about DM 4 million that VON purportedly owed in Germany was another point in favour of the Vaswanis. They claimed to have settled up Germany, thereby making VON indebted to them. Shettima is, however, strongly of the opinion, in some of his representations to the presidency, that the credit arrangement was fraudulent because the auditing firm that investigated VON debt profile, Robert Ade-Odiachi & Co, said that the debt was non-transferable.

How they Bury Car Assembling Finally
Whichever way the sale eventually swung, the BVI outwitted the Federal Government, as always! And in that case, Barbedos Nigeria, to the Vaswanis Shettima has always known, will be no great shakes. The BVI worked it such that Shettima is now left clutching at 17 percent of the share, right in the glare of the BPE, Corporate Affairs Commission, and other regulators. While he is busy alleging sabotage and fraud, the Vaswanis have turned the VON into a bonded terminal. Nearly six years after, the plant still remains a shadow of itself. Some parts, covered in the Senate Committee video, are empty; other sections, 24 of them, warehouse vegetable oil, rice, fertilizers, and nine other products. There are also about 30,000 cars and hundreds of containers bearing imported goods on the premises. Given the necessary incentives, local entrepreneurs could have been producing these goods to further stimulate the economy. But the Stallion Group feels there is faster and bigger buck to make as an import monopoly,
using such facilities for hoarding imports, than just grinding out 'beetles' in Nigeria.

It wasn't always like this in the Nigerian auto industry. There used to be three car assembling plants, and five heavy vehicle plants in the country. And Obasanjo's idea of privatizing the VON, the only one surviving, in the 2000s was to revive the industry, and lower the prices. He made his concern known to the 40 industry stakeholders, led by Ade Ojo, chairman of Elizade Motors, who met in Aso Rock on February 1, 2000. The Honda Place, responsible for the automobile aspect of the Stallion Group, was not part of the meeting because of the Vaswani notoriety in the industry. But at least the President came away with some information: that the Vaswanis had been chiselling Nigeria through under-invoicing, underpayment of duties, VAT, surcharge, mischievous classification, and cargo diversion. Other malpractices of the brothers include use of containers to import vehicles, unspecified description of vehicles, and use of obscure ports. The Senate Committee on Industries that dug into the allegations later stated in a report dated February 16, 2001 that Nigeria lost N10 billion to the Vaswanis in the process. They merely got a slap on the wrist at the end of the probe.

Knowing What to Keep
What gives the Vaswanis this unfair advantage is their ability to arm-twist government for concession. They have been enjoying it over the years, especially during the military era. As tight-fingered as Obasanjo's administration was, it took a lot of resistance for him not to swallow their bait on a rice production proposal. The list of concession the Stallion Group requested include tax holiday, free land, zero duty on agriculture equipment imported, and others. They, however, pushed things too far in 2002 when they colluded with Thailand exporters. In a report ENB/SEC Vol.1, 22 August, 2002, originating from the Nigerian embassy in Thailand, detailed how pre-shipment inspection was used by the Vaswanis to import 1.5 million metric tons of rice, the world highest then, at little return to Nigeria. Shipment, supposedly inspected from Thailand, would come in cleared. According to the Mohammed-Waziri-led probe panel, N800 million was lost to the Vaswani crookedness. They took off, like jack-rabbits, when Ribadu turned on the heat.

When they were allowed back into the country in 2007, they brought along their Thai friends, and coaxed the late President Yar' Adua into accepting a proposal on rice farming. Nigeria was to plonk down N150billion and give them land. They ran out of luck again when they made another criminal move - clearing a vessel that was yet to set sail from Thailand, a practice those who know them too well told this magazine, is their stock-in-trade. Like a cat with nine lives, they bounced back into the country.

And they have been having a swell time in Jonathan's administration since. Waivers and tax exemption are lavish.

Between August and December 2010, Jonathan granted the group two waivers. In a letter referenced BO/B10260/TUB/LA/156, the finance minister, through the director of finance, Daniel Joel Tayelaiye, granted Energy Resources Management Ltd, one of their fronts, waivers of import duty, ETL, CISS, and other port charges' on 250,000 metric tons of imported rice.

Similarly, ERM got a waiver for 250,000 metric tons of vegetable oil in December and another 250,000 of the same commodity by Connotation Concept Nigeria. As at February this year, the Vaswanis secured duty waiver for another 250,000 tons of vegetable oil, enjoying similar concession. To make a kill, ERM has continued to use the waivers all these years when each could only last a year. Investigation shows that they have used the 500,000mt duty waiver which is 20,000; 20 feet containers to import and clear double i.e 1,000,000mt or 40,000; 20 feet containers and most of the cargo and containers are still lying in their various yards in Lagos. Total duty waived was USD 220,500,000 (two hundred and twenty million, five hundred thousand dollars) for the 500,000mt that is N 35.280 billion.

The London Meeting
In their desperation to perpetuate themselves in the VON deal, the Vaswani brothers split themselves to not only monitor but to also trail the movements of some top government functionaries that are close to President Jonathan.

They managed to trail two top Presidency insiders first to Geneva, Switzerland and then London. It was in London that they finally sealed the deal that robbed Shettima's Barbedos Nigeria Ltd of his well deserved stake in VON.

With some other close aides of Mr. President in their pockets, the brothers moved in on full assault of Shettima's business, sealing off his warehouse premises with containers in full glare of the public thus preventing him to take delivery of his goods while they kept their own warehouses busy; loading them with imported items such as rice, fish, iron rods and brand new cars to mention a few.

To seal the fate of Shettima and to prevent the expected backlash from the Senate committee on Privatisation, as regard the VON matter, the brothers with the help of the President's close associates sought the services of a two time former Attorney General and minister of Justices. Kanu Agabi (SAN) to seek relief from a Federal High Court in Abuja. Part of the relief was to restrain the Senate Committee and the EFCC from hindering their illegal operations in the country and also to foil any attempt to rescind their ownership of VON in spite of their non-performance.

Hands in Gloves
These businessmen have all the liberties because when they speak bakshish, people listen.  It will surprise few Nigerians that the Vaswanis are being piggybacked into the country, after every deportation, by those that ought to keep an eye on them. There have been allegations that certain ministers, including a highly placed ex-NAFDAC official, are sympathetic to the family. And Mohammed Adoke, attorney-general of the federation, along with his predecessor, Michael Aondoakaa, isn't exactly exonerated. The two kept the EFCC on a short leash anytime the commission is after the Vaswanis. Adoke, for instance, ensured that the EFCC looks to him for legal direction whenever taking a suspected economic criminal to court. For instance, a summary, with a reference number HAGF/SH/2010/Vol 1/32, was written to and received by the presidency on May 25, 2010. There the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, recommended that the security agencies should respect court judgement granting the Vaswanis relief against being deported or arrested.

Adoke further counselled that the Federal Government should also honour part of the court judgement which awarded a compensation of N5billion to the Vaswanis. Adhering strictly to this legal advice, President Jonathan reportedly released the said sum which however found its way into the pockets of prominent Nigerians who are business allies of the Vaswanis. National Standard investigation revealed that between 75 and 80 percent of the hefty compensation was shared among these highly respected Nigerians.

Also zealous about shielding the Stallion Group and its owners are certain sources, mostly chiefs of staff, within the presidency. Major General (rtd) A. Mohammed, former chief of staff to Yar' Adua, used to play the mother-hen whenever the EFCC hawk swooped on the Vaswanis. He nearly pleaded for them in his letter entitled Re: Revocation of Deportation Order to the EFCC, requesting the commission to review “these facts (earlier listed) with a view to attaining justice to all parties”. Similar letters, in an intercessory tone, were sent to the ministry of interior and the office of the president to save their scalps. The current chief of staff, Mike Oghiadomhe, as revealed in some documents available to National Standard, equally watches out for the Vaswani interest in Aso Rock. To pave way for their last return, the big shots at the presidency argued that the return of the Vaswanis would assist the EFCC conclude it's investigations into allegations of gross economic crimes levelled against them. Checks by National Standard at the anti-graft agency showed no sign of any investigation since their return. "That is a no-go area," said a senior operative of the commission who did not want his name in print. He however added that the new leadership of the EFCC can only dare the Vaswanis if Mr. President distances himself from the Indian-born businessmen. Going by some kind of relationship tree, this magazine discovers it is just about six degree, or less, separating Atiku from the Indians. They are familiar strangers. Their path might have crossed when the former vice president was a senior officer with the Nigeria Customs Service. And the familiarity could only get better. Since their interests are always well represented in Aso Villa, they drop in on any President any time. They can flout their orders, too like they did NCP chairman, Vice President Namadi Sambo's.

According to presidency sources, they cut the second citizen of the country dead when he invited the warring VON shareholders for negotiation. And Jonathan can't hammer them either. He's morally bound to give their waivers proposal a favourable nod. The Stallion business was said to be among the deep pockets that bank-rolled Jonathan's campaign last year. That the BPE and CAC overlooked the brazen forgery of seal, an allegation against the BVI in one of the representations to the presidential committee of enquiry is more proof the Vaswanis are omnipresent. It worries Industry watchers. “The report was a confirmation of the earlier letter written to the CAC by the BPE exonerating the Vaswani brothers and BPE of any wrong doing,” says one of the concerned Nigerians watching the development closely.

Security Allies
The biggest fan of the brothers is the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS. The agency has never found any fault in the operations of the group over the years. Even when the House Sub-Committee on Customs, headed by Hon. Gummel Abdullahi, ordered the NCS to probe the company, following a petition from the Automotive Marketers Association of Nigeria, the result, as contained in a report marked NCS/INV/08/00/AB/HQ, gave The Honda Place a clean bill of health. The Customs was also involved in the Thailand importation scam where a shipload of rice yet to leave the exporting country was already cleared in Nigeria. Although the Vaswanis hoard their imported goods in an assembling plant, the NCS still approved of it as a bonded terminal.

National Standard can reveal that the Vaswanis in connivance with some Customs Officers imported 1,000,000mt (40,000 20ft containers) and the duty lost to the country on this transactions amounts to N 70.56 Billion (seventy billion, fifty six million naira). On the various criminal manipulation of the economy, the Indians out of which carry British passports, will be carting out a total income of N6.981 trillion (six trillion, nine hundred and eighty one billion naira). The sales and import were in the name of Masco Agro Allied Industries Ltd (Stallion wholly owned subsidiary).

One can't just dismiss how much the chummy relationship between the NCS and the Vaswanis has cost Nigeria. In 2007, former Finance Minister Esther Nenadi Usman told Nigerians that the NCS was milking the country dry.

The Nigeria Police, which often come under serious attack for their corruption profile, appear not to be willing to miss out of the action. While the case of shareholding dispute is in a Federal High Court in Abuja, the BVI used its influence to purportedly seal-up the VON premises, especially the part that belongs to their rival in the VON ownership battle, with police officers.

The Vaswani controlled warehouses, however, remain a beehive of loading and off-loading. As of May 4, months after the Senate Committee mission, the police were on guard as over 150 cars, out of the several thousand parked on the Apapa bonded terminal were driven out to another of the Stallion Group terminals in Lekki, beside Mercedes Benz, in Lagos. The security agencies are believed to always be their friends.

The Vaswanis, this magazine learnt, used them to cow the DANA Group and other competitors when Tafa Balogun was Inspector General of Police, and also due to overbearing influence by former VP. "So it would be music to the ears if the cops didn't help the Indian business mafia cover their track," another source wondered.

The Senate Committee would have to follow-up on its probe to rescue the economy from the Vaswanis.
Many believe something, hopefully, may give at the end of ongoing investigations as President Jonathan has reportedly warned that if there is any established fact in the allegations of gross economic crimes being perpetrated against the country by the Vaswanis, they may not be third time lucky.

The Senate Committee is already asking for the Share Purchase Agreement to be rescinded and re-advertised for non-performance. The report also ordered the EFCC to examine the sleight of hands used to cheat Nigeria out of its share, and the boardroom war raging among the VON shareholders. While the tone of the committee findings now may sound harsh, Sunil, Haresh, and Mahesh fear no evil.

They'll get justice, and will be safer as soon as the EFCC is liquidated, going by the recommendations of the Orosanye Committee on Public Service Reforms. Or the panel report could also disappear -like thousands of others before. For how long will those who have the responsibility to protect and grow local content (including the Ibrahim Lamorde-led EFCC) in Nigeria's efforts at becoming one of the top 20 industrialised nations of the world by
the year 2020? The British, Indian and UAE authorities and Nigeria's cannot claim ignorance of these economic abracadabras being practiced by the Vaswanis; only time will tell whether they would be brought to justice this time around.

Uncanny savvy
On good authority, National Standard gathered that the brothers have desisted from coordinating their operations from their registered offices. The Indian staff in the Stallion Group, sources revealed, carry the data for importation, supply and sales in their lap tops from where they control the movement and delivery of these items.

The reason behind this change of operation is none other than the need to elude the officials of the EFCC who had a well structured raid on the Vaswanis in 2002. To avoid a repeat performance of the well orchestrated clampdown, the brothers resorted to keep every business detail and operations mobile. The bank details are said to be also stored in these laptops to the extent that no matter the invasion by security agencies no incriminating information will be found. The strategy is also made easy by the fact that they have their main operational bases in their homes to which they hardly allow anybody access. They are again believed to have a highly restricted office.

Sources within the banking sector also disclosed to this magazine that about N130billion has been borrowed by the Vaswanis from three banks (names withheld), using VON premises as collateral while original title documents to the properties are with Kashim Shettima, their rival, so how did they get the mortgage and perfect it big? This may just be another case of high level forgery. National Standard Intelligence will continue investigations to establish the authenticity of these fresh allegations.

National Daily

Sultan: Subordinate religion to Nigeria’s unity

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar III, wants Nigerians to subordinate their religious beliefs to the nation’s unity.
Alhaji Abubakar  III, who gave the advice when he paid a courtesy visit to Governor Godswill Akpabio at Governor’s Lodge, Uyo, emphasised that unity and peace are panacea for the development of the country.

Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III

The Sultan, who was in Uyo, Akwa Ibom capital for the third Unity Conference of the South-South and South-East Muslim UMMAH, remarked: ‘’The conference is an important one. Whether we are Christians or Muslims, we must live in peace with one another in whatever part of the country we find ourselves. If we are united, we would contribute better to the development of the country. So, we must put aside our differences and embrace peace and unity’’.
Describing Akwa Ibom as a conference capital of Nigeria, he acknowledged that the governor has positively impacted the lives of people in the state and in the country, stating, ‘’We have seen your handwork in a particular manner and dealings. You are just and fair in what you do and I can see that government is working here. You have stood out to be counted and would continue to be counted’’.
Abubakar described  Akpabio as a strong pillar in building a country known for peace and unity, and enjoined other Nigerians to emulate such exemplary leadership qualities as patience, humility, foresight and perseverance, among others.  The governor called for unity and peace not just across the inter-faith but among the ethnic groups in the country.
Akpabio said unity and peace could be possible when Nigerians learn to work with people outside their faith and ethnic groups, remarking ‘’Intolerance breeds extremism, while the latter breeds conflict’’.
He hinted that his administration has exemplified unity and tolerance through the appointment of his Aide-de-Camp (ADC) from Bauchi State, Chief Security Officer (CSO) from Kogi State and his Orderly from Kaduna State.
Vanguard

North strategizes for 2015

By EMEKA MAMAH & SONI DANIEL.
 Apparently worried over the inevitability of the north losing power in 2015 due to lack of peace and unity among the people in the region, the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, has called for political strategies that would put the area in strong position of strength to secure some favourable advantage to negotiate with other regions.
It has therefore, asked politicians in the area who nurse presidential ambition to tarry- a -while, before embarking on their campaigns as such activities could compound the bad situation

Northern Political think tanks

The ACF’s position is coming against the backdrop of opposition against zoning by the Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido.
The ACF which is the umbrella association of all socio-political groups in the north, made this known in a communique after an emergency meeting of its National Executive Council, NEC, and the Board of Trustees in
Abuja yesterday, even as they expressed solidarity with Kogi State over its dispute with Anambra and Enugu States over the oil finds along the border areas of the three states.
The meeting was called to receive and consider the Road Map for Peace, Unity and Development of Northern Nigeria, which was the product of resolutions of the Arewa Conference on Peace and Unity held in December last year.
The communique which was signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Anthony Sani noted that  the divided Northern Nigeria needed peace and unity if it was to compete as an entity in the larger Nigerian federation, adding that the task of uniting the zone needed the support of all its stakeholders.
The communique further read,  “While the Forum supports any political strategies that would put the North in a position which will enable it negotiate with other sections of the country from a position of strength and secure some favourable terms, it was the considered view of the Forum that it is too early to start full-fledged political activities for 2015.
’’This is because such early start is capable of detracting from the task of governance at our collective peril.
”Concerning the controversy on the oil finds among states of Anambra, Enugu and Kogi, the meeting heard a briefing from a delegation from Kogi State.
“The Forum then asked the people of the states concerned not to be agitated unduly, precisely because both the offices of the Surveyor General and the National Boundaries Commission are there to resolve boundary disputes.
“And that the Forum would stand by people of Kogi state for what is legally due and payable to them.”
Meanwhile, the Jigawa State Governor, Dr Lamido, has said that he feels flattered by the story linking him with the 2015 presidential ambition, pointing out that he did not believe in the zoning of the coveted position.
According to Lamido, “Neither zoning nor whatever is the answer. What we really need in this country is for people to believe in themselves and their leaders for things to work well.
“By the time every Nigerian develops confidence in each other, trusts each other and supports one another then who becomes the president or governor would be immaterial. Because we have a rich culture with poor people and because the resources of this country have not been properly applied we think it is the system which is denying us what we really need as a people.’’
Lamido, who is a founding member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP,  however did not confirm or deny speculations about his alleged presidential ambition.
A section of the media had last month reported that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, had anointed Lamido to run with the Rivers State Governor, Chubuike Amaechi, as the PDP presidential and vice-presidential candidates in 2015; causing ripples in the political circle.
However, Obasanjo promptly denied the report, saying that he had not endorsed anyone for the election. This was even as people in the 27 local government areas of the Jigawa State reportedly went into wild jubilation, over the news report, contending that their governor had done well and needed to replicate his development strides across the country.
But, Lamido told newsmen that he was surprised when the speculation became a public debate in the country.
The governor said, “To be honest with you, I feel flattered that in a country with over 160 million Nigerians, my humble self from a small village in Jigawa State is being talked about. Secondly, the issue of leadership in this country is something which is within the exclusive preserve of God, who gives power to whoever He wants at the time He chooses.”
Those who are here now were not there 10 years ago and those who were there some years ago are no longer here. So no matter what happens someone will be in an office and a Nigerian must be there. And so, to me what matters is: let God give to Nigeria what is best for her and it does not matter who he is. It could be any Nigerian.”
Reacting to claims that opposition parties were already regrouping to oust the PDP in 2015, Lamido dismissed the perceived strength of the other parties are non-existent.
According to him, the PDP would continue to wax stronger since most of the so-called members of the opposition did not have active and committed members across the country like his party.
Scoffing at the opposition, he asked rhetorically, ‘’which are the parties in this country that are threatening ours? I do not see any threat from anywhere. Which of them is really an opposition party? None. In 1999, it was only PDP, APP and AD. Today it is only PDP and other formations. Ten years after it is only PDP and other later inventions. They are all inventions made up of persons who have failed in the PDP and other parties and thrown out as garbage.”
He also said that his administration spent over 65 percent of its monthly allocation of about N3 billion on recurrent services but vowed not  to borrow a dime to execute any project.
He stated that he had so far managed to provide the critical infrastructure that would propel the state towards industrialization and progress with the resources at his disposal.
“I am always conscious of the fact that if I begin to take loans it might be difficult for my successor to grapple with the development of the state. hat is why I have made it a policy that by the time I leave office, I will not leave behind a single kobo as debt. I do not see any justification in borrowing money. Why should I eat into the income of the next governor?” he added.
Vanguard

If Okadigbo Were Here…

Eddy Odivwri

I have watched the dance steps of our politicians. And the more I watch, the more I remember our dear    Rt. Hon.  Dr. William Malachy Chinwuba Okikadigboli (Okadigbo, for short). In three days, it would be nine full years that he marched out of the political stage on this side of the divide. But nine years after, Okadigbo remains as valid as unexpired licence. His theories, sound bites, his parliamentary template as well as his enchanting nuances remain the aperture by which politics is yet viewed in the country.

He was the seventh Nigerian to emerge as the Senate president of the Federal Republic. But he remains the one most talked about, even in death. And all of that draws from what he stood for. As the Chairman of the National Assembly, he kept the Presidency on its toes.  Strong-willed as former President Olusegun Obasanjo was, he knew that he could not ride roughshod over Okadigbo. Little wonder that Obasanjo could not stand his guts, his aura and his political capacity. And in a well-rehearsed scheme, he got Okadigbo to step onto the  dreaded banana peel. And he fell. Albeit unjustly. For awarding contracts based on “anticipated approval”, they drew the sword against him. But today, political buccaneers have taken over; they engage in extra-budgetary expenditure with brazen flourish, and it all looks like normal. What is worse, contracts are awarded, they are not executed, but the money flies away. If Okadigbo were here!

But the striking irony is that when in April 2000, Senator Arthur Nzeribe introduced the impeachment motion against Obasanjo, it was Okadigbo’s deft move that stopped Nzeribe  on his tracks , and saved Obasanjo from the thorny politics of Nzeribe. Yet, the same Obasanjo was to plot Okadigbo’s fall, with such a sly finishing.

With him out of the way, Obasanjo had a breather and ease of arbitrariness.

Considered a parliamentary wizard, Okadigbo literally chewed parliamentary procedure with such eclectic ease, so much that he even over-stretched some of his principled beliefs. For instance, he raised a lot of dust when he insisted it is the parliament, and not the Executive , that should declare the nation’s public holidays. Many thus perceived him as “stubborn” and a  “hardliner”. But he does not agree. Hear his counter:   “Lies have short legs which give way to reality and truth after sometime.  Against falsehood and untruth, I am a hardliner. For progress and action I am a soft-liner. ”

But the abiding footnote is that Okadigbo,  in life as in death, remains a core character in the political field of Nigeria.

If Okadigbo were here, the sloppiness that beset us on all fronts in the system would have either been worked on or wacked at. Given his impatience with slow-lane attitudes, Okadigbo  would have stoked the fire on the butts of some people to get them out of inertia.

It is a tribute to his fighting spirit that his widow, Margery, less than three months ago, fought her way into the senate, after one Alphonsus Igbeke had sliced off a chunk of  her tenure in a most crooked and rougish manner by laying claims to a mandate from the courts, not the people. Today, Senator Margery Okadigbo sits pretty cool in the red chambers, representing  the people of Anambra north senatorial district, and  if nothing else, to guard the flame of the Okadigbo aura from flickering or failing.

I can imagine how exultant Chuba will be, perhaps waving his white whisk and nodding his head in approval of his wife’s parliamentary gaits.

It is remarkable that the absence of the likes of Okadigbo from the parliament, and even this planet, seems to have dulled the excitement that comes with lawmaking. Nigerians who surely miss his erudition were doubly punished when Hon Patrick Obahiagbon, the Igodomigodo of Bini Kingdom, was not re-elected to the House of Representatives last year. The latter had offered Nigerians linguistic entertainment as a side attraction to his lawmaking mandate, what with his tons of grandiloquence. Okadigbo’s political eccentric nitch also derived strongly from the electrifying ease with which he spoke the English or Igbo Language. His words and arguments were often on point. His diction was as perfect as excellent. 

If Okadigbo were here, we would have long lengthened our list of quotable quotes, and updated the entries in “words on marble”.  We now seem left to drab talks, that power no nerves.

Although he tried his hand in a few business ventures, Okadigbo always reclined to Politics which was his natural remit.

In capturing this more quaintly, Hank Eso in his writing about Okadigbo (whom he calls ‘Mayor’) said, “The Mayor” could have been a political soothsayer or even politically clairvoyant.  He read politics and political machinations as if he was an Oracle.  In every case he pitched his tent and service with the winning group.  “The Mayor” had a natural flare and nose for what he fondly called “political arithmetic”-- an illustration of the  mental calculations that must govern politics and its practice. He always understood the needed permutations, dwelled on political substance, but also knew the kinetic force of sound bites and frequently put them to good use.  Wherever you encountered him in the classroom, in his living room, at a political forum or holding court either at pepper soup joint or a diplomatic cocktail circuit, he was always voluble, a quick think and savvy analyst of political men, events and dicey situations.  He had a knack of demythologizing seemingly confounding events and personalities”, …. If Okadigbo were here.

All said, Okadigbo  remains in our consciousness, as we deal with every day political issues in Nigeria. I remember him for all that he stood for, for all that he professed, for all that he aspired to see in Nigeria, for all that knew, for all that was in him.   For a long time to come, some of us will hold him as the Bach of political discourse  and the Mozart of Nigerian politics. 

Next year, if we tarry still, I shall do my valedictory piece on this national hero to mark a decade of his departure. And it shall be “The stories the Oyi told Me”

Imagine This...

Is the NCC Still There?

Last May, the National Communications Commission (NCC) announced the imposition of N1.17 billion fine on the various Telecoms companies in the country. The reason was blandly given as poor service. Many subscribers had hailed the action but demanded that the proceed of the fine be given to them (subscribers) since they are the sufferers of the poor services. But the NCC did not balk. It collected the fine and left the subscribers to gnash their teeth. If the essence of the fine was to encourage improved service delivery by the telecoms operators, it failed woefully. But if it was to swell the bank account of the NCC, it succeeded very well.

In the last one week, everybody seems to have suddenly acquired a new buzz word: network. Even my mother in the village now knows how to blame “netiwork” for cut calls, undelivered messages, delay in connection, inability to connect and all such vexatious  vices that have become the signature malaise in the provision of telecoms services in the country. You hardly can sustain a 3-minute telephone  conversation without glitches.  None of the networks is exempted.

From phone calls, to sms service through to Black Berry services, as well as browsing, the malaise is sickening. There are BB messages that have been hanging undelivered since previous Friday. Text messages report delivered, but recipients never see them, yet we are faithfully charged for undelivered messages, as if we are dealing with NIPOST and missing letters. What is worse, even the monies in our phones are stolen by the networks. Last Good Friday, I woke to see my freshly-loaded phone empty. I was alarmed. My wife’s phone suffered same fate. We were yelling, until they sent a text to my wife’s phone admitting “system error” in wiping off people’s credit. They promised to remit whatever that was “stolen”. My wife was luckier, as hours later, they restituted the “stolen worth”. Till date, I got neither a confession nor a restitution. And I gave up after three fruitless visits to an MTN service centre to complain. Is this the quality of service MTN renders in South Africa? Or are we being punished for the hugest market we have offered them?

My colleague, Yemi Ajayi, has literally ran from pillar to post by changing BB networks in search of better and reliable service, only to realize that they are all the same “ten and ten pence”. And it cannot be that they are not making money; after all, one of the networks is presently running a doubted campaign of aeroplane bonanza for recharging with just N200! And the parvenu hope is sending the gullible into a crashing   top-up frenzy . Why can’t they upgrade their equipment and facilities, seeing the huge patronage they enjoy? And if they fail to do so, why hasn’t the NCC flogged them into line? Or what else do they exist for, if not to regulate their practices? Or are they merely waiting for the passage of two more quarters for them to impose and collect more fines?

This same NCC collected a needless N6.1 billion to undertake a dubious subscribers’ registration exercise that ended September 28 last year. Till today, there is nothing to show for it. The subscribers’ base of NCC and that of the various networks remain as disparate as Jews and Gentiles. Nothing synchronized!

Many times, I wonder if the NCC is ever there for the people. I can’t see them, even with my binoculars!

Canticles...

Jonathan and the Politics of N5,000 Note

This is truly a continuation of the Yar’Adua government in both form and content

How do you mean?

In terms of policy inconsistency. It s a hallmark of  back-and-fro movement

I don’t think so. The Jonathan administration has been fairly consistent in his policy patterns.

So what do you say about the reversal of his approval on the introduction of the N5000 bank note?

Oh, that one, I guess Mr President’s new position should be commended and not lampooned?

Why?

Because it means he is listening to the voice of the people. You know that almost every critical segment of the society has expressed reservation on the needfulness of the currency restructuring. And so if he defers to public opinion, he should be hailed for being a listening president.

Indeed! Did he not speak with such conviction about the necessity of the N5000 Bill? Did he not tell the NBA that it will not cause inflation? Did his economic team not speak so glibly about the plan and even declared that the President’s approval for it is final? Did you not hear them vaunting? Why does Mr President allow Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to always bamboozle him, just as Mallam El Rufai did President Obasanjo? 

So what are you implying from all of these references?

I am not implying anything. It is just to say that the old bottle of palm oil, does not surrender all its content unless it is placed on fire
You have come with your ancient proverbs. So who is the fire now and who is the old bottle of palm oil?
You can fill in the gaps

So which fire was the President placed?

… Oh now you know who is who? Anyway, you must always realise that nothing happens by chance in government. If the President reversed himself, it must have been prompted by something. And for your information, the leadership of the National Assembly had told the President to choose between introducing the controversial N5000 note and the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). The senate is billed to debate the PIB issue at resumption. And given the avalanche of criticisms from virtually every sector, the President had to sacrifice the N5000 bill, so he can have the PIB sail through. That is the politics behind the reversal

Hmmm! Mr Insider!  So you are saying the President  doesn’t have a mind of his own? That he is held and dictated to by the National Assembly? And what is even the guarantee that having killed the N5000 note project that the PIB will survive? Or don’t you know many of the lawmakers from the north are suspicious of the impact of the PIB on their own economy and so are hesitant to support it?

This is politics. Democracy thrives on give-and-take. As for whether the lawmakers will co-operate or not, that will be taken care of. Don’t forget that the leaders of both chambers of the National Assembly are both from the northern region of the country.

You mean David Mark is a northerner?

Yes, a peripheral one.

But are you sure the coming storm in the House of Reps won’t lead to a change of guard and then obstruct the deal?

What storm? What deal?

Didn’t you hear of rumours of impeachment in the Lower House?

But you just called it rumour. So why should I take that serious?

Behind every smoke, there is fire, remember?

Never mind some of those legislative rascals. Whenever they are broke, they try to kick up some dust so they can be settled. Don’t forget they just returned from a long vacation, they may be as broke as crushed bones.
In that chamber, when rumour starts spreading, the clouds begin to gather. We can only invite the rainmaker who must come with a bag of quid to clear the cloud.